Kongguksu Chilled Soy Milk Noodle Soup Food

KONGGUKSU (COLD SOY MILK NOODLE SOUP)

Steps:

• In a medium bowl, combine soy beans with enough water to cover by 3 inches and refrigerate for 8 hours or up to overnight. Drain.
• In a large pot, cover soaked soy beans with enough water to submerge by 2 inches and bring to a boil over high. Reduce heat to medium and simmer, stirring occasionally and skimming foam and skins that rise to the top, until beans have softened but are still slightly crunchy, 10 to 12 minutes. (The beans should still have a little snap to them.) Drain beans and transfer to a large bowl.
• Fill the bowl with cold water, swish the beans around, then drain, pouring off any skins that rise to the top. Repeat until the beans are cold and the loosened skins are gone. (Not all skins need to be removed, just the ones that fall off on their own.)
• Meanwhile, cook noodles according to package instructions until al dente. Drain and run under cold water to stop the cooking. Divide among 4 bowls.
• In a blender, combine soy beans with the chilled water and salt, then purée until smooth. Season to taste with more salt, if desired. If the broth isn't cold, stir in a few ice cubes to chill it down before pouring it over the noodles. (Remove the ice first.) Garnish with cucumbers and sesame seeds, if using, and serve immediately.

COLD SOY MILK NOODLE SOUP (KONGGUKSU)

Steps:

• Soak dry soybeans 3 hrs to overnight until they are fully rehydrated. If the weather is really warm, soak overnight in the fridge. 1 cup dry soybeans will be about 2 1/2 cup when fully soaked.
• Rinse soybeans. Discard any soybean skins/casings that float to the top. But you can just blend the whole thing including the casings, not a big deal.
• Add rehydrated, cleaned soybeans and 4-5 cups of water in a pot and bring to boil. Cook UNCOVERED.Watch closely so that it does not overflow.
• Once it starts to boil, reduce heat to medium.
• Cook for 7 -8 minutes until soybeans are fully cooked. Take a couple beans and taste it. It should still be slightly crunchy but fully cooked when done.
• Drain cooked soybeans and let it cool.
• Cook noodles according to package directions but on the al dente side. I made mine with leftover buckwheat noodles but you can use any generic Korean noodles for udon 우동, kalguksu 칼국수 or jjajangmyeon 짜장면. Just don't use too soft, too thin noodles like somyeon 소면 or rice noodles because the soup is thick and substantial and you need chewy, thicker noodles that can stand up to that.
• While the noodles are cooking, julienne cucumbers to use as topping. Optionally, you can slice some watermelons into triangles or just use a big spoon to make a couple scoops.
• In a blender, add cooked soybeans (doesn't have to be completely cooled, just cool enough for you to handle) and add about 2 cups of cold water. It makes about 3 1/2 cups in the blender.Blend until smooth until you really don't see a lot of movement in the blender which means it's getting too thick to blend.
• Add 1 cup cold water to blender and blend again. Again, blend until you don't see much movement which means it's time to add more water.
• Add 1 cup cold water to blender again and blend.
• If you need to serve immediately, stop here and add 1 1/2 cups of ice and stir to cool down the liquid.
• If you have time to chill, add 1 cup water and blend one final time. This time you should see some foam at the top.
• Chill in refrigerator for few hours before serving.
• When ready to serve, in a bowl add the noodles and pour soy milk on top. Garnish with cucumbers and watermelon.
• It tastes best when the salt and crushed sesame seeds are added at the table individually after it is served. Each person can season this fabulous Cold Soy Milk Noodle Soup to their liking. As a general guideline, use about 1/4 tsp sea salt to 2 cups of soy milk - which is probably a good amount for each big bowl of serving.