A Little Comfort in Chilly Weather - Korean Spicy Beef and Radish Soup

Making the soup itself is not hard at all. In fact, the most strenuous part lies on the soybean sprouts picking. If you're lucky, you can find the pre-trimmed soybean sprouts at the market. Even with a bit higher price, I highly recommend you to just get it for your eyesight and labor's sake.

I couldn't find any pre-trimmed soybean sprouts though, so I have to pick out the roots one by one. My eyes were sore and my fingertips were hurt, but was able to prepare a total of 180 grams of soybean sprouts while enjoying one episode of Korean drama.

Korean spicy beef and radish soup - 

Ingredients?

• 400 grams tender beef chunks
• 1 medium radish
• 1 pack/150 grams brown beech mushroom
• 1 pack/180 grams soybean sprouts
• 1 stalk scallion
• 3 medium pieces kombu
• 4 garlic cloves
• 2 to 4 tablespoons Korean red chili powder
• 1 jalapeño pepper (optional)
• 2 tablespoons sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon fish sauce
• Some soy sauce
• Some salt
• 10 cups hot water

How?

Slice the beef to medium to large size chunks. There is no need to drench the beef in hot water first, we will just sear the raw meat straight in oil later on.

Destem and peel the radish, also slice to big chunks. Destem and section the scallion. Peel and slice the garlic cloves. Destem the mushroom and separate to individual pieces. Lastly and the most time-consuming, pick out the soybean sprout roots. You don't really have to but the texture is much better without the roots.

Have a big pot ready and drizzle in 2 tablespoons of sesame oil, use Korean sesame oil if available. Switch to medium high heat and wait till warmed. Add in beef chunks and sear till some sides darkened.

Add in radish chunks, scallion, and garlic slices. Stir-fry till aromatic.

Add in chili powder, use 2 tablespoons if you can't really handle the heat, but do increase the amount to 4 tablespoons or even more for that extra flavor kick. Give the whole thing a quick stir-fry then add in 2 tablespoons of soy sauce. Give it a quick mix.

Pour in 10 cups of hot water. Also add in 3 pieces of kombu. I simply use a scissor and cut my long string of kombu to three shorter sections instead.

Bring the whole thing to a boil then adjust the heat to keep it at a medium bubbling stage. Cook till radish can be poked through easily with a fork or a chopstick, and the beef is tender to the bite. Mine took about 45 minutes.

Add in soybean sprouts and mushroom, cook till both softened, about 10 more minutes.

Add 1 tablespoon of fish sauce and let it cook for one more minute. Now it's time to taste and adjust with any additional seasonings if needed. I actually added 1 more tablespoon of soy sauce and 1 more teaspoon of salt to the pot.

Pick out the kombu when the soup is ready and set. Scoop to serving bowls and top with chopped/ringed jalapeño pepper if desired. Note that jalapeños can be quite spicy, so use with caution please. 

Besides enjoying this recipe as a soup, you can definitely cook up some rice or noodles and eat together with it. Especially for the rice, and not just steamy hot rice, I mean leftover cold rice is even better.

Simply scoop very hot soup right on top of cold rice, then you'll end up with just the right temperature as a whole and "al dente" rice in the end.

You don't really have to stick with soybean sprouts, especially if you find other type of bean sprouts that was already trimmed, just get it. A little variation on the ingredients won't hurt, but loading up too much kitchen prep work on yourself will. 

Other Korean recipes:

• Korean soy marinated eggs
• Spicy Korean cucumber salad
• Korean braised potatoes (gamja jorim)
• SPAM and gochujang kimchi stew

Komatsuna Katsuobushi Onigiri (Rice Balls With Japanese mustard spinach and Bonito Flakes)

What do you usually snack on when feeling a wee bit hungry? Perhaps potato chips or few cookies, or even a small piece of cake? Well, I do munch on these delicious things once a while too, but recently I've also switched my attention to onigiri Japanese rice balls.

It's healthier I think, at least compared to fried chips or sweet stuff. Also with the right ingredients, onigiri can give you just enough energy and nutrition without loading up too much calories.

Komatsuna katsuobushi onigiri (Rice balls with Japanese mustard spinach and bonito flakes) - 

Ingredients (about 4)?

• 4 portions steamed white rice
• 4 stalks or 120 grams komatsuna Japanese mustard spinach
• 1 cup or 100 grams katsuobushi bonito flakes
• 1 tablespoons toasted white sesame seeds
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• Some sesame oil

How?

Cook the rice first, once done, fluff the grains and let cool till ok to handle by hand.

Have a big bowl ready and wipe the inside with some sesame oil. Just a thin layer to prevent sticking later on.

Komatsuna, or the Japanese mustard spinach, destem them. Bring a medium pot of water to a boil then add in the Japanese mustard spinach. It'll only take 30 seconds to a minute. 

Once ready, drain and let cool a bit, then  squeeze really hard to get rid of any moisture from the leafy greens. 

After that, chop the Japanese mustard spinach and add to the oiled bowl. Also add 4 portions of cooked rice along with 1 loosely packed cup of katsuobushi, 1 tablespoon of toasted white sesame seeds, 1 tablespoon of sesame oil, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Lightly mix these ingredients till evenly blended.

Portion out the rice mixture to four equal parts, then form each one into individual onigiri rice ball.

You can either scoop the rice to the center of a sheet of cling foil, then grab the four ends of the foil and squeeze the ingredients into a ball, that's what I did actually.

Or you can lightly wet or grease both palms, and shape the ingredients with your bare hands. Ball shape or triangle shape, you decide. You can even wrap the rice ball with a sheet of nori if desired.

One last tip, when cooking the rice for onigiri, I personally think it's better to use a bit less than usual amount of water for the grains. That way you'll get a bouncier rice in the end. And that slightly "al dente" bite works really good for rice balls.

Other onigiri recipes:

• Sancho pork onigiri
• Misoyaki onigiri 味噌焼きおにぎり
• Egg scallion and shio kombu onigiri 蔥蛋塩昆布日式飯糰
• Tuna and sesame oil rice balls
• Hijiki and inari age onigiri 羊栖菜豆皮飯糰