Korean Stock Soup. It's an essential skill in Korean cooking. In fact, most Korean soups and stews start off with this anchovy-kelp stock base. Learn the technique and let's start cooking Korean stews!
When I was learning how to cook Korean food, I preferred to use instant beef powder for my stock base. It was simple and I didn't have to peel anchovies. For a long time, I held a (natural) assumption that anchovy stock would make my stews taste fishy - and nasty.
But as I started to develop my culinary skills, I realized how subtle the anchovy-kelp stock soup is. It doesn't overpower any of the ingredients in the stew. Nor does it taste fishy. In fact, the stock is very light and plays more of a 'support' role. It binds the flavor of the ingredients together.
Today, I wanted to do a bit of hand-holding and show you how to make this traditional Korean stock soup from scratch. It's very simple and once you have done it once or twice - it becomes second nature.
For those who are allergic to seafood (or can not find dried anchovies), I also have an alternative vegetarian recipe. This alternative stock builds its flavor from the shiitake mushrooms. Full of umami and taste. Note: If you see me refer to the anchovy-kelp stock in future recipes, you can substitute it with this vegetarian mushroom stock.
Save any remaining stock in a bottle and stick in the refrigerator. This recipe should be enough for a 2-person portion.

Korean Soup Stocks: Anchovy-Kelp Broth + Vegetarian Broth
Ingredients
Anchovy-Kelp Broth
- Dried Anchovies - 10 Large-Sized, Used for Broth
- Dried Kelp Dashima - iPhone-sized piece
- Water - 5 cups
Shiitake-Kelp Broth (Vegetarian)
- Dried Kelp Dashima - iPhone-sized piece
- Shiitake Mushrooms - 3
- Onion - ½ a whole
- Spring onion - forearm-size piece
- Water - 5 cups
- Korean radish optional- 150 grams (measure up to 2nd wrinkle on pointer figure)
Anchovy-Kelp Broth Teabag
- Anchovy-Kelp Teabag - 1
- Water - 5 cups
Instructions
Anchovy-Kelp Broth
- Clean dried anchovies: Take off the head. Split body in half and remove black innards.
- Place a pot on medium-high heat. Once it is hot, place the dried anchovies in. Do not add any oil. Stir around and "toast" them for 30 seconds.
- Add water in. Then put in dashima pieces. Bring up to a boil. Once it is boiling, remove dashima pieces.
- Reduce heat to a medium-low heat. Cook for 10 minutes
- Strain through a kitchen towel. Set aside.
Shiitake-Kelp Broth (Vegetarian)
- Take out a large pot and place all of the veggies in. Then place in dashima pieces. Then pour water into the pot. Put on a medium-high heat and bring up to a boil.
- Once water is boiling, take out the dashima pieces.
- Reduce to a medium-low heat. Cook for 15 minutes.
- Strain through a kitchen towel. Set aside.
Anchovy-Kelp Broth (Teabag)
- Take out a pot. Pour water in. Bring up to a boil.
- Place teabag into the water. Cook for 5 minutes. Take out teabag. Set aside.
Notes
- Make sure to reduce heat to a medium-low (gentle simmer) when boiling the stock.
- See video below for more details
[…] Anchovy-Kelp Broth – 3 cups […]