Chicken Chashu for Ramen

We were gifted a set of DIY ramen, which came with 5 portions worth of noodles, broth paste and chili seasoning. I’d like to prepare this for the family, but obviously I shouldn’t waste the opportunity by serving a bowl of noodles in soup and nothing else. Toppings were definitely required.

I looked up typical toppings for ramen, and of course the most common things to include are the chashu, ajitsuke tamago (ramen eggs), dried seaweed, and sliced scallions. Since I’ve already tried my hand at making my own chicken char siew for serving with Chinese wonton noodles, I figured it shouldn’t be too hard to make the Japanese version of this noodle topping myself. Of course traditionally chashu for ramen is made using rolled-up pork belly, but nowadays there are ramen restaurants even in Japan offering pork-free options such as chicken, lamb and even duck. I’ll start with chicken for now.

I used different sources for reference in writing up this recipe. The braising liquid recipe was adapted from Adam Liaw’s version, of course modified using permissible ingredients, and since I was using chicken I followed the prep method based on the recipe by Wok and Skillet.

We start by preparing the chicken. Debone the chicken legs, trimming off excess skin and fat. You can watch this video on how to do it. I used chicken chops, which saved me a lot of time and trouble. With the chops I just used a very sharp knife cut off the joint and trim off any tendons or sinews.

Tie up the chicken legs using kitchen twine. The same video linked above also shows you how to roll and tie up the deboned chicken leg at the 5:00 mark, which is a good method. I’m more used to a method I learned from this video, and the result is what you see pictured here. For each piece of chicken I used about 1.6 meters (basically the width of both my arms wide open), with about 10 cm (~3 inches) or so to spare.

Heat up a large non-stick over medium high heat. I used my cast iron skillet, which I gently heated over medium heat for 10 minutes to reduce any hot spots, before increasing the heat to medium high. When hot, add the chicken and sear, until browned on all sides, about 4 to 5 minutes per side.

In a large pot over medium high heat, add the water, konbu, shiitake mushrooms and chicken.

Bring the mixture to a boil. When the water starts to steam, remove the konbu from the pot.

Add the sugar, salt, the soy sauces, sweet sauce and rice vinegar mixture. Stir until the sugar is dissolved.

Reduce the heat to medium and simmer, uncovered, 25 minutes.

Remove the pot from heat, transfer the contents to a large bowl and let cool to room temperature. Transferring the chashu and liquid out of the pot to an unheated container should speed up the cooling process.

Cover the surface of the chicken and braising liquid with a thick paper towel (I stacked 4 sheets together), to ensure the flavors are evenly absorbed by each piece of chicken.

When the chicken has cooled to room temperature, remove from the seasoning liquid, and snip off the kitchen twine.

Reserve the liquid in an airtight container, for use when making ramen eggs.

Slice into 1/4-inch slices. Try to cut in one swift stroke instead of making too many unnecessary sawing motions, lest you end up with jagged slices like I did lol.

Use as desired.

If not using immediately, store unsliced in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week, or up to a month in the freezer.