My Greek Style Ramen Was Undrinkable! Why?

[babaliaris]

I made the noodles myself (even that I over-boiled them a little they were still good!!!) but the problem was in the vegetable broth that I made. I followed a recipe of a Greek Chef who makes YouTube videos about making Asian food with ingredients you can find in Greece.

I used the following ingredients for the vegetable broth:
1) A half onion
2) 1 leek (the non-eatable parts)
3) The peeled surface of one carrot.
4) The inside of one zucchini
5) Two tablespoons of Soya Sauce.
6) Ginger.

I just boiled them in water (enough water to fill the plate) for 10 minutes and then added the soya sauce and the ginger. I believe the ginger was one of the biggest mistakes I did!!!

Firstly, the recipe didn't tell me to use ginger, I'm just stubborn.
Secondly, I think I used too many veggies for one meal. The recipe
for example used a half onion for two meals. Maybe this resulted in a very strong flavor of the broth.

Also, the recipe said to use 2 tablespoons of sesame oil but I didn't have.
Maybe if I use 1 tablespoon of olive oil next time, will it work?

The rest is up to you to tell me.

Also if someone has a recipe for ramen (alternative recipe) with ingredients you can easily find in Europe or the US (I think most of US ingredients can be found in Europe as well) that would be awesome!

Trust me, there is no way I can find all the ingredients necessary to make authentic ramen in Greece.

Final Result:

 

[GotGarlic]

How much of each ingredient did you use, including the water? That looks like a lot of vegetables for one serving. I would expect that much veg to make about two liters. I wouldn't include the soy sauce in the broth but I would add it to taste when serving.

Until you have more experience with cooking, it's a good idea to make a recipe as written the first time. Then you can decide if you want to do something different next time. Two tbsp of sesame oil is a lot for one serving, though. It's very strong.

 

[babaliaris]

How much of each ingredient did you use, including the water? That looks like a lot of vegetables for one serving. I would expect that much veg to make about two liters. I wouldn't include the soy sauce in the broth but I would add it to taste when serving.

Until you have more experience with cooking, it's a good idea to make a recipe as written the first time. Then you can decide if you want to do something different next time. Two tbsp of sesame oil is a lot for one serving, though. It's very strong.

I used one of each one, except the onion (I used half). Well, this is how much the recipe said to use (but for two meals lol ) The water was about two water glasses 500ml I think.

 

[GotGarlic]

I used one of each one, except the onion (I used half). Well, this is how much the recipe said to use (but for two meals lol ) The water was about two water glasses 500ml I think.

I forgot to ask how long you cooked the veg in the water.

I think it's a combination of too much ginger and not enough water.

 

[taxlady]

You can't make broth by only boiling it for 10 minutes. That isn't nearly long enough to get the flavour out of the vegis. When I make a vegi "stock", I simmer my vegis for about an hour. After I strain out the vegi bits, I taste it and sometimes I need to reduce it, because the flavours aren't strong enough. That's because I don't bother to measure the water.

 

[taxlady]

Do you mind posting a link to the video?

 

[babaliaris]

I forgot to ask how long you cooked the veg in the water.

I think it's a combination of too much ginger and not enough water.

10 minutes (after the water was boiling)

Do you mind posting a link to the video?

I haven't made one, but if you want the Greek Chef's video, this is it:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRRUMfMJ6pY

And this is the recipe (Translated with google translate):
Recipe Website English Translated

 

[GotGarlic]

It's strange that he uses the skin of the carrot and the inside of the zucchini. I would simplify this by roughly chopping both and including all of it. Everything just needs to be in rough chunks. I agree with taxlady that it needs to be simmered - not boiled - for about an hour. I use a pressure cooker recipe that cooks for 15 minutes.

 

[babaliaris]

It's strange that he uses the skin of the carrot and the inside of the zucchini. I would simplify this by roughly chopping both and including all of it. Everything just needs to be in rough chunks. I agree with taxlady that it needs to be simmered - not boiled - for about an hour. I use a pressure cooker recipe that cooks for 15 minutes.

But if you use all the carrot and the zucchini for the broth, what are you going to use for the actual dish? Are you going to use a different carrot?

By the way, in the video, he says: "Anything that you would originally throw away from the veggies (the skin of the peeled carrot, the hard parts of the leek, and the spores of the zucchini), instead of throwing them away, you can use them for the broth"

 

[taxlady]

I looked at the translated recipe. You definitely wouldn't want to simmer the chicken for an hour, just the vegi bits. I would add the chicken after simmering the vegis for 50 minutes.

Did you use the chicken bouillon cube? That broth in 10 minutes will be fairly tasteless without it. If it tasted bad, that is like from the ginger powder.

 

[babaliaris]

I looked at the translated recipe. You definitely wouldn't want to simmer the chicken for an hour, just the vegi bits. I would add the chicken after simmering the vegis for 50 minutes.

Did you use the chicken bouillon cube? That broth in 10 minutes will be fairly tasteless without it. If it tasted bad, that is like from the ginger powder.

Νο, Ι didn't use the chicken bouillon cube. Also, I didn't boil the chicken at all, we had leftover meat (not chicken) already cooked, and this is what I used for the dish. Basically, I didn't boil any meat while making the broth, only the veggies and without the chicken cube.

 

[jennyema]

Sesame oil and olive oil or any other vegetable oil are not interchangeable.

You are much better off following a recipe exactly.

 

[dragnlaw]

I don't think the chef meant for you to use only the "throw away parts". I believe he was saying to use those parts to make your broth - then you throw them away. As taxy says, make your broth separate to the rest of the meal.

If you are making a recipe for two people then you are obviously going to get too much for one person.
In which case, serve out your two bowls. Then save your noodles from the second bowl in another container and the liquid and vegies/meat in even another container. Tomorrows breakfast/lunch.

Store you noodles separately or else they will absorb all of the liquid and you will have a solid soup.

 

[taxlady]

I don't think the chef meant for you to use only the "throw away parts". I believe he was saying to use those parts to make your broth - then you throw them away. As taxy says, make your broth separate to the rest of the meal.

If you are making a recipe for two people then you are obviously going to get too much for one person.
In which case, serve out your two bowls. Then save your noodles from the second bowl in another container and the liquid and vegies/meat in even another container. Tomorrows breakfast/lunch.

Store you noodles separately or else they will absorb all of the liquid and you will have a solid soup.

I think it was "throw away" parts. It's specifically stuff like the carrot peel and the seeds out of the zucchini. When prepping veg for eating, those bits would usually (or frequently) be thrown away.

 

[babaliaris]

I think I understand now what the chef was doing and what I did wrong. Usually, a broth needs an hour to be made correctly, but this chef makes videos for people who can't usually wait an hour for just making some broth. Most people who watch this chef are college students, and we need quick recipes.

So he had to figure out a recipe to do this quickly. This is probably why he boils the veggies with the chicken for 10 minutes and also adds the chicken bouillon cube to complete the flavor.

I didn't use a chicken bouillon cube I didn't even have a chicken to boil for 10 minutes + I overdid it with the veggies for one meal + I added the ginger.

And the result was probably mostly water with ginger and this is why it tasted so bad.

At least I learned something! It was my first time making a broth.

 

[Just Cooking]

babaliaris..

That's how we learn.

Ross