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Korea, Asia · Jeonju-Style Kongnamul Gukbap (Soybean Sprout Rice Soup)

Earthenware-Pot Kongnamul Gukbap with Squid

Restaurant-style: a deep broth of toasted anchovy, dried shrimp, radish and shiitake, boiled in the pot with sprouts, blanched squid and a cracked egg.

ServingsServes 2
Total cooking time55 min
DifficultyMedium
About servingsThe egg stays soft. For young children, pregnant women and older or vulnerable people, boil 2 minutes longer after adding the egg until it is fully set. Earthenware gets extremely hot: use oven gloves.

Method

  1. Put the anchovies and dried shrimp in a dry 22 cm pot and toast them over medium heat for , shaking the pot, until they smell nutty. Driving off their moisture keeps the broth from tasting fishy.

    Add in this stepLarge dried anchovies for stock (heads and guts removed) 20 gDried shrimp 8 g

    medium heat

  2. Add the water, kelp, radish cut into 1 cm slices, shiitake and the white part of the leek-type onion, and bring to the boil over high heat. When it boils, lift out the kelp, turn down to medium-low heat and simmer for . Strain through a sieve lined with kitchen paper and pour the clear broth back into the pot.

    Add in this stepWater 1,600 mlDried kelp (dashima) 8 gKorean radish or daikon 100 gDried shiitake mushrooms 2Leek-type spring onion (white part) 40 g

    high heat→medium-low heat

  3. Rinse the sprouts, add them to the broth, cover and cook over high heat for , then lift them out and spread them on a plate. Slice the squid into 5 mm strips, drop them into the same broth for and lift them out the moment they turn white and curl; any longer and they go rubbery.

    Add in this stepSoybean sprouts 300 gCleaned squid tubes 100 g

    high heat

  4. Season the broth with the salted shrimp and soup soy sauce, then salt to taste. Stir the minced garlic, chilli flakes and sesame oil with 1 tablespoon of hot broth into a paste (dadaegi).

    Add in this stepSalted shrimp (saeujeot), chopped 1½ tspKorean soup soy sauce 1½ tspSalt to tasteGarlic cloves, minced 2Korean chilli flakes (gochugaru) 2 tspToasted sesame oil 1 tsp

  5. Divide the rice, sprouts and chopped kimchi among 16 cm ×2 earthenware pots (ttukbaegi) and fill with broth to 1 cm below the rim. Set them over medium-high heat and boil hard for , until bubbling all over. If you lack burners, work in rounds and keep finished pots covered.

    Add in this stepWarm cooked short-grain rice 300 gWell-fermented cabbage kimchi 60 g

    medium-high heat

  6. Crack an egg into the middle of each pot, add the squid, spring onions, a spoonful of dadaegi and crumbled seaweed, boil more and turn off the heat. The pot keeps bubbling at the table, so set it on a wooden board; stir the egg into the broth as you eat.

    Add in this stepEggs 2Spring onions 30 gToasted seaweed sheets (gim) 1

Cook's tip

Use earthenware pots on gas only; on induction, use small saucepans instead. Never put a hot earthenware pot into cold water or it may crack. Peeled prawns can replace the squid with the same blanching time.

Cooking it at camp

Bring the broth from home in a bottle and boil one serving at a time in a small camping pot instead of earthenware. Blanch the squid at home and keep it in the cooler so at camp you only boil and top.