MaeunTang 매운탕 (Korean Spicy Fish Soup)

MaeunTang 매운탕 (Korean Spicy Fish Soup)

Ingredients:

1 Cod Fish or Red Snapper, fresh or frozen

1 bunch Water Dropwort (Minari)

1 bunch Enoki Mushroom

1 bunch Edible Chrysanthemum (Ssukgat)

3 stalks Green Onions, sliced

1 Green Chili Pepper, sliced

1 Red Chili Pepper, sliced

a dash of Salt to taste

For the Broth:

6 cups Water

300 g Korean Radish, sliced thinly (3×4cm size, 0.3cm in thickness)

2 (2.5x2.5cm) dried Kelp

For the Sauce:

6 Garlic Cloves

1 small Yelow Onion

1 thumb Ginger

2 tbsp Red Pepper Flake (Gochukaru)

1 tbsp Red Pepper Paste (Gochujang)

2 tbsp Fish Sauce

2 tbsp Cooking Wine (Mirin)

Instructions:

Thaw the cod fish or red snapper if frozen.

Clean, remove scales, and cut off the fins, tail, and head.

Make a slit from the top to the vent and clean its guts.

Cut the fish across into 2"~3” a piece.

Rinse in cold running water, drain, and set aside.

Make the broth.

In a large pot, pour-in the water.

Add-in the radish and the kelp, cover and boil over high heat for 20 minutes.

Prepare the sauce.

In a blender or food processor, add-in the garlic, onion, ginger, hot pepper flakes, hot pepper paste, fish sauce, and cooking wine, blend it for a minute. Set it aside.

Clean and wash the edible chrysanthemum and the water dropwort; cut them into 2.5” long pieces. Set aside.

Cut out the bottom part of enoki mushrooms, and wash and split them. Set aside.

After boiling broth for 20 minutes, remove and discard the kelp.
Add the fish into the broth.

Pour-in the maeuntang sauce, close lid and boil over medium heat for 30 minutes. *Remove the foam from the top and then close the lid halfway.

Add-in the enoki mushrooms, water dropwort and chrysanthemum, green chili pepper, red chili pepper, and season with salt to taste. Boil again for 5 more minutes before turning off heat.

Serve hot, and enjoy with a bowl of steamed rice and other side dishes.

Happy Cooking!!