korean noodle soup

Korean Chicken Noodle Soup 닭칼국수
Serves 4-5

Chicken Broth
5 quarts of water
1 or 2 chicken breasts, still on the bone, but skin off (bones add flavor, skin only adds fat)
1/2 of an onion
3-5 cloves of garlic
1 inch knob of ginger root, peeled and sliced

Rinse chicken breasts under cold running water. Place into a large stock pot with the water, onion, garlic and ginger root.

Place covered pot over high heat and bring to a hard boil. Once soup is boiling, reduce heat so that the broth continues to simmer. Skim any scum or fat off the top of the soup. Total cooking time 1 hour. Remove garlic, onion and ginger from broth and discard. Remove chicken from broth and set aside.

Vegetable Saute Topping
2 zucchini, cut julienne (or if you can find it, 1 nice Korean zucchini with the light skin)
2 carrots, cut julienne
1/2 onion, sliced thinly
1 package of enoki mushrooms
3-4 tablespoons of oil
2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds
salt and pepper to taste

Heat a fry pan over medium high heat, and then add one tablespoon of oil. Add zucchini and quickly saute. Add a pinch of salt and pepper, and cook, until zucchini is slightly wilted, but still with texture, about 2 minutes. Remove zucchini from pan.
In the same fry pan, over medium high heat, add one tablespoon of oil, and carrots and saute. Add a pinch of salt and pepper and cook, until carrots are cooked, but wilted, about 3 minutes.
In the same fry pan, add one tablespoon of oil, onions, salt and pepper and saute. Cook until onions are translucent and golden brown, about 3-4 minutes.
In the same fry pan, add a dash of oil and the enoki mushrooms and quickly saute for 30 seconds. Add all the cooked vegetables and mix together, checking seasoning (add more salt and pepper if necessary) and then finish off with toasted sesame seeds. Remove from heat and set aside until needed.

Chili Scallion Soy Sauce
1/4 cup finely chopped scallions
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons sesame oil
1 tablespoon Korean chili powder (gochugaru 고추가루) (2 tablespoons if you like it spicy.)
1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl. Set aside.

Assembly
Shred cooked chicken into bite sized pieces.

1 to 1.5 lbs of noodles - I use fresh knife noodles, which I can find at my Chinese supermarket, but you can use whatever dried Asian wheat noodle you have on hand.

Set aside about 3 cups of the chicken stock. I do this in case I need to thin out the broth later, as cooking the noodles in the broth often makes the soup really thick (which I personally don't like...others do.)

Bring remaining stock to a rapid boil and add noodles and cook according to package directions. (Fresh noodles cook in about 4-5 minutes.) When noodles are fully cooked, then prepare to serve. Portion out noodles into each bowl, the broth (using the reserved broth if necessary) and top with mixed vegetables and shredded chicken. Serve and pass the scallion sauce separately, allowing people to serve themselves.

Printable recipe

If it is cold where you are, this will warm you right up.

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