Cold Soybean GukSu

Cold soybean noodles (콩국수, KongGukSu) is one of the most popular summer menus items in Korea. The homemade creamy soybean sauce tastes great with the noodles, fresh cucumbers, and tomatoes. You can also buy premade soybean sauce for your convenience, but it is not as good as making it from scratch. If you already tried these noodles in Korea, you may find a difference in my recipe because I used sugar. I’m from southern Korea, and in our hometown, it is common to add sugar to this dish whereas other places in Korea normally don’t. So, if you want, you can skip the sugar.

Dear friends, I’m in my 16th week pregnancy now. My morning sickness is gone and my appetite is coming back. I feel hungry more often and sometimes I feel my baby’s cute movements. Bryson is a happy and energetic boy. He often makes us laugh. We are all doing fine. I just wanted to share how we are doing with you all. I hope that I can start posting recipes more often now. Thank you for your patience and support. Please stay cool and happy. 🙂

Yield: 6 Servings

Short Korean Lesson

• Kong (콩) = Bean
• OI (오이) = Cucumber

Video Instructions

Main Ingredients

• 1 Cup Dried Soybeans (3 Cups Water + ½ tsp Salt)
• 8 oz Thin Noodles (12 Cups Water + 1 tsp Salt)
• 2 Cups Water
• 6 Tbsp Sugar
• ½ tsp Salt
• Some Cucumber (For Garnish)
• Some Tomatoes (For Garnish)
• Some Black Sesame Seeds (For Garnish)

Directions

Soak 1 cup of dried soybeans in water for about 12 hours.

Afterwards, the soybeans will be tripled in size. So you will get about 3 cups of soaked soybeans.

Put the soaked soybeans in 6 cups of boiling water.

Once the water starts to boil again, cook for about 5 to 8 minutes on high, or until the soybeans have finished cooking.

Rinse them in cold water twice. Some of the skins of the soybeans will float on the surface of the water.

Rub the cooked soybeans with both hands to remove all of the skins.

Add some more water so that the skins will float. Discard the water and skins. Repeat this process several times until all of the skins are removed.

Add the soybeans, 3 cups of water, and ½ tsp of salt into a blender.

Blend on high speed for about a minute or two, or until you get well blended soybean milk.

Pour the soybean sauce to a container and chill it in the fridge before serving. You will get about 4 cups of soybean sauce, which will be enough for about 6 servings. If you don’t use it all, you can keep the rest in the fridge for later. It will keep for several days, but not more than a week.

When it is time to make the meal, obtain about 8 oz of thin noodles.

Follow the cooking instructions on the pack of noodles that you have. If you don’t have any instructions: add the thin noodles in about 12 cups of boiling water with 1 tsp of salt and cook them for about 4-5 minutes.

Meanwhile, julienne some cucumber and slice some tomatoes into wedges.

Rinse the cooked noodles in cold water several times and drain.

Pour the soybean sauce into a large mixing bowl and add 2 cups of water, 6 Tbsp of sugar, and ½ tsp of salt. Mix until the sugar and salt dissolves. You may want to adjust the sweetness and saltiness. People in my hometown add sugar, however most other areas do not add sugar. It is up to you.

Put some of the cooked noodles in a serving bowl.

Pour some of the soybean sauce on top of the noodles. If you want extra cold noodles, add some ice.

Garnish with cucumber, tomato wedges, and black sesame seeds.

 

I love to eat these noodles with kimchi. On a hot summer day, this is very refreshing and delicious. Try this someday. 🙂