Korean Seaweed Soup - Birthday Soup

Korean Seaweed Soup (known as Miyeok guk) is also known as the Korean Birthday Soup. In Korea, it is customary to eat this soup on your birthday. In fact, relatives and friends will often call-in on your birthdays and ask if you had the chance to eat Seaweed Soup. If you did, you have successfully "aged" a year.

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Miyeok-guk is a popular home recipe that is eaten regularly throughout the year. Most likely because it is simple to make and very healthy. With a few ingredients, you can make a nutritious soup to accompany a bowl of rice and banchan.

Seaweed is a super-food and also a staple in Korean cuisine. I see that there is a growing interest in seaweed and kelp among Western countries. This is great! Seaweed retains rich minerals from the sea, while being low in calories and easy on the digestion system.

Key taste variable: Soup Soy Sauce
Soup Soy Sauce is unique to Korean cuisine. It is much saltier and lighter in color to regular soy sauce. It provides the right depth in flavor without turning the broth too dark.

Korean Seaweed Soup

In Korea, we eat this Korean Seaweed Soup on our birthdays. Simple, delicious and part of Korean culture! 

4.30 from 17 votes

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Course: Easy

Servings: 2 people

Ingredients

• Dried Seaweed - ½ cup
• Beef - 150 grams

Seasoning Beef

• Soup soy sauce - 1 Tablespoon
• Sesame oil - 1 teaspoon
• Black pepper - few shakes

Soup seasoning

• Sesame oil - 1 teaspoon
• Water - 3 cups
• Soup soy sauce - ½ Tablespoon
• Salt - 3 shakes
• Minced garlic - ½ Tablespoon

Instructions

Prep Ingredients

• Put dried seaweed in a mixing bowl. Place some water in the bowl and let the pieces hydrate for 15 minutes. Drain seaweed. (If you bought uncut seaweed, cut them into bite-sized piece).
• Cut beef into bite-sized pieces.

Build Soup Base

• Take out a large pot. Place meat in. Season with soup soy sauce, sesame oil, black pepper. Then put it on a medium-high heat and cook the meat.
• Cook the meat until most of the red is gone. Then add the seaweed into the pot.
• Add 1 teaspoon of sesame oil. Cook and stir around for 2 minutes.

Finish Soup

• After 2 minutes, add 3 cups of water into the pot.
• Once the soup starts to reboil, add soup soy sauce and salt.
• Let it cook on a gentle simmer (medium-low heat) for 10 minutes.
• After 10 minutes, place minced garlic in. Then let it cook for 5 additional minutes.
• You're finished. Eat with rice!

Notes

• Follow the measurements carefully on this recipe. This broth is light and simple - so its easy to overpower or underseason with ingredients.

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