열무된장국 / Yeolmu dwaenjang guk (Korean young radish soup)

I’ve been mostly absent from being online the last month or two due to an impromptu trip to the states. After a wonderful, emotionally rich time, I’m back to my little home in Munich.

The first thing I properly cooked after being back was a simple dwaenjang guk, or fermented soybean soup. Guk is more of a watery soup, while jjigae is thicker, more of a stew.

I wanted a hydrating, brothy, steamy, soup, and saw that the yeolmu / Korean young radishes I planted earlier this year were ready to harvest, so I made yeolmu dwaenjang guk, or a soup of korean young radishes.

RECIPE: 열무된장국 / Yeolmu dwaenjang guk / Soup of Korean young radishes

Ingredients list:
-a few yeolmu / Korean young radishes and their leaves — thoroughly cleaned, brushed off of all its dirt, and washed in fresh cold water multiple times. Cut the radishes off, and the leaves with its stalks into 3-4 in / 7cm pieces. Set aside the radishes separately from the leaves.
-Good quality dwaenjang / Korean fermented soybean paste
-Gochukaru / Korean red chili flakes (medium thickness)
-a cup or so of sliced green onions, set aside the white parts from the green parts
-a sharp chili (I used a few slices of jalapeno)
-a good piece of dashima (kelp)

Instructions:
-Make the dashima broth by bringing water to a slow boil at medium/medium high with the dashima piece. When the water is boiling, remove the dashima. Add the white parts of the green onions as well as the yeolmu / Korean young radishes, and continue to boil at medium / medium low.
-Add a spoon or two of dwaenjang. (NOTE: This really needs to be good quality! I used my mother’s home-made one, which doesn’t need anything else to add more complexity to the flavor, but I find that the store-bought versions often too sweet. Therefore, when using store-bought, I always reduce the amount of dwaenjang I add and substitute the extra dwaenjang I would normally use with my mother’s, with other ways to brew a good broth— such as toasted dried anchovy or shrimp, salted shrimp, a little bit of soup soy sauce, etc.).
-A little sharpness to this soup is nice to contrast the fermented soybeans. Sharp green Korean chilis are ideal, but anything else like serrano or jalapenos also work. Add a few slices to the soup, along with a spoon of gochukaru.
-Add the green parts of the green onions as well as the radish leaves, and let it continue to boil on medium low for another 10 minutes or so. Continue to taste and correct for seasoning.
-When the radishes look fully cooked and the radish leaves looking softened, the soup is ready.