Vegetarian Tantanmen

Tantanmen descends from Sichuan dan dan mian, which reached Tokyo in the 1950s as a dry noodle dish and was rebuilt for Japanese tastes around a bowl of soup and a heavy pour of sesame paste. This vegetarian version keeps that structure: a light vegetable chintan, a sesame and doubanjiang tare, soy milk for body, and a soboro made with plant-based mince.

Sources

The Book of Ramen; Michael T. Satinover and Scott J. Satinover

Tantanmen Bowl

Makes 1 bowl

The tare is thick and sesame-heavy, so it needs whisking into the chintan before the soy milk goes anywhere near it.

• 200 milliliters (1 large ladle) vegetable chintan, hot
• 150 milliliters (2/3 cup) soy milk, warmed gently
• 75 grams (about 4 tablespoons) tantanmen tare
• 15 milliliters (1 tablespoon) chili oil
• 130 grams ramen noodles, cooked
• 60 grams soboro, hot
• 1 small head pak choi, blanched
• Toppings: sliced scallions, toasted ground sesame, crushed peanuts, ground Sichuan pepper, 1 half-cooked egg (optional)

1. Preheat the serving bowl in the oven at its lowest setting.
2. Add the tare and chili oil to the bottom of the bowl and whisk them together.
3. Pour in the hot chintan and whisk until the tare is fully dissolved and no lumps of sesame paste remain.
4. Stir in the warm soy milk. Taste, and adjust with a little more tare or a splash of chintan.
5. Cook the noodles in rapidly boiling water, strain thoroughly, and lay them into the bowl.
6. Top with the soboro, the pak choi, the egg if using, then scallions, ground sesame and crushed peanuts.
7. Grind Sichuan pepper over the bowl and eat immediately.

Handling the Soy Milk: Soy protein starts to destabilise around 65°C, and vinegar and fermented bean paste in the tare push it further toward curdling. Warm the soy milk separately over low heat and pull it off as soon as it steams; never let it simmer. Add it only after the chintan has diluted the tare. Unsweetened tastes cleanest but separates most readily — the sweetened kind carries emulsifiers and is more forgiving. A split soup still tastes right, it just looks grainy.

Japanese soy milk tantanmen runs anywhere from 1:1 to 2:3 soy milk against stock. Total liquid stays around 350 milliliters either way.

Vegetable Chintan (Makes ~7 bowls)

• 3 liters water
• 1 onion, split and peeled
• 1 carrot, peeled and cut into large chunks
• 10 cloves garlic
• 1 5-centimeter piece of ginger
• 10 grams dried shiitake
• 1 bunch green onions
• 20 grams kombu

Vegetarian soups lack both viscosity and umami. This chintan controls for umami by including kombu and dried shiitake, which together supply glutamic acid and guanylic acid. Viscosity is handled later, in the bowl, by the sesame paste and the soy milk.

1. Add the water, onion, carrot, garlic, ginger, and dried shiitake to a pot.
2. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce to a simmer.
3. Cook at a simmer (around 95°C) for one hour.
4. Add the green onions and kombu, turn off the heat, and let steep for 15 minutes.
5. Strain the soup and reserve until needed.

Use 200 milliliters per bowl. Keeps 3-4 days refrigerated and freezes well.

Tantanmen Tare (Makes ~6 bowls)

• 190 grams nerigoma (Japanese sesame paste) or tahini
• 145 milliliters soy sauce
• 30 milliliters (2 tablespoons) Chinkiang black vinegar
• 25 grams doubanjiang, finely chopped
• 20 grams sugar
• 15 milliliters (1 tablespoon) toasted sesame oil
• 10 grams MSG
• 8 grams garlic (about 2 cloves), grated
• 6 grams ginger, grated

Japanese recipes build this tare around roughly two tablespoons of sesame paste per bowl and let everything else support it, so the soy sauce is dialled back further than it would be in a shoyu tare. The doubanjiang, black vinegar, garlic and ginger anchor the bowl to its Sichuan side.

1. Put the sesame paste in a bowl and add the soy sauce in three additions, whisking each one in completely before the next. Added all at once, the paste seizes and refuses to combine.
2. Whisk in the black vinegar, doubanjiang, sugar, sesame oil, MSG, garlic, and ginger.
3. Rest in the fridge for at least a few hours, preferably overnight, so the raw garlic loses its edge.

Use 75 grams per bowl. That puts the soup at roughly 1.2% salt before the soboro, landing near the usual 1.5% once the topping is counted. Sesame and soy milk both blunt salt perception, so taste the assembled bowl rather than trusting the arithmetic. Keeps 3 weeks refrigerated; separates on standing, so whisk before use.

On Sesame Paste: Nerigoma is ground from Japanese-style roasted sesame and is darker and far more aromatic than tahini, which is usually made from lightly toasted or raw seed. Chinese sesame paste (zhima jiang) is the closest substitute. Tahini works but tastes noticeably paler; a spoonful of surigoma over the finished bowl makes up some of the difference.

Soboro (Makes ~6 servings)

• 15 milliliters (1 tablespoon) toasted sesame oil
• 300 grams plant-based mince
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 8 grams ginger, minced
• 15 grams doubanjiang
• 30 grams (2 tablespoons) tianmianjiang (sweet bean paste), or red miso
• 20 milliliters (4 teaspoons) soy sauce
• 20 milliliters (4 teaspoons) sake
• 8 grams sugar
• 40 grams sui mi ya cai or zha cai, rinsed and chopped (optional)
• White pepper, to taste

Soboro describes the crumbled form rather than the meat, so a plant-based version keeps the name. The seasoning follows the Japanese nikumiso pattern: sweet bean paste for body, doubanjiang for heat and ferment, sake and sugar to round it out, cooked down until glossy rather than wet.

1. Heat the sesame oil in a wide pan over medium-high heat. Add the mince and cook, breaking up clumps, until browned in patches, 5-7 minutes. Let it sit still between stirs; constant movement steams it instead of browning it.
2. Add the garlic and ginger and cook until fragrant, about 1 minute.
3. Push everything to one side of the pan, add the doubanjiang to the bare surface, and fry it for 30-60 seconds until the oil turns red, then stir it through. Fried in oil it turns sweet and releases its colour; stirred in raw at the end it stays flat and salty.
4. Add the tianmianjiang, soy sauce, sake, and sugar. Cook, stirring, until the liquid has reduced and the mince is glossy, 2-3 minutes.
5. Stir in the ya cai if using, and season with white pepper.

Use about 60 grams per bowl. Keeps 5 days refrigerated and freezes well in portions. Sui mi ya cai, the preserved mustard greens from Yibin, is the most authentic thing you can add here; Sichuan zha cai is an easier-to-find stand-in. Rinse either before chopping or the soboro turns out too salty.

Chili Oil (Makes ~6 bowls)

• 100 milliliters vegetable oil (neutral flavor, such as grapeseed or canola)
• 1 5-centimeter piece of fresh ginger, sliced into thin coins
• 4 cloves garlic, smashed
• 2-3 dried red chilis, whole or broken
• 2-3 green onions (scallions), white and light green parts only, cut into 3-centimeter pieces

This is the same aromatic oil as in my yuzu shio ramen — make a double batch and one jar covers both bowls.

1. In a small saucepan, combine the oil, ginger, garlic, and chilis.
2. Place over medium-low heat and warm gently. You should see small bubbles forming around the aromatics, but not aggressive frying.
3. Cook for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the ginger and garlic are golden and fragrant. Watch carefully to prevent burning.
4. Remove from heat and immediately add the green onions. The residual heat will cook them gently without burning.
5. Let the aromatics steep in the oil for 10 minutes.
6. Strain through a fine-mesh strainer into a clean container, discarding the solids.

Use 15 milliliters (1 tablespoon) per bowl. Store at room temperature for up to 1 week, or refrigerate for up to 1 month. For a redder oil, stir a tablespoon of coarsely ground togarashi into it at around 120°C — hot enough to bloom the colour without scorching it — and leave the sediment in the jar.

Pak Choi

• 1 small head pak choi per bowl
• Salt

1. Trim the base and separate the leaves, halving any large ones lengthwise.
2. Blanch in the noodle water, before the noodles go in, for 60-90 seconds, until the stems are tender but still snappy.
3. Lift out, shake dry thoroughly, and season with a pinch of salt.

The alkaline noodle water keeps the greens vividly green. Shake them properly dry, as water clinging to the leaves dilutes the bowl.

Half-Cooked Eggs

Optional, and the one non-vegan element in the bowl. Leave it out and everything above is fully plant-based.

• Refrigerated eggs

These ajitsuke tamago (seasoned eggs) feature a jammy yolk with a firm white, marinated in a savory-sweet soy mixture. The ice bath stops the cooking process instantly, ensuring the perfect texture every time.

1. Bring a large pot of water to a full boil.
2. In a large bowl or container, fill with ice and cold water to make an ice bath. Reserve.
3. Remove eggs from the refrigerator.
4. Working in batches of 4-6 eggs at a time to avoid the water temperature dropping too quickly, lower your eggs into the boiling water.
5. Boil the eggs, stirring occasionally during the first minute or so of cooking, for 6-7 minutes, depending on how firm you’d like the yolk. I prefer 7 minutes for a slightly custardy yolk. For a completely liquid yolk, cook for 6 to 6.5 minutes.
6. After the time is up, quickly remove the eggs from the water and place them in the ice bath from step 2. Hold for 15 minutes, or until thoroughly chilled.

Marinade

• One part soy sauce
• One part mirin
• One part water

1. Place peeled eggs in an airtight container, such as a hard plastic container or a sealable bag.
2. Pour the above ingredients into the container to cover (you may not need to use all the brine; reduce the amount as necessary).
3. Soak, jostling contents every hour or so, for 4-6 hours.
4. Remove from brine and reserve in the fridge until needed.