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Ingredients
1 tablespoon sesame oil
5 cloves garlic, crushed and finely chopped
2 large sweet green onions, or 4 green onions,
white and pale green part only, sliced into
¼-inch cubes
1 tablespoon toenjang (Korean fermented soybean
paste)
½ tablespoon koch’ujang (Korean hot red
pepper paste)
6 cups Clear Chicken Stock or Beef Stock
1 ounce dried kelp (sil myok), rehydrated for
5 minutes and cut into ½-inch pieces
(about 2 cups)
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
Freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds, for garnish |
Method
Place ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.
Strain and discard solids. In a nonreactive stockpot,
heat the oil over medium-high heat until hot. Add
the garlic, green onions (reserving some for garnish),
toenjang and koch’jang. Sauté for 2 minutes,
until fragrant. Add the chicken stock and bring to
a full boil. Add the kelp and soy sauce. Gently boil
for 1 minute. Adjust the seasoning with black pepper.
To serve, ladle the soup into individual serving bowls.
Garnish with green onion and sesame seeds.
Serves 4
15 minutes to prepare and cook
Chef's Quote
To this basic recipe, you may add cubed bean curd
and meat, such as ground beef, chicken or seafood.
In the Korean mind, mothers and myokguk are inseparable.
Loaded with nutrition, it is the daily fare for expectant
mothers. When a child is born, as a celebration of
life, myokguk and rice are offered to samshin, the
three gods of childbirth. For the next several months,
myokguk remains a staple of a new mother’s diet. Seaweed
is an excellent source of iodine, alginic acid, calcium,
iron, and vitamins C, B1, B2, and B12. Myokguk is
a must at a Korean child’s one hundredth day celebration
(paek-il-nal) and henceforth our customary birthday
soup, just as birthday cake is in other lands. Today,
myokguk remains one of Koreans’ favorite soups. It
is delicious and simple to make.
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