Gekikara Chilli Chicken Ramen

In Japanese, gekikara roughly translates as ‘extremely spicy’ and that’s an apt description for this punchy bowlful of Gekikara Chilli Chicken Ramen from Tim Anderson’s Microwave Meals cookbook. Like every recipe in the book, this dish is cooked using only one cooking appliance–the microwave; and all the elements (broth, chicken, vegetables and noodles) are all cooked in the same bowl.

Read our full review of Tim Anderson’s Microwave Meals.

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Gekikara Chilli Chicken Ramen

Ramen and curry shops in Japan often offer a variation on their product called gekikara, which roughly translates as ‘extreme spice’. Inspired by this phenomenon, here’s a spicy, one-pot ramen dish – the broth, the chicken and the noodles are all cooked in the same bowl. Whether or not you consider its heat level ‘extreme’ will depend on your tolerance for chilli, but it definitely has a kick!

Servings 2 people

Author Tim Anderson

Ingredients

Section 1

• 3 spring onions (scallions), sliced
• 900 ml (30½ fl oz/3¾ cups) water
• 1 chicken leg, bone in but skin off
• 1 lemongrass stalk, split lengthways
• 4 tablespoons tahini
• 1 tablespoon miso (any kind)
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce, or more, to taste
• 2 tablespoons hot chilli oil

Section 2

• 1 fresh hot chilli, finely sliced
• 2 garlic cloves,finely sliced
• 150 g (5½ oz) dried ramen / egg noodles
• ½ pak choi (bok choi) or 1 baby pak choi, halved
• 100 g (3½ oz) bean sprouts

Section 3

• 2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds, coarsely ground
• a few big pinches of chilli (hot pepper) flakes

Equipment

• 1 microwave
• 1 large microwave-safe bowl

Instructions

• Divide the spring onions into white parts and green parts; set the green parts aside to use later. Combine the white parts with the water, chicken leg, lemongrass, tahini, miso, soy sauce and chilli oil in a large bowl, cover and cook for 20 minutes. Remove the lemongrass and discard, then take the chicken out and set on a board or plate to cool. When the chicken is cool enough to handle, shred it with your hands or forks into large chunks.
• Add the fresh chilli and garlic to the broth (from section 1) and whisk well to dissolve the miso and tahini. Add the noodles, pak choi and bean sprouts, cover and cook for 3–6 minutes until the noodles are done. Different noodles will absorb different amounts of water, so taste the broth and adjust the seasoning with more soy sauce as necessary
• Transfer the noodles (from section 2) to large bowls, then pour over the broth and top with the pak choi, bean sprouts (from section 2) and shredded chicken (from section 1). Garnish with the green parts of the spring onions, ground sesame and chilli flakes.

You can find more cookbooks and recipes from Tim Anderson here.

You may also like my recipe for Easy Microwave Salted Caramels.

Kavey Eats received a review copy of Microwave Meals by Tim Anderson from publisher Hardie Grant. Recipe and images from the book reproduced courtesy of publisher.