Korean warm/cold noodle soup (Janchi Guksu)




This noodle soup is one of my favorite dish. a simple warm noodle soup for colder time, and cold version of this dish in summer. 
I have been craving for this noodle soup at all times. I call myself 'addicted to wheat flour' , but I have to control for craving this noodle soup since I am on a wheat free diet due to my health. 
I suddenly realized that I don't have to give up my favorite noodle soup thanks to rice noodles or shirataki noodles.

Serve 2   Prep: 10 minutes   Cook: 20 minutes


Ingredients:

  • 8 ounce somyeon (somen) or rice noodles
Anchovy Broth:
  • 10 – 12 medium to large dried anchovies (Myulchi)
  • 1 (3-inch) square dried kelp (dasima/kombu)
  • 1/2 medium onion, peeled
  • 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
  • 1/2 of scallion (white part)
  • 6 cups cold water 
  • 1 Tbsp soy sauce (preferably soup soy sauce – gukganjang)
  • 1 1/2 tsp Sake
Toppings: (any combination of toppings)
  • 1/2 zucchini (4 ounce), julienned
  • 1 small carrot (3 ounce), julienned
  • 1 egg, beaten and fried into a thin sheet (jidan)
  • 1/2 cup fermented (mature) kimchi  
  • 1/2 scallion (green part), chopped
  • 4 fried soybean curd (yuboo), dipped in boiling water, then squeeze out water and sliced
  • Other common toppings include eomuk (fish cake), mushrooms, onion, and beef)
  • 1 sheet roasted seaweed, thinly sliced or crumbled 
Sauce (Yangnyeomjang):
  • 1 tablespoons soy sauce (jin-ganjang)
  • 1 tablespoon soup soy sauce (guk-ganjang)
  • 1 teaspoon Korean chili pepper flakes (gochugaru)
  • 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
  • 1/2 teaspoon sesame seeds
  • 1 teaspoons minced garlic
  • 1 serrano pepper, seeded and chopped
  • 1 scallion finely chopped
(Mix all sauce ingredients well and set aside.)
* You can replace soup soy sauce with fish sauce, but add a little bit at a time to season your dish to your desired taste.


Directions:

  1. Add all broth ingredients to a medium pot. Bring it to a boil. Remove kelp, then reduce the heat to medium and boil for 10 minutes, uncovered. Remove anchovies from the broth. Add more soy sauce or salt to taste and boil for an additional 15 minutes over medium heat. Remove all the aromatic vegetables from the broth. Keep it warm over very low heat while preparing the toppings and noodles. * Let broth cool for cold noodle soup
  2. Lightly sprinkle salt over julienned zucchini and set aside for 5 – 10 minutes. Squeeze out excess liquid from salted zucchini by hand. Sauté in a lightly oiled skillet over high heat (1 – 2 minutes).
  3. Sauté the julienned carrots in a lightly oiled skillet over high heat (1- 2 minutes), sprinkling salt and pepper to taste. (If using eomuk, mushrooms, or onion, cook the same way.). 
  4. Squeeze out excess liquid by hand from kimchi, then thinly sliced or bite size. Mix with 1/2 tsp sugar and 1/2 tsp sesame seed oil. Set aside.
  5. Bring a medium pot of water to a boil. Cook somyeon  or rice noodles according to the package instructions (about 3 minutes). Drain quickly and shock in cold water to stop cooking. Continue to drain and rinse in cold water. (Somyeon noodles are not resilient. This rinsing process is important so the noodles don’t get soggy.) Make two one-serving size mounds as you remove from the water. Place the mounds in a colander to drain.
  6. Place the noodles in a serving bowl. Pour the hot broth over the noodles. Nicely arrange a small amount of each topping on top of the noodles. Finish the dish off with a sprinkle of the chopped scallions, seaweed.
  7. Serve warm with the sauce on the side.

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