Dinner: Cabbage and soy bean paste soup ("baechu doenjangguk":배추된장국)

My secret recipe for this delicious Korean favourite! Full instructions on my blog http://www.maangchi.com/recipe/baechu-doenjang-guk 'm so excited to introduce this simple and healthy soup to you!
Korean meals are usually served with rice, soup, and other side dishes. Just in case you don't know what doenjang is, I'm telling you that doenjang is Korean fermented soy bean paste. You could make so many different kinds of doenjang guk using different vegetables such as spinach, potato, radish leaves, fresh mugwort (ssuk)... Of all the vegetables, baechu (napa cabbage) doenjang guk is the most basic soup and every Korean loves it. (Let me know if you find any Korean who doesn't like this soup) : ) I will give you a short quiz now. : ) What would you call doenjang guk made with spinach? ... pause ... yes, it's called shigeumchi doenjang guk. Shigeumchi is spinach in Korean. Heh, it's easy, right? When my grandmother made this soup, she always used milky rice water instead of water. Every day she made a huge amount of rice to feed her family. When she washed, rubbed, and rinsed her rice grains, she got the milky water. When she made doenjang guk, she used that milky rice water in her pot. When I was in middle school, the lady next door ran a restaurant. She sold baechu doenjang guk. She and my mother were friends, so we were like family. Most of her soup customers were male workers who needed a cheap and simple breakfast before starting work early in the morning. What time in the morning? Before dawn! To be ready to serve this soup, she probably should make it at 2-3 am? Her soup was very popular so that her restaurant was always crowded especially in the morning. I saw her serving her soup to her customers. When her customer was sitting at the table, she ladled the soup into a large bowl from her huge pot and added a little barley rice (about 2 tbs?), and put it on his table. Only one side dish was there, kkaktugi (radish kimchi). That's all! The worker's stomach will get warm with the hot soup and a little bit of rice! I used to wake up with the irresistible aroma from the soup she made. Sometimes the smell made me go crazy! : ) Her doenjangguk was not spicy and a little brown and milky. It was super tasty!
I saw she used flour instead of rice water. She made this doenjang guk exactly this way I'm showing in this video recipe. Only thing I skipped is MSG. : ) Instead of MSG, I use more dried anchovies. I miss her now. We lost connection long time ago when my family moved to another place. Ingredients:
700 grams of Napa cabbage (half of a medium size napa cabbage), 1/3 cup soy bean paste, 10dried anchovies, 6 cups of water, 1 green chili pepper, 5-6 cloves of garlic, 2 tbs flour. Directions: 1.Put about 700 grams of Napa cabbage directly into boiling water and stir it with a large spoon for 20 seconds. Boil it for a minute with the lid open.
 2. Rinse it in cold water a couple of times to clean any remaining dirt from the cabbage leaves. Gently squeeze the leaves to get rid of any remaining water. 3. Chop the cabbage into small pieces and put them into a large pot. 4. Add 1/3 cup soy bean paste, 5-6 cloves minced garlic, 1 chopped green chili pepper, 10 large dried anchovies (after removing heads and guts), and 2 tbs flour to the pot. 5. Mix it by hand or a wooden spoon. 6. Add 6 cups of water and bring to a boil for 20 minutes over medium high heat. 7. Lower the heat and simmer another 10 minutes. 8. Serve hot with rice and other side dishes. *tip: Do you like spicy soup? Then add some hot pepper paste right before simmering (step 7

This recipe includes superfoods such as:

Barley, Spinach, Kimchi

Health benefits of Cabbage and soy bean paste soup ("baechu doenjangguk":배추된장국)

Barley is about the best grain a woman with PCOS can eat. It is low in calories and has the lowest GI of all grains. Low-GI grains such as barley take much longer to digest and create a slow, steady rise in blood glucose and insulin levels. As mentioned before on Fertility Chef, low-GI foods reduce cravings. If possible, try and find hulled barley as it is the most nutrient dense of all types of barley. Spinach is a nutrient-dense leafy green vegetable that is rich in vitamins A, C, and K, as well as iron, magnesium, and antioxidants. The high iron content in spinach helps combat anemia, which is common in women with PCOS. Magnesium helps reduce inflammation and improve insulin sensitivity. The antioxidants in spinach can help lower oxidative stress, which is beneficial for managing PCOS symptoms. Including spinach in your diet can support overall health and well-being. Besides beneficial bacteria, kimchi is also a great source of beta-carotene, calcium, iron and vitamins A, C, B1 and B2. Kimchi and is full of probiotics which balance our pH level and ward off yeast infections and UTIs.

Ingredients

See video for ingredients

Instructions

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