Ingredients

Ramen Eggs

  • 1 cup Japanese soy sauce
  • 1 piece kombu
  • 1/2 cup mirin
  • 1/2 cup cooking sake
  • 1/2 cup bonito flakes
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 8 cloves garlic crushed
  • 8 eggs

Braised beef

  • 1 lb pork shoulder or belly, cut to 1/3 in cubes
  • 1 Tbsp vegetable oil
  • 2 Tbsp shaoxing wine
  • 3 Tbsp dark soy sauce
  • 1/4 cup fried shallots/onions
  • 1 Tbsp garlic, chopped
  • 2 star anise
  • 2 dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked
  • 1 stick cinnamon
  • 2 Tbsp rock sugar or brown sugar
  • 2/3 cup hot water
  • 10-15 dried chiles
  • 2 Tbsp sichuan bean paste
  • 3 tsp sambal olek
  • 2 tsp chili crisp oil
  • cornstarch

Directions

Ramen Egg

Boil a large pot of water.

Make tare by combining all ingredients (except egg) in saucepan, simmer for 15 min. Strain with fine sieve and let cool.

Place in warm water for 1 minute (if eggs are room-temperature already, skip this step and boil for 1 minute less below).

Lower eggs in water, boil for 7 1/2 min. Prepare bowl of ice water.

Move eggs to ice water for a few minutes to cool. Peel under running water.

Place eggs in a ziploc bag with ~1/3 of the tare, enough to soak but no need to totally submerge. Refrigerate for 8-24 hours, turning occasionally. Remove eggs from tare and refrigerate. Remaining tare can be re-used a few times.

Use eggs within 3 days. Leftover tare sauce seems to keep for a very long time. Before using eggs, let them come to room temperature if possible.

Braised Beef

Set instant pot to sauté (high/more temp). Add vegetable oil to bottom. Once oil is hot, add pork and keep it moving to avoid sticking. The pork will give off some water, cook until that water is mostly evaporated.

Mix all other ingredients (except cornstarch) in separate bowl. Once water has cooked off pork, add to instant pot and stir.

Set instant pot to manual, high pressure, 25 minutes. Once finished, wait for a natural pressure release (quick release is fine if you’re in a hurry). Skim off oil from mixture.

Set instant pot to sauté on high again, and cook until pork has darkened a little and some (but not all) of the liquid has evaporated. If in doubt, leave more liquid.

Mix 1 part cornstarch to 2 parts water (by volume), and stir in to mixture until a thick saucy consistency is reached. Usually around 3 Tbsp of the mixture will do it.

Serving suggestion: ladle pork over rice, top with ramen egg.