Fish cake noodle soup

Hello everybody. Today I’m going to introduce you to one of my favorite Korean noodle soups. I really love Korean guksu noodle soup because it has a light, clear broth, is incredibly savory and is not greasy at all, so I have it at least once or twice a week. It leaves me feeling refreshed after eating it!

I often have anchovy kelp stock on hand, so I add some thin white wheat noodles, and add chopped and seasoned kimchi on top and I have a quick kimchi noodle soup. Sometimes I add fish cakes (called eomuk in Korean) instead of kimchi, which is what I want to show you here. The recipe for homemade fish cakes is on my website, so you can use those if you want, or you can use store bought fish cakes like I do in this recipe. You can find them in any Korean grocery store.

I’m a big fan of anchovy kelp stock, which is why dried anchovies are always in my freezer. As soon as they get close to running out, I restock right away. I know some of you don’t love them as much as me, then you could use chicken or beef stock instead, or vegetable stock from my recipe. You could also replace fish cakes with something like fried tofu or sautéed mushrooms or vegetables. This recipe is so versatile you can use whatever you like, but I’m showing you the way I like it here.

Enjoy some guksu!

Description

Ingredients (serves 2)

• 8 cups anchovy kelp stock (see the recipe below)
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce
• 8 ounces white wheat noodles (somyeon or jungmyeon)
• 10 to 12 ounces store bought fish cakes (or homemade fish cakes)

For seasoning sauce:

• ¼ cup soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons Korean hot pepper flakes (gochu-garu)
• 3 green onions, chopped
• 1 or 2 green chili peppers, chopped
• 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
• 2 teaspoons toasted sesame seeds

For anchovy kelp stock:

Makes 13 to 14 cups

• 18 cups water
• 20 large dried anchovies, heads and guts removed
• 1 ounce dried kelp
• 1 daepa (or 4 green onions), cut into 3 inch long
• 1 medium onion (about 7 ounces), sliced
• 1 pound Korean radish (or daikon), sliced into ¼ inch thick discs

Directions

Make anchovy kelp stock:

1. Combine the dried anchovies, dried kelp, daepa (or green onions), onion, and radish in a large pot.
2. Add 18 cups of water, cover, cook over medium-high heat for about 30 minutes. If the mixture begins to boil over, uncover, stir, and then cover with the lid slightly cracked.
3. Turn down the heat to medium low and boil for 1 hour.
4. Turn down the heat to low and simmer for another 10 minutes. Remove from the heat.
5. Put a mesh strainer over a large bowl and strain (to save the cooked radish and kelp, see my vegetable stock recipe). You will get about 12 to 13 cups of stock.
6. Use right away or freeze for up to 3 months.

Make seasoning sauce:

1. Combine soy sauce, hot pepper flakes, green onion, green chili pepper, sesame oil, and sesame seeds in a bowl.
2. Mix well with a spoon.

Cook the noodles:

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the noodles, stirring with a wooden spoon so they don’t stick together.
2. Cover and cook the noodles over medium high heat for 3 to 4 minutes until tender but still chewy. You can take a sample: it should be chewy but there shouldn’t be anything hard in in them when you bite them.
3. Drain the noodles, transfer to a large strainer and rinse in cold running water, rubbing the noodles by both hands to cool and remove excess starch.
4. Drain and divide the noodles into 2 large soup bowls.

Put it together and serve:

1. Heat the stock and fish cake skewers until hot. Add some fishcake to each bowl and then pour the stock over the noodles.
2. Add some seasoning sauce and serve right away.

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