SImplified Dak-kalguksu – Korean Chicken Noodle Soup

Hello my foodie friends! Here I am again with another Korean comforting soup. Who doesn’t like a good chicken noodle soup during the cold months? Ideal both for lunch and supper, and of course, it makes a great left over if you want to cook some extra to take to work or freeze.

Dak means chicken and kalguksu stands for knife-cut noodles. Making Dak-kalguksu from scratch is quite time-consuming and being this a simplified version I used bought fresh noodles. As part of this simpler approach, I also choose to incorporate the seasoning, which is  usually served separately, to the stock directly. However, I did make the stock, but for an even easier version you could use bought or pre-prepared chicken stock and chicken roast left overs. Generally the vegetables used to cook the stock are discarded afterwards, but I like to cut them and include them in the soup.

Let’s cook?

Dak-kalguksu

• Servings: 2-3
• Time: 90 minutes
• Difficulty: medium
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Ingredients

• 2-3 servings of fresh noodles (ca. 200-250 g)

Stock

• 1 chicken breast
• 4 whole garlic cloves, peeled
• 1 onion
• 1 leek stalk
• 1 carrot
• 5 peppercorns
• 1 liter water
• salt to taste

Seasoning

• a dash of sesame oil
• soy sauce to taste
• fish sauce to taste
• 1 tsp. chilli flakes (or adjust to your spiciness taste)
• garlic cloves from the stock, mashed

Garnish

• 1 courgette (zucchini), grated
• salt to taste
• a dash of olive oil
• green onion, chopped

Preparation

1. Put all the stock ingredients in a high-sided pot and cover with water.
2. Bring to a boil and simmer at least 1 hour.
3. In the meantime, salt the courgette strips and let them rest for 20-30 minutes, afterwards squeeze the water off them.
4. In a frying pan, heat the olive oil and sauté the courgette. Reserve.
5. Once ready, separate all the solids from the stock using a skimmer: shred the chicken, cut the veggies (if using), mash the garlic cloves for the seasoning and discard peppercorns.
6. Bring the stock to a boil and cook the noodles on it.
7. Add seasoning to the stock and stir in the chicken and veggies. Mix to combine.
8. Serve, assemble with courgette strips and green onion on top.
9. Dig in and enjoy!

Filed under: Korean Tagged: cheap and cheerful, chicken, chicken soup, chilli flakes, clean eating, courgette, healthy food, low fat, noodle soup, spicy food, whole food, zucchini