🇯🇵🇹🇳 HARISSA MISO RAMEN 🍜🌶️

Welcome back to Flavours of the World Cup, the series where I’m cooking my way through the tournament - one game at a time ⚽️

Some fixtures create obvious dishes, especially when each nation has the most incredible cuisines! I use both harissa and miso a LOT in my cooking - so this one came to me very easily. And OH MY GOD does it work wonderfully…

The Inspiration

Harissa is Tunisia’s national condiment - a smoky chilli paste that appears in countless dishes across North Africa 🌶️

Miso plays a similarly important role in Japanese cooking. Made from fermented soybeans, it has been part of Japanese cuisine for more than 1,300 years and forms the backbone of many soups, sauces and broths 🍜

So I combined the two into a rich harissa-miso broth, served with smoky harissa roasted aubergine 🍆

Recipe (serves 2)

Ingredients

• 1 tsp harissa paste

• 1 tsp white miso paste

• 1 tsp minced garlic

• 1 tsp minced ginger

• 1 tbsp dark soy sauce

• 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar

• 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil

• 100ml coconut milk

• 1 aubergine

• 100g tender stem broccoli

• 600ml hot vegetable stock

• 1 lime, juiced

• Pinch of sugar, msg + salt (to taste)

• 4 servings ramen noodles

• 2 spring onions, finely sliced

• Pinch of toasted sesame seeds

• Lime wedges

Method

1. To serve 2, make the paste in a saucepan. Add the miso, harissa, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, sesame oil + rice wine vinegar. Whisk together to combine.

2. Chop the aubergine into 1cm chunks. Take 1 tbsp of the ramen paste + mix through the aubergine, adding a little more to fully coat. If you need more paste for either the broth or aubergine, simply make a little more.

3. Spray or drizzle the aubergine with oil, then roast in a pre-heated oven or air fryer at 190c fan for around 20-25 minutes, or until gooey + soft.

4. Add the coconut milk to the leftover paste, whisk well + then pour over the hot vegetable stock. Gently warm, then season to taste with a pinch of sugar, msg + lime juice.

5. Cook or soak the noodles according to packet instructions (I like the blanch my broccoli at the same time in the same water).

6. To serve, get the broth into bowls. Add the noodles, then top with aubergine, broccoli, spring onions, sesame seeds and a lime wedge.

Football Facts ⚽

🇹🇳 Tunisia became the first African nation to win a World Cup match when they defeated Mexico in 1978.

🇯🇵 Japan have qualified for every World Cup since 1998 and are known as the Samurai Blue.

For the full recipe video, dish rating + score predictions, head over to my socials.

Next we’re heading to Argentina 🇦🇷 and Austria 🇦🇹.

Speak soon,

Alfie x