Veggie ramen broth. Because sometimes, just sometimes, you need to feed a vegan who suffers from Celiac disease.

veggie_stock.md

Veggie Stock for Ramen

This is a two-part stock. It starts as an umami-heavy kombu/mushroom dashi and then adds a vegetable backbone. Intended to mimic the "two-broth" style of non-vegetarian ramen stock.

Ingredients

Dashi

Note these are estimates. You can vary by more than double without ruining anything.

• 1 medium package (3-4 oz) of dried mushrooms
• 3 sheets of kombu kelp

Vegetables

These are what I used, but please substitute liberally with what you have. Make sure to include some aromatics (onion, scallion, shallot) and some root vegetables (carrots, turnip). The actual ingredients and even possibly the proportions aren't important.

Aromatics

• 1 onion
• 1 bunch of scallions (I use the green parts and save the whites for other uses)
• 1 leek

Root vegetables

• 1 large or 2 small shallot bulbs
• 2 large carrots
• 2 small turnips

Flavor

• 1 bunch of parsley stalks (what's left when you use the leaves)
• 3 stalks of celery

Instructions

Dashi

• Fill a very large stock pot with several gallons of cold water. You want to do this properly, right?
• Put over high heat.
• Add mushrooms and kombu while water is still cold.
• When the water reaches a boil, turn it down to medium (or whatever will keep it at a consistent simmer).
• Simmer for 2-ish hours.
• Remove the kombu.
• Simmer for another hour.
• Remove the mushrooms and reserve for another use, like mushroom pickles.

Vegetables

• If you're using a soup sock, load it with the vegetables and submerge it in the simmering water. Otherwise, dump in all of your vegetables and be prepared to strain in a few hours.
• Simmer for 2-ish hours.

Quality control

Your stock should now be quite brown and fragrant. If it is not brown, continue to simmer for another hour.

Final prep

• Your stock should have reduced by about half by now. Remove your soup sock or strain out your vegetables and put the stock over high heat.
• Continue to reduce by about a third of the remaining liquid, skimming every few minutes.

What is skimming?

Skimming is using a fine mesh filter to remove the scum from the top of your stock. This is especially important with meat stocks, but your vegetable stock will benefit from your obsessiveness. Remove scum every 10 minutes or so.

Storage

Cool your stock and store.

• Refrigerate: In 32oz or smaller containers (so it will cool more quickly) for about two weeks.
• Freeze: Lasts several months to a year, but just eat it already.