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42 recipes

TteokgukRice cake soup

On the morning of Seollal, the Lunar New Year, families across Korea eat a bowl of tteokguk, and the saying goes that you only turn a year older once you have finished it. Thin ovals of white rice cake are simmered in a clear beef broth seasoned with soup soy sauce, then topped with strips of egg, shredded beef, spring onion and toasted laver. It is mild, comforting and chewy. Rice cakes are very sticky: cut pieces small and supervise young children and older people closely, as they can be a choking risk. The common mistake is boiling the rice cakes too long, until they turn mushy and the soup thick and gluey. Chef's tip: soak dried rice cake slices in cold water for 20 minutes before cooking; they cook evenly in 3 minutes and stay chewy.

65 min

Korean Soups

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HoppangRed bean steamed buns

When the first cold snap hits, Korean convenience stores bring out glass steamer cabinets full of hoppang, and office workers grab one for breakfast on the way to the subway. The bun is soft, slightly sweet yeasted dough wrapped around a thick, smooth red bean paste, steamed until pillowy and eaten piping hot. Making them at home takes a morning but they freeze perfectly. The usual mistake is opening the lid too early or steaming over too fierce a heat: the buns collapse and wrinkle, so keep a steady medium heat and leave them to rest 5 minutes before lifting the lid. Contains wheat. Chef's tip: let the shaped buns rise on squares of baking paper; you can move them into the steamer without squashing them.

120 min

Korean Baking

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Hobak jukPumpkin porridge

Hobak juk is the golden pumpkin porridge sold in thermos-sized portions at Seoul's Gwangjang market and cooked in temple kitchens through the cold months, when stored pumpkins are at their sweetest. Steamed pumpkin is blended smooth, thickened with glutinous rice flour and dotted with chewy little rice-cake balls, giving a velvety, naturally sweet bowl that is soothing for convalescents and children alike. The rice balls are soft and sticky, so cut them small for young children to avoid choking. The common mistake is adding the rice-flour slurry in one go to boiling porridge, which makes lumps. The optional pine-nut topping is a tree-nut allergen; leave it off for anyone with a nut allergy. Chef's tip: roast or steam the pumpkin rather than boiling it in water; less water means a deeper colour and sweeter taste.

50 min

Korean Soups

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Beoseot jeongolMushroom hot pot

Beoseot jeongol is the mushroom hot pot that Korean temple kitchens and mountain restaurants around Odaesan and Songnisan serve in autumn, when wild mushrooms come down from the slopes. Fans of shiitake, oyster, enoki and king oyster mushrooms are arranged with tofu, cabbage and greens in a shallow pot and cooked at the table in a clear kelp and shiitake broth. It tastes deep, clean and woodsy, with no garlic or onion in the temple way. The common mistake is boiling it hard from the start, which turns the broth cloudy and the enoki stringy. Chef's tip: save the shiitake soaking water and add it to the broth; it doubles the savoury depth without any seasoning.

40 min

Korean Soups

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SujeonggwaCinnamon persimmon punch

After a big Seollal feast in Seoul, sujeonggwa comes out ice-cold in small bowls, dark red-brown and fragrant with cinnamon and ginger, with a soft dried persimmon and a few pine nuts floating in each one. It is the punch of the New Year season, made a day or two ahead and kept on a cold balcony. The cinnamon and ginger are boiled separately and then combined, which keeps each flavour clean. The common mistake is boiling the cinnamon too long or too hard: it turns bitter and cloudy, so keep it to a gentle simmer. Contains pine nuts. Chef's tip: soak the dried persimmons in the cooled punch only a few hours before serving, so they soften without falling apart.

60 min

Korean Drinks

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SikhyeSweet rice punch

Every Korean jjimjilbang (bathhouse) sells sikhye in little cans, and every grandmother makes a big pot of it before Seollal and Chuseok to sip after the heavy holiday meal, because it is believed to help digestion. Barley malt water and cooked rice are kept warm for several hours until enzymes turn the rice starch into sugar and the grains float up to the top, then the drink is boiled with ginger and chilled until icy. It is mild, lightly sweet and nutty, with soft rice grains to slurp. The usual mistake is letting it get too hot while it ferments: above about 65 °C the enzymes stop working and the grains never float. Contains barley (gluten). Chef's tip: use the rice cooker's 'keep warm' setting; it holds the perfect temperature on its own.

320 min

Korean Drinks

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Hobak jjigaeCourgette and tofu stew

Hobak jjigae is the late-summer stew of Korean home kitchens, made when the garden throws up more courgettes (aehobak) than anyone can eat, and it lands on the table in its own pot next to rice and kimchi on any ordinary weeknight. Potato and soft tofu soften in a red, gently spicy broth of gochujang and kelp, and the courgette turns silky without falling apart. Most cooks start with anchovy stock; this one uses dried kelp and shiitake so it stays vegan. The usual mistake is adding the courgette with the potato, which leaves it mushy and grey by the time the potato is cooked. Chef's tip: a final splash of soup soy sauce (guk-ganjang) seasons the broth more deeply than salt without darkening it.

30 min

Korean Soups

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Ssanghwa-cha (herbal tonic tea)

Ssanghwa-cha is the strongest thing on the menu of an old Korean dabang. From the 1960s these smoky tea rooms served it in thick ceramic cups, dark as coffee, with pine nuts, slivered jujube and walnut floating on top; in winter some still slide a raw egg yolk in, which this recipe leaves out. The brew comes from Korean herbal tradition, where ssanghwa-tang is drunk to warm up and recover from tiredness after hard work or a cold. It tastes earthy and bitter at first, then sweet from licorice and jujube, with warmth from cinnamon and ginger and a celery-like perfume from angelica. Herbal shops sell the roots in pre-measured packs. The common mistake is boiling it hard: the liquid reduces too fast and turns harsh. Keep a gentle simmer with the lid ajar for two hours. It is ready when it is very dark brown, reduced to about a third and smells of cinnamon and roots. Because it contains licorice and angelica, skip it if you are pregnant or breastfeeding, have high blood pressure, or take blood thinners or other medicines unless your doctor agrees. Chef's tip: a second, lighter brew from the same roots is good with honey.

135 min

Korean Drinks

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Yuja-cha (citron tea)

Goheung, on the southern coast of South Jeolla, is Korea's yuja country: in November the groves turn gold and families slice the knobbly citrons for yuja-cheong, the honeyed preserve that becomes tea all winter. From December to March a spoonful in hot water is offered to guests, to students cramming late and to anyone with a scratchy throat, as it is traditionally drunk for colds. The tea is sweet, floral and sharp, with soft, chewy strands of peel that you eat at the end with a spoon. The common mistake is leaving the fruit damp or the pith too thick: wet fruit lets mould in, and thick white pith makes the preserve bitter. Scrub, dry completely and pare away any pith thicker than a few millimetres. The cheong is ready after a day or two, when the sugar has dissolved into a clear, glossy syrup around the peel. Keep it in the fridge for up to three months, always with a dry spoon; throw it away if you see fuzzy mould, smell alcohol or it bubbles. No yuja? Japanese yuzu is the same fruit; otherwise use 2 lemons and 2 mandarins. Chef's tip: soak the seeds in a little of the honey and add that liquid back for a silkier syrup.

45 min

Korean Drinks

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Sungnyung (scorched rice tea)

Before electric rice cookers, every Korean pot of rice left a golden crust, nurungji, stuck to the bottom. Rather than waste it, cooks poured in water and simmered it while the family ate, and the warm, cloudy sungnyung was drunk at the end of the meal in place of tea. Older Koreans still describe it as the taste of home, and many Seoul restaurants that cook rice in stone pots finish by pouring water over the crust at the table. It tastes of toasted grain and has a faint natural sweetness, with soft pieces of crust to spoon up at the bottom. Without a stone pot you can make the crust from leftover rice in a frying pan. The common mistake is rushing the crust over high heat: it blackens on the outside and turns the drink bitter while the middle stays soft. Keep the heat low and patient, and aim for even golden-brown. The crust is ready when it lifts away from the pan in one sheet and smells like popcorn; the sungnyung is ready when the water is milky and pale gold. Chef's tip: make extra crust, dry it completely and keep it in a jar, so you can make sungnyung in ten minutes any evening.

35 min

Korean Drinks

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Daechu-cha (jujube tea)

Boeun county in North Chungcheong is famous for its large, sweet jujubes, harvested each October and sold at a lively autumn festival. Once dried, they become daechu-cha, the deep amber tea Korean traditional teahouses in Insadong and Jeonju serve from late autumn to early spring, topped with pine nuts. Long, slow simmering with ginger and a stick of cinnamon draws out a flavour like dates, caramel and baked apple; pressing the softened flesh through a sieve gives the tea its velvety, almost soup-thick body. It is traditionally drunk to warm up on cold nights. The common mistake is simply boiling whole jujubes and straining: the skins stay sealed, the tea comes out thin and pale, and most of the sweetness is thrown away. Slit each jujube, simmer until the flesh slides off the stone, then mash the pulp through the sieve. It is ready when the liquid has reduced by about half, is dark amber and lightly coats a spoon. Keep it covered in the fridge for up to 5 days and reheat gently. Chef's tip: a few slices of fresh ginger added in the last 20 minutes give a brighter heat than ginger boiled for the whole time.

110 min

Korean Drinks

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Maesil-cha (green plum tea)

In early June the hillsides of Gwangyang are picked clean of hard green maesil, and Korean kitchens across the country fill with jars of plums buried in sugar. Over about a hundred days the sugar draws out the fruit's juice and becomes maesil-cheong, a golden syrup that is both a cooking ingredient and a drink. Iced, it is the summer cooler; hot, it is traditionally drunk after a heavy meal for digestion. It tastes bright and tart, like green apple and apricot, rounded by the sugar. The common mistake is putting damp plums or plums with stalks into the jar: water and stalk ends invite mould and unwanted fermentation. Pick out each stalk with a toothpick and dry the fruit completely. The syrup is ready when the plums have shrivelled and float in clear amber liquid. A little foaming early on is normal, but if it smells strongly of alcohol, grows fuzzy mould or turns slimy, discard it. Remove the plums at 100 days, because their stones contain natural compounds best kept out of a long-stored syrup. Chef's tip: use half white and half light brown sugar for a rounder, toffee-edged syrup.

40 min

Korean Drinks

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Misutgaru (multigrain powder drink)

Misutgaru began as travellers' food, a powder of roasted grains that kept for weeks and could be stirred into water on the road. Today it is the drink of Korean summer: mothers shake it with cold milk for breakfast before school, office workers buy it as misutgaru latte from cafés, and farmers drink it at midday in the fields of July. The powder is a mix of roasted barley, glutinous and brown rice, black and yellow soybeans, and sesame, and it tastes of toasted cereal and peanut, lightly sweet, with a thick, creamy body that fills you up like a light meal. The common mistake is tipping the powder into a full glass of milk and stirring: it floats, clumps into dry balls and never fully mixes. Shake it in a jar with a little liquid first, or blend it, then add the rest. It is ready when the drink is smooth, beige and frothy with no dry flecks, and slightly thickened after a minute's rest. Use water or soy milk for a dairy-free version, and note that the barley means it is not gluten free. Chef's tip: a pinch of salt makes the grain flavour taste rounder and less flat.

5 min

Korean Drinks

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Cheonggukjang jjigaeFermented soybean stew

Cheonggukjang is a sticky, quick-fermented soybean paste made over two or three days in a warm room, and in Korean homes it becomes a bubbling winter stew, cooked in an earthenware pot and set in the middle of the table with rice and banchan. Its smell is famously strong, but the taste is nutty and deeply savoury, with tofu, courgette, onion and greens simmered in an anchovy-kelp stock. Suitable as part of a balanced diet: it is high in plant protein and fibre. About 230 kcal and 14 g carbohydrate per portion; eat it with a small bowl of mixed-grain rice. The usual mistake is boiling the cheonggukjang for a long time, which makes it bitter and dulls its flavour; it goes in for the last few minutes. Chef's tip: mash a spoon of doenjang in with it for a rounder, saltier base.

30 min

Korean Soups

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Haejang-gukCabbage and bean sprout soup

Haejang-guk means "soup to chase a hangover", and in Seoul and every Korean city the 24-hour haejang-guk houses fill at dawn with office workers and night-shift drivers. This version is the everyday ugeoji style: outer napa cabbage leaves and bean sprouts simmered with doenjang and chilli in a beef bone broth, with tender beef shin, eaten with a bowl of rice. The common mistake is skipping the soak and first boil of the bones, which leaves the broth murky and metallic. Chef's tip: squeeze the blanched cabbage leaves and rub them with the doenjang and chilli before they go into the pot, so the seasoning clings to every leaf.

120 min

Korean Soups

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Misutgaru drinkRoasted multigrain shake

Misutgaru is a fine beige powder of roasted grains and beans, usually barley, brown rice, glutinous rice, black beans and sesame, and Korean mums have shaken it into cold milk for rushed breakfasts for generations. It tastes like toasted cereal and a little like peanut butter, and it fills you up until lunch. The mistake is stirring the powder straight into a full glass, which leaves dry lumps floating on top; shake it in a jar or whisk it into a little liquid first. Honey is not suitable for babies under one. Chef's tip: add a few ice cubes to the jar before shaking, which breaks up any lumps and froths the drink.

5 min

Korean Drinks

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Oksusu-chaRoasted corn tea

Oksusu-cha is the tea Korean households boil by the kettleful and keep in the fridge in old glass bottles, drunk instead of water with meals from Seoul apartments to Gangwon farmhouses, chilled in summer and hot in winter. Dried corn kernels are roasted until dark golden, then simmered to make a pale amber tea that tastes gently sweet and toasty, though nothing is added at all. About 0.0 g salt per glass. The usual mistake is boiling the kernels too long, which makes the tea cloudy and starchy; 15 minutes is plenty. Ready-roasted corn kernels are sold in Korean shops; if roasting your own, use dried corn, not fresh or tinned. Chef's tip: mix in a spoon of roasted barley for the classic boricha blend, rounder and more nutty, though no longer gluten free.

22 min

Korean Drinks

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YukgaejangSpicy shredded beef soup

Yukgaejang is the red, chilli-slicked beef soup Koreans eat on the hottest days of summer to sweat out the heat, and it is also the soup served to mourners at funerals all over the country. Beef brisket is simmered for a couple of hours, shredded by hand and tossed with chilli flakes, garlic and soy, then returned to the broth with soaked bracken (gosari), bean sprouts and armfuls of leek. The flavour is deep and beefy with a slow chilli burn. Serve with a bowl of rice and kimchi. The usual mistake is adding the chilli flakes straight to the soup, where they taste raw and dusty; cooking them first in oil turns them sweet and red. A pressure cooker gets the brisket tender in 40 minutes. Chef's tip: shred the beef along the grain with your fingers rather than slicing it, so every strand soaks up the seasoning.

180 min

Korean Soups

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Cocido quemadoBurnt sugar mate drink

Cocido is how Paraguay starts the day: in Asunción, in the villages of Guairá and Itapúa, and in school kitchens, a pot of burnt yerba is brewed and poured into cups with chipa, the cheesy cassava bread, or with a hard galleta. The old way is to drop a glowing piece of charcoal into a pot with yerba and sugar and stir until the sugar burns. On a home stove you caramelise them together in a dry pan instead, which is safer and gives the same smoky, toffee-like taste. The drink is clear amber-brown, with roasted, slightly bitter mate notes over burnt-sugar sweetness; with milk added it becomes cocido con leche, creamy and coffee-coloured. Yerba mate contains caffeine, so treat it like a cup of coffee. The common mistake is letting the sugar go black: it turns acrid and bitter. Pull it off the heat when the caramel is deep amber and the yerba smells toasted, not burnt. It is ready when the liquid is a clear dark amber and tastes of toffee and smoke. Chef's tip: the water will spit fiercely when it hits the hot caramel, so pour it in from the side, at arm's length.

14 min

Paraguayan Drinks

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Pira caldoCreamy fish soup with cheese

Along the Paraguay River from Asunción to Concepción, pira caldo is the fishermen's soup, said to restore strength after a long night: chunks of firm river fish poached in a broth of onion, peppers and tomato fried in fat, then made creamy with milk and melted fresh cheese. Surubí or other catfish is traditional; any firm white fish such as hake or pollock works. The mistake most people make is boiling the soup after the milk and cheese go in, which splits it. Chef's tip: fry the vegetables until they are very soft and sweet before adding the water; that is where the flavour comes from.

60 min

Paraguayan Soups

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Postre MassiniCustard sponge with burnt sugar top

Montevideo's birthday cake of choice since the early twentieth century, the Massini is two thin layers of sponge sandwiching a thick filling of whipped cream folded with egg-yolk custard, crowned with a thin glassy crust of torched yolk and sugar. Bakeries across Uruguay sell it on Sundays. Traditional versions sometimes add a sweet fortified wine to the custard; this one is alcohol-free. The custard is cooked to a safe 71 °C. The common mistake is assembling with warm custard, which melts the cream into a puddle. Chef's tip: if you don't have a blowtorch, put the sugared top under a very hot grill for a minute and watch it closely.

80 min

Paraguayan Baking

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TereréIced yerba mate

In Asunción the hottest part of the day stops for tereré: a horn or cup packed with yerba mate, topped up again and again with ice water infused with crushed herbs, and passed round the group through a metal straw. It was recognised by UNESCO as part of Paraguay's cultural heritage, and the herbs (yuyos) change with the season and the drinker's mood. Yerba mate contains caffeine, so it isn't one for small children. The common mistake is pouring water straight into loose yerba, which then clogs the straw; tilt the yerba to one side first. Chef's tip: for tereré ruso, swap the water for cold orange or grapefruit juice.

10 min

Paraguayan Drinks

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Eomuk-tangFish cake soup

On cold evenings in Busan, the city that made Korean fish cake famous, steam rises from street stalls where folded fish-cake skewers bob in a long tray of broth. You help yourself to a skewer, dip it in soy sauce and sip a paper cup of the hot broth while you stand. Bupyeong market has rows of fish-cake shops, and many families buy a bag there to make this simple soup at home. Radish, dried anchovies and kelp give the broth its clean, sweet flavour. Chef's tip: pull the heads and black guts off the dried anchovies before using them, because the guts make the broth bitter.

25 min

Korean Soups

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Gogi guksuPork noodle soup

Gogi guksu goes back to Jeju's village feasts, where a pig was slaughtered for a wedding or funeral and its bones were boiled into broth for noodles to feed everyone. In Jeju City there is now a street of noodle restaurants near Samseonghyeol shrine, popular for a quick lunch and with visitors fresh off the plane. The broth is cloudy and rich, the noodles are thick and chewy, and the slices of boiled pork on top are often from the island's black pigs. Diners add chilli flakes and spring onion as they like. Chef's tip: dip the cooked noodles into the hot broth in a sieve for 20 seconds before they go in the bowl; they heat through without going soft.

180 min

Korean Soups

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