#frying anything before making soup out of it will make the soup more opaque

[niteshade925]

My unorthodox Yangchunmian noodle soup/阳春面

(This is the reason why I was rendering lard lol)

Homestyle unorthodox Yangchunmian noodle soup recipe (enough for 1 person but must be served in a big ramen bowl) (Note: this version includes pork fat and is therefore not vegan/vegetarian/halal/kosher):

Ingredients (optional ones marked with *):

Noodles (preferably thin)

Egg

Soy sauce

Cooking oil

Pork lard (preferably rendered following the recipe that includes baijiu/green onions/ginger; if not, there are brands out there that can imitate the taste)

Pyropia seaweed (this is what nori is made from so unseasoned nori is also fine; also sold dried in giant discs)

*Wakame (brown kelp) OR Shanghai bok choy (stem is green instead of white) OR dried shiitaki mushrooms

Green onion

Chinese black vinegar (the one I used is Duliu Laocu/独流老醋, Zhenjiang Xiangcu/镇江香醋 is also fine)

Ground white pepper

Sugar

*Salt

Sesame oil

*Fish sauce/鱼露

*Chicken bouillon powder

Preparation:

Chop green onion, just one will do

Tear off a 2"x2" piece of pyropia seaweed OR 2 small pieces of nori

*If adding bok choy, wash bok choy

*If adding dried shiitaki mushrooms, rehydrate it first

In a ramen bowl, add:

~4 tbsp of soy sauce

~3/4 tsp of pork lard

~1 tsp of Chinese black vinegar

*A few drops of fish sauce

~1/2 tsp ground white pepper

~1/4 tsp sugar

*~1/4 tsp chicken bouillon powder

~1/2 tsp seasame oil

Pour just enough hot water to melt pork lard and combine everything together, mix well

In a sauce pan (at least 1.5 qt):

Turn on heat, set to medium

When pan is hot, rub the pyropia seaweed on the bottom of the pan a couple of times to mimic toasting, then put seaweed into ramen bowl

Pour a little cooking oil into pan, fry the egg until over hard

Add 5 cups of hot water into pan

Add noodles, *add bok choy

Let it cook

*When noodles are halfway done, add the vegetable (wakame/shiitaki mushroom) as desired

When noodles are done, pour everything into bowl, mix well with the soup base in the bowl

*Add salt as desired

Top with fresh chopped green onion and serve

The end product should taste mildly salty, mildly sour, and umami. Overall taste should be mild.