When You and Your Sister Get Each Other the Same Thing for Christmas...

Okay so funny story. My oldest sis Claire and her boyfriend are asian food connoisseurs like myself. They recently took a two week trip to Japan where they had some of the most amazing authentic asian cuisine (jealous). I wanted to get them something unique and different for Christmas this year. I decided on getting some big ramen bowls and spoons, as well as little soy sauce bowls etc. I wanted to get them the works to recreate amazing asian food at home. So here's the funny part, without mentioning anything about my gift idea, Claire got me the EXACT same thing. I'm not kidding. And this isn't just some present you find on display at a department store, we both ventured into random asian markets to scour for this authentic gift. Pretty hilarious, but I guess great minds think alike.

My big Chinese dragon bowls have been sitting around since Christmas waiting to be filled with a brothy asian noodle soup. Would it be miso ramen or seafood pho? Soba noodles or curry? I had been researching all different recipes, but ended up combining about five. This dish is sort of like ramen and pho had a baby. I call it phamen.

Asian Rice Noodles Ramen Pho Soup
yields one large bowl of soup, recipe mostly adapted from Love and Lemons

Ingredients:
1 egg
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 Tbsp. vegetable oil
5 oz. shiitake mushrooms, sliced
2 green onions, white and green thinly sliced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 Tbsp. peeled and minced fresh ginger*
16 oz. (half a box) vegetable broth
1 1/2 cups water
1/4 (2.2 oz) package rice noodles
1 big handful of spinach or kale
drizzle of sesame oil (optional)

Garnishes:
red pepper flakes
sriracha
sliced green onions
sprouts
bean sprouts
chopped cilantro

Directions:
Fill a small sauce pan about halfway up with water, enough to cover your egg. Over high heat, boil just your water. Once boiling add your egg and reduce heat to low. Simmer your egg for 8 minutes to create the perfect runny ramen egg.

While your egg is cooking, heat your vegetable oil in a medium sauce pan over medium heat. Sauté mushrooms, green onions, garlic, and ginger. Season with salt and cook until mushrooms are tender, about 6-7 minutes.

Your egg should be finishing up by now. Take out of the hot water and run under cool water. Peel your egg and set aside. Place in a deep bowl or cup. Pour the soy sauce over your egg to let it marinate a little. Flip your egg every once in a while give it an even light brown color.

Add vegetable broth and water to the mushrooms and bring to a boil. Add noodles and reduce to a simmer. Add spinach and cook until just wilted. Once your soup has come together pour into a fairly large serving bowl. Flavor with soy sauce and a drizzle of sesame oil. Take your egg out of the soy sauce and cut in half. Garnish the phamen with your runny egg, chopped cilantro, red pepper flakes, sprouts, green onions, sriracha etc! Now you have a beautiful bowl of phamen!

*The easiest way I've found to peel and mince ginger is by cutting off the skin with a knife then using a microplane to mince it. This is also a great way to mince garlic!

I highly recommend the addition of a runny ramen egg. Here you can see mine marinating in it's soy bath.

I have to give myself a pat on the back for this recipe because it was pretty outstanding. It makes a huge bowl, but I wouldn't share. I had leftovers, but I still kept it all for myself. If you want to be nice, the recipe easily doubles for sharing purposes.