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
- Soak the dried brown seaweed in cold water for 5 minutes.
- Drain the water and rinse the seaweed a couple of times in running water.
- Drain the water. Cut the seaweed with scissors to little finger lengths.
- Season the beef with 1/2 tbsp sesame oil and 3 sprinkles of ground black pepper.
Steps
- Pre heat the sauce pan (or pot) for about 30 seconds.
- Add 1 tbsp of sesame oil, the brown seaweed, and the sliced beef then stir it for 2 – 3 minutes.
- Add the water then boil it on medium heat until the seaweed and the meat cook (about 5- 10 minutes).
- 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).
When I feel so down my friend make me this.
Maybe it’s just my family, but my parents tend to sautee the beef with the garlic first, then add the seaweed and proceed as usual. I don’t know if it makes any difference, though personally I love it.
To each his own recipe, I suppose!
Hello
I’am korean food lover thanks for ur infromation . i can try it @ home
This is my second year of living in Seoul, South KOrea. I love the cuisine! It’s so healthy AND delicious! It’s still sweltering hot but I’m going to try to make this soup on my own at home.
My colleague just told me that traditionally Korean women, after giving birth, eat this soup for one month as Koreans believe it strengthens the blood. Since I hardly eat meat, I’m going to start incorporating this soup in my diet on a regular basis. I’ve tasted it before, it was delicious. Love the blog!
I didn’t think I would like this soup very well because I hate strange textures, but turns out I liked it a lot. The seaweed was pretty mild for me, but I hear some people don’t take it as well. Either way, I loved it.
-Sylvia
Thanks much for the recipe. Seaweed is great food in general and I always recommend exploring Korean cuisine when people ask how to eat it.
Do you have a recipe for Seaweed jook?
this dish looks easy to cook
i might try it at home
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connects via Twitter
Hello:
I am new to your website and I am so glad I found it! It is chock full of good information. I definitely detect kindred souls here. I am familiar with most of the food you describe, but it’s nice to get the English version of the recipes. It took me a few minutes to figure out what “capsicum” is – bell pepper, right? I look forward to more interesting tidbits and recipes.
I would love to have some soup, salad, etc. recipes for a brown seaweed called Laminaria Japonica! Do you have any?
I have just tried it^^ It is delicious~~
Thanks for sharing =)
Where can we buy the dried brown seaweed in the St. Petersburg,
Florida area?
I tried your recipe for miyeok-guk last night. It was so easy to prepare and it was absolutely delicious – even better than my mom’s! Thank you so much for posting the recipe with such vivid photos and clear instructions. I love your site!
I was actually looking for a recipe for Samgyeopsal and I’m so happy that I found your site. I’m planning to make it tonight. I love that you have photo’s of your food preparation. Your recipe for miyeok guk looks simple and delicious. I can’t wait to try it. I just came back from my first visit to Korea and loved it. I’m amazed how inexpensive food is and everything we ate were so tasty.
Thank you for your informative site.
I’m really glad I found your site! I love cooking and I love cooking Korean food. I’m planning on making seaweed soup for my mom when I go home next weekend (it was her birthday yesterday). But I was wondering if it would be okay to substitute the beef with turkey or chicken. Have you ever tried that? I’m not really crazy about beef (nor is anyone else in my family…my parents have been trying to eat more healthfully), and I always substitute ground turkey for ground beef and I can never taste any difference. Do you think it’ll work? Thanks!
I’m so excited to find your site and am looking forward to trying your recipes. Thanks for all the beautiful pictures along with the anecdotes. =)
Try making it with seafood – mussel, shrimp (dried or fresh), dried anchovies (myulchee), etc
You just substitute any one or more of the seafood for beef and cook the same way.
Good to see you back Sue.
Love this soup, so good on blah days.
Welcome back! This soup looks great; I have never had this before. I like brothy soups a lot and I love seaweed so this looks especially good to me. I have never liked cream/dairy based soups.
I wonder if this in on the menu at any of the local Korean restaurants around here…..I may have to go just to see.
Take care,
andra
My mother made a lot of this soup for me after my daughter was born.
This is an awesome blog! Keep up the good work!
Yummy!! Except I would add about twice as much or more of garlic, I love that it melts in your mouth and gets a little sweet if you cook the soup for a long time.
Soup looks so warming and comforting…
ah. thank you. i looked for this on your site about a month ago, but couldn’t find it. i had to resort to calling my mother, who can tell me the steps, but never the measurements. she says things like a fistful of this and a few drops of that… that version came out bland. i’ll have to try yours!
I’ll trade you my weather for yours…this soup looks great!