Spicy crazy ramen burger (black bean burger part 2)

Ramen burger ! Yeah, and it’s probably addictive. At least, my version is. You should really try.
If you wonder who came with this crazy idea, here is a little historic explanation. Everybody knows Fukushima, the region is famous for its… atomically good ramen. Well that’s a true.
喜多方ラーメン (Kitakata ramen) from the town of Kitakata are said to be one of the 3 best in Japan.
source “tourist info”
They are ramen, topped with chashu (pork roast), a slice of surimi, menma bamboo shoots, negi… Then one shop had the idea to make to round patties of broth flavored noodles and serve the toppings inside :
kitakata ramen-burger
source “the restaurant that started the ra’burger”
They have then been copied all by many others.

So, I have not followed their recipe at all. I’ve used a home-made black bean burger and improvised my fried noodles :
making the burger (click here).

Here are toppings. My sauce : neri goma (pasted sesame, tahini), rice vinegar, miso, a little sugar, paprika, chili pepper and turmeric.

The construction : a round of pan-fried ramen, a layer of greens, a bean burger, a good amount of sauce, pickled ginger, a second round of ramen, cut coriander leaves.

That’s a complete Spring spicy ramen burger. And it’s really delicious.

I tried to eat it with the hands, and I got greasy fingers, that I had to lick after… A sort of burger case would be convenient. I should get some printed at my name.

Cooking black bean burger for Spring (1st part)

I could eat beef burgers but I now prefer bean burgers. If you think I’m weird, you should try these. They are soft, juicy, crunchy, flavorful. And easy to make.

Basic ingredients that you can make from scratch but I had them ready to start. Yakisoba (fresh　ramen for hot plate)　and cooked black beans (here kuromame). You can use other types of noddles/pasta.

today’s green

Mix, shape and cook. OK, I mash the beans with a fork, I mince the greens, onion, ginger, I roughly break the walnuts. That’s not precise be make them to taste, you can sample the ingredients as you mix in. With 1 cup of beans, I made 2 burgers. I cook them briefly in a frying pan.
With 1 pack, I made 4 rounds of yakisoba. I stir-fried them with a little sauce and spices, then shaped and cooked next to the burgers.

You wonder why I made these yaki-soba “patties” ? Oh, I had space in the frying pan. You’ll see that in next post.

Here is the burger !

Flower power pasta

Two flowers and a dish of spaghetti. Happy !

My beloved nanohana are back on the market. They are the unopened blossoms of rape (the plant to make rapeseed/canola oil) and the greens around.

Lots of leaves… They sell some like that, with lots of stalk, cheaply. It’s possible to buy only the blossom part and the first leaves, and it’s more expensive.
The pasta dish is very simple. I blanched the nanohana in the pasta water (1 minute before the end). Then added on the pasta, with parsley, salt, olive oil.

There are still some edible miniature chrysanthemum. I think it’s good to eat flowers to fight pollen allergy. So I just placed them as toppings.

A side dish : natto, kimchi, and cut shungiku (chrysanthemum leaves).

Butakimchi nabe, spicy Japanese steamboat

A meaty nabe today. As previously, I only show the preparation for the night time hot pot. Buta is pork, and kimchi well, there is some in it :

That spice pickle will flavor the broth. I add miso and raw ginger too. That will even be too spicy and salty, so some more neutral ingredients are necessary for balance.

Konnyaku, made from some kind of root veggie. It has nearly no calories, and no flavor but the texture in the hot soup is very pleasant.

Enoki are not full of flavor either. They soak the soup and bring some texture.

Chrysanthemum greens, they have some sourness like aragula.

The meat. It’s pork sliced very thinly. The amount seems important, but that’s only 100 grams.

So everything is ready… curtain.

Post-scriptum : miam miam miam…

Pizzas with Winter greens

Two quick veggie pizzas for lunch. Prepared in a few minutes as I took shortcuts, but still full of whole food goodies.

The crust is cheating : flour, nuka (rice bran) , turmeric, salt and baking powder. Pre-baked in the oven-toaster. I add slightly toasted the rice bran. I also baked an onion next to the crust.
Then garnished with passata (simple bottled tomato sauce) enriched with garlic and olive oil, broccoli, the onion…

Topped by a piccata of parsley, shungiku (chrysanthemum greens), olive oil, chili pepper, onion, salt. I added that 1 minute before the end.

The second serving is made with the stalks of broccoli. That’s all what I had. Sad ? No, to the sauce I’ve added miso and sakekasu (sake lees) for cheezy flavor.
Both were equally yummy in their style.