KalGukSu Korean Mussel and Knife Noodle Soup

KalGukSu 칼국수

I love to make KalGukSu for dinner on Sunday nights because the grocery store near me always has a great and fresh seafood selection on Sundays.  I'm not going to lie, this KalGukSu is not as good as you will get going out to a restaurant in Korea.  It is tasty and the flavor profile is there but I have not yet been able to achieve the creamy texture in the broth.  If you want a creamier texture I suggest cooking the noodles with everything else, however be warned if not cooked long enough your broth will have a bit of a raw flour taste, and if cooked too long you end up with a bunch of mush.  Because I am easily distracted I often opt to cook my noodles separate from the broth to avoid the mush factor.  But if you have an eagle eye, go on ahead and toss those noodles in with the rest of the good stuff.

Side Note: If you are feeling extra awesome you can try and make the noodles yourself.  Kalguksu translates to knife noodles.  The noodles are made from a simple flour, salt, water and oil mixture and then are rolled out and cut with a knife (believe it or not ;) I have yet to try making my own noodles for this recipe but have for others.  If you try it out yourself let me know how it goes in the comments.

Ingredients:

½-1 lb mussels or clams

6-8 cups of water

1 medium sized potato cut into 1/2in slices

½-1 carrot cut into medallions

1 onion cut into wedges

½-1 zucchini cut into medallions

2 bunches of Kalgusu noodles

2Tbsp-1/4 cup of soy sauce

Instructions

Let the mussels or clams soak in salted water for 30 minutes to 1 day to remove some of the grit.  Rinse and brush outside of shell with a coarse brush.  If the shells have any stringy bits on them use a kitchen scissor to cut them off.

In a large stock pot bring 6 cups of water to boil and add the mussels or clams. 

While clams are boiling slice up your vegetables.

See all the foam on top in this picture
 you will want to spoon some of that off.

Once clams have opened up you can add the carrots and onions to the pot.  If there is a lot of foam in the pot do your best to remove some for a tastier broth.

I got rid of some of the foam from the picture above
 don't worry if you can't get all of it.

Let the carrots and onion cook for about 5 minutes.

While the carrot and onion are cooking boil a pot of water and cook your kalguksu noodles according to the package directions.

After 5 minutes add the potato and zucchini and continue cooking until the potato is soft.

Once the potato is soft add the cooked kalguksu noodles and stir to mix everything together.

Finally add 2Tbsp-1/4 cup of soy sauce to taste.

*Extra Note: If you ever feel like too much of your broth has boiled off feel free to add more water.  I average 6-8 cups when I make Kalguksu, depending on how many veggies I add had how many mussels I start out with. 

* Serving Suggestions: Serve with Kimchi or MuKimchi or some Mandu (Korean dumpling)

Hope you enjoy your delicious knife noodle soup

Mushroom Side Dish

Mushroom Namul 표고버섯 나물

This is another quick and easy banchan.  It's a nice easy one to make while you are cooking other things in the kitchen because it involves some sit time.  This is one of my favorites and Hubby gobbles it up.  It is good cold or hot, although I prefer it warmed up.  This recipe calls for dehydrated shiitake mushrooms.  If you don't have a Korean or Asian market near by you could try using fresh shiitake mushrooms and skip the soaking and only saute them for a short time.  I have yet to try this but I'm thinking that it would work just fine, they just won't keep as long and will be slightly softer in texture.
On that note...on with the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 12 dried shiitake mushrooms soaked in hot water for about 30 minutes until soft.  (Substitute fresh shiitake mushrooms but do not soak)
• 2 tsp sesame seeds
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 2 Tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 spring onion finely chopped
• ½-1 tsp sesame oil
• Pinch of salt

Directions: 

1. Boil 3 cups of water and pour into a bowl.  Add the 12 shiitake mushrooms and cover bowl.  Let the mushrooms sit for 30 min or more until they are reconstituted.

2. Remove the mushrooms from the water and pat them dry with a paper towel.
Slice the mushrooms and discard the stems.

3. Heat a small frying pan on medium heat and add the 2 Tbsp of vegetable oil.  Add the mushrooms, garlic, sesame seeds and salt to the pan and sauté so the mushrooms soften a bit more but do not lose their firmness.  About 1-2 minutes.

Remove mushrooms form heat and stir in the spring onion and sesame oil.  Add more salt to taste if needed at this time.

*Storage Tip: These mushrooms are good for 1-5 days if kept refrigerated (if they last you that long)  They can be served cold but I think they are best if you heat them up in a frying pan again before serving. 

* Serving Suggestions: These mushrooms are great with everything.  They are particularly good with a meal you are not serving meat with.  Their texture and flavor will help satiate the cravings of any meat lover you happen to be serving.  Hubby and I love to eat this with rice, kimchi, dried seaweed and an egg for an easy weeknight dinner.

Sigeumchi Namul: Korean Spinach Salad

Let's start off with one of my favorite and easiest to make Banchan (side dish) 

                  Sigeumchi Namul 시금치 나물

It is such an easy dish to make, and you only need 6 ingredients to make it.   It also goes great with everything.  You can mix it in your bibimbap or role it up into your kimbap, or you can just eat it on its own.  It is the perfect blend of fresh and savory, and great with spicy dishes as a way to cool down your mouth ;)

So without further adieu Sigeumchi Naamul How To:

You will need:

                               Main Ingredients:

     1 Package of baby spinach (approximately 10 oz)

      ½ tsp salt

      4 cups of boiling water

                          Seasoning Sauce:

      1 finely chopped spring onion

      1 clove of minced garlic

      ½ to 1 tsp roasted sesame seeds

      Pinch of salt (you can add more or less to taste)

      ½-1 Tbsp sesame oil

                          Instructions:

      Bring the water to boil in a medium to large saucepan.  Once the water starts to boil add ½ tsp of salt.

While the water is boiling combine all the ingredients of the seasoning sauce into a small dish and mix well. 

Rinse the baby spinach and add to the boiling water.  Let blanch for 10-20 seconds and then strain.

Run cold water over spinach for 1-2 minutes.

Squeeze the spinach to remove excess water

Place spinach in a bowl and add seasoning sauce and mix with hands or wooden spoon.

Sprinkle more sesame seeds and salt over the salad if desired.

Serve and enjoy

*Storage Tip: This salad is good for 1-2 days if kept refrigerated.  Throw out once the spinach starts to change from its bright green color to a darker green or yellow color. 

* Serving Suggestions: This salad is great as a banchan (side dish) but also tastes great rolled into kimbap or added to bibimbap or dolset bibimmbap

Welcome

안녕하세요! annyeonghasaeyo, Hello and welcome to My Korean Table!
I am so happy you stopped by.  This blog will hopefully help you create your own Korean Table in your own home. You will find a plethora of recipes, tutorials, stories of success and failure of cooking Korean food.

You may wonder how a gal from the middle of the Midwest came to have such a strong passion for cooking Korean food, well let me tell you....

Right after college I moved to Korea to teach English.  It was supposed to be a 1 year gig, get out of the U.S. and explore the world a bit.  Instead I feel in love with the culture the food and the people and ended up staying for 3 years and getting married!

After getting married the hubby and I decided to move back state side.  After only a few months back in the states we both found ourselves really missing Korean food.  We were lucky enough to have access to a few different Korean markets so through trial and error I was able to replicate some of my hubbies favorite dishes.

hubby and me just about to get married in Korea

I will be sharing my stories with you here, so whether you have been to Korea and really miss the food, are Korean and miss your moms home cooking, or just want to try something new and exciting this is the place for you.

KalGukSu: Seafood and Noodle Soup 

I will do my best to provide you with easy to follow recipes with step by step photo instructions so even if you are a novice in the kitchen you should be able to produce some tasty dishes.  Please feel free to leave comments with questions or tips for others trying their hand at Korean cooking.

NangMyeon: Iced noodles with cucumber, radish, pear and egg

I will try and provide a few different substitution options for those of you who don't have Korean markets near you as well.
As they say in Korea 만나서 반갑습니다 it's nice to meet you.

Sweet Rice cakes with eatable flowers and honey

Let's get cooking!