I have always enjoyed seaweed in soup, whether it’s in Japanese miso soup or Chinese egg drop soup. Now, I can slurp some up from a Korean soup!
Below are some links to more details, including photos:
My Story
Awhile back, I learned about spirulina tablets from an episode of The Gutsy Gynecologist™ Show, How to Replace Many of Your Supplements and Detoxify Your Body with Catherine Arnston. After watching the show, I was curious to see if there were other ways through food to replace supplements. What I learned was that seaweed was one method, so I searched for some related recipes.
Inspiring Recipe
The simple recipe that I found was, Korean Seaweed Soup (Miyeok Guk), from a food blog, Two Plaid Aprons. This website was started by a couple trained in the food and restaurant industry.
First Try
Soon after saving the soup recipe, the seaweed was on sale at a local supermarket, so I bought that ingredient first. At the next trip to Costco, I purchased my usual 3-pack of ground beef. As for the remaining ingredients, they were available at home.
Ingredients to Use
Since I was planning to make the number of servings listed in the default recipe, I used the amounts as written for each ingredient, but adjusted a couple of things. Instead of 0.7 ounce of dry miyeok, I could only weigh out .71 ounce, the closest I could get without going under. As for the salt, I replaced Kosher salt with sea salt because that’s what was available at home.
Steps to Prepare
For the process, I used the instructions as guidance. Shown below are more details on how it went for me:
- Step 1 – Soaked the seaweed for 10 minutes until all pieces were rehydrated before cutting them
- Step 2 – Followed the step as written
- Step 3 – Set my stove to medium low to keep the soup at a high simmer for 20 minutes, which seemed sufficient
- Step 4 – Added 1/3 of a heaping teaspoon of salt to the soup, tasted it, and repeated this step a couple more times until I was satisfied with the saltiness
Time to Eat
Look at all that seaweed!
Recipe Rating
Below were the results of the recipe after the first try:
| # of Ingredients | Effort | $ / Serving | Try Again? |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7 * |  | |  |
The soup tasted good, specifically with the seaweed, but I would’ve preferred less oil floating on the top.
Nonetheless, my husband liked the dish, especially the seaweed, so he had a second helping.
Second Try
Because my family and I were likely going to just eat the seaweed and ground beef or pour the soup over some rice, I decided not to worry about the extra oil.
Ingredients to Use
As compared to the first attempt, I used the same amount for each ingredient this time, except for the salt. For that, I measured out 1.25 teaspoons worth, so I would have a more concrete baseline for adjustments, if needed.
Steps to Prepare
Similar to the first try, three of the four steps were tweaked, as follows:
- Step 1 – Soaked some of the seaweed for 10 minutes and some for up to 15 minutes before everything was rehydrated
- Step 3 – Set my stove to medium low to keep the soup at a high simmer for 10 minutes, but changed it to low for the remaining 10 minutes, so the liquid wouldn’t overflow
- Step 4 – The pre-measured amount of salt was good enough, so I didn’t have to taste it multiple times.
Time to Eat
Here’s a bowl of seaweed soup from the second try.
Recipe Rating
Below are the results of the recipe from the second attempt:
| # of Ingredients | Effort | $ / Serving | Try Again? |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7 * | | | |
The seaweed was still good, but in hindsight, I think it needed more salt. Also, the extra layer of oil still bothered me during my dinner.
Since I would rather drink a clean soup, I will have to do something about the oil next time, such as the following:
Continuous Improvement
- Skim off the oil or use leaner beef.
After making this soup twice, I learned the following that I would like to share with my previous self:
Lesson for Dumber Self
- If you don’t like something, change the situation.
What will you do now?
Next Step for You
- Try the recipe, Korean Seaweed Soup (Miyeok Guk), from the food blog, Two Plaid Aprons?
- Share your favorite seaweed soup recipe with noodles? (I thought that adding noodles to this soup would make a great meal and actually found something from Sempio.)
- Ask a question or leave a note in the Comment box below about this post?
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