Seaweed soup (Miyuk Guk)

Seaweed soup is a super easy, nutritious, and delicious. In Korea it's also known to be great for pregnant ladies or ladies who have just given birth thanks to the nutrients in seaweed that is good for your blood. It's a tradition to have seaweed soup on your birthday because this is the food that your mom had the day you were born.

Ingredients:
- 3-4 oz beef, sliced into very small pieces, preferably rib eye
- 1/3 cup dried seaweed
- 1 T sesame oil
- 3 T soup soy sauce, this is different from regular soy sauce and can be found in Asian markets

1. Put the dried seaweed in a large bowl of water and soak for at least half an hour. Drain and squeeze the water out. Set aside.

2. Heat a pot on medium and put the sesame oil in.

3. Add the beef and season with salt and pepper. Cook for a couple minutes until it's halfway cooked.

4. Add the drained seaweed with 1 T of the soup soy sauce. Saute for a couple minutes.

5. Add the water and bring to a boil. Add the remaining soy sauce. Lower heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Skim the top of the soup. Taste and add more soy sauce if needed.

Fish Cake Soup (Odeng Tang)

Now that the weather is cooling down and we have been getting a few chilly nights, we thought it was time to introduce one of our favorite comfort soups. We remember ducking into cozy bars on cold winter nights and ordering this soup to go with little glasses of rice wine. If you have the ingredients it won't take you more than 15 minutes to make this.

Ingredients:
- 5 dried anchovies
- 2" slice of daikon
- 2" square of dried seaweed
- 150g fish cake
- 1 T dark soy sauce (soy sauce used for soups, can be found in Korean supermarkets)
- 2 T sliced green onion
- Soy sauce and wasabi for dipping sauce

1. Put the seaweed and daikon into 5 cups of water and bring to a boil. Add anchovies and boil for another 1-2 minutes. Lower heat and take out the anchovies.

2. Slice the fish cake into 2" pieces.

3. Put them into the broth and let it come back to a boil. Then let it simmer for a couple minutes.

4. Add the dark soy sauce and stir it in for another minute. Taste the soup and add a little more soy sauce if it is bland.

5.  Turn off the heat and put in the green onions.

6. Serve with a little bit of soy sauce and wasabi for dipping the fish cake.

Cold Cucumber Soup (Oee Neng Guk)

We've been having some really hot and humid days so we thought that you would enjoy this cold refreshing soup recipe. One bowl of this soup and I guarantee you will feel at least ten degrees cooler. It's so easy and you probably have all the ingredients in your fridge already.

 

Ingredients for 3-4 servings:
1 large English cucumber or several smaller versions, cut into matchsticks
2 T simple syrup (don't use agave, i tried and had to start over)
2 T rice vinegar
1 1/2 T thinly sliced green onions (i substituted with chopped chives, it works)
1 1/2 t course salt
1  t minced garlic
1/2 T regular salt
2 1/2 cups cold water

1. Put the cucumber in a bowl and add course salt. Mix around and let sit for 5-10 minutes.

2. In another bowl, add cold water, simple syrup, vinegar, garlic and regular salt.

3. Add the salted cucumber (and the salty cucumber water left in the bowl) to the water mixture.

4. Add the green onions.

5. Put in serving bowls and add one ice cube to each bowl just to make sure it is extra refreshing. Goes great with the little anchovy and seaweed rice balls I made for lunch. (Recipe to be posted soon.)

Bean Sprout Soup (Kongnamul Guk)

Have we mentioned that Koreans love soup? Sometimes it is the main point of a meal sometimes it is just an accompaniment. Either way we think a meal is not really complete without a soup.

This recipe is for a simple soup made with bean sprouts and is more of a side dish. When you go to restaurants and order a dish, this kind of soup will just come out on the table with the rest of the banchan. It's the kind of dish that you won't ever order because it's never on the menu and you won't plan a meal around this dish, but you will miss if it's not served.

  

Ingredients for 2

200g bean sprouts

6 dried anchovies

1 piece of dried kelp

2 inch slice of daikon

6 cups water

2 t salt

1t Korean red chili powder

2 T chopped green onions

1. Make the broth. Put the water, anchovies, kelp, and daikon into a pot and bring to a boil. Lower heat and cook for 4-5 minutes. Take out the anchovies and kelp.

2. Add bean sprouts and put the lid on the pot. Raise the heat and bring to boil for 1-2 minutes. Then add the salt, green onions and red chili powder.

Put in a bowl and season to taste with salt and pepper. And you're done. It tastes the best when it's piping hot.

Spicy Kimchi Stew (Kimchi Jjigae)

Jjigae means stew in Korean, and is another common dish we constantly crave. Here we make it with kimchi. It's hot and spicy and tangy and makes a bowl of rice disappear in a second.

The secret to kimchi jjigae is using very old kimchi(see kimchi bokkumbap). If you can't get a hold of the old kimchi that is sold, you can just let your kimchi age in your fridge until the cabbage loses its whiteness and turns dark and a bit transparent like the picture below. Taste the kimchi and if its really sour then it's perfect for jjigae.

Ingredients for 2 people:
1 1/2 cups old kimchi cut into small pieces
1 T cooking oil
1 can of tuna packed in water, drained (we think Dongwon brand is best for this dish)
6 dried anchovies and 1 square of dried kelp (Optional)
2 cups water
1 t sugar
1 t red pepper powder
1 T red chilli pepper slices
2 T green onion slices

1. Add anchovies and seaweed in to a pot with water and boil for 5 minutes. Set aside.


2. Heat the oil in a ceramic pot(it's ok to use whatever pot you have) and put in the kimchi slices. Let it fry for 1-2 minutes.


3. Add sugar.


4. Add the red pepper powder and mix it around.


5. Add the anchovy stock to the ceramic pot. Bring to boil then let it simmer for 10 minutes.


6. Add the tuna and let simmer for 5-10 more minutes. Simmer time may vary depending on how thick you like the jjigae to be. The longer you simmer, the richer the taste.


7. Add the green onions and red pepper and simmer for 1 more minute. Put on the table and enjoy!

* Pork version is also delicious and a bit more hearty. Just add 2 ounces of pork belly when you are frying the kimchi and let it cook through. Replace anchovy broth with regular water.

Korean Miso Soup with Manilla Clams

Another staple in a Korean meal is soup. No matter what kind of food you are having, or where you are having it, chances are there will be some kind of soup on the table. We just love our soups. And half the time it will be some variation of Korean miso soup.

Today we will be making it with Manilla clams.


Ingredients:
1 pound Manilla Clams
2 tablespoons Korean soybean paste (Found in Korean markets sold in a plastic tub.)
1/2 jalapeno pepper sliced thinly seeds removed
1/2 bunch of enoki mushrooms (Found in most Asian markets.)
2 cloves of minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon of red pepper powder (Also found in most Asian markets. Don't use cayenne or western chilli powder. It will taste confusing.)
3 tablespoons of green onions slices plus some extra for garnish
4-5 dried anchovies (Found in asian markets sold in bags, but can be skipped if not available.)

1. Prep the clams: discard any clams that are open and scrub the rest under running water. Then soak in water for half an hour.

2. Start the broth: bring 5 cups water and the dried anchovies to a boil. Lower heat then remove anchovies after 8 minutes.

3. Lower the heat and add soybean paste to the broth by pushing it through a strainer with a spoon. We do this so the soup is smooth without any bits of bean floating around. Discard the chunks that don't go through the strainer.

4. Add the garlic and clams to the pot. Bring to boil for a minute then let simmer on low until the clams are all open.

5. Add the enoki mushrooms, green onions, jalapeno slices, and red pepper. Let cook for a couple minutes or until the veggies are slightly wilted.

6. Serve into bowl and top with some green onion slices for garnish. Enjoy!