Korean Meatball Soup

 This isn't an authentic Korean recipe, but it has been inspired by spicy Korean tofu soup. In fact, the recipes for both are pretty similar except that you use meatballs instead of chunks of tofu.

I recommend that you use homestyle-type meatballs, the kind usually used for the Swedish meatball dish, and not the Italian kind (in addition to being too big, these have Italian flavors that might clash with the Korean flavors.) I buy a bag of frozen cooked meatballs and just grab a handful from the bag for the recipe.

As you may notice, this recipe calls for few ingredients that would be hard to find in a typical American supermarket, such as gochujang paste, which is fermented chili paste and is ubiquitousin Korean cooking. You could either order it online like from Amazon.con, or use southeast Asian chili-garlic sauce, which doens't taste the same but should be workable.

Note: if you use dried musthrooms and soak them in warm water beforehad, you could add the water to the soup for a bit more mushroom-y taste.

 

Servies 4-6

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon neutral-tasting cooking oil like canola or safflower

10 homestyle meatballs, defrosted in the microwoave oven

1 32 oz carton chicken borth/stock

1 tablespoon (or more if you wnat hotter) gochujang paste

1 cup of kimchi, cut into pieces

3 green onions, sliced and white and green parts seperated

1+ cup of mushrooms (I recommend shiitake) cut into bite-sized pieces

10-20 strands of thin noddles -- rice or angel's hair

1 tablespon orice vinegar

 1/2 tablespoon of perilla or sesame oil

(optional) 1 teaspoon gochugaru chili flakes or aleppo chili or cayenne pepper

 

Directions:

1) Heal oil in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium heat and saut white parts of green onions until fragnant

2) Add the gochujang paste and cook for 2 minutes, blending with the onions and oil

3) Add the kimchi and cook for a few minutes. At this point, it will star to smell really spicy and like a Korean kitchen. :-)

4) Now, pour in half the carton of chicken broth and stir.

5) Toss the mushrooms in and sitr a bit more.

6) While the soup is simmering, cut the meatballs into halves and toss all into the soup.

7) Pour in rest of chicken broth and then the noodles (break them in halves before dropping them).

8) Simmer for about 15 minutes, letting the flavors mojo in the pot.

9) Add the vinegar, perilla or sesame oil, green parts of the green onions and chili spice (if desired). Sitr and then keepshimmering for 5 minutes.

10) Check the noodles in the soup for softness. If still not soft, keep cooking until they become soft. At that point, it should be ready to serve.

 

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