Gamjatang (Korean Pork Bone Soup)

I thought it was almost spring season (well, at least according to the high street shops), but no, winter refuses to budge and it got really cold in London last weekend. What better than a warming bowl of slow-cooked broth, with that bit of spice and asian flavour to remind me of home? Gamjatang is a Korean spicy (adjustable) pork bone soup with fermented soybean paste, hot pepper flakes and lots of vegetables-- a one-pot meal, though Koreans will still have it with rice.

I adapted the recipe from Maangchi (the cutest cook on Youtube), because I'm guilty of seeking shortcuts (like not removing the chilli pepper and soaking the bones), and because I didn't have some of the ingredients. If you have, please use! Everyone on Maangchi's forums seem to love the flavour that perilla leaves added (like Japanese shiso but "better"), and perilla seeds (I used some sesame seeds because I just thought it would be nice, but it's not a replacement). I don't know if I'm missing out a lot, but even without those ingredients, the soup was sooo good and it made me feel warm and happy and Korean.

Gamjatang (Korean Pork Bone Soup)

serves 2-3

Ingredients

For soup base

1kg of pork (spine) bones

1 large onion, sliced

1" ginger, sliced into pieces

2 tbs soybean paste doenjang (like miso, but a stronger flavour, kind of like Chinese taucheo)

1 dried red chilli, seeds removed

3 dried shitake mushrooms

10 cups water

a bit more than 2l of water

For sauce

6 cloves of garlic, minced

2 tbsp of hot pepper flakes

1 tbsp Korean red chilli pepper powder (to replace the hot pepper paste)

3 tbsp Chinese cooking wine (shaoxing/huadiao)

3 tbsp fish sauce

1 tbsp of white sesame paste (to "replace" the 3tbsp of perilla seeds powder)

Vegtables

3 stalks of spring onions

1/4 Napa cabbage, chopped into bite-sized pieces.

1 big handful of beansprouts

3 small potatoes, peeled and halved

To serve

chopped spring onions

white pepper

(pretty black earthenware bowl if you have, which I don't)

Method

1. Blanch the pork bones in boiling water for 10 min, with half the ginger added. Drain and rinse the scum off.

2. Bring the pork bones and all the ingredients for the soup base to the boil in a large pot filled with about 2l water, then let it continue to simmer for 1.5h over medium high heat.

3. Add the sauce and vegetables to the pot and continue to cook for half an hour more.

4. Serve piping hot (á la all the Korean dramas hehe) with chopped spring onions and a dash of white pepper.

I love soups, and this one's just rich with flavour (and nutrients). As with all good bone broths, it gels the next day when cooled:

This is fun, I think I should start doing this "gelatin" test for all the bone broths I cook.

This is part of Pennywise Platter Thursday at the Nourishing Gourmet.

This is part of Fightback Fridays by Food Renegade.

Ginseng Chicken Soup

In Chinese cooking and TCM, herbs are the superfoods. Chinese herbs are very different from Western herbs. Chinese herbs can be really rare, made from the weirdest of ingredients like for e.g. cordyceps are made from caterpillar fungus, and the flavour they impart is often pungent and medicinal. But they really are medicinal in nature, and when combined right, are very healing (yet easy on the palate, unlike horrible pink cough syrups).

My mum is always sending me herbs (they always come dried), often pre-packed in lovely ziplocked bags with all the herbs in the right quantities, so I only need to throw them in with some meat on bone into the slow cooker and I come home to find dinner ready (made with mummy's love haha). I'm trying to learn about herbs, but it's not easy, because there are so many. This is the most popular soup of all, and there's even a very similar Korean version of it called Samgyetang. Ginseng is very prized, it's considered a cure-all for most ailments, and even for the healthy, are rejuvenating.

Ginseng Chicken Soup

Ingredients

serves 2 (you can easily double the recipe with an entire chicken to make a herbal chicken bone broth)

2 chicken thighs and drums (bone-on!)

2 pieces of dried Korean ginseng, with their "beards"

5 red jujube dates, pitted

2 tbsp of wolfberries

In TCM, they usually measure ingredients by weight, but this soup isn't exactly a medicine, so pardon my lack of specific grams.

Method

1. Bring all ingredients to a boil and let simmer on a very low heat for 3h, or put into a slow-cooker on low, for 6h or more.

It's winter now (very yin) hence you should use Korean or Chinese ginseng, because they're much stronger and very warming (yang). In summer, substitute with American ginseng. So you can have this the whole year round(: This is a really simple and clean soup so it really showcases the ginseng flavour. There are many other more complicated Chinese herbal soups like Eight Treasures Soup 八珍汤 or 六味汤, but my mum packs them for me ;)

Chinese Black Bean Soup

More pregnancy/confinement food haha. Beans this time(: They're just fantastic in soups and stews because they help thicken the soup up, and they add body and fullness. Chinese soups are not just about taste, they're more like tasty tonics.

For instance, in this soup, the black bean (a.k.a. black turtle bean. how cute is that! NOT black-eyed peas.) is known to be a rich source of protein, fibre and antioxidants, and in TCM terms, it tonifies the kidney, strengthens the yin, and nourishes the blood. The red jujube dates are very common in Chinese soups, they not only sweeten the soup (not in the sugary way), but helps to harmonize the effect of all the other ingredients or herbs in the soup to nourish the blood, spleen and stomach. And since this soup (like many Chinese soups) make use of pork bones to give it that body and flavour, is an excellent bone broth, full of calcium and more.

Chinese Black Bean Soup

serves 2-3

Ingredients

200g pork with bones (my mum prefers pork ribs. I just use any meaty bones that my butcher gives for free)

2/3 cup black beans, soaked and rinsed

6 red jujube dates, pitted

3-4 dried scallops

2l water

Method

1. Blanch pork bones in boiling water (you'll see some disgusting scum floating in the water). Drain and discard the water.

2. Combine all ingredients and bring to a boil for 5 min, then simmer for at least 2h. Or transfer to a slowcooker like I did, on low for 6h, or on high for 3h.

UPDATE: I left it on high for 6h by accident, and ended up getting a super flavourful and thick soup, and the..white bones? tendon? (someone enlighten me what this part is) became soft enough you could slurp it out. Usually my slow cooking already results in them being soft enough to chew on, but this was like..

I like (:

Pork Trotters with Vinegar Stew (猪脚醋)

I was just speaking of TCM in my previous post, and pork trotters in the post before that, so, voila! I thought of this Chinese pork trotter stew. It's favoured by all Chinese mothers during the confinement period because it's incredibly nourishing, and soooo yummy. I love this so much I once famously said "I don't mind being pregnant just to eat all these (confinement) food." Hey, but, it's really a great stew for the winter, not just post-pregnancy. And there are hardly any ingredients, and even fewer steps.

Pork Trotters with Vinegar (猪脚醋)

Ingredients

2 pork trotters (ask the butcher to chop them up)

1 large (about 500g) ginger (old ginger preferably), smashed

5 tbsp sesame oil

1 bottle black vinegar (Koon Chun is a good brand. yes the entire bottle, or at least 3/4 the whole bottle)

3/4 cup brown sugar (I use unrefined Rapadura, use less if you choose to use a sweetened black vinegar)

some water

a few hard boiled eggs

Method

1. Boil the pork trotters vigorously for 15 min, and discard the water with all the scum. Rinse.

2. Fry the pork trotters with the ginger and sesame oil till fragrant.

3. Add the black vinegar, brown sugar, and enough water to cover the pork trotters.

4. Bring to a boil, then simmer for about 2 hours. (Or you can transfer to a slow cooker like I do, and then simmer on low for 4 hours. The best pot to use is the type that my mum uses-- big black clay pots, over a charcoal fire.)

5. Add the hard boiled eggs to the stew after the trotters are done.

You can eat immediately if you can't wait. But the stew is actually much better the next day. And much much better the day after. And the day after. The most amazing thing about this stew is that you don't have to refrigerate it, the ingredients used act as a form of preservative, I guess it works somewhat like a pickle? (and we know how healthy preserved/fermented foods are for our gut) Just bring it to the boil before eating. In fact, Chinese families will make a huge pot and eat throughout the week.

Here are the healing properties of the components according to TCM:

Black vinegar purifies blood and cleanses the arteries.

Old ginger gets rid of wind in the body, which invades the body especially after pregnancy.

Brown sugar gets rid of dampness in the body.

Sesame oil promotes blood circulation.

Pork trotters have plenty of collagen to strengthen the joints and ligaments, and the bones in them also provide calcium.

Eggs are seen as a complete source of nourishment.

The trotters are so melting soft, and the gravy/broth is sweet sour and savoury all at once, and thick and gelatinous. It makes you lick your sticky lips with satisfaction after that, and your tummy will feel nice and warm and happy. Proof of a powerful broth: look at how it gels after it has cooled!

This is an entry for Muhibbah Monday, and The Best Thing I Ever Ate hosted by more than burnt toast, because it simply is!