TAN TAN MEN

This broth is from a Japanese book on sauces. It seems the easiest to do of the Ramen family - the pro cookbooks require a few kilos of pork fat and unrecognisable bits of innards for the magical taste. Anyway it's better than most of the soups here in Perth, which taste like greasy water.

Anyway the broth - 6tbs soy sauce, 2 tbs of toubanjyan* (spicy bean paste), 2 tsp of rice vinegar, 2tbs sesame oil, salt/ pepper and 2tbs cooking sake. Mix them up and then add a couple of cups of chicken stock and another four cups of water and heat. A great and subtle mix of meatiness, sourness, and spiciness. I decide to add a teaspoon or two of powdered chicken stock and it then tasted like crap. So, needless to say, don't add powdered stock.

As for the rest, I sliced up some fresh bamboo shoots and quickly stir fried them in sesame oil to be used as a topping later I diced up some fried Tofu, soaked a little while in hot water to get the oil out beforehand, and stir fried it with toubanjyan, ginger, garlic, spring onion whites and a bit of sake to stop it sticking. Mince could have been used instead of the tofu. I added the broth to this then the firm ends of some Chinese greens, later followed by the leafy bits and simmered them until soft. Poured this over some egg noodles, placed the bamboo shoots on top and ate.

* Not at all hard to get and very good for the addition of spicy oompf to stir fries.