A COOL DISH FOR THE FIRST DAY OF SUMMER

Naeng-myon , Korean Cold Noodles

Summer is officially here today. June has been more like July with it's high temperatures and lack of rain. Our thoughts turn to light or cool dishes in this heat wave.

Naeng-myon is a very popular cold buckwheat noodle dish in Korea and each cook has their own recipe. Koreans are very picky about what makes a good cold noodle dish . They say that the broth is the most important ingredient of the dish.

The meat for the traditional Korean cold noodle dish is beef brisket, however, you can use chicken as an alternate. As a vegetarian I use tofu instead of chicken and it tastes very good as well.

Here's the Choi family recipe :

Buckwheat noodles
beef brisket or chicken
green onions, minced
2-3 clove finely minced garlic
small white onion
1 tablespoon sugar
cucumbers , thinly sliced
beef or chicken broth
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
Korean yellow mustard, or wasabi
hard boiled eggs
Asian pear , sliced thin ( optional )
Whole cabbage kimchi, chopped

Place brisket in pot of water, add 1 small chopped white onion. Boil for about an hour. Strain broth and chill in fridge or when cool, add ice. Slice brisket on the diagonal into thin slices, or if using chicken, into bite-size pieces.

Cook buckwheat noodles until tender, about 10 to 15 minutes. Rinse with cold water until chilled.

Place cold noodles in large bowl, top with brisket, kimchi, cucumber, chopped green onion, Asian pear slices and eggs.

Add rice wine vinegar, sugar, minced green onion and Korean mustard to chilled broth. Slowly pour broth into the noodle mixture.

Eat and enjoy.