Pork Bone & Potato Soup (Gamjatang)

Makes: 3-4 servings

Ingredients:

• 1.4 kg Pork spine or neck bone
• (You need to pick the right one. The bone I bought had hardly any meat.)
• 5 medium potatoes
• 1 fistful Crown daisy leaves (ssukgat)
• 1 fistful Mung bean sprouts (sukju)
• 12 perilla leaves (so called sesame leaf, ggannip)
• 6 Chinese cabbage leaves (Baechunip)
• 2 green chilies
• 22 cups of water total
• Vegetables & spice to get rid of pork smell:
• 1/2 stalk of green onion (just use the white part for this recipe)
• 1 medium onion (peeled)
• 5 cloves of garlic (peeled)
• 1 thumb size piece of ginger (peeled)
• 10 whole black pepper seeds (un-grounded)
• Sauce (Mix these well in a bowl):
• 3 tbsp Chili powder (Gochutgaru)
• 1 ½ tbsp Minced garlic
• 1 tsp Ginger powder
• 2 tbsp Refined rice wine
• 1 tbsp Anchovy sauce
• 1 tbsp Water
• Other condiments:
• 1/8 tsp Salt
• 2 tbsp Soybean paste (Doenjang)
• 4 tsp Ground sesame
• 3 sprinkles Pepper

Directions:

1. Soak the bones in cold water for 2 hours (to get rid of blood). Drain away the water.
2. Put the bones into a big pot and add 7 cups of fresh water, then boil it for 5 minutes.
3. Drain the water (throw it away) and add 7 cups of fresh water – again. Add all of the ingredients from the “vegetables & spice to get rid of pork smell” section. Simmer it on medium to low heat for 2 hours. When the water seems to get reduced you need to refill the water to maintain 5 cups of expected broth (I ended up adding an extra 8 cups of water – 1 every 15 minutes.)

While You Are Waiting:

• Rinse the crown daisy leaves, cut off the thick stems.
• Rinse the mung bean sprouts.
• Rinse the perilla leaves and thin slice them.
• Rinse the green chilies, take out the seeds, and thin slice them diagonally.
• Clean the potatoes. Boil them in a pot until 90% of them are cooked. Drain the water and cool them down. Peel the skin off.
• Rinse the cabbage leaves. Boil some water for 1 minute and add the salt. Parboil the cabbage. Drain the water. If the leaves are big, you can tear them up length ways.

Directions (after the two hours of simmering):

1. Sieve the broth into a separate pot. Then put the bones back into this broth but throw away the boiled vegetables.
2. Add the peeled potatoes, soybean paste, and the sauce (that you previously made) into the the pot.
3. Boil it until the potatoes cook completely.
4. Add the crown daisy leaves, mung bean sprouts, perilla leaves, green chilies, and cabbage leaves on top.
5. Add the ground sesame and pepper sprinkles.
6. You can start eating when the vegetables are cooked.
7. Enjoy your meal. (You can adjust the taste with some salt if it is necessary, but I didn’t add any.)

Word of Advise:

Posted by Meet Me Under the City Lights at 6:00 PM

Labels: Korean Recipes, Soups