Also called chueo-tang or loach soup, this recipe of boiled and ground mudfish is traditionally eaten in Korea. It is said to enhance beauty and vitality and is often a featured dish at celebrations for the elderly. Mudfish, or pond loach, is a freshwater fish that’s easily caught in Korea after irrigated rice paddies are drained in the late autumn. The soup uses the fish whole, ground with the bones included. Mudfish soup is quite rare in the United States, even in regions with large Korean populations. Garnishes for mudfish soup include Korean mint leaves and perilla powder.
Recipe Servings: 4
Prep Time
5 minutes
Cook Time
1 hour 30 minutes
Total Time
1 hour 35 minutes
Vegetarian
Vegan
Gluten Free
Dairy Free
Kosher
Halal
Ingredients
- 1 lb mudfish
- ½ lb beef
- 14 oz fern brake bean sprouts
- 14 oz unripe Chinese cabbages
- Unripe red peppers, to taste
- Soy sauce, to taste
- Korean hot pepper paste, to taste
- Soy paste, to taste
Directions
- In a pot, heat 2 cups water to boiling.
- Put the mudfish in the pot with salt and cook, lowering heat and simmering, for 40 minutes.
- In another pot, heat 3 cups water, and boil the beef for about 30 minutes.
- Remove mudfish from the cooking pot and grind, either by hand or with a food processor.
- Add the ground mudfish to the pot with the beef.
- Add soy sauce, Korean hot pepper paste, and soy paste, and bring to a boil.
- Add the bean sprouts and Chinese cabbage, cooking 20 minutes.
- Serve hot.
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