Days that I want 콩나물국 (soy bean sprout soup) include rainy days, days I don’t feel like getting out of bed, simply crappy days, and pretty much all other days. I have talked about bean sprouts before, but I am making another note, because really, it’s only recently that I have started to cook with soybean sprouts, and the possibilities are seemingly endless. My mom used to make me the soup when I was sick, with a lot of red pepper flakes. It’s something I’d never ask for. In fact, I don’t know if I have ever met anyone who would name a mung bean sprout dish as their favorite. But like the best things in life, you will never get sick of it. When done right, its flavors are minimal yet complex and homey, and it doesn’t stand out, but it accompanies everything perfectly.
Wash and pick through a generous amount of soybean sprouts, and boil it so that some of the sprouts can be used for the soup, and the rest for banchan. Too much water will take away the distict flavor of the sprouts. And sudden change in the temperature and the steam will bring out a weird fishy flavor, so it’s best to either keep the lid on the whole time with low heat, or leave it completely off for the entire duration. This will make more sence once you start cooking.
My dear garlic press finally broke, after 5 years or so and I have yet to replace it. For now, I am sticking to my mom’s favorite method which is to crush the cloves with the back of the knife. A lot of people use anchovies or oysters to enhance the flavor of the base, but for the soup, I like it plain, without anything else. I love the flavor of the sprouted bean, and a bit of garlic. So the image above are the most important ingredients of today’s menu.
I found this lady Maangchi’s site a while ago, and I absolutely love her videos. If you like quirkly, experienced ladies, or have any interest in Korean cooking at all, her site is a must. And I guess my thing really is to just show pictures and make little notes for myself, which isn’t the most helpful to everyone. So I will just refer you to her video on how to make bean sprout soup! Like I said, the fish-y things can be left out or substituted with kelp.
And here are my two bean sprout dishes. The soup, and the muchim.
I am guessing that soy bean sprouts has some protein, but as a vegetarian, I try to maximize my intake of protein and calcium with every meal. Pan-fried tofu is a fast and fool-proof way, and this is how most Korean people eat tofu at home. We don’t always do all that crazy fancy stuff that you see in American vegetarian restaurants. All you need is oil to grease the pan, and salt to taste.
Maybe one day I will learn to cut perfect squares of tofu.
Thank you for feeding me :)
I don’t mean to gross you out, but I just want to state that I really like my boyfriend. He’s making quinoa stuffed delicata squash right now for me because I’ve had an exhausting, crabby day. When we first started dating which was 5 to 50 years ago, he used to make me all kinds of weird, wonderful food all the time, like okra, and beer battered deep fried tofu. Now that I work from home often and he works until late, I’m usually the one that cooks. But even now, he makes me smoothies every morning, and at least 1 meal on weekends, like this one:
It’s rice and beans cooked in coconut milk. This one was actually made because it’s one of those things that can be made in big batches, and kept in the fridge for a few days. This way we don’t have to buy lunch.
- 1 part coconut milk, 1 part veggie broth, and 1 cup rice and beans, 1 or half of chopped poblano or scotch bonnet peppers w/o the seeds.
- Soak black kidney beans overnight, and cook the rice and the liquids with the soaked beans how you’d normally cook rice. Mix in some chopped green onions once it’s cooked. Serve with fresh parsley or cilantro and some avocado.
This was totally delicious. And dinner’s ready now so I’m going to go eat and then sit around and not look at the computer screen all night. Goodnight!
Kimchi fried rice? But it's not fried..
About 15 minutes ago, I started cooking some carrots and parsnips. Immediately, I got bored, and now they’re just sitting in the pot, overcooked and getting mushier by the minute. It’s one of those days where I can’t find a hint of excitement and desire for anything, and I’m wishing that I had some left overs to remind my senses of something pleasant from the previous day with minimal effort. But there’s not even some cold rice in the fridge. And I’m just going to assume that you don’t know what cold rice can do, which most likely is true, and show you the way:
After a very late night dinner over the weekend, this is what I made the next morning with the left over rice. It’s 김치볶음밥 (kimchi bokkem bop). It’s the easiest thing in the world to make. All you need is some kimchi, left over rice, and whatever else you want. In my case, a lot of carrots and onions.
Bokkem-bop means “stir-fried rice”, roughly translated, but I kind of hate saying fried rice. It’s not really fried! It’s more like, stir-cooked with minimal oil. That kind of goes against the definition of the description. Let’s just say there’s no direct translation in English for it, and digress.
This is one of the first things I started cooking for myself, and I never get sick of it. And it’s only just one of many things that can come out of the neglected leftover rice, but this one is my favorite. By the way, in Korean idiom, cold rice (찬밥) often describes a neglected person. In my ideal, I don’t want to neglect anyone, or anything. Not even cold rice itself. And certainly not my grumpy, hungry self. So. I think it’s time for me to pay some attention to the carrots and parsnips. But first, I’ll leave you with this to try when you’re feeling famished and wretched, or happy and adventurous.
- Choose the vegetables you want to cook and chop in the same size.
- In a pan, start cooking the onions with carrots (or other roots) in some butter, or butter substitute like Earth Balance.
- Lightly squeeze the liquid out of well fermented kimchi and chop, add to the pan. If you want some protein, or chili paste (고추장), this is the time to add. I prefer mushrooms.
- Add the cold rice. If the rice is too dry from sitting in the fridge, add some kimchi water. Mix well without breaking the grains with a little bit of sesame oil and chopped scallions. Top with some gim.
- Dark beer goes really well with it.
- Don’t forget to brush your teeth afterwards.
Risotto is warm, soft, and homey, just what I’ve been craving these days. To make it, all you need to know is 1 part rice, 5 or more part of liquid, and a generous amount of oil. But what inspired it this time, and perhaps you should take this as a warning to the wackiness that led to this goodness, are these—
3 uncorked bottles of white wine that’s been sitting in the fridge for the past couple or days.
I’ve been doing some impulsive buying I suppose. I had a bottle opened, and then forgot about it, and bought another one, and about the 3rd… I have no clue. But they’re they were. There were also some leeks and shiitake mushrooms in the fridge.
I got this idea from epicurious of cooking the vegetables separately from the rice so that they don’t melt in to the rice.
- Cover a pan with oil on medium heat, and add chopped leeks. Pour enough soymilk to cover the leeks and cook until it becomes creamy. Stir to keep the soymilk from sticking to the pan. Add salt and fresh ground pepper.
- As for the mushrooms, toss it on a baking sheet with some salt, pepper, olive oil, and chopped rosemary. Bake until it’s tender.
For the rice,
- On medium heat, add some chopped onions to a generous amount of Earth Balance and olive oil in a pan. Add a dash of salt.
- When the onions are transparent, add about a cup of arborio rice.
- Slowly start adding broth, a little at a time, and keep stirring. Taste to see if you need salt. Do this until the rice is cooked and creamy, not paste like.
When making risotto, the broth is really important, especially since I won’t be using any cheese. Knowing this but not thinking, I poured about an entire cup of Côtes du Rhône in the pot. Immediately, I regretted it, but after tasting it, I decided to go with it, and added a cube of veggie bullion and stirred it in to let it melt and blend.
Still I feared that the result might be too sour-wine-flavored for my dear lover/cohabitant and resident guinea pig. Luckily I had some dried porcini mushrooms. So I soaked some in water, and when they were ready, I added the mushroom water to the pot, and mixed in the porcini of course.
All together I added about a couple of cup of vegetable broth, a cup of the mushroom water, 2 cups of white wine, and even some moscato wine. I swear I wasn’t drunk.
When the rice was just about ready, just a bit of saffron was ready, and it really brought everything together. With the creamy leeks and mushrooms mixed in, it was perfect for us, perfect for today.
Here’s more proper recipe which this was roughly based on:
Risotto with Leeks, Shiitake Mushrooms, and Truffles from Bon Appétit
On our walk to Lucy’s house from mine in the morning of the inauguration, talking about this and that and what we should do for brunch, she mentioned soybean sprout rice at her place. And so it began.
Soybean sprout rice (콩나물밥) is considered to be the staple low-budget, healthy dish in Korea because its ingredients are inexpensive and the result always reliable. And for no specific reason, I’ve never tried to make it on my own. But I’ve spent a plenty of time doing this growing up:
Before starting anything with the soybean sprouts, they must be washed, sorted, and sometimes trimmed, although I’ve heard that the ends of the sprout holds a lot of nutrients. Let’s say just a handful for 4 servings of rice.
- When the sprouts are sorted out remove excess moisture.
- Put short grain rice in a rice cooker or pot as you normally would, and place the sprouts on top.
- Pour just a little less water than usual because the bean sprouts will sweat and add more water, and let the rice cooker/pot get to work!
- Prepare the topping while the rice is cooking. Soysauce + chinese leeks + scallions + red pepper flakes + sesame oil and seeds.
- Add crushed laver to top it off.
While Lucy was doing that, I started to prepare for Dwenjang soup.
To make dwenjang soup,
- Put dashima or kombu, and onion and garlic in a pot of water and bring to boil.
- While that’s happening, chop more onions, zucchini, tofu, and potatoes
- Take out the broth materials, and add the chop veggies
- I’ve been putting the dwenjang (fermented soybean past/miso) in the beginning of the soup, but Lucy suggested to put it in last. That way, it doesn’t over cook, and preserve nutrients. Just dissolve a spoonful in the broth and let it heat up on medium heat with all the veggies.
- Keep tasting and add dwenjang to your taste. Add some pepper paste if you want it spicy. Keep it on low heat.
- Add some crushed garlic, and enoki mushrooms, cook until its just about to boil and serve topped with radish sprouts.
Finally when the rice and the soup were ready, we served our selves with banchan and watched the inauguration festivities on CNN. We’d been waiting so long for this day to come. :D (and the rice to cook)
The rice was so delicious, and waiting until the last minute to put the dwenjang paste in the soup made it taste more fresh and refreshing. I think I’ll stick to this method.
Read more about soybean sprouts here.
