5 Korean Summer Soups to Try

In the summer months, when the weather is a little warmer, soup may not seem like the ideal dish. However, there is good reason behind Korea’s love of soup year-round.While they have their fair share of cold soups, hot soups are still enjoyed all year due to the belief that heat should be fought with heat. They consider eating a cold soup will only chill your stomach, rather than lower the temperature of the rest of your body. Instead, it is thought that it is better to stick with hot meals, as it will make your body adjust and sweat, which will ultimately make you feel cooler. However, if you’d prefer to enjoy a cool soup rather than sweat it out, then chill, as we’ve got you covered with both options!

Mul-Naengmyeon

Mul-Naengmyeon is a cold beef broth soup that contains noodles and is usually served with sliced cooked beef, cucumber, Korean pear, radish and a boiled egg on top. It is often flavoured with vinegar and spicy mustard, which will typically be served on the side. The soup is typically served chilled, but sometimes it is even taken as far as being a little frozen, creating a texture similar to that of a slushy!

Samgyetang

Meaning ginseng chicken soup, samgyetang is a really popular dish in Korea. It is not like soup typically enjoyed in the West, where ingredients would be in chunks or blended together. Instead, a whole chicken, stuffed with rice, ginseng, and seasoning, is served in a broth. The dish is served hot, and the ginseng is crucial to the dish, as it is believed to help prevent illness and boost your energy levels.

Kongguksu

Kongguksu is a soup made using soy milk and noodles. Unlike the soy milk you would find in a supermarket, this is homemade soy milk, which creates a thicker consistency perfect for a soup. To make the soy milk, soybeans are soaked overnight, before being boiled and blended together with sesame seeds or pine nuts and water. This creates a creamier ‘milk’, which can then be added to the noodles. Vegetables, such as courgette or cucumber are also typically added, as well as extras like slices of boiled egg and sesame seeds. The soup is served cold, and on extra hot days, it is also customary to add ice cubes to this soup to further chill it!

Naengguk

Naengguk is a cold summer soup made using cucumber. It is a really crisp and refreshing dish, served ice cold, making it perfect for the hottest days of summer. If you want to enjoy naengguk, then make sure you are using a fresh, crisp cucumber, rather than an older, slightly squishy one, as you really want the crisp crunch of a fresh cucumber stick for this soup. The cucumber is sliced into very thin sticks and served in a water-based sauce, combined with vinegar, chilli, soy sauce and sesame oil, as well as ice cubes to keep it well chilled!

Dak-Kalguksu

Dak-Kalgusku is a chicken soup that comprises of chicken broth, noodles, vegetables and shredded chicken meat on top. This soup is served hot. The chicken and vegetables are boiled together to give the broth its delicious flavour. The chicken meat is then shredded and added to the top of the dish. If you’d like to make your own Korean soups at home this summer, then check out the range of ingredients we have available at our Korean supermarket online. For more summer inspiration, check out our favourite Korean drinks for summer!Image Credit: Republic of Korea (CC BY-SA 2.0)