Yaki ramen (焼きラーメン)
What is Yaki ramen?
“Yaki Ramen” has become a standard dish as Japanese street food, along with regular ramen. The interesting thing about this dish is that the taste and appearance differs depending on the place you eat. This time, we let find out more about its history, recipes and where to eat delicious yaki ramen!
Yaki-ramen, which translates to “grilled ramen,” is a specialty of Fukuoka Prefecture and a popular Japanese noodle dish. Yaki-soba is a good comparison. Locals boiled the Tonkotsu soup and Worcestershire sauce before they cooked it on an iron plate. They enjoyed a fresh flavor and texture by grilling the noodles, giving them a yakisoba-like taste. Tonkotsu broth and Worcestershire sauce are used to season the noodles and pork used in ramen, which are then stir-fried on an iron plate in Hakata.
Etymology
The word “ramen” has a controversial origin, saying that it is a Japanese transcription of the Chinese la mian (拉麺), a type of soft wheat flour Chinese noodle. And another theory attributed to the Chinese word lo mein (撈麵), which means to mix, referring to noodles mixed with the soup. On the other hand, the term “Yaki (焼き)” comes from the verb “焼く,” which means “to bake, to grill.”
Yaki ramen History
Kogane-chan, a street stall founded in 1968 in Tenjin, Fukuoka City, Fukuoka Prefecture, was the first stall that originated the dish. The store owner boiled the ramen noodles mixed with pork bone soup and special sauce and grilled them on an iron plate. They invented this dish for the store’s first customers who could not drink soup in hot weather.
In 2005, Nagatanien released “Hakata Yakiniku Ramen”, House Foods released “Umakacchan Hakata Yakiramen, “Kumamoto’s Itsuki Foods released. “Hakata Originating Yakiramen,” and Myojo Foods released cup noodles. Yakiramen Spicy Tonkotsu Flavor”, and Sanyo Foods commercialized instant noodles under the name of “Sapporo Ichiban Hakata Specialty Yakiramen Tonkotsu Flavor,” which is also a cup noodle. In addition, Marui Table Co., Ltd. in Fukuoka commercialized the “Kogane-chan Yakiramen.”
Yaki ramen Recipe
Yaki ramen Ingredients
| Ingredients of Yaki ramen for 1 person | |
| Instant ramen | 43g |
| Pork belly | 30g |
| Seafood mix | 30g |
| Cabbage | 60g |
| Bean sprouts | 50g |
| Green Onion | 11g |
| Chicken stock powder | 7g |
| Soy sauce | 7g |
| Boiling water | 200g |
| Powdered instant noodle soup | 15g |
How to make Yaki ramen
Cut the cabbage into 1 cm wide pieces, the green onions into small pieces, and the pork belly to 2 cm wide.
Bring water to a boil in a pot and simmer the instant noodles and seafood mix. Once boiled, drain the water well. Save the boiled water for later use.
Put the pork belly in a frying pan and stir-fry over medium heat. When the color of the pork changes, add the cabbage and bean sprouts, green onions, and chicken stock mix and stir-fry. Add the noodles and ingredients and cook for about 1 minute.
Pour the mixture of ramen powder soup, hot water, and soy sauce into a frying pan, and garnish with red pickled ginger to complete. If you have an iron plate, it will create a great atmosphere.
Difference between Yaki ramen and Yakisoba
The difference between yaki ramen and yakisoba is the difference in the noodles. First, for yakisoba, locals use steamed noodles. On the other hand, Yaki Ramen uses boiled noodles. Just like ramen noodles, they first boiled the noodles and drained them. The difference was also in the seasoning. Japanese season their yakisoba with sauce, while the yaki ramen, boiled down pork bone soup, is the primary flavor.
Why is pork bone soup the basic seasoning for yaki ramen?
That’s because yaki ramen originated in a street shop in Fukuoka, and its home is also in Fukuoka. Yakiramen, born in Fukuoka, where pork bone ramen is delicious, is naturally a pork bone soup.
What are the noodles used in yaki ramen?
For the same reason as the pork bone soup, yaki ramen uses the same ultra-thin straight noodles as pork bone ramen. These ultra-thin straight noodles are smooth and irresistible. It seems that many of the instant pork bone ramen noodles on the market are ultra-straight noodles.
Popular grilled ramen on the market
Even those who can’t go to Hakata can easily enjoy the taste of Hakata at home by eating the famous yaki ramen sold on the market.
7-Eleven “Pork Bone ramen”
You can enjoy the taste of authentic yaki ramen even at convenience stores. 7-Eleven’s tonkotsu-yaki ramen uses a rich tonkotsu-based soup with ma oil and green onion oil, giving it a fragrant and rich flavor. You can eat it as it is, so it’s perfect for when you want to enjoy yakiramen at home.
Yamaichi “Yaki Ramen”
Yamaichi’s Yaki Ramen Set allows you to make Yakiramen at home easily. You can make yakiramen without mistakes because it comes with chewy noodles and a sauce made from chin dashi.
Otafuku “Kyushu-yaki Ramen Sauce”
Otafuku, familiar with Otafuku sauce, sells a special sauce for yakiramen. A hidden flavor is with the Worcestershire sauce, so you can quickly reproduce the rich taste of yakiramen with just this one.
Where to buy Yaki ramen
Kogane-chan (小金ちゃん)
This restaurant is famous for its Ganso Yaki Ramen, the first to offer Yakiramen, which originated from food stalls. The yakiramen, which has a reputation for being something you want to eat even if you have to wait, is getting addicted to the rich flavor of the thick sauce. The noodles are soft and chewy, and because they are well-simmered, the more you chew, the more the taste of the tonkotsu soup fills your mouth.
Unzen (雲仙)
Located in front of the Fukuoka Bank head office, it is a shop you can easily find even if it is your first time. It is attractive that you can stop by casually without being pretentious in the stall style. Unzen is the birthplace of iron pot dumplings, but the yaki ramen is also famous.
The visibly thick yaki is famous for its richness that does not betray its appearance. The store filled it with bean sprouts and meat and topped it with green onions, pickled ginger, and sesame seeds.
Hakata Ramen ShinShin (博多らーめん ShinShin)
Hakata Ramen ShinShin is famous for its Hakata ramen, but it is also viral for its delicious yakiramen. You can enjoy yaki ramen unique to a ramen shop, where the shop combines its proud pork bone soup specialty and sauce. The ingredients include bean sprouts, cabbage, kamaboko, a little pork and vegetables, and plenty of small green onions. There is also a yakiramen that uses mentaiko, a Fukuoka specialty.
Takeaway
This dish is a local delicacy that originated from the street stalls in Hakata, but you can easily recreate it at home. You may get a yakisoba-like flavor in your ramen by cooking it like yakisoba and secretly adding Worcestershire sauce. If you’re sick of ramen and want something different, try making instant bag noodles.
If you are into this kind of dish, there are many Japanese sobas, udon, noodles, and ramen dishes you can find in Japan.
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