“We’ve put this fish ball soup on the menu at CHAE. It’s nice on a cold day because it’s hot and a bit spicy. The main tip for success is to make the kelp stock the day before and cook it for at least 5 hours. If you can’t find monkfish, you can replace it with another firm fish such as snapper; prawns (shrimp) are fine too.” - Jung Eun Chae

SERVES 4

Fish cake soup 

2lt (8 cups) anchovy & kelp broth (see below)

100g daikon (white radish), destemmed, peeled and cut into 3cm slices

2 tbsp traditional Korean soup soy sauce

1 tbsp minced garlic

3 shiitake mushrooms, sliced 

100g konjac noodles 

2 red bullet chillies, destemmed and minced

Agwi ball (monkfish fish ball)

200g monkfish 

200g raw prawn (shrimp) meat

1 red chilli, destemmed, deseeded and minced 

1 green chilli, destemmed, deseeded and minced

50g (1 cup) finely chopped chives

1 tbsp minced garlic

1 tsp sesame oil

To serve

½ teaspoon wasabi paste

1 tbsp all-purpose soy sauce (see below)

wasabi leaf (optional garnish)

Anchovy & kelp broth makes 2lt (8 cups)

5 × 5 cm piece of dried kelp 

15 g (½ cup) dried anchovies

All-purpose soy sauce makes approx 2lt (8 cups)

10g dried anchovies

2lt (8 cups) simplified Korean soup soy sauce or Traditional Korean soup soy sauce, aged for at least 2 years

½ apple, quartered and deseeded

½ onion, peeled and halved

2g chilli flakes

25g fresh shiitake mushrooms

1 spring onion

5 × 5cm piece of dried kelp

10g piece ginger, peeled

5 garlic cloves, peeled

125ml (½ cup) fermented fruit extract (see below)

Fermented fruit extract makes 800-900mls

1 tbsp baking soda

1kg nashi pears, cored

800g raw (demerara) sugar

Bring the anchovy and kelp broth to the boil in a large saucepan, then reduce the heat to medium and add the daikon. Simmer for 15–20 minutes, or until cooked through. Remove from the heat. 

Meanwhile, for the agwi bowl, blend the monkfish and prawn meat in a food processor until you have a coarse paste. Place in a bowl and add the remaining ingredients along with a little salt and pepper. Use your hands to mix well. (If you like, you can cook a small portion of the mixture in a little oil in a frying pan to check the seasoning.)

Once the daikon is thoroughly cooked, season the soup with the soup soy sauce, garlic and salt. Add the mushroom and konjac to the soup and simmer over a low heat for about 5 minutes.

Working 1 teaspoon at a time, scoop up small portions of the fish mixture, shape into little balls, and drop into the soup. Add the chilli and simmer over a medium heat for 3 minutes, or until the fish balls are cooked. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Place the soup in a bowl and serve with wasabi and all-purpose soy sauce.

Anchovy & kelp broth - Myeolchi Dasima yuksoo 멸치 다시마 육수

Broth is a universal ingredient in many types of cooking, and Korean cuisine is no exception. Whether you’re preparing a spicy stew with aged tangy kimchi, or delicately seasoned herbs to accompany a bowl of rice, broth acts as a blank canvas that can be tailored to suit your culinary needs. In this book, anchovy and kelp broth is widely used as a base for many recipes.

Place the kelp and anchovies in a saucepan with 2 litres (8 cups) water and bring to the boil over a high heat. Reduce the heat and simmer for about 15 minutes. 

Remove the solids and store the broth in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.

All-purpose soy sauce - Manneung ganjang 만능간장

As the name suggests, all-purpose soy sauce is the foundational seasoning used in a wide range of dishes in my kitchen. It’s a perfect and versatile starting point for crafting seasonings tailored to your specific needs. For this recipe, we use Simplified Korean soup soy sauce (page 40) or Traditional Korean soup soy sauce (page 34) that has been aged for at least 2 years. The colour of this soy sauce deepens as it ages, and due to this darker hue and the complex flavours imparted by various ingredients, it is not ideally suited to seasoning soup dishes or broths.

Dry-fry the anchovies in a stockpot over a low heat for 2 minutes. 

Add all the remaining ingredients and bring to the boil over a high heat. Once boiling, reduce the heat to medium and simmer for 2 hours, then turn off the heat and allow to cool completely. 

Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl or container, discarding the solids. Store in a sealed sterilised glass bottle (see Tip) in the fridge for up to 2 years.

Tip: To sterilise your bottle, first wash it out with hot soapy water, then dry thoroughly. Dampen a clean cloth with food-grade sanitiser and wipe out the bottle.

Fermented fruit extract-Balhyo-aek 발효액

This extract is made by picking seasonal fruits (or vegetables) when they’re at their nutritional peak and combining them with sugar, which comprises 80 per cent of the total fruit weight. As the sugar slowly liquefies over time, it draws out the nutritional essence from the ingredients through osmosis, infusing it into the sugary liquid. Once this process is complete, and the flavour is fully infused, we separate the resulting liquid, or extract, which in Korean is referred to as ‘cheong’. This extract is carefully stored and reserved for future use in cooking. Traditionally, it is made with pears or plums, but you can replace the pears with any fruit or vegetable that you like. 

Combine the bicarbonate of soda with 2 litres (68 fl oz/8 cups) water. 

Add the pears to the water and soak for about 5 minutes, then rinse under cold running water and pat dry with paper towel. Lay the pears on a tablecloth and leave to dry completely (if any moisture remains, mould can form).

Sterilise a 5 litre wide-mouthed jar (see tip above), then dry completely.

Quarter the dry pears and ensure all the seeds are removed, then cut the pears into thin slices.

Place one-third of the sugar in the bottom of the jar and place half the sliced pear on top. Add another one-third of the sugar, followed by the remaining sliced pear. Cover the pear with the remaining sugar, then top with a piece of muslin (cheesecloth).

Set the jar aside at room temperature for 10 days, giving the pear a mix at least once a day with clean hands to prevent mould forming.

After 10 days, mould will not form even when it is left unmixed. Leave to ferment for 90 days in a cool, dark place. Once fermented, strain the mixture through a sieve, reserving the pulp (see Tips, below), and store the fruit extract in a bottle at room temperature for up to 1 year.

Tips: The extract can be used in place of sugar or oligosaccharide for cooking, and it can be mixed with water for drinking. 

The remaining pear pulp can be used to make kimchi, or it can be added to the All-purpose soy sauce.

You can make other fruit or vegetable extracts using this same method.

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