Korean Seaweed Soup or Miyeok Guk is an easy traditional soup that’s delicious and filled with nutrients!
Seaweed Soup is many things to a Korean household. First, it is a quick and easy soup where you only need 7 ingredients, yet it is rich in nutrients. You can also cook it anytime and have it with any meal! Bonus, babies and toddlers love this soup!
Second, it is a recovery soup for postpartum moms. Seaweed contains vitamins and minerals that nourish the body and help with recovery. It also helps increase milk supply so this is typically given to them. And with that, it has become the Korean Birthday Soup. Koreans would typically have the soup on their birthday as a way to honor their mothers for all the sacrifices they have been through. Sometimes we even prefer this over cake!
Over time, this tradition has evolved to making sure that a pregnant family member or friend has a supply of seaweed soup or that a celebrant has this soup for their breakfast. This is our way of showing that we care for each other.
When my wife was pregnant, our house was filled with all kinds of seaweed dishes and we’ve never felt more loved by the people surrounding us. Here I’ll show you how to make it so you can express your love for your family and friends uniquely! niquely!
Korean Seaweed Soup Ingredients
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- Dried Seaweed – Dried seaweed is a common pantry item for Koreans because it’s cheap and versatile. With a small amount, you can turn it into other dishes like seaweed salad or chilled cucumber soup.
- Beef – You can use ground beef or rib trimmings or loin chop into bite-size pieces. However, if you don’t eat beef, you can also use pork, seafood, tofu, or none at all! It will be just as good as long as you season it well.
- Garlic – For the aroma.
- Sesame Oil – This is where we’ll saute the beef, seaweed, and garlic so the nutty, toasty flavors coat each of them and carry over to the soup.
- Soy Sauce for Soup – This is more flavorful than regular soy sauce so you can use a small amount and it won’t change the color of the soup as well.
- Black Pepper
- Rice Water – This is the secret ingredient that most halmonis and ummas use in seaweed soup. The starch from it will lightly thicken the soup and at the same time give it that hint of sweetness that’s not overpowering.
TIP: To make the soup more flavorful, you can also use dashi packets or beef stock as your soup base.
How to Make Seaweed Soup?
1. Hydrate the Seaweeds. Take 20 grams of seaweed, soak it in water for 10-15 minutes, and it’ll be ready to use. Once bloomed, drain and chop the seaweeds to bitesize pieces. These are big chunks and long strands, ensure to cut them thoroughly especially if there are kids eating.
Important note: The dried seaweeds will multiply once bloomed so gradually hydrate them once you reach your desired amount of seaweeds for the soup. You can use less or add more according to your preference. And this is optional, but to make them extra flavorful, massage the seaweeds with 1-2 tablespoons of minced garlic and sesame oil.
2. Prepare the Rice Water. Wash the rice two times, then add water and let it soak for about 30 minutes. After soaking, take the yielded starchy water for the soup and set aside. Cook the rice as usual.
3. Saute the Seaweed Soup Ingredients. In a deep pot on high heat, saute beef in sesame oil. When the beef is 70% cooked, add seaweed and garlic, continue to saute, then season it with soy sauce and black pepper.
4. Add Rice Water. Add the rice water, let it come to a boil, then taste and adjust according to your liking.
5. Serve with Korean BBQ or any fried rice, and enjoy!
What to Serve with Seaweed Soup?
In restaurants, seaweed soup is usually served as a side to Korean BBQ. However, since this is also a common dish at home, it can be served with just rice and kimchi. I find that if there is an ample amount of beef and seaweed in the soup, it is already very filling. This is a simple but very comforting trio.
If you want to take it up a notch, because the soup is light, you can also serve it with fried rice such as egg fried rice, shrimp fried rice, or steak fried rice.
What to do with leftover Miyeok Guk?
For any leftovers, you can simply store miyeok guk in the fridge and it can last for 5 days. You can also prolong shelf life by portioning it and freezing it so you can have seaweed soup anytime!
Other Korean soup dishes you might like:
- Dried Pollack Hangover Soup
- Soybean Sprout Soup
- Beef and Radish Soup
- Pepper Paste Stew
- Korean Rice Cake Soup
- Spicy Soft Tofu Stew
Make sure to leave a rating, a comment, or tag me on Facebook, Instagram, or Tiktok when you chop them up! Yeobosayo!
Korean Seaweed Soup (Miyeok Guk)
Ingredients
- 20 grams Dried Seaweed
- 100 grams Beef Chopped to bite-size pieces
- 1 1/2 tbsp Sesame Oil
- 1 1/2 tbsp Minced Garlic
- 4 tbsp Soy Sauce for Soup
- Black Pepper
- 4 cups Rice Water
Instructions
- Soak dried seaweed in water for 10-15 minutes. Once bloomed, drain and chop it to bite size pieces.
- Prepare rice water by washing rice two times, and on the third wash, set aside the yielded water for the soup base.
- In a deep pot on high heat, sauté the beef in sesame oil.
- When the beef is 70% done, add the seaweed and garlic, then sauté it well.
- Season the seaweed with soy sauce and black pepper.
- Add the rice water and let it come to a boil.
- Taste and add more soy sauce as needed.
- Serve and enjoy!
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