Miso Ramen with Pork Belly

Ingredients

• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1.2 litre chicken stock
• 1 thumb-sized piece ginger, grated
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 4 tbsp white miso paste
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 tbsp mirin
• 400 g pork belly slices, thinly sliced
• 200 g beansprouts
• 400 g ramen noodles, fresh or dried
• 4 soft-boiled eggs, halved
• 4 spring onions, sliced
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 2 sheets nori, cut into strips
• 1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
• Steamed jasmine rice, to serve
• Pickled cucumber, to serve
• Fresh coriander, to serve

Method

1. Pat the pork belly slices dry on kitchen paper and season with salt and pepper — water on the surface means steam, and steam means no caramelisation. Heat the vegetable oil in a large heavy pot over medium-high heat until it shimmers.
2. Lay the pork belly in the pot in a single layer, working in two batches if you need to. Crowd the pan and the slices steam in their own juices instead of browning. Cook for 4–5 minutes per side until deeply bronzed with crisp, lacquered edges. Lift out onto a plate.
3. Drop the heat to medium. Tip the garlic and ginger into the pork fat and stir for 30 seconds, just until fragrant and pale gold. Don't let it catch — burnt garlic turns the whole broth bitter.
4. Whisk the miso paste into a ladleful of the stock in a small bowl until completely smooth, then pour it back into the pot with the rest of the stock, the soy sauce and the mirin. Scrape up any caramelised bits stuck to the base — that's pure flavour. Bring to a gentle simmer and cook uncovered for 15 minutes, until the broth tastes deep, savoury and rounded. Taste now: most of the salt comes from the miso and soy, but a final pinch may be what ties it together.
5. While the broth simmers, bring a second pan of well-salted water to the boil — it should taste like the sea. Cook the ramen noodles to packet instructions until just tender with a little bite, then drain and divide between four large warmed bowls.
6. Drop the beansprouts into the simmering broth for 1 minute, just until they lose their raw snap. Slip the pork belly slices back in for the last 30 seconds to warm through and pick up the broth's gloss. Taste the broth one more time and adjust the seasoning — at the pot, not at the table.
7. Ladle the steaming broth and beansprouts over the noodles. Crown each bowl with the glossy pork belly, a soft-boiled egg half showing its jammy yolk, a tangle of spring onions and a few strips of nori. Drizzle with sesame oil, scatter the toasted sesame seeds, and serve immediately while the broth is piping hot.