Suddenly I craved for Japanese Nagasaki champon noodle. It’s an easily homemade version with milk, chicken bouillon, oyster sauce as the soup base. Anyone?
Nostalgic Tokyo 500 Yen Champon Noodle
When I was working in Tokyo, there was a Nagasaki ちゃんぽん specialty store called Ringer Hut near the office. During lunch time, bowls of Champon noodles will be prepared outside the store. I hold a 500 yen coin in my hand, went straight to the store, put down one coin, got the bento in seconds, and enjoyed it while it was piping hot (in front of the computer though).
Of course, I can’t easily recreate that Champon at home because there is no way I’d slowly cook the soup with chicken and pork. But I want to eat it again, what should I do? Search online!
The Japanese recipe website kurashiru teaches how to make “お手軽ちゃんぽん”(simple and easy champon) at home. It turned out to be very simple.
The soup base only requires milk, chicken bouillon powder and soy sauce. However, some readers reported that the taste was too mild, unlike the taste of the store, and it is recommended to add oyster sauce. So, I also added oyster sauce! In addition, some people also added miso, ginger and garlic paste, which should be thicker and richer, but I did not add it this time.
Traditionally, Everything in One Pot
One of the differences between champon and ramen is that champon can be cooked in one pot, which means that the noodles are not boiled separately, but the ingredients are cooked in the pot. Then poured into the soup base, and stir in the noodles to cook together. But I didn’t do this this time – 1) The pan was not big enough, 2) The noodles I used would be better to cook them separately.
Ref. Recipes
Mild Version: 家庭で作れる スープから作るお手軽ちゃんぽん
Rich Version: スープ濃厚！【ちゃんぽんうどん】
Ingredients
Serves 2
- 2 Chinese noodles
- 10 frozen shrimps, thawed
- 1 carrot, sliced
- any kind of greens, chopped if needed
- 2 mushrooms, sliced
- 1 tsp minced ginger
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- salt and pepper
For the Soup
- 1L water
- 200 ml milk
- 2 tsp salted chicken bouillon powder
- 1 tbsp oyster sauce
- 1 tsp soy sauce
- 1 tsp sugar
- white pepper
How to Make Homemade Style Nagasaki Champon Noodle
- Make the soup base first. Bring all the soup base ingredients to a boil. Remember to taste and adjust.
- Cook the noodles according to the instructions. Drain and set aside.
- Meanwhile, heat the pan with oil, sauté the onion and garlic until fragrant. Add the carrots, mushrooms and sauté a bit, then stir in the shrimps and greens. Season with a little salt and pepper.
- Place the cooked noodles in a bowl, followed by pouring in the soup, topping with stir-fried mixed vegetables and shrimps.
Cooking Note
- Toppings：Generally, Champon will have a small amount of pork, some seafood, broccoli, beans sprouts, mixed vegetables and fish cake (かまぼこ). This time I only used shrimp and mixed vegetables, feel free to mix and match as you like.
- Soup：Because the soup is not made with chicken and pork bones, don’t expect the taste to be as rich as that produced by the store. This is a simple homemade version. The soup base is basically chicken broth + milk, you may want to adjust the amount of the oyster sauce, soy sauce and sugar bit by bit.
