A dish cooked during the COVID lockdown, the seasoning powder from a pack of instant ramen (which we often discard) was used to make the broth.
Cook’s notes
I cooked this soup on April 16, 2020 — the start of second month of COVID lockdown. Buying cooking ingredients was problematic, but there was a Korean mini-grocery that stayed open and delivered to our doorstep.
Truth be told, I wasn’t a fan of Korean food at that point. But my daughters, Korean food fans long before that, weren’t worried that only mostly Korean cooking ingredients were available to us. Part of me was worried because meat at the Korean mini-grocery was pricey. We had better not be wasteful with whatever ingredients we could get.
The seasoning powder from a pack of chicken ramen was used here. You may use the seasoning powder from beef, pork or seafood ramen. Just note that the taste of the cooked dish will depend a lot on the kind of seasoning used.
Kimchi soup with fish cake (odeng) and sweet potato
Ingredients
- 1 packet instant ramen seasoning powder
- 1 large sweet potato peeled and cut into two-inch cubes
- ½ cup cabbage kimchi cut up with the juices (measure after cutting)
- 2 fish cakes (odeng) cut into bite-size pieces
- ½ packet chili paste from a pack of Korean instant noodles
- fish sauce to taste
Instructions
- Boil three cups of water in a sauce pan.
- Stir in the seasoning powder.
- Drop in the kimchi (with the juices) and sweet potato cubes.
- Cover the pan and simmer for five to seven minutes.
- Stir in the fish cakes and spice paste.
- Simmer for another two to three minutes.
- Taste and add fish sauce, if needed.
- Garnish with scallion slices before serving.
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