Here is the last flavour of my ramen series using my Home-made Ramen Broth Recipe. One of the three basic ramen flavourings, Shio Ramen is made with a salty flavouring base that is packed with umami. You will need to soak some ingredients overnight but after that, it does not take long to make the flavouring base.
Home-made Shio Ramen has perhaps the lightest and plainest of the three flavours of my ramen, Shio Ramen, Miso Ramen and Shōyu Ramen. Just like the other two ramen recipes, all you need is to learn how to make the shio (salt) flavouring base and just add the Home-made Ramen Broth that I posted in October.
It is often true that making the simplest looking dish involves the most complex process. The flavouring base of Shio Ramen is one of them.
But don’t be afraid. What I mean is that the Shio Ramen flavouring involves more steps than the Shōyu Ramen and Miso Ramen flavourings despite it being the most plain flavouring. And it’s quite easy to follow.
Shio Ramen is ranked 3rd in favourite flavourings of ramen in Japan behind Shōyu and Miso flavours. If you prefer a plain and lighter flavour, Shio Ramen is the one to pick.
My favourite Ramen is ‘Tanmen’, which is a Shio Ramen with stir fried vegetables and meat/seafood on top.
What’s in The Shio Ramen Flavouring Base?
As mentioned in my Home-made Ramen Broth Recipe, the flavouring base is called tare (タレ, pronounce as ‘/tare/’, not ‘/teː/’ or’ /teə/’). The tare for the Shio Ramen Soup is naturally made with salt but to give umami to the tare, I use dried scallops, konbu (dried kelp) and bonito flakes.
Soak the dried scallops and konbu overnight, then boil them to extract great flavour from them. Add bonito flakes and cook for a while, then add salt, sake, mirin and light soy sauce.
It takes longer to make the salt flavouring than miso or soy sauce flavouring, but it is worth the effort.
About Dried Scallops
I must say that dried scallops can be very expensive, especially when the size of each scallop is large. But to make the salt flavouring base, you don’t need expensive scallops.
I bought a small pack of the smallest dried scallops I could find at an Asian grocery store. The size of each scallop was only 1cm/⅜” in diameter. The pack below was about $15 and you only need 10g/0.4oz to make 4 servings of Shio Ramen.
Dried scallops are very hard, but people sometimes eat them as nibbles. Simply pop one scallop into your mouth and chew it. It takes a while to soften in your mouth and the flavour you get from the dried scallop as you chew it is amazing. They are also used in various dishes, particularly in Chinese dishes.
When buying dried scallops, try to find a pack that contains even-coloured scallops. Don’t buy a pack if the surface of the scallops has white tiny specks.
SHIO RAMEN SOUP
Like other ramen flavouring base/tare, the tare for Home-made Shio Ramen is very salty and condensed, and is meant to be diluted with Home-made Ramen Broth.
You will need 2 tablespoons of salt flavouring base/tare to make 400ml of Home-made Ramen Broth. But again, the ratio of salt flavouring base and Ramen Broth depends on how salty you want the soup to be.
People who are very sensitive to saltiness might want to reduce the amount of flavouring base slightly and similarly, people who like stronger flavouring may want to increase the salt flavouring base a bit. It’s trial and error to find the right balance for your palate.
Toppings for Shio Ramen
You can make a simple Shio Ramen with minimal toppings such as a slice of pork, boiled egg, and chopped shallots/scallions, or you can cook stir fried toppings similar to Happosai (Combination Stir Fry) – my favourite.
Whatever toppings you use, just make sure that the flavours of the topping do not spoil the clear salty soup. For example, I would not use the topping for Moyashi Ramen, which I included in my Home-made Miso Ramen post.
I had a few slices of Yakibuta (Braised pork) in the freezer so I made Shio Ramen with simple toppings as you can see in the photo above. I think that corn goes very well with Shio Ramen.
It would also be great to drop a small amount of butter into your Shio Ramen to make the soup a bit richer. You could even place a small block of butter on top of the topping for you to mix before eating.
Home-made Ramen Recipe Collections
This concludes my Ramen series using Home-made Ramen Broth. Here is a list of the three posts.
- Home-made Ramen Broth Recipe– how to make Home-made Ramen Broth and soy sauce flavouring base and Shōyu Ramen.
- Home-made Miso Ramen – showing how to make miso flavouring base, Miso Ramen and suggestion of toppings suitable for Miso Ramen.
- Home-made Shio Ramen – today’s recipe containing how to make salt flavouring base and Shio Ramen.
In addition to the above posts, I also posted Easy Japanese Ramen Noodles which uses a sachet of store-bought condensed ramen soup, fresh egg noodles and home-made toppings. If you have no time but are craving for ramen, you might try this. What about Hiyashi Chūka (Cold Ramen) on a hot day?
More to come – I will one day post a Tonkotsu Ramen as well as Tai (snapper) Ramen.
Yumiko
P.S. Don’t forget to see the section ‘MEAL IDEAS’ below the recipe card! It gives you a list of dishes that I have already posted and the new recipe in this post that can make up a complete meal. I hope it is of help to you.
One of the three basic ramen flavourings, Shio Ramen is made with a salty flavour base that is packed with umami. You will need to soak some ingredients overnight, but the process of making the flavouring base is quite simple. Also see Home-made Ramen Broth Recipe which includes how to make Shōyu Ramen and Home-made Miso Ramen.
Prep Time and Cook Time includes time to make the Salt Flavouring Base and a Shio Ramen.
Total Time does not include the time to soak kelp and dried scallops in water overnight, nor time to make ramen broth.
- 80-100g/2.8-3.5oz fresh egg noodles (note 1)
- 400ml/13.5oz Home-made Ramen Broth (boiling hot, note 2)
- 2 tbsp Salt Flavouring Base
- 250ml/8.5oz water
- 5g/0.2oz konbu (dried kelp)
- 10g/0.35oz dried scallops (note 3)
- 5g/0.2oz bonito flakes
- 20g/0.7oz salt
- 50ml/1.7oz sake
- 25ml/0.8oz mirin
- 5ml/0.2oz light soy sauce (note 4)
- 2 slices Yakibuta (Braised Pork)
- 1 boiled egg cut in half
- A handful of beansprouts , blanched
- 3 tbsp sweet corn kernels (fresh corn - boiled, canned or frozen - defrosted)
- 2 tbsp finely chopped shallots/scallions
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Soak konbu and scallops in 250ml/8.5oz water overnight.
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Transfer the water with konbu and scallops to a saucepan. Heat over medium heat and bring it to a boil.
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Remove the konbu, reduce heat to low to gently simmer and cook the scallops until the water reduces to half.
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Add bonito flakes and simmer for 2 minutes.
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Turn the heat off and strain through a sieve. Transfer the liquid to a saucepan.
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Add the remaining ingredients of Salt Flavouring Base to the pan and cook over low heat.
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Once the salt is diluted, turn the heat off.
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Place Salt Flavouring Base in a serving bowl.
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Boil water in a saucepan and cook noodles as per the instructions (note 1) and drain well.
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Add Ramen Broth keeping about 50ml/1.7oz aside, and taste test. Adjust the saltiness with remaining Ramen Broth.
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Add the noodles. Place Yakibuta slices, beansprouts, 2 halved eggs, and sweet corn, topped with chopped shallots.
1. Time to cook the noodles varies depending on the type of noodles as well as your preference for the firmness. Follow the instructions on the pack as a guideline.
Please also refer to Easy Japanese Ramen Noodles where I talked about different types of egg noodles suitable for Ramen.
2. Please visit my post, Home-made Ramen Broth Recipe.
3. You don’t need expensive large dried scallops. You can buy a pack of tiny dried scallops at Asian grocery stores, it is not very expensive (see the photo of the pack in the post).
4. If you don't have light soy sauce, you can substitute it with normal soy sauce like Kikkoman soy sauce. The colour of the broth becomes marginally darker.
Meal Ideas
A typical Japanese meal consists of a main dish, a couple of side dishes, a soup and rice. I try to come up with a combination of dishes with a variety of flavours, colours, textures and make-ahead dishes.
Today’s Meal Ideas is a bit different from usual. I wanted to show you three flavours of Home-made Ramen noodles, so I only picked two side dishes that are my favourites and would suit any of the home-made Ramen. You can of course pick other dishes or have no side dishes. But I think that you would need a bit more protein and vegetables to supplement the soup.
- Main Option 1: Shōyu Ramen included in Home-made Ramen Broth Recipe
- Main Option 2: Miso Ramen
- Main Option 3: Shio Ramen – today’s recipe
- Side 1: Japanese GYOZA – from Nagi’s post in RecipeTin Eats, make ahead dumplings and cook when serving, or Shumai – make ahead dumplings and steam when serving
- Side 2: Japanese Vermicelli Salad (Harusame Salad)
Hi Yumiko,
Great recipe, we all enjoyed the Shio Ramen last night. What is the best way to store the left over salt base flavouring, and how long does it last.
By the way, i cooked the Shoyu ramen a couple of weeks ago, which was great. I plan to cook the Miso Ramen soon. The Yakibuta is wonderful.
Regards,
Timothy
Hi Timothy, you must be fond of ramen. You can keep your salt flavouring base in the fridge for a week or so. You can also freeze it for a month or so. Divide the flavouring base into single serving and freeze it.
Thank you for replying. Yes we are fond of ramen and Japanese food.
I can’t wait to try this – I have a ramen place nearby and specifically LOVE their shio ramen. But I am going to be working away from home for roughly 6 months and cannot imagine going without this signature ramen so I’d like to be able to make it myself.
My question though – When I order Shio Ramen, they ask for a spice level and I like it fairly spicy – Any tips on how to add spice to this recipe?
Thank you!
Hi Kat, I am not sure what type of spiciness your favourite shio ramen comes with. The spiciness can come from either chilli, white pepper, or even curry powder. If chilli, you can add lots of rāyu, which is the Japanese version of chilli oil. Unlike Chinese chilli oil, rāyu is made with sesame oil. Alternatively, you can mix chilli paste or chilli bean paste to make the soup spicy. I have not made shio ramen with curry powder but I know that some ramen shops serve spicy shio ramen made with curry powder.
Hi!
Do you think I can use Hondashi and Kombu instead of bonito flakes for the Salt Flavouring Base? Do you have any other suggestions? I didn’t find bonito flakes in my city.
Loved your blog!
Hi Bruna, yes you can. Check your Hondashi packet to see if it contains salt. If it does, you will make saltier Salt Flavouring Base. When you make Shio Ramen soup, you may want to check the saltiness by adjusting with the broth.
Oh! Thanks very much for your answer! I will make this weekend for a special celebration! Loved this recipe!
Hi Yumiko,
I am going to try this recipe. I have been trying a lot of the recipes Nagi has published on Recipetineats. They are great. I just made the carrot cake for my brother’s birthday on the weekend.
All the best to you and your family.
Mesh
Hi Mesh!! How are you?
Please try Shio Ramen and let me know what you think.
Please take care.
Hi Yumiko,
Thanks for this recipe :).
According to my understanding, oil needs to be added to the sauce and broth as part of the soup too. How do you normally cook the ramen oil for shio ramen?
Thanks!
Elaine
Hi Elaine, not all ramen shops adds oil to the bowl when making broth. My Home-made Ramen Broth should have some oil in it so I did not specifically include additional oil to make the Shio-ramen broth.
But if you want to, you need to make so called flavoured oil. It’s the similar concept to the flavoured olive oil that you can buy at grocery stores, e.g. garlic infused olive oil. You need to heat oil and cook chopped onions, garlic etc in to to extract the flavour of these into the oil. Strain and remove the vegetables and heat the oil to remove moisture in the oil. Other flavoured oil can be the the oil extracted from chicken fat. Heat the chopped chicken fat pieces in a frying pan until the oil comes out and the fat pieces shrunk. You could add flavouring vegetables to give different flavours to the fat too. Some Japanese ramen shops add dried anchovies to the oil to give umami to the oil as well.
I hope it helps.
Wow! I’m completely mind blown by your suggestions! I’m gonna start with your recipe first, then see if I wanna add flavoured oil in it. I’m making this with my hubby this saturday, and we are very excited!
Thanks so much for your recipe again :)!
Hi Yumiko,
I literally couldn’t find any dried scallops in my local asian grocery. Can I use dried anchovies instead?
Thanks!
Elaine
Hi Elaine, I never tried but I can to se why not!
Yumiko! I just wanna say a massive THANK YOU for this recipe!
It’s a massive success for me (especially it was my first time!), and my hubby and I thoroughly enjoy this ramen ❤
Glad it worked well and you both enjoyed it!
i love this so much and i’m learning so much
Hi Joe, that great! Enjoy home-made ramen.
Terrific review, I have been literally captivated, thank you so much for details, but michael is right: http://chefclub.stream has great contents such as video reviews on japonese recipe … but your style is definitely better! No comparison, thanks for sharing, again great job!
Thank you, Bettye!
Mum – doesn’t “Shio” mean salt? Isn’t that where the name comes from??
Yes, dear. In my post, I said “Just like the other two ramen recipes, all you need is to learn how to make the shio (salt) flavouring base …”.
YUM – this was so good mum!!
I agree!