Miyeokguk, or seaweed soup, holds nice significance in Korean tradition. New moms have it after delivering their infants, because it’s heralded for its dietary worth and purported capability to extend breast milk manufacturing. It’s additionally the soup one will take pleasure in yearly on their birthday (and, after all, every other time they’re within the temper for it).
Miyeokguk comes collectively simply, with only a few substances. Take care to buy the proper dried seaweed, as miyeok is completely different from different varieties, like wakame or hijiki. Miyeok is bought in lengthy lengths you could break aside along with your palms earlier than rehydrating in chilly water. The seaweed will broaden, so having kitchen shears close by is a should to chop it into bite-size items. Only a little bit of beef—chuck, brisket, and even floor—kinds the bottom of miyeokguk, offering a spine to the in any other case gentle and briny soup. (In some elements of Korea, yow will discover miyeokguk made with clams or mussels.) Prepared in about half-hour, the completed soup ought to be barely milky in shade, like a very good hen inventory.
On this recipe, I name for normal soy sauce, but when low-sodium is all you will have, put together to make use of a bit extra. In Korean cooking, there’s a product known as gukganjang, or soup soy sauce, that’s lighter in shade and viscosity, however saltier in style. Gukganjang is what’s historically used for miyeokguk, and you need to give it a strive you probably have entry to an H Mart or different Korean or Asian grocer. And you probably have any leftovers, know that miyeokguk freezes properly.
