Recipe: Soo Jeh Bee (Kal Gook Soo’s Cousin)
15 Feb
Soo Jeh Bee was a common dish during a very difficult economic time in Korea, when meat was too expensive to purchase. So my ancestors used simple ingredients, such as flour, squash and potatoes to draw out as much nutrition as possible to feed their large families. Can you imagine?
Now, we live in very different times. We can have meat at every single meal if we want. And for most of us, we don’t feel deprived of the things we want to eat. Have no cash? Charge it. Yet I admire the simplicity of this recipe. It’s warm, comforting, and reminiscent of a simpler time.
I called this dish the cousin of Kal Gook Soo because it uses the exact same ingredients. The only difference is that the noodles are replaced with a homemade ball of dough. Does it sound scary? I promise you it’s not.
Recipe: Soo Jeh Bee
Makes 2 servings
Ingredients:
3 pieces of kelp
5-6 pieces of dry anchovies
1 potato, chopped into half moons
2 cups of chopped zucchini, halved, then sliced into half moons
1/2 a package of Enoki mushrooms
2 cups of flour
Pinch of salt
1 egg
2 minced garlic cloves
1 scallion, chopped into 1″ pieces
1/3 of a scallion, finely chopped
2 tablespoons of soy sauce
A dash of red pepper flakes
Procedure:
1. In a medium sized pot, add 3 cups of water. Add kelp and anchovies. Cook on low heat for 15 minutes.
2. For the dumplings, combine 2 cups of flour, a pinch of salt and an egg in a bowl. Slowly add 1 tablespoon of water at a time, until the dough is sticky. Knead dough on a flat surface for about 5 minutes. The dough should be elastic when pulled, and should bounce right back when pulled. (The dough consistency is not super important, so don’t worry.)
3. Remove anchovies and kelp from broth. Raise heat to high. Add potatoes, zucchini, and scallion.
4. Add dough to the boiling pot by breaking off small chunks in flat squares, about the size of your thumb, doubled.
5. Cook for about 5-6 minutes, until all the vegetables and dough are cooked through.
6. Make a sauce to serve on the side by combining soy sauce, garlic, scallion, and red pepper flakes in a small bowl, so that each person can adjust their own seasoning.
7. Serve immediately.(This soup will not keep well in the fridge, so make sure you eat it as soon as you can).
