Miyeok-guk

A plain seaweed soup whose seaweed is fried in sesame oil before any water goes in.

Beef, Fish. Not vegetarian — contains beef, fish, fish sauce.

Ingredients

• 30 g dried miyeok, sea mustard
• 200 g beef brisket or skirt, in thin strips
• 2 tablespoons sesame oil
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• 1.2 litres water or anchovy and kelp stock, as on its own page
• salt and black pepper

Method

1. THE SEAWEED IS FRIED IN SESAME OIL BEFORE ANY WATER GOES IN. Soaked, squeezed, cut up, and then turned through hot sesame oil with the beef and the garlic for four or five minutes until it darkens and smells nutty. That is the step that makes this soup taste of something: dropped straight into water, miyeok gives a thin green broth that tastes faintly of the sea and not much else. Fried first, it goes deep and savoury and the broth turns slightly milky.
2. IT IS SOAKED AND THEN SQUEEZED HARD. Twenty minutes in cold water and it swells to six or seven times its dry volume -- start with less than looks right. Then wrung out in the hands, or the water it carries stops the frying before it starts.
3. AND IT IS RINSED SEVERAL TIMES AFTER SOAKING. Dried miyeok carries salt and grit, and this is a soup with almost nothing in it to hide either.
4. IT IS SEASONED WITH SOY AND FISH SAUCE RATHER THAN SALT. The soup is deliberately plain, so what seasons it shows: soy for depth, a little fish sauce for the savoury edge, and salt only at the end if it needs it.
5. AND IT IS SIMMERED LONGER THAN SEEMS NECESSARY, twenty-five minutes at least, until the seaweed is completely soft and slippery and the broth has gone slightly cloudy. Taken off at ten it is still chewy and the broth is thin.
6. Miyeok covered with cold water and SOAKED 20 MINUTES, until swollen and soft.
7. Rinsed through 3 changes of water, then SQUEEZED dry in the hands.
8. Cut into 5 cm lengths with scissors.
9. The sesame oil heated in a heavy pot over a medium heat. The beef added and cooked 3 minutes until it changes colour.
10. The seaweed and garlic added and FRIED 4 to 5 MINUTES, stirred, until it darkens and smells nutty.
11. The soy sauce and fish sauce stirred in, 1 minute.
12. The water or stock poured in and brought to the boil.
13. Simmered 25 to 30 MINUTES, until the seaweed is completely soft and the broth has turned faintly cloudy.
14. Tasted and salted if needed, and plenty of black pepper.
15. Served very hot with steamed rice as on its own page. Better reheated the next day.

Our own recipe. This one was written for this site rather than taken from anywhere, so there is no source to point you at. The quantities and the order of the steps are choices, not the only way to do it.

Filed under South Korea · All recipes