Namwon Chueotang

Ingredients

• 600g live loach (chueo)
• 4 tbsp coarse salt
• 2.5 litres water
• 1 onion, halved
• 8 garlic cloves
• 20g fresh ginger, sliced
• 200g dried radish greens (siraegi), rehydrated
• 100g dried taro stems, rehydrated (optional)
• 150g mung bean sprouts
• 4 tbsp doenjang (soybean paste)
• 1 tbsp gochujang
• 2 tbsp gochugaru (Korean chilli flakes)
• 4 tbsp ground perilla seed (deulkkae garu)
• 1 tbsp minced garlic
• 1 tsp minced ginger
• 2 tbsp light soy sauce for soup (guk-ganjang)
• 4 spring onions
• 2 green chillies
• 1 tsp sancho pepper powder, to serve
• 1/2 tsp fine salt

Before you cook

• Put the live loach in a deep bowl, throw over the coarse salt, cover the bowl immediately with a lid and leave them for 20 minutes to purge their slime.
• Rinse the loach in several changes of water, rubbing them gently, until the water runs clear and no slime remains.
• Squeeze the rehydrated radish greens dry and cut them into 4cm lengths.
• Cut the rehydrated taro stems into 4cm lengths as well.
• Slice the spring onions and chillies on the diagonal.
• Set a coarse sieve over a large bowl ready for pushing the fish through.

Steps

1. Put the cleaned loach in a pot with 2.5 litres of water, the halved onion, whole garlic cloves and sliced ginger.
2. Bring it to the boil, skim the foam, then lower the heat and simmer for 45 minutes until the fish are completely soft.
3. Take the pot off the heat and let it cool for 15 minutes so it is safe to handle.
4. Ladle the fish and a little of their liquid into the sieve.
5. Press everything through the sieve with the back of a ladle, working in batches, so the flesh passes into the bowl and the bones and heads stay behind.
6. Scrape the underside of the sieve each time, because that is where most of the purée collects.
7. Discard the bones and pour the purée back into the strained cooking liquid.
8. Whisk the doenjang and gochujang into the soup and bring it back to a gentle simmer.
9. Add the radish greens and the taro stems and cook for 20 minutes, until the greens are completely tender.
10. Stir in the mung bean sprouts, the gochugaru, the minced garlic and the minced ginger.
11. Simmer for 5 minutes more.
12. Stir in the ground perilla seed and cook for 3 minutes, which thickens the soup and gives it its nutty finish.
13. Season with the light soy sauce and the salt, then taste and adjust.
14. Add the spring onions and chillies and turn off the heat.
15. Ladle into deep bowls and put the sancho pepper on the table, because a pinch stirred in at the last moment is what makes this soup taste of Namwon.