← Nouns Cooking · Korean

Ingredients

• 400 g small clams and/or mussels, scrubbed
• 2 Blue crabs (or other small fresh crabs), cleaned and quartered (optional)
• 250 g Squid, scored and cut into pieces
• 250 g firm white fish (snapper, cod or monkfish), cut into chunks
• 8 large shell-on prawns
• 150 g soybean sprouts
• 250 g Napa (Chinese) cabbage, cut into pieces
• 100 g Daikon radish, thinly sliced
• 1 Carrot, sliced
• ½ Onion, sliced
• 4 Shiitake mushrooms, stems removed
• 2 Spring onion, cut into lengths
• 1 handful watercress or crown daisy (ssukgat)
• 1 l Water
• 10 large dried anchovies, heads and guts removed
• 1 piece dried kelp (about 8 cm square)
• 3 tbsp Gochugaru (Korean chilli flakes)
• 1 tsp Gochujang
• 1 tsp Doenjang (Korean soybean paste)
• 1 tbsp Fish sauce
• 4 cloves Garlic, minced
• 1 tsp Ginger, grated
• 1 tsp Salt

Method

1. Simmer the water with the anchovies and kelp for 10 min, then strain. Meanwhile soak the clams in salted water so they spit out any sand.
2. Mix the spice paste ingredients with 3 tbsp of the broth.
3. Line a wide, shallow pot with the radish and cabbage. Arrange the bean sprouts, seafood, carrot, onion and mushrooms in neat sections on top and put the spice paste in the centre.
4. Pour in the broth and bring to the boil over medium-high heat (on a table burner if you have one). Cook for 8–10 min, skimming any foam, until the clams open, the crab turns red and the fish is opaque. Throw away any clams that stay shut.
5. Add the watercress and spring onion, taste for salt and serve straight from the pot. Add udon noodles or rice to the leftover broth to finish.

Tips

• Use whatever seafood looks best: a frozen seafood mix works on a weeknight.
• Contains shellfish, fish and soy; tell guests with allergies before it hits the table.

Sources

Written in our own words after cross-checking these recipes:

Korean Bapsang Nomadette