Day 173: umami inhalation

A broth is basically the culinary equivalent of taking a long relaxing soak in a warm bath (or whatever your equivalent is; I know some people immensely dislike baths); it warms you up, winds you down, rejuvenates waning moods and gives you a timeout. As much as I love a bath - with a glass of red wine and the gentle sound of Enigma playing in the background - I’d rather slurp broth, or other foods, to get my comfort, if truth be told; I lead with my stomach and if that is happy then I too am soothed and content.

It was an aromatic broth with lamb, savoy cabbage and wide noodles on Monday (Day 172) and for lunch yesterday we delved into the umami universe with a dashi broth in Nigella’s Raman, from Simply. This is the kind of lunch you could just sink into for a long and relaxing soak; inhaling the umami and feeling more relaxed with each slurp of hot and replenishing dashi.

Nigella’s Ramen

I read that a key ingredient to ramen is tare; an umami-intense concentrated flavouring made from reducing soy sauce, sake, mirin, sugar, vinegar and other spices/flavours, that is then added to soups/broths/ramens to give a deep, bellowing flavour. Nigella’s version, however, woos the harried cook: it’s near-instant and uses ingredients, that to me anyway, are more easily accessible than a ready-made/shop-bought tare. Yes, I could make my own, but that would remove the appeal of this being a comfort you can rustle up in under 20 minutes.

I realised after eating/slurping my way through this that I’d forgotten to add the finely chopped green spring onions (a shame; I’m particularly fond of that grassy-allium flavour in broths).

I’m afraid I don’t have what it takes to arrange the toppings so neatly and prettily by colour or ingredient: I am far too impatient and greedy to be skilled in that art, though I have huge admiration and respect for those who do possess the required traits and skills to do it so artfully.

The recipe for this one can be found on p79 of Simply Nigella and there is also a clip on the BBC website (link below).