My Ramen Obsession

I think Ramen is one of those foods that I will never get tired of eating. As you can tell from my Ramen picture collection, I have a Ramen obsession!!!


In my opinion, it's such good comfort food, not only does it fill your stomach quickly, I feel warm and fussy afterwards and I especially crave for it in the winter time! I've tried many different kinds of Ramen in the past, in different parts of Japan - Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka and Sapporo. Sapporo is known for its rich Miso soup, topped with seafood i.e scallops. Tokyo style is with the Shoyu (soy sauce) or Shiyo (salt) soup whereas Fukuoka is known for its rich creamy Tonkotsu (pork bone) soup.


It's so hard to decide which one I like best, I guess it depends on my mood that day. I usually choose Miso when I feel tired and want something to wakeup my taste bud a bit. Shiyo and Shoyu are a bit lighter in taste, so I usually choose those in summer time, when I don't want to feel too full. Tonkotsu is the best for winter time I think. It's got pork fat and its creamy soup base is absorbed into the noodles so I feel especially warm and satisfied after just one bowl!

Gyoza

My first entry to my Blog!!!! I'm no longer a blog virgin!

I've been thinking what I want to write about all day. My friends always ask me about the food photos I put on FB - what it is and where it's from. I decided that I'll share some of my latest food photos from my travels and I hope whoever reads it will get some good travel inspiration and ideas on where/what to eat.

So, lets start off with my most recent trip to Japan! My favourite comfort food is Gyoza - pork dumplings. I realize not just the Japanese love Gyoza, but foreigners love them just as much. There are restaurants in Tokyo that only serve Gyoza all day from early morning until very late at night, as they serve beers and sake all day. What's better than a cold glass of beer and Gyoza!! It's almost like a Gyoza bar, people go there to drink and eat, and if you have a late night of partying, it's the best hangover cure ever!!! These restaurants are very efficient, and it's my first time to see a Gyoza frying machine!! They can fry 50-60 Gyozas at a time, with one guy at 4 machines! One thing I was impressed with is that the Japanese have invented a machine JUST for frying Gyoza and they are equiped with a water tap next to the frying pan. First, they add oil to the pan, then line the frozen Gyoza neatly in two files in each pan, then turn on the tap to fill the pan with water (covering the frozen Gyoza completely) and close the lid! It only takes about 5 min to let the water evaporate and cook the Gyoza through, and the guy opens the lid to let it fry another 5 mins, and he takes a long metal spatula to scoop them off the pan and flips them onto your plate!

I actually tried to do this at home with frozen pork dumplings from ParknShop (I used "Select" Pork and Pak Choy dumplings).

1 bag of Pork dumplings (fry 10 at a time)

1 tbsp oil

1.5 cup water

Use: 8 inch frying pan with a lid

I used the same technique as the restaurant, add oil to frying pan (do not heat the oil), place frozen dumplings neatly on it's flat side, add water to cover up to half the the height of dumpling, turn on the heat and put a lid on. I let it steam for about 5 mins, checking occassionally if the water has been evaporated and if the dumplings have softened. Once the water is gone, open the lid and let the dumplings fry for another 5 mins. To avoid the dumplings sticking to the pan, add a bit more oil and shake the pan back and forth so the dumplings are sliding on the pan. I like it a bit more crispy so I usually turn the dumplings over on the the other flat side to cook a bit more.