Mazesoba (Soupless Ramen)

Mazesoba is a simple Japanese dish composed of noodles and a sauce. Think of it as a Japanese version of pasta with ragu sauce. Either way, it is so tasty and so easy to make. It can be quite heavy, so it's a great comfort food.

I adapted the following recipe from this site and ramen_lord, a ramen aficionado on reddit and Instagram.

Ingredients
For spicy pork sobo

• 1/2 pound ground pork
• 1 Tbsp ginger, finely chopped
• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
• 1 shallot, finely chopped
• 1 Tbsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp Sugar
• 1 Tbsp sake
• 2 Tbsp soy sauce
• 1 1/2 tsp chili bean paste (doubanjiang or toban djan)

For the mazesoba

• One portion thick ramen noodles
• 2 Tbsp tahini
• 1 Tbsp soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
• 2-3 tsp chili crisp or chili oil, depending on preference
• (Optional) togarashi or sansho powder
• Greens: dandelion greens, spinach, cabbage, etc, coarsely chopped.

Instructions

1. Prepare the soboro. Heat sesame oil in a pan over medium-high heat, and add ginger, garlic, and shallot. Once they are aromatic, add the pork and stir together until browned.
2. Mix together the sugar, sake, soy sauce, and chili bean past. Add to the pork and remove from  heat.
3. Cook the noodles.
4. Assemble the bowl. Add the tahini, soy sauce, vinegar, and chili crisp/oil to the bottom of the bowl. Sprinkle with togarashi and sansho. Stir everything together.
5. Lay the noodles on top of the liquids in the bowl. 
6. Top with the soboro. Add blanched greens, egg yolk, or more togarashi/sansho.
7. Mix and eat.

Serves 1.