🇰🇷 South Korea · Korea; Jeonju is known for its rice version
Kongnamul-gukKorean bean sprout soup
A light soup of soybean sprouts and scallion in a clear salt-seasoned broth (seasoned beef broth, or a plain version), with a doenjang version also made.
Origin and history
The Encyclopedia of Korean Culture says bean sprouts appear in Goryeo records and, in Joseon, were eaten as seasoned greens and as famine food, but bean sprout soup does not appear in late-Joseon texts. Specific recipes appear from the 1910s, and a 1943 cookbook has a related soup of sprouts, doenjang, tofu and pollock under the name samtae-tang. Sprouts gave vitamin C in winter, and the soup is now an ordinary household guk, widely eaten as a hangover soup, notably in Jeonju.
Make it at home
- Makes
- 4 servings
- Total time
- 25 min
- Hands-on
- 10 min
Ingredients
- 260 g9 oz soybean sprouts (kongnamul), rinsed several times, drained, any loose hulls removed
- 1.5 L1 1/2 qt water, for the broth
- 1 handful (about 15 g)1/2 oz medium dried anchovies, heads and guts removed
- 2 pieces (10 cm each)2 pieces (4 in each) dried kelp (dasima)
- 3 pieces (10 cm each)3 pieces (4 in each) scallions (jjokpa), cut on the diagonal
- 1 tbsp minced garlic
- 1 to 2 tbsp guk-ganjang (Korean soup soy sauce), plus salt to taste; too much soy clouds the broth
- 1 tbsp saeujeot (salted shrimp), solids only, or anchovy fish sauce, optional but common
- 1 cheongyang (hot green) chili, sliced; optional
Method
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1. Put the water, anchovies and kelp in a pot, bring to a rolling boil and take out the kelp after 5 minutes. Simmer the anchovies another 10 minutes, then strain.
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2. Return the broth to a boil and add all the sprouts. Keep the pot either fully covered or fully open, not switched back and forth, so the sprouts do not smell raw and beany.
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3. When the soup comes back to a boil, stir in the garlic and the salted shrimp.
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4. Season with the soup soy sauce, then salt if it needs more.
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5. Add the scallion and chili and cook 1 to 2 minutes more.
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6. Serve right away. The whole soup should cook in about 20 minutes, no longer.
Notes
- This is the clear, salt-seasoned form. The Encyclopedia of Korean Culture describes a usual version with seasoned minced beef added to the boiling broth before the sprouts and scallion, a plain version with no beef, and a doenjang version (tojang-guk) in which soybean paste is stirred in.
- Sprouts supply vitamin C, which heat destroys, so the entry advises finishing the soup within about 20 minutes.
- Add 1 tbsp gochugaru for a red, spicy version. Another cook seasons the broth only with anchovy fish sauce and serves half the cooked sprouts separately as a seasoned side dish.
- A related dish from Jeonju, kongnamul-gukbap, is a local rice-and-sprout hangover soup in which rice cooks in an earthenware pot with the broth and seasoned sprouts, finished with an egg; it is a separate dish and not covered here.
- Widely eaten as a light hangover soup.
Adapted from Encyclopedia of Korean Culture (Academy of Korean Studies): Kongnamul-guk, Encyclopedia of Korean Culture: Jeonju kongnamul-gukbap, 10000recipe: kongnamul-guk with shrimp brine (4 servings), and 10000recipe: kongnamul-guk with seasoned sprouts (4 servings).
At the festivals
No festival we list has printed it on a menu yet.