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The Kimchi Treatment
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Comfort food, Korean-style..
When I’m down with a cold, as I have been for the past several days, I crave soup: hot, spicy, brothy soup loaded with chilies, ginger, garlic, and lots of flavor. That’s where kimchi, that spicy, pungent Korean pickled cabbage comes in.
Kimchi has a lot going for it: besides being flavorful and highly adaptable, it’s full of vitamins and more beneficial bacteria than yogurt. It’s also multi-faceted and can be eaten and enjoyed in a wide variety of ways. Traditionally, it’s eaten as is, as a vital side dish in Korean cuisine, but it’s also stir-fried, stewed, tossed into soups, and even added to pizza. If you like hot and spicy flavors, and cabbage, kimchi is the dish you’ve been looking for.
Feeling cruddy, I came home Friday night and threw together what I think of as my cold soup. There are no measurements here because I’ve never bothered to measure it out. I’m usually too bleary under the circumstances to give it much thought, but the usual ingredients are:
Chicken stock, a couple quarts
Cabbage Kimchi, about ¼ to ½ cup, julienned
Garlic, four or five cloves, sliced thin
Ginger, four or five quarter sized slices, julienned
Scallions, two, cut into thin slices
Meat or tofu. I generally use what bits of leftover pork, chicken, or beef I have in the refrigerator, again, sliced into julienne.
Gochuchang, a wonderfully flavorful Korean chili paste, about 1 tablespoon, dissolved into the broth. Other chile sauces such as Sriricha or sambal oelek work great.
While these are simmering together, boil udon or soba noodles in a separate pot. When they’re ready, Idrain the noodles, rinsing them under cold water to stop their cooking any further. When the soup stock tastes ready, place a pile of the noodles into a big bowl, and then ladle the stock over the noodles, drizzling the whole concoction with a bit of dark sesame oil.
It always makes me feel better, at least for a little while.
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