Let's take a break from exhausting exercises for a while, and have a sumptuous Korean meal.
Yesterday, very tired (and hungry) from somewhere, and feel I can no longer prepare my food when I get home so I decided to eat my dinner. I went inside in a Korean restaurant just in front of the bus stop.
"Haejangkuk" - Koreans hangover soup
They say that "Haejangkuk" is a dish to cure the Koreans of their headaches due to a hangover. But that was before (maybe), because I can observe many of the people ordering and eating this dish is because they just want to eat and not due to the hangover. It is maybe because of the hot and spicy soup or stew that they can sip that perhaps can relieve a headache. I choose this dish not because I have a hangover but because there are not so many dishes to choose from. I asked the owner if Haejangkuk is really a cure for hangover's headache, he laugh at me and replied, almost all soup or hot and spicy dishes in Korean cuisine is a good cure for headache due to previous night's hangover.
Sorry that because of my hunger, I touched my food before I remember to take a photo.
Notice that on the photo, Korean restaurants serve you not only the dish that you order but they will serve you other side dishes like kimchi, green pepper, doenjang paste (soybean Paste), cubed radish kimchi or kkakdugi (simply pronounced as kaktugi, let's not make it so difficult for ourselves to say it, whew).
Other Korean restaurants serve much more side dishes, and that is what I love in Korean restaurants! Yes, the side dishes because they are free, lol.
I am not a fan of hot dishes so I requested to not put too much-powdered pepper. I think the owner (Sajangnim) grant my request but it is still hot and spicy for me, he said it will not be delicious if it's not hot and spicy. Well, I agree on that, It is not a Korean Haejangkuk if it is not hot and spicy. We know Koreans so well, that they love too much hot and very spicy dishes, even though I am living here in this country for so long, still I am not used eating spicy foods, but I am trying though.
Haejangkuk - the hangover soup
Do you want to know how to prepare this?
This is very easy to cook, the only thing is making the broth milky, so you need patience in waiting, but cooking is simple and not so complicated, anybody can do it.
It is a little same way in cooking with their other dishes, like, a dish called "Kamjatang" the difference is "kamjatang" has potatoes, and that is the reason why it is called kamja-tang because kamja means potatoes. The other dish that they have similar to this haejangkuk is the "yukgaejang", this yukgaejang is also considered a hangover soup and they are almost the same in looks and preparation. another soup is their dish called "Seollongtang", in this dish, the difference is, this dish is good for someone like me who can not eat spicy dish because this Seollongtang has no pepper paste or powdered pepper that makes the soup hot and spicy.
Ingredients:
- sliced ox bones/beef ribs or pork ribs
- napa cabbage
- lots of water
- Korean fermented soybean paste (doenjang)
- garlic cloves, minced
- green chili peppers, chopped
- tablespoon fish sauce
- green onions,
- Korean hot pepper flakes
How to cook:
Wash and boil the bones/ribs, boil it for 4 hours, add water again and continue to boil until the meat is tender and the broth looks milky.
Wash and chop the napa cabbage ( it really doesn't matter how and what size you cut the cabbage) and add it to the boiling soup, cover and boil it again for about 5 minutes.
Add the doenjang, garlic, green chili pepper, and fish sauce. Turn down the heat to low and cook for another 10 minutes.
Serve the soup into bowls or preferably serve it in earthware bowls (this earthware bowl will keep the soup hot in much longer time). Sprinkle chopped green onions on top of the dish, this is optional.