Korean Soy Bean Sprout Soup

Soya bean is one of the essentials in East Asian food culture. It’s the key ingredients of most of seasoning sauces and pastes, such as soy sauce, doenjang, and miso.

In this recipe, I use doenjang, also known as Korean soy bean paste. As a Cantonese, Cantonese soup is what I should have made, but it usually takes two hour cooking and it’s hard to make it every day. So those quick and easy soups are my daily soup options, Korean soups are among them.

It’s said that soy bean sprout soup is for curing hangover. So Korean usually have it the morning after drinking. I haven’t tried but anyway, this vegetable base soup is easy, healthy, savoury and tasty, good to serve with steamed rice. A little kimchi or similar sides would be even better.

Ingredients –
Soy bean sprouts, 250g;
Pork belly, 100g;
Big scallop, 5;
Medium firm tofu, 1;
Onion, half;
Chinese white radish/daikon, 200g;
Doenjang/Korean soy bean paste, 4tbsp;
Spring onion, 1.

How to do –
1. Let’s prepare the ingredients. Bean sprouts soaked in water, washed and removed the bad beans; onion and radish sliced; pork belly sliced; tofu cut into big chunks;

2. Plenty of water in soup pot, bring to boil, put in the bean sprouts and poach for about 30 seconds, then drained, set aside;

3. Heat a little oil in a soup pot, put in the pork and fry in medium heat till fat released, then put in the onion and fry till fragrant;

4. Put in the radish, and the bean paste, fry and mix well. Bean paste is a little lumpy so make sure you break it now otherwise after adding water, it’s hard to dissolve. Frying the vegetables would help to release natural sweetness from the vegetables;

5. Put in the bean sprouts, tofu and scallop on top. Pour in some water but no need to cover the ingredients. Bean sprouts and radish would release quite a lot of juice. Lid on, bring to boil in high heat then simmer in low heat for 20 minutes;

6. Sprinkle some chopped spring onion and serve in pot.