This post is about bean sprouts, another common ingredient in Korean food. Bean sprouts are a very popular vegetable in Korea.
Today, I’ll talk about various Korean dishes that use bean sprouts, the benefits of bean sprouts, bean sprouts as a hangover remedy, and how to make bean sprout soup.
Bean sprout soup rather than pizza
I’ve heard it isn’t easy to find bean sprouts in the United States unless you go to a Korean grocery store. However, when Koreans party too hard and get an awful hangover the next day, we always turn to a bowl of spicy and refreshing bean sprout soup. No more eating cold pizza the morning after. Once you’ve tried a bowl of bean sprout soup, you can say goodbye to that cold pizza.
Growing bean sprouts
Unfortunately, I don’t know any legends about bean sprouts. However, there must be a lot Koreans who watched their grandmothers growing bean sprouts when they were young. The large containers for growing bean sprouts live in our memories like a legend, covered with a black cloth to keep them from being exposed to light while growing. I didn’t know until later, but if they’re exposed to light, bean sprouts turn green instead of yellow.
[This is a photo of a container for growing bean sprouts in my home]
Anyway, when I was young, I was fascinated that the bean sprouts would grow in a warm room if you kept pouring water on them, like Jack’s beanstalk from the fairy tale. There is also a machine for growing bean sprouts, sold in the United States. I looked it up, and the principles of watering them and blocking out the light seem to be the same. It would be a good idea to search and purchase the machine on the Internet and grow it at home.
The benefits of bean sprouts
Bean sprouts are a very popular vegetable in Korea. We make them into side dishes, make bean sprout soup with them, and use them as an ingredient in various stews and other soups. But of course, it doesn’t belong in just any soup. Bean sprouts in seaweed soup would be an absolute travesty. They go well in things like spicy fish stew, gamjatang, budae stew, etc.
Bean sprouts are good for preventing colds and reducing fever, and their high aspartic acid content is what makes them an effective hangover remedy. Aspartic acid helps with natural alcohol metabolism. Bean sprouts are known to have an effect on menopausal symptoms and coronary artery disease. They are very low in calories and good when you’re on a diet. If you go on a bean-sprout-only diet, you may be mistaken for an herbivore, but you definitely won’t be gaining weight.
How to make bean sprout soup
- To make bean sprout soup, wash the bean sprouts thoroughly.
- The roots are tangled and messy, so you might be tempted to cut them off, but resist the urge. That area is full of nutrients.
- Place the bean sprouts in a pot and add water until they are completely submerged.
- Boil over high heat.
- Do not open the lid before it comes to a boil. If you do, you’ve messed everything up.
- Because if you open the lid before it boils, the bean sprouts develop a weird fishy odor and don’t taste good anymore. Think of the pot like Pandora’s box until it boils.
- Once it boils, add a tablespoon of minced garlic, seasoning salt, red pepper powder (if you don’t like spicy food, just add enough to give it color), and 1.5 tablespoons of dashi and keep boiling.
- While boiling, check the seasoning and add more salt to taste is required. You can add a little more dashi as well, if needed.
- When the seasoning is right, reduce the heat to medium, add the sliced green onions and simmer for another 10 minutes.
- Once it’s done boiling, add about 1/2 tablespoon of sesame oil, stir, then place in a bowl and eat with rice.
- Sesame oil is a personal preference. There are many people who don’t use them, but I like them.
- Recommended side dishes include fried eggs, seaweed, and kimchi!
- Oh, and the soup will be even better if you add kimchi to it while it’s cooking. The more sour the kimchi, the better.