Sesame Tofu Tantanmen Ramen

What is Tantanmen

Tantanmen( tan-tan-men) is a Japanese style spicy ramen probably inspired by the famed Chinese Dan Dan noodles that has similar ingredients and qualities. This ramen soup is nutty from the rich (plant milk) broth, slurp-able fresh ramen noodles, along with spicy ground meat in this case tofu, aromatic blend of seasonings including garlic, ginger and doubanjiang (fermented bean paste) and topped with blanched vegetables. It’s comforting, savory, and comes together in under 20 minutes.

There are a a few different elements to the recipe, but they’re as simple as blanching veggies, cooking noodles, warming broth etc. The recipe easily scales to the number of diners, so it’s easy to feed two or a crowd without much effort. And can be made vegan or vegetarian without compromising on taste or flavor.

Ingredients

• Ramen Noodles: best to use fresh ramen noodles, found in Asian grocery stores and most grocery stores. If fresh is not available dried ramen noodles work just fine simply cook according to directions.
• Sesame Paste: traditionally Chinese toasted sesame paste is recommended, I prefer tahini as it’s easily available.
• Plant Milk: unsweetened soy milk is best for this recipe. Sub with oat milk or cashew milk if you avoid soy.
• Chilli Oil: any garlic+sesame+ chilli oil will work here, preferably Japanese as they’re not as spicy.
• Ground Protein: The protein is a garnish, but if you’re serving it as a meal you can bump up the quantity. Sub with ground chicken, turkey or your favorite mince, they all work well. We love it with firm crumbled tofu.
• Greens – We love using blanched baby bok choy, shiitake mushrooms or even spinach, but any Asian greens such as choy sum, gailan or baby broccoli work really well. Simply blanch and use.
•  Doubanjiang: This is the only specialty ingredient I recommend and a hard one to substitute. I get spending 25$ for one recipe doesn’t make sense. In that case use a similar fermented chilli bean paste or if you prefer a milder option miso may work too. If you prefer more heat gochujang paste should work.

How To Make Tantanmen Ramen

This recipe is all about layering and building flavors.

1. SOUP PASTE: to make the soup paste, blend together sesame paste*( see notes for detail), soy sauce, vinegar and fermented chili paste. Divide the paste equally into each ramen bowl as layer one. 
2. BROTH: combine unsweetened flavorless plant milk with veggie or chicken broth, bring it up to a boil then a gentle simmer. Keep warm.
3. COOK THE RAMEN NOODLES: cook the noodles based on the package instructions.
4. PREP THE VEGGIES: blanch the bok choy, shiitake mushrooms or other vegetables using.
5. COOK THE TOFU:  warm a little oil on a wok or sauté pan.  Add garlic and ginger, sauté until fragrant. Add the crumbled tofu and sauté until slightly browned, 5-7 minutes. Add the (chilli-bean paste/doubanjiang) soy sauce and sake, and cook until well.
6. ASSEMBLE: to each ramen bowl pour a couple ladles full of hot broth and gently blend it with the sesame paste. Followed by cooked ramen noodles and sautéed ground tofu. Garnish with blanched vegetables, toasted sesame seeds, chili oil and green onion. Mix everything will with your chopsticks and/or soup spoon. Enjoy!