Kimchi Gazpacho

The long weekend is almost here! Hallelujah! What are your plans for Memorial Day? Going out of town? Vacay trip? Staycation? With the weather now warming up, especially here in New York, where the past couple of days have risen up to the near 90's, I created a new recipe suited for the start to summer! Now that it's getting hotter and the fact that I love soup, I did my own twist on one of my favorite summer soups, gazpacho.

One of my favorite strolls through the city is at the Union Square Green Market. They have everything from jams & honey to fresh farmer's fruit & vegetables, to even flowers, cheese, bread and wine. The works! I love going with the boys for a little quality time along with getting the best produce to cook with! And what's more awesome? They always got new herbs and veggies to work with, such as chive blossoms and red scallions, both of which I have yet to experiment with! I even saw fiddleheads!

Kimchi Gazpacho

Serves 2-3

recipe + photos by © Suzanne Spiegoski

Ingredients:
3 c chopped tomatoes (peeled and seeded)
1/2 c kimchi with juice (chopped)
1/2 c Kirby cucumber (peeled and chopped)
1 large garlic clove, chopped
3 tbs rice wine
salt & pepper to taste
Chive blossoms & red scallions, for garnish, optional

Directions:

In a blender, puree tomatoes, kimchi, cucumber, and garlic. Add rice wine, salt, and pepper. Taste for accurate seasonings. Chill. Pour into bowl(s), garnish, and serve immediately.

Using staple ingredients within a gazpacho such as tomatoes, Kirby cucumbers, onion, and garlic, I incorporated some Napa cabbage kimchi to give this chilled soup a bit of heat. Gazpacho is simple to make. Takes less than twenty minutes to prep and complete. Waiting for the soup to chill is the hardest part! I hate waiting to eat! Ha ha!

I've been wanting to elevate my dishes to another level and have been working on better garnishing my plates. To me, garnishes are vital when completing the look of a meal. In this case, gazpacho would look pretty bland without any decorative gems on top! So instead of using chives or green onion, I went for something completely different and totally out of my normal 'comfort' cooking zone. Never have I tried chive flowers, but now I've got a feeling I'll be sprinkling these onto everything!

LOVE & XX'S

FOLLOW MAQ + SUZ

Rice Cake Soup

My mother would make rice cake soup (Tteokguk, 떡국) every year on Seollal (Korean New Year’s Day), the first day of the Lunar calendar and a very important holiday in Korean culture. Traditionally, according to Korean age reckoning, everyone’s age went up one year on Seollal, so the process wasn’t fully complete until you had a bowl of tteokguk. She'd sometimes make this soup on Western New Year’s day, January 1st, too, being that I'm also American.

Rice Cake Soup (Tteokguk, 떡국)

Serves 2

Ingredients

2 cans of Campbell’s Chicken Noodle Soup (with 2 cans of water)

15-20 sliced tteok rice cakes

2 green onions, chopped

2 eggs

2 sheets of black seaweed paper

Fresh black pepper

Directions

1.       Bring the chicken noodle soup to boil, then add rice cakes and eggs. Lower to medium heat.

2.      Cook for approximately 5-7 minutes (depending how you like you’re egg cooked)

3.      Add onion, seaweed and black pepper. Serve immediately.

This is not an exact recipe for this traditional soup either. My family wasn't rich and my mother always improvised in the kitchen. This recipe is one of those improvisations. I'd say it's an 'Americanized' version to the Korean way. And who doesn't like chicken noodle soup? ;)

There's a funny side story to this post. I had asked my husband to run to the Korean market to grab the seaweed and rice cakes. When he couldn't find the rice cakes and asked one of the workers where he could locate them, his reply was, "Your wife's Korean." Ha ha! No question, he was totally confident in his statement.

So what's the meaning behind the rice cake soup? Like in some Eastern European cultures, they eat lentils on New Year's for good luck. The rice cakes are the good luck charms for Koreans, the disc-shaped rice cakes look like coins, symbolizing wishes for future prosperity for anyone who eats them. And the clearness of the soup symbolizes a clean, fresh start to the new year.

My husband LOVED it so much, he asked for it again the following day! Perhaps we will have some extra good luck this year? :) <3 Nothing but positive vibes, YEAH!

What's your annual New Year's meal? We'd love to hear yours! Happy New Year! (Again.)

Love & xx's,

Doenjang Jjigae

A traditional Korean stew I've been living on since I could eat, I refer this soup as the, 'cure all' mother of all soups. To me, it is one of my go-to comfort foods whether I'm feeling a little under the weather or dreadfully sick, this stews is packed with protein, vitamins and other nutrients that doesn't only do a body good, but is good for the soul. And especially on a cold, end of October, Monday, what's better to warm you up than a delicious bowl of something home-cooked for dinner?

Fermented Soybean Paste Stew (Doenjang Jjigae) Recipe

Makes 4 – 6 servings

Ingredients

2 green onions

1 (12-ounce) package of medium or soft tofu

1 onion, sliced

1 zucchini, quartered

1 (10-ounce) package of button mushrooms

2 Tbsp fermented soybean paste

Water

2 garlic gloves, minced

Preparation

Dissolve the soybean paste in 3 cups of water into a large cooking pot. Stone pot works great for this. *I use a masher to blend the paste in the water more efficiently. Add sliced onion, zucchini, tofu, and mushrooms. Bring to a boil,and then add garlic. Lower the heat and let simmer for about 10-15 minutes. Add green onions and cook for another 1-2 minutes.

Serve immediately with rice, kimchi, and other side dishes (banchan).

There are also many variations to this dish. You can do a kimchi jjigae, one with some kind of meat like beef or pork, or instead of all the vegetables listed, you can opt for only one kind, like Napa cabbage or soybean spouts. During my childhood summers, my mother used to put in the Swiss chard she grew in from our backyard. It was amazing. Still is.

You've got to try this soup! I strongly urge you to eat this with rice though. Especially if accompanied with other tasty side dishes like kimchi. Both the soup and kimchi are on the salty side, and taste too strong without it's imperative sidekick. So don't get it twisted. Don't separate the two! They go along together just like peas & carrots! :)

What are some of your favorite, everyday comfort meals or soups? Something that's easy to make, is nutritious, and doesn't have you slaving over the stove all day long? I love to hear from other bloggers and their food testaments and recipes. Or if there's another fellow Korean blogger who's made the same soup but in a different way, holler at your girl! 🇰🇷

I hope you guys had a nice weekend and an even better Monday. Have a great week!

Love & xx's,

maQ + suz