HEALTHY, HEARTY SOUP TO WARM THE SOUL

Kongnamul Kuk
Korean beansprout soup

I cook a lot of soups as a whole meal when winter sets in. One of my favorites is beansprout soup which is really very easy to make, tasty, nutritious and filling.

You can find the ingredients, including the bean sprouts and tofu in most major supermarkets these days.

Here's the recipe :

Kongnamul Kuk
( Serves 2 as a full meal with Rice )

6 cups beef or chicken broth
2-3 cups bean sprouts, rinsed several times
Tofu; soft ( 1 pkg.) cut into bite-sized cubes
Green onions, finely chopped
Pork or beef ( optional )
2 eggs, beaten
Sesame oil ( 1 tsp.)
Black pepper

Bring broth to boil and add sesame oil and any chopped cooked leftover beef or pork if you wish to ( Tofu is actually a good substitute for meat if you want protein ) . Add the bean sprouts. Reduce heat to medium and cook until bean sprouts are just tender, about 5 minutes. Add tofu and cook another 3 minutes.

Add the chopped green onion to the beaten eggs. Bring soup to a boil and drizzle the egg mixture on top of the boiling broth. Do not stir. Cover and steam for 2 minutes. Serve with rice and kimchee. Enjoy.

Using the same recipe above you can substitute spinach for the bean sprouts.

For the life of me I don't understand why Korean food is not more popular. I like it SO much better than Thai or Chinese. It's very unpretentious and earthy. One of the popular one-dish Korean meals, Bibimbop ( lots of fresh veggies, meat and egg with spicy sauce atop rice ) is , I'm happy to see, catching on with many Americans.