Spicy Tantanmen

Tantanmen Ramen (担々麺)

Tantanmen is a local Japanese variant of Sichuan Dan Dan Noodles. It was originally created to cater to Japanese tastes, but it’s developed into its own subgenre of ramen. These days, many Japanese noodle shops offer their own take, using their house broth as the base. 

The key to any great ramen is in the broth, and Tantanmen is no exception. Ramen broths are usually made by boiling pork and or chicken bones for hours to get all of the flavor and collagen out of them. This is how you get the rich umami and unctuous mouthfeel of a good ramen broth. But I’ve found a few kitchen hacks to significantly reduce the time required to make a ramen shop quality Tantanmen in under thirty minutes. 

Why This Recipe Works?

• Caramelizing a mixture of ginger, garlic, and ground pork with spices and seasonings creates an umami-packed soup base that fortifies store-bought chicken stock. 
• Whisking the soup together with tahini creates a rich and creamy broth that tastes like you’ve been boiling bones for hours.
• By whisking the Tantanmen broth into the sesame mixture in the serving bowl, you get the best sesame flavor and avoid the risk of having the sesame paste curdle and separate.

Ingredients for Tantanmen

Noodles

• The original Japanese Tantanmen was made with thinner straight noodles, but thinner noodles tend to go soggy faster, and I prefer the chewy texture of thicker curly ramen noodles. That being said, you can make this with whatever noodles you like. I’ve even seen Tantanmen being made with udon noodles here in Japan. 

Broth

• Ground pork – Normally, ramen broth is made by boiling pork and chicken bones for hours, but by using ground pork and browning it very well, you’re able to extract the maximum amount of flavor in the minimum amount of time. 
• Scallion stems – I like to use just the white stem parts to keep the soup from having bits of browned scallion greens in it. I used Tokyo Negi, which has a very thick stem. Regular green onions will work fine, but you may need to use more of them than I did. Shallots or onion will also work as a substitute. 
• Ginger & garlic – Along with the scallion stems, the ginger and garlic form a trifecta of aromatics. These get thoroughly browned, which creates dozens of new flavor compounds thanks to the Maillard reaction. To ensure the flavor from these disperse into the soup quickly, I recommend grating these rather than chopping them. 
• Sichuan pepper – Sichuan pepper is not always added to Japanese Tantanmen, but I love the citrusy aroma and tongue-tingling texture. If you can’t find it (or don’t like it), you can skip this. 
• Soy sauce – This is the primary seasoning for the soup.
• Doubanjiang – Doubanjiang is a fermented chili bean paste. The chili component adds heat to the soup, and fermented beans add a ton of umami. If you can’t find it, you can use a different chili paste like sambal oelek or gochujang. I recommend avoiding vinegar-based hot sauces as the sourness won’t taste right in the soup.
• Chicken stock – There’s no need to get fancy here, but I recommend using real chicken stock (instead of bouillon cubes). You’ll also want to make sure it’s low sodium, so the soup doesn’t get too salty from the other seasonings.

Taré

• Tahini – In Japan, nerigoma, which is made by grinding whole toasted sesame seeds into a paste, is used for Tantanmen. I used tahini because it’s easier to find outside of Japan. It won’t taste quite the same, but if you can’t find tahini, unsweetened peanut butter will work in a pinch.
• Toasted sesame oil – Because tahini is made from hulled sesame seeds, its flavor is milder than Japanese nerigoma. Adding a little toasted sesame oil brings the flavor more in line with Japanese sesame paste. 
• Toasted sesame seeds – For a triple dose of sesame, I also like to add some ground toasted sesame seeds to the broth for this spicy ramen.
• Rayu – Rayu is spicy chili oil; this contributes to the spiciness of the soup. If you can’t find it, any chili oil should work in its place. 

Toppings

• Pork – Japanese Tantanmen is traditionally topped with ground pork instead of Chashu like other varieties of ramen. Although there are many variations on the topping, the original used a sweet seasoning to balance out the spicy soup. 
• Tianmian sauce – This sweet Chinese condiment is rich and nutty and goes great with pork. Hoisin sauce has a similar taste profile and will work as a substitute if you can’t find Tianmian sauce. 
• Soy sauce – Tianmian sauce is much sweeter than salty, so I like to add a bit of soy sauce to balance out the sweetness.
• Greens – Tantanmen is usually topped with a type of mustard green called Komatsuna, but if you can’t find it where you live, bok choy, mizuna, kale, or spinach are all suitable alternatives. 
• Scallions – I like to top my spicy ramen with some chopped scallion greens, but this is optional. 

How to Make Tantanmen Topping

First, you want to marinate the bigger portion of ground pork with the Tianmian sauce and soy sauce. You want the mixture to remain crumbly, so it’s best to do this with chopsticks, using pork that’s very cold. 

Then, this gets stir-fried with some vegetable oil and broken up into small crumbs using a spatula or wooden paddle. 

How to Make Tantanmen Taré

To make the tare, grind the toasted sesame seeds. You can use a mortar and pestle, spice grinder, food processor, or blender to do this. Next, add the ground sesame seeds along with the tahini, rayu, and toasted sesame oil to your serving bowl. If you’re making more than one portion, you can whisk these ingredients together in one bowl and then divide the taré evenly between your serving bowls. 

How to make Tantanmen Broth

For the broth, you can reuse the same frying pan you used for stir-frying the topping without washing it (just make sure it’s big enough to hold all of the chicken stock). 

Stir-fry the remaining ground pork, scallion stems, ginger, and garlic while breaking the pork up into small crumbs until the meat is fully cooked. Add the Sichuan pepper, soy sauce, and doubanjiang and continue stir-frying until all of the liquid has evaporated and the mixture starts to caramelize. 

Add the chicken stock to the pan and bring the mixture to a boil. 

Pour the hot soup into your serving bowl(s) with the taré and use a whisk or stick blender to emulsify the mixture into a creamy broth. 

Assembling Tantanmen

Bring a pot of water to a boil and blanch the greens. 

Boil the noodles according to the time specified on the package in the water you used to blanch the greens.

Drain the noodles and add them to the soup. Top your Tantanmen with the pork topping as well as the greens and some chopped scallions for garnish. 

Other Ramen Recipes

• Soupless Tantanmen
• Vegan Tonkotsu Ramen
• Tori Paitan Ramen (Creamy Chicken Ramen)
• Tonkotsu Ramen

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