Soojaebee (Dough Soup w/ Potatoes & Squash)

Ingredients:

3 cups mil kal rhu (flour)
1 cup of water
1 egg
1/2 ho bak (korean squash)
2 potatoes
few cloves of garlic
1 bunch of green onion
1 bunch of enoki mushrooms
dried kelp (in korean its called dashima, but i got the dashi kombu below just to illustrate it's the same)
dried anchovies (fyi when not using, store in freezer)
black pepper to taste
salt to taste
stock pot 3/4 full of water
gook kang jang (soup soy sauce, seriously, if you gonna make some korean food, you should invest the couple bucks in this soy sauce. Makes that much of a difference.)

Directions:

You can make this stock part way in advance. You can leave the strain broth in a big old kimchee jar and leave it in the frig, you can also reduce down the stock like crazy and make frozen ice cubes that you can dilute later into some boiling water, or just make it on the spot like I did this time.

In a stock pot, 3/4 full of water, I bring to simmer a couple pieces of dashima, a few cloves of garlic and a handful of dried anchovies. Simmer uncovered for about 15 minutes. Strain. Put the strained stock back into the pot. While the stock is simmering, clean and cut up the rest of your ingredients. I cut the ho bak lengthwise then 1/4" slices, same with the potatos, the enokis, just cut off the ends. Set aside.

In a bowl, mix the 1 cup of water with 3 cups of flour. It should feel a bit chunky. work it just a bit. It should be a bit clumpy. I bought my s/o a kitchenaid awhile back and its been one of the most useful appliances in the kitchen. (not the accolade, that ones crappy) I tossed the clumpy flour/water mixture into the kitchen aid to kneed for a few minutes.

Now if you dont have a kitchenaid, its still very simple to kneed into a nice dough mixture. grab the ball of flour and water and on a nice surface like a wooden cutting board or counter top lightly floured so the ball wont stick, press down on the ball with the palm of your hand working from the center out. Do this for a few minutes, wrapping the dough back into a ball when it becomes too stretched out. Don't skimp on the kneeding. This makes the dough tastier. Don't ask me why, how.. it just does. Once dough becomes smooth rather than clumpy, set aside for a few minutes.

Now in your stock pot of broth start adding in the ingredients. I added the potatos first because they take the longest to cook. A few mintues later the ho bak. Grab a handful of the dough. You should notice right away the consistency of it has dramatically changed. Kinda smooth, silky, yet when you pull at it, it retains some strength. With a ball of dough in your hand, start to pull of chunks of dough. Remember, this dough will expand a bit when cooking so make the piece small and thin. I'd say quarter sized pieces about a couple credit cards thick.

FYI, like I said, this was my first time making this dish, now know, MAKE THE DOUGH THINNER. Add in the remaining dough. Add a couple tablespoons of gook ganjang and a spirinkle of salt. I like my food a bit salty. Adjust to your taste. Just by looking and tasting, you should be able to tell when the dish should be done. If i had to guess, I say four mintues after the last piece of dough. So, a minute before everything looks like its done, toss in the diagonal cut green onions and enoki mushrooms. Then slowly add in one egg. Think egg drop soup. You want small slivers of egg, not chunks. to do this, its simple. Crack open an egg, whisk it in a bowl, and slowly add to the soup while stirring the soup.

Enjoy with kimchee, actually, you HAVE to have kimchee with this. Happy cooking.