Napa cabbage soybean paste guk is a healthy and delicious daily soup in Korea. Napa cabbage is mainly used for making kimchi in Korean cuisine, but sometimes it is used for soup, side dishes, or as an ingredient in a main dish. When you make kimchi, you might throw away some of the Napa cabbage leaves since they are not fresh or good. You can use those Napa cabbage leaves instead of throwing them out. You can also buy a small Napa cabbage for just this soup. Try this someday.
Yield: 4 Servings
Short Korean Lesson
- BaeChu (배추) = Napa Cabbage
- YangBaeChu (양배추) = Cabbage
Video Instructions
Main Ingredients
- 4 Cups Napa Cabbage (10 oz)
- 5 Cups Water
- 1 Dried Anchovy Pack (or 6 Dried Anchovies)
- ½ Cup Onion
- 2 Green Onions
- ½ Red Hot Pepper (Optional)
- 3 Tbsp Soybean Paste
- 1 tsp Minced Garlic
- ¼ tsp Salt
Directions
To make the broth, boil 5 cups of water with 1 dried anchovy pack (or 6 dried anchovies) in a pot on medium-high.
Once the broth starts to boil, add 3 Tbsp of soybean paste. Stir well to dissolve the paste.
Meanwhile, chop about 10 oz of Napa cabbage into ½ x 2 inch strips. You can put aside some cabbage when making kimchi, or you can buy a small head of Napa cabbage just for this soup.
Cut ½ cup worth of an onion into ¼ inch slices, cut 2 green onions into ½ inch pieces, and cut ½ of a red hot pepper into ¼ inch pieces.
When the soup starts to boil again, add the Napa cabbage and onion. Cook for about 10 minutes on medium. If you do not want a strong anchovy flavor in your soup, remove the anchovy pack, or anchovies, about 5 minutes later.
20 minutes later, add the green onion, hot pepper, 1 tsp of minced garlic, and ¼ tsp of salt. Cook for 2 more minutes on high and turn off the heat. Depending on your tastes adjust the saltiness.
Cooked Napa cabbage has a great texture. Additionally, the soybean paste with a little kick from the hot pepper gives this soup great flavor. Store this in the refrigerator or freezer and serve it with cooked rice and other side dishes. Enjoy. 🙂
Can this soup be eaten cold?
Thanks Aeri!!
hi monica,
You can..but I like to warm up my soup a little.. ^^ thanks
Eonnii… I actually don’t have any anchovy pack neither anchovies… can I do this soup without it? or can I use fish sauce instead ?
Thank youuuu my parents are dying to eat Korean soups especially kimchi jjigae hehehe 😛
hi Petitnem,
I will say just skip it. 🙂 If you have any broth base or powder type thing for flavor, you can add a little instead. I’m not sure about fish sauce because personally I don’t like fish sauce much in other food than Kimchi. You can try though.. thanks 🙂
Hi Aeri, am asking about the Bak Choy Salad, do i cook the ramen first before frying w almond?
R u able to show a more detail step of preparing this salad
Many thanks!
hi Stephanie,
aha.. that was my sister-in-law’s recipe. I love that salad. 🙂 I think she fried (roasted) the ramen noodle and almond together. I will ask her I can post more detailed recipe for it. thanks
Ah, the perfect Kimbap Partner =)
😛 I added some red pepper paste as well. It tasted dilicious… Thank you for sharing!
Hi..just want to let u know ..I love this blog!! Don’t stop blogging please 😀 hehehee..
hi cat,
Hehe..really ? horray..thanks.. then..please don’t stop leaving comments for us. 🙂 Thanks again..
This is my soup today on this rainy day. Very good and simple. Aeri, I have a question. The other week I was at an all asian grocery store and picked up some daylily shoots instead of lotus shoots for side dish. I don’t have a clue what I can use daylily for…is there a korean side dish or other that I can use it for? Can you point me to a recipe? Thanks so much.
hi Trish,
After read your comment, I googled what “daylily shoots” .. I’ve near heard of it.. and wondered since it’s in English name even I know that in Korean. I looked at the pictures and searched Korean dictionary. I’m sorry but we dont eat that in Korea.. at least not at normal home meals. oops.. so I don’t know how to use it. It must be used in other Asian countries since you got it in a Asian store. thanks