Chicken shoyu ramen

Thinly slice the ginger and lightly crush the garlic. Separate the white and green parts of the scallion; cut the white part into large pieces and thinly slice the green part into rings. Slice the shiitake caps. Cut the nori into two rectangles and keep them dry. Divide the chicken into two similar pieces; gently pound any thicker areas between sheets of parchment paper to about 2 cm thick. Pat the meat dry and wash your hands and utensils after handling raw chicken. Have ready a pot for the broth, another for the noodles, a small saucepan and a wide skillet.

Pour the unsalted broth into a pot and add the ginger, garlic and white part of the scallion. Bring almost to a boil, reduce the heat and cook with the lid slightly ajar for about 20 minutes; the surface should barely tremble. Meanwhile, prepare the eggs, tare and chicken following the next steps. Remove the aromatics with a slotted spoon and discard them. Add the shiitake and simmer gently for about 5 minutes, until tender. Lift the mushrooms into a small bowl and cover, then keep the broth hot over the lowest heat. Do not add salt: the tare will provide the saltiness later.

Pour enough water into a small saucepan to cover the eggs and bring to a boil. Carefully lower the eggs in with a spoon, reduce the heat to a gentle boil and cook for about 10 minutes. Transfer to cold water and peel once cool enough to handle. Both the whites and yolks should be fully set. Cover the eggs so they do not dry out; wait until just before serving to cut them. Empty and rinse the saucepan to use for the tare.

Pour the mirin and 30 ml water into the saucepan. Bring to a gentle boil and simmer over low heat for about 2 minutes, without reducing it to a syrup. Add the shoyu soy sauce, heat for about 1 minute until steaming, then remove from the heat. This concentrated seasoning for the broth will taste distinctly salty on its own. Do not pour it into the pot yet; you will season each serving separately in its bowl.

Heat the neutral oil in the skillet over medium-high heat. Add both pieces of chicken in a single layer and cook without moving for about 5 minutes, until golden underneath. Turn them over, reduce the heat to medium and cook for about another 5 minutes. The meat should be firm, evenly white and opaque at its thickest point, with no raw, translucent center; cut into it to check if needed. If it is not ready, lower the heat, cover the skillet and cook for another 2–3 minutes, then check again. Transfer the cooked chicken to a clean cutting board.

Let the chicken rest for about 5 minutes, loosely covered, to limit the loss of juices when slicing. Meanwhile, start heating the water for the noodles. Slice the chicken across the grain into pieces about 1 cm thick. They should have a golden surface and juicy meat cooked all the way through. Reserve the juices from the cutting board to add to the broth.

Bring plenty of water to a boil in a separate pot, without adding salt. Add the dried ramen noodles and cook for the time stated on the package, separating the strands with chopsticks or tongs. Check toward the end: they should be springy, with no hard, raw center. Do not cook them in the broth, as the starch they release will make the soup cloudy. While the noodles cook, warm two large bowls with hot water, then empty them. Drain the noodles thoroughly and assemble the ramen immediately.

Pour 20 ml tare and 5 ml toasted sesame oil into each warmed bowl. Add the reserved chicken juices to the hot broth, briefly bring to a boil and divide evenly between the bowls. Stir and taste; add the remaining tare in small amounts until pleasantly full-flavored. If the soup is too salty, dilute it with a little hot water. Divide the noodles between the bowls, submerge them in the broth and gently loosen the strands. At this stage, the bowls contain only amber broth with tare and oil, plus the noodles, with no toppings yet.

Cut the eggs in half lengthwise. Add half the chicken, half the shiitake and two egg halves to each bowl. Scatter over the green scallion rings and tuck a rectangle of nori against the edge, leaving part of it above the broth. Serve immediately, while the soup is hot, the noodles are springy and the nori is still partly crisp.