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China, Asia · Cold Sesame-Peanut Noodles

Gochujang Sesame-Peanut Bibim Guksu (Korean × Chinese)

Thin Korean somyeon noodles tossed in a sesame-peanut sauce spiked with gochujang, with chopped kimchi, cucumber and a jammy boiled egg.

ServingsServes 2
Total cooking time22 min
DifficultyEasy

Method

  1. Bring water to a boil over high heat in a 16 cm pot, lower in the eggs gently with a spoon and cook for for a jammy yolk. Move them straight into iced water, then peel and halve.

    Add in this stepEggs 2

    high heat

  2. Stir the sesame paste and peanut butter with the warm water until smooth, then mix in the gochujang, soy sauce, vinegar, honey, garlic and sesame oil. The sauce should be thick but spoonable, sweet, spicy and nutty.

    Add in this stepChinese sesame paste (or tahini) 2 tbspSmooth peanut butter 1½ tbspWarm water 2 tbspGochujang (Korean chili paste) 1½ tbspSoy sauce 1½ tspRice vinegar 2 tspHoney 1½ tspGarlic cloves, grated 1Toasted sesame oil 2 tsp

  3. Squeeze the kimchi lightly, keeping the juice, and chop it into 1 cm pieces. Cut the cucumber into thin matchsticks. If the sauce tastes flat, stir in a spoonful of the kimchi juice.

    Add in this stepWell-fermented cabbage kimchi 80 gCucumber 1

  4. Bring 2.5 L of water to a boil over high heat, fan the somyeon into the pot and stir so it does not stick. When the water foams up to the rim, pour in a cup of cold water to calm it (the Korean trick for even cooking). Cook for in total, until soft with no white core.

    Add in this stepSomyeon (thin dried wheat noodles) 180 g

    high heat

  5. Drain the noodles and rinse under cold running water, rubbing them firmly between your hands as if washing laundry, to remove the surface starch. This makes them slippery and springy instead of gluey. Drain well and twist into neat portions.

  6. Toss the noodles with the sauce and kimchi until evenly red-brown, pile into bowls, top with the cucumber and egg halves and scatter over the sesame seeds.

    Add in this stepToasted sesame seeds 1 tsp

Cook's tip

Somyeon overcooks in seconds, so taste a strand 30 seconds before the time is up. Older, sour kimchi works best here. For less heat, halve the gochujang and add a little more peanut butter.

Cooking it at camp

Mix the sauce and boil the eggs at home. At camp, cook the somyeon in a pot on the burner; it is thin, so it needs little water and fuel. Rinse with cold bottled water and keep the kimchi sealed in the cooler.