I only recently discovered the joy of ramen bowls (yes I have been living under a rock 🙂 ) when I went to Sono Japanese restaurant with friends. To say I instantly fell in love in an understatement. The stock was to die for and I thought it would be impossible to replicate at home so to be honest I had not even tried. I just lived on my memory and looked for any excuse to return to Sono and have another bowl.
So one night when I was trawling the internet in the wee hours I came across a few recipes for Mushroom Stock I though I would have a go at making my own. All of the recipes I found involved hours of simmering on the stove top and I am too lazy and gas is too expensive for me to try them. I used to make chicken stock in my slow cooker so I thought why not give mushroom stock a whirl 🙂
The big secret to any stock is to oven roast your vegetables (and bones) in the oven first. The extra flavour is amazing and is well worth the extra 10-15 minutes work.
I was lucky enough to be given some amazing mushrooms by a friend so my stock was made with a variety of shiitake, field and brown mushrooms but you can use whatever you have on hand or have access to. The first thing I made was a ramen bowl and even though it was not quite as good as Sono it came pretty close.
I don’t cut the mushrooms or peel the carrot it’s a dump and leave kind or recipe 🙂
Ingredients
- 4 cups whole mushrooms
- 1 large onion
- 1 large carrot
- 5 cloves garlic
- 2 stalks celery
- 1/2 cup soy sauce
- 1/4 cup dark soy (optional)
- 1 teaspoon fish sauce
- 8-10 cups water or enough to cover the mushrooms
Pre heat your oven to 180 degrees and in a large roasting tray combine the mushrooms. onion, carrot, garlic and celery. Roast for 20-30 minutes. Tip your vegetables into your slow cooker and add the water, soy sauce and fish sauce.
Simmer on low for 12 hours ( I make it overnight).
Strain your stock into jars and use as needed. If I am making a ramen bowl I water the stock down a little so that it becomes more of a clearer broth but this black liquid gold can be used as is for anything at all 🙂
