I am leaving home for a short business trip later today. My husband will be home alone, so yesterday I made two kinds of basic Korean soup for him to eat while I am gone. You guessed it. He does not cook. Thankfully, he does the dishes and keeps the kitchen organized since I am not really good at it. The first soup I made was a soybean sprout soup (kongnamul guk,콩나물국). The other one is this radish soup (mu guk or muguk, 무국) made with a beef broth.
Korean radish, mu (무), tastes best during late fall and winter. They are juicy and slightly sweet. Buy one that is firm and heavy.
I used a quick method that’s common in Korean cooking to make a beef soup base. See another method in my tteokguk (떡국) recipe. The thinly sliced beef is seasoned with Korean soup soy sauce and sautéed before being boiled in water. The result is a broth with deep flavors that deliciously complements the white radish.
- 12 ounces Korean radish, mu, 무
- 2 scallions
- 6 ounces beef brisket, chuck, or loin
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic, divided
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil
- 2 tablespoons Korean soup soy sauce, guk ganjang, 국간장 (see note) See note
- salt and pepper to taste
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Cut the beef into thin bite size pieces (1 to 1 1/2 inch). Marinate with 1 tablespoon of soup soy sauce, 1 teaspoon of garlic, a pinch of pepper, and 1 teaspoon of sesame oil. Set aside.
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Cut the radish into bite size pieces (1 to 1 1/2-inch square, about 1/4-inch thick). Cut the scallions into 1 to 1-1/2-inch pieces.
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In a medium pot, sauté the beef until all the pieces turn brown. Pour in 8 cups of water and bring it to a boil. Skim off the foam. Reduce the heat to medium high and continue to boil, covered, for 10 minutes.
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Add the radish pieces and boil, covered, until the radish turns translucent and soft, 10 to 15 minutes. Stir in the remaining teaspoon of the garlic, scallions, and the remaining tablespoon of the soup soy sauce. The soup should not look too dark. Taste for salt and pepper. Boil for an additional 5 minutes.
Do not substitute with regular soy sauce. It will be too sweet and dark. A better substitute is fish sauce, which is sometimes used in Korean soups.
You may also like:
Gulguk (Oyster Soup)
Eomuk Guk (Fish Cake Soup)
Baechu Doenjang Guk (Korean Soybean Paste Soup with Napa Cabbage)
Yukgaejang (Spicy Beef Soup with Vegetables)
Galbijjim (Korean Braised Beef Short Ribs)
Mu Doenjang Guk (Korean Soybean Paste Radish Soup)
Seolleongtang (Beef Bone Soup)
Kkakdugi (Cubed Radish Kimchi)
Your husband is very luck! :) I love mu guk!
Thanks for visiting.
Andrea - Thanks!
Judy - I don't do that all the time. Sometimes he's on his own. Then he makes ramen,instant that is, which is about only thing he makes.
Tammy - Try with potatoes. My mother used to make gogi guk with potatoes and tofu. She would also put in dangmyeon (starch noodles) at the end. It was delicious, and I make this version once in a while too. Thanks for stopping by.
Susan - Korean soup soy sauce does make a huge difference in Korean soup. It's not expensive and you only need a little bit at a time. So it will last forever if you buy a bottle. Thanks for visiting.
thanks.
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It tasted amazing! Thank you so much for that recipe, and I am looking forward to trying many, many more! You made my day!!
정말 감사합니다!!
Oliver
I am hoping you can help me to understand better how to serve soup and stew at a typical Korean dinner. I am going to be hosting some Korean friends for dinner to celebrate Dongji in a couple of weeks. I plan to keep it simple as I am just starting out with Korean cooking and don't have the skills yet. Just rice, soup (maybe Kongnamul guk or Mu guk), some sides (banchan) and maybe a stew. Your blog will be a real asset for me and I'm very glad I found you!
I have read several articles that seem to say each person receives an individual serving of rice and soup, and the other dishes are placed in the center to be shared. Would you be so kind as to review the logistics of serving a stew. How is it presented on the table? How is it actually dished up? It doesn't appear that the individual place settings are set with an empty bowl, so I don't really understand what to serve the stew into.
I know these may seem like dumb questions, but I have been searching to figure it out with no luck so far. I would love to serve one of your delicious stews such as gochujang jjigae, but struggling to know exactly what to do with it once I have made it. Thank you again.