Kongguksu (cold soybean noodle soup)
Soybeans are soaked, cooked, and blended into a chilled broth for somen noodles with cucumber.
- Prep
- 20 min
- Cook
- 35 min
Scale the recipe
Ingredients
- Dried white soybeans Dry weight before soaking
- 150 g
- Dried somen wheat noodles
- 180 g
- Cold drinking water for blending
- 4 C
- Cucumber
- 80 g
Seasonings
- Fine salt
- 1/4 T
Level measures: 1 T (tablespoon) = 15 mL, 1 C (paper cup) = 180 mL. Household spoons and cups can vary in size.
Method
-
Soak the soybeans
Rinse the dried soybeans 150 g. Cover with plenty of drinking water, leaving room for the beans to swell. Cover and refrigerate for 6–8 hours or overnight.
-
Rinse the soaked beans
Discard the soaking water and rinse the beans.
-
Boil the soybeans until tender
Cover the beans generously with fresh water and bring to a boil. Skim off foam, reduce to medium and start checking at 25–35 minutes. Keep cooking until the beans mash easily all the way through.
-
Drain and rinse the beans and remove loose skins
Drain in a colander, rinse lightly and pick out any loose skins.
-
Let the cooked beans cool briefly
Drain the rinsed beans and let them cool briefly.
-
Blend the soybean broth until smooth
Blend them with cold drinking water 4 C until nearly smooth. Blend in batches if the jug is small, then stir the batches together.
-
Chill the soybean broth
Transfer the soybean broth to a shallow container. If it is still warm, set the container in an ice-water bath and stir to cool it. Cover and refrigerate at 5°C or colder until the broth is cold.
-
Boil the somen
Cook the somen 180 g in boiling water according to the package.
-
Rinse the somen in cold water
As soon as it is done, drain in a colander, rinse under cold drinking water to cool and remove surface starch, then drain well.
-
Serve with cold soybean broth
Stir the chilled broth to lift any settled soybean solids and dissolve the salt 1/4 T in it. Put the drained noodles in bowls, pour over the broth and top with finely julienned cucumber 80 g.
