“Close enough” miyuk-guk (seaweed soup)

This is one of my all-time favorite Korean soups, 미역국 (miyuk guk). Miyuk guk (seaweed soup) is known to be very “healthy because of all the nutrients packed into the seaweed such as iodine, folate, magnesium and calcium. It is often served to new mothers as they recover from giving birth, which I think also has to do with the tradition of having miyuk-guk on your birthday. It’s also served year round and is a common soup at the dinner (or breakfast!) table.

Traditionally, this is made with beef and beef stock, but we're going with chicken today, along with some time-saving shortcuts!

The seaweed we're using here (wakame) is different than what we used in our Japanese dashi (kombu). You can search for "dried wakame" at your Asian grocery store or on Amazon.

For my kids, I know they’re not ready for the seaweed yet, so I just pour the liquid soup on top of their rice.

One last note: this soup smells…amazing. When that garlic and wakame hits that warm sesame oil in the pot, the scent is just other-worldly. Just wait for it. Please see my reel on Instagram to take a look at how I cook this.

“Close enough” miyuk-guk
Serves 4

Ingredients:

1/3 cup dried wakame
2 cups water
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 TBS sesame oil
3 cups more water
1 tsp Organic Better Than Bouillion *see note
1-2 tsp soy sauce
1/2 cup shredded chicken (like rotisserie)

Directions:

1. Soak dried wakame in 2 cups of water for about 10 minutes.

2. In the meantime, mince garlic.

3. Drain wakame and squeeze out extra liquid. Rough chop wakame so that the pieces aren't too long.

4. In a medium saucepan on medium-low heat, pour in sesame oil. *Sesame oil has a very low smoke-point, so it's important to use medium-low heat or it will burn.

5. Add garlic and wakame and saute until fragrant, about 1-2 minutes. Make sure garlic doesn't brown. (Right here is the magic point where it will smell SO incredibly good.)

6. Add 3 cups of water and stir in Better Than Bouillion paste.

7. Add soy sauce to taste; cover and cook on a low boil for 15-20 minutes to let flavors come together.

8. Add shredded chicken, stir and serve over rice.

Allergens: soy, sesame

* You can substitute 2 cups of homemade/store-bought chicken stock + 1 cup of water instead of the 3 cups water + bouillion paste. It’s important to water down the chicken stock a bit or else the salt from the soy sauce will make it too salty.

* If you use Better Than Bouillion, be sure it is the organic type, which has no dairy.

* If you don’t have cooked chicken on hand, you can throw in a boneless chicken thigh as you’re cooking the soup. When it’s done cooking, pull it out, wait until it’s cool enough to handle and then shred it. Easy peasy!