Korean fish cake soup (o deng gook)

Korean fish cakes have a texture similar to firm tofu. If they're not to your liking, substitute with spicy Korean rice cakes (dduk bok ki) instead. You can also serve this soup with a peeled, hard-boiled egg if desired.

• serves

  6–8

• prep

  10 minutes

• cook

  30 minutes

• difficulty

  Easy

Ingredients

• 10 large dried anchovies (see Note)
• 2 pieces kombu, 8 cm x 6 cm
• 1–1½ cups Korean radish (moo) (see Note) cut into into 5 cm x 4 cm x 4 cm pieces
• 1 brown onion, sliced
• 8 cups (2 litres) water
• 1 tsp hon dashi (see Note) optional
• 2 tbsp mirin or cooking sake
• 2–3 tbsp soy sauce, plus extra to serve
• 1 tsp salt
• 250 g mixed Korean fish cake (o-deng) (see Note), whole or sliced
• 2 pickled green chillies, optional
• 2 spring onions, sliced
• ground black pepper, to serve
• hot English mustard, to serve

The following recipe has been tested and edited by SBS Food and may differ slightly from the podcast.

Instructions

Place the dried anchovies, kombu, radish, onion and water in a saucepan. Bring to the boil and immediately remove and discard the kombu. Reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Remove and discard the anchovies and onion. Add the fish cakes, mirin, soy sauce, hon dashi, pickled chillies and salt, and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove and discard the pickled chillies.

To serve, ladle the soup into bowls and sprinkle with spring onions and pepper. Serve with soy sauce and hot English mustard as a dip for the fish cakes.

Note
• Dried anchovies, kombu, hon dashi, Korean fish cakes and Korean radish are all available from Korean and some Asian supermarkets. The dried anchovies and fish cakes can be found in the fridge/freezer section.

Photography by Alan Benson

Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.