Korean

Mulhoe

Name: Mulhoe
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 3 min
Total time: 28 min
Yield: 1 serving
Cuisine: Korean
Ingredients: 120 g sashimi-grade flounder or sea bream fillet; 60 g cucumber; 50 g Korean pear; 20 g carrot; 2 perilla leaves; 1 spring onion; 1.5 tbsp gochujang; 1 tsp gochugaru; 1.5 tbsp rice vinegar; 2 tsp sugar; 1 tsp soy sauce; 1 garlic clove; 1 tsp toasted sesame oil; 150 ml iced water; 4 ice cubes; 50 g somyeon noodles; 1 tsp toasted sesame seeds

A bracingly cold Korean raw fish soup from the east-coast fishing towns: thin slices of sashimi-grade white fish tossed with crisp pear, cucumber and perilla in a sweet-sour chogochujang, then flooded with iced water. Eaten with a spoon and chopsticks, and finished with cold somyeon noodles to soak up the last of the broth.

Snacks Lunch & dinner Pescatarian 8g+ fibre Under 30 min

28 min25 prep · 3 cookMedium469 kcalper serving

Method

Put a deep serving bowl in the freezer to frost. Pat 120 g of sashimi-grade flounder completely dry, then slice it against the grain into thin bite-sized strips about 5 mm thick. Spread the slices on a plate, cover, and set over a tray of ice in the fridge while you prepare everything else — the fish must stay ice-cold and firm.
Cut 60 g of cucumber, 50 g of peeled Korean pear and 20 g of carrot into fine matchsticks 5 cm long. Stack 2 perilla leaves, roll them and shred finely, and slice 1 spring onion on a slant. Keep the vegetables in the fridge so they stay crisp.
Make the chogochujang: whisk 1.5 tbsp gochujang, 1 tsp gochugaru, 1.5 tbsp rice vinegar, 2 tsp sugar, 1 tsp soy sauce and 1 grated garlic clove in a small bowl until glossy and smooth. Taste — it should be sharply sour and sweet, stronger than you want the finished soup, since the iced water will dilute it. Chill for at least 10 minutes.