Vegan Tantan Ramen with a Vegan Egg

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Our category „Make a Wish“ is back with a new recipe! Although this category is all about veganizing your favourite recipes, we almost feel as if this recipe was our own wish. So get ready for our new recipe:

Is your ramen love too big for your wallet, the nearest ramen restaurant too far away, or do you just love to cook? Then you've come to the right place because today, we're showing you our vegan version of the famous Tantan Ramen.

Tantan ramen is not ramen in the classic sense, but rather a Japanese adaptation of Chinese dan dan noodles (source). The base is a spicy paste made from sesame seeds and chili oil. The toppings usually include minced meat, chili, sesame seeds and spring onions. The preparation is super easy and perfect for the lazy chopper, as the recipe requires virtually no knife. However, as the soup consists of a relatively large number of ingredients, it's best to start from the beginning and go through everything once.

The soup base:
The special thing about this soup is that it is not made from broth but from a spice paste that is infused in the bowl with a mixture of broth and plant-based milk just before serving. The spice paste traditionally consists of sesame paste and chili. We prefer to use tahini and chili crisp for this, but any other chili sauce will also do the trick.

The broth:
For the perfect umami flavor, we make a broth from water and dried shiitake mushrooms. This is infused with plant-based milk shortly before serving and reheated. However, it should not be brought back to the boil once the milk has been added, as the milk and broth may separate again.

The protein (aka vegan minced meat):
We simply replace the traditionally used pork mince with vegan „fresh“ minced meat from the supermarket, but soy granules or crumbled tofu also work well. The whole thing is then fried and seasoned with various spices. Chili sauce is also used here. We prefer to use the sweet and sour „spicy bean sauce“, which you can find in Asian markets or well-stocked supermarkets. But other chili sauces will also do the trick.

The toppings:
You are completely free to choose your own toppings. We prefer to eat the soup with corn, spinach, a vegan egg, sesame seeds and chili crisp (a crunchy chili oil from the Asian market), but pretty much any vegetable will do.

The vegan egg:
The egg is probably the trickiest part of the whole thing. You should start the preparations at least half an hour or even the evening before, as the eggs need to harden in the fridge for at least an hour. But once you have all the ingredients together (you can get most of them at the organic market), the preparation is child's play. So be sure to give it a try! If you prepare a few more eggs straight away, you could treat yourself to another portion of vegan boiled eggs with a creamy mustard sauce the next day, for example.