Ramen Egg is a soft-boiled egg marinated in soy-based sauce that is full of umami. The outer layer of the egg white absorbs the flavour of the marinade and stains the egg a light-brown colour.
Ramen Eggs are served not only as a ramen topping but also a side and as nibbles for drinks.
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 this recipe that can make up a complete meal. I hope it is of help to you.
- 4 eggs (about 55g / 1.9oz each, chilled)
- 4 tbsp soy sauce
- 4 tbsp mirin
- 2 tbsp water
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 tbsp cooking sake
- 5g / 0.2oz bonito flakes (note 1)
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Put all the Marinade ingredients into a small saucepan and bring it to a boil. Cook for a minute or so, ensuring that the sugar dissolves completely.
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Put the sauce into a small bowl through a sieve to remove the bonito flakes. Press down the bonito flakes in the sieve with the back of a spoon and squeeze out the liquid (note 2). Let it cool.
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Fill a saucepan with water deep enough to boil eggs and bring it to a boil.
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(Optional but recommended) Using a needle and a small hammer or the side of the kitchen scissors, make a tiny hole on the round end of the egg (see the photos in post).
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Using a ladle, gently place the eggs one-by-one in the boiling water. You may want to gently roll the eggs for the first ½-1 minutes to position the egg yolk in the middle.
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Reduce the heat to medium and boil for 6½ minutes (note 3).
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Drain the boiling water and transfer the eggs to a bowl of iced water to quickly cool them down (note 4).
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Gently crack the eggshell all around the egg, then peel the shells. Make sure that you remove the thin membrane pieces on the egg.
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Pat-dry the boiled eggs and place them in a zip lock bag.
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Add the marinade to the bag with eggs. Remove air from the bag as much as possible, then seal (note 5).
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Store in the fridge for 8-10 hours. Rotate the eggs after 4 hours to evenly marinate the eggs.
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Cut each egg in half using a thread by wrapping the thread around the egg or sliding the thread through the egg (note 6).
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Serve two halves as a topping for a ramen, an izakaya-style side dish, or on a cooked rice.
1. If you don't have bonito flakes, you can use a small amount of dashi powder. If you don't have dashi powder either, you can omit it. The umami flavour of the marinade is not as strong, but ramen eggs are still tasty.
2. I sprinkle leftover bonito flakes over a bowl of cooked rice just like furikake. It's so delicious.
3. Boiling for 6½ minutes makes the egg yolk runny in the centre and semi-cooked around the edge. Boiling eggs for 7 minutes makes the egg yolk semi cooked but not runny, and 6 minutes will make almost the entire egg yolk runny, while the egg white is quite soft.
4. It is important to quickly cool the eggs down to stop further cooking with residual heat.
5. Place the eggs with the round side of the egg up in the egg carton. Using a needle and a small hammer or the side of a pair of kitchen scissors, gently.
6. You can use a small knife to halve the egg as well, but a thread makes a cleaner cut especially when the yolk is runny.