Kongnamool Haejang Gook - 콩나물 해장국

If you live in the LA area and haven't yet eaten at Han Il Gwan, you must do so NOW. It is one of my favorite restaurants and their kongnamool haejang gook is TDF yummy. It's kongnamool, napa cabbage, peppers and RICE all in a dol sot (stone pot) piping hot with semi-spicy broth. It's so shi-wun-heh.

___________________________________________________________________

I had time to stop by the K-market during my lunch break so I stocked up on more ingredients for a weekend of cooking and blogging. =) I attempted to replicate the kongnamool haejang gook I mentioned above.

Needed:

• 3 cups anchovy/dashima/dried shrimp broth
• 1/4 cup beef (chopped into little pieces and drained of blood)
• 1/4 cup of kimchi (chopped and rinsed a few times of kimchi juice - we're looking for a clearer broth)
• 1 cup of kongnamool
  
• 1/2 TB minced garlic
• 1 TB gook ganjang (light Korean soy sauce)
• 1/2 TB sesame oil
• 1/2 TB sesame seeds
• 1 egg
• 1 TB pureed shrimp jut (fermented salted shrimp)
• 1/2 cup green onions

Total Cooking Time: 1 hour



Since I've never used these on this site yet, I thought I would take a picture of the bag for you. This is dried shrimp. It can be found in the same aisle where they sell the dried cuttlefish. Please do go and check out my INGREDIENTS page where I tried to take a picture of the brands of items that I'm currently using in my kitchen. I tend to alternate brands every once in a while so I will update that page when I find something I like better.



In this teabag there are about 5 shrimps, 4 large anchovies, and a 2 inch piece of dashima. I boiled it with 4 cups of water for about 15 minutes. In the end I was left with about 3 cups of broth.



In a dol sot (pot made of stone to retain the heat) add 1/2 TB of sesame oil, 1 TB of gook ganjang, and 1/2 TB of minced garlic and turn on the heat.




Add your 1/4 cup of beef and saute until the beef is well done.




Then add your 1/4 cup of RINSED kimchi and keep mixing around...



At this point, add about 3 cups of the broth made earlier and bring it to a boil. Don't worry if you have more or less than 3 cups, you will be adjusting flavor later anyhow so it doesn't really matter. EYEBALL it! =P



Add your kongnamool, cover it with the lid, and bring to a boil for about 10 minutes.



Then throw in your 1/2 cup of green onions and bring it to a boil for about 5 minutes.



Here's the interesting part about this....go ahead and add about 1.5 cups of cooked rice. =) Mix it well and have the rice settle nicely to the bottom and bring it to a boil again.



Finally, throw in your egg, let it boil strongly and you're ready to serve. The dol sot will keep the gook piping hot while you're enjoying your meal. Watch you tongue!



Just before you devour it, throw in some sesame seeds....



Some red pepper powder (to YOUR taste)...



....and last, but not least.............some minced shrimp jut. You can skip this if the shrimps still give you the creeps, but with this particular dish~ the shrimp jut brings it all together. 1 TB of this is a must in my opinion. Enjoy! I'm sure my MR is biased, but he said this was GREAT!



How great? This is what was left of dinner. =)