To the day before 15 years This blog was born here. It grew and thrived and today houses around a thousand recipes and over a hundred travel reports. I always wanted to keep it elegant, if possible without any advertising and certainly no banners. Except perhaps the reference to my own books. Many a time I have entertained the idea of hiding it behind a paywall, only to immediately discard it again. Maybe it would have been worth it given the hundreds of thousands of hits every month, but maybe it would have put many people off. I allow myself the luxury of making this collection freely accessible to everyone. This may lead me to be relentless and ungracious towards any kind of meaningless comments. These will be deleted before they see the light of day. What makes me even happier, however, are the many thousands of friendly comments, all of which I would like to answer.
You, dear readers, always give me the joy and motivation to continue writing here, to introduce you to countries and cuisines.
Over time I have published 3 books and have more to come. Stay tuned, something is happening here.
My great love for Asian cuisine is unlikely to have gone unnoticed, even though I also love oriental and Mediterranean cuisine. My spice collection has grown, as has my collection of wonderful plates and bowls – after all, the latter has no expiration date.
And so it makes sense to end the year with one brilliant ramen to decide. This soup prickles your tongue a bit and yet is infinitely creamy and flattering at the same time. There is a bit of snow outside and it is bitterly cold. There is no better time for this soup.
I wish you the best for the coming year!
Spicy Peanut Ramen with Beef
For four
800 g mayor piece (from the calf, also called tri-tip), the fat removed if possible
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 leg disc or 2 – 3 marrow bones
2 tbsp neutral cooking oil
1 yellow onion, roughly chopped
5 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
½ can of creamy coconut milk
3 tablespoons creamy peanut butter
4 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp gochujang paste (Korean fermented chili paste from the Asian market)
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp brown miso
1.5 tbsp grated ginger
1 stick cinnamon
2 star anise
1.2 liters of good beef broth (ideally homemade)
300 g ramen noodles (or udon)
Decoration: Spring onion cut into fine rolls, sesame and Shichimi Togarashi (Japanese spice mix), roasted onions if desired and fresh coriander
Salt and pepper the meat.
Preheat the oven to 150°C.
Heat the oil in a cast iron pot and fry the meat (and leg slice or bone) until slightly browned on each side.
Turn the temperature down to medium heat.
Add everything except the broth and mix well, then pour in the broth.
Close the lid and place in the oven for 3 hours.
Then remove the meat and tear it into strips with a fork. Discard bone and leg disc. Strain the soup through a sieve and season again if necessary.
In the meantime, cook the pasta according to package instructions and strain.
Divide the noodles and meat between bowls and pour the soup over them.
Decorate and serve.
