A Practical Guide to Korean Food and Korean Fusion Food

How are you folks? It’s been three weeks since my last post. I was very busy keeping up with my life, mostly study. And what else happened? Oh! the weather. We had a couple of nasty windy days, one or two weeks ago. I felt like I was in Korea at the end of November. At the end of that day, I was desperate to have something that could warm me up.

I know most of you have completely different ideas about the food you crave right now (I got a couple of requests about Korean sherbets -Patbingsu, a popular summer snack), but I am not in that mood right now. Probably not for six more months to be exact.

So I made this brown seaweed soup (miyeok guk 미역국), because it is such a simple thing to make. It is not creamy like some western style soups nor does it look fancy. Yet the aroma that comes from the sesame oil was just right to comfort and warm me up. In addition, it just tasted so good, as if my mother cooked it. Maybe I am exaggerating, but that was how good it was.

Miyeok guk is also known as birthday soup in Korea. I’ve already mentioned about this on other post, so you can read about it if you are interested.

Ingredients (enough for 3-4 servings, ready in 15 – 20 minutes)

• 35g dried brown seaweed (Miyeok)
• 70g sliced beef shank
• 2 cloves minced garlic
• 3 tbsp soy sauce (I used Kikoman brand)
• 1 tbsp Korean sesame oil
• 4 cups water
• 1/2 tbsp sesame oil and 3 sprinkles ground black pepper – to season the meat

Prep

1. Soak the dried brown seaweed in cold water for 5 minutes.
2. Drain the water and rinse the seaweed a couple of times in running water.
3. Drain the water. Cut the seaweed with scissors to little finger lengths.
4. Season the beef with 1/2 tbsp sesame oil and 3 sprinkles of ground black pepper.

Steps

1. Pre heat the sauce pan (or pot) for about 30 seconds.
2. Add 1 tbsp of sesame oil, the brown seaweed, and the sliced beef then stir it for 2 – 3 minutes.
3. Add the water then boil it on medium heat until the seaweed and the meat cook (about 5- 10 minutes).
4. Add the soy sauce and garlic, boil it for 2 more minutes then serve. (You can adjust the taste with some salt if it is needed, however I didn’t use it).