Noodles

Kongguksu

Name: Kongguksu
Prep time: 8 h
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 8 h 25 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Korean
Ingredients: 200g Soya Beans; 360g Somyeon Noodles; 650ml Water; 1 Tbsp Peanuts; 1 Tbsp Cashew Nuts; 1/2 Cucumber; 8 Cherry Tomato; 1 Tbsp Peanut Butter; 1/2 Tsp Salt

콩국수

An ice cold, healthy noodle dish. Great for cooling off in the summer heat!

Prep: 8h
Cooking: 25m
Total: 8h 25m

Kongguksu (콩국수) is a summer time Korean noodle dish served in an icy soya milk soup. It consists of noodles made with wheat flour and soup produced using ground soya beans.

We are now well into September and it feels like autumn weather will be here very soon. But, luckily, we’re still clinging on to some decent warm weather this week which gives me a chance to make this perfect summer time dish!

Kongguksu does take a while to make, especially as the soya beans need to be left for at least 8 hours to soak in water before they are cooked and ground. If you are good at planning, you could decide to make the soya milk a day or two in advance and leave in the fridge until you are ready. The rest of the preparation literally only takes 5 minutes!

As with all ingredients within my recipes, if you’re not sure what something is – or where you can find it – just click on its name in the ingredient list on the left to find out more!

Ingredients

Makes 4 servings

200g Soya Beans
360g Somyeon Noodles
650ml Water
1 Tbsp Peanuts
1 Tbsp Cashew Nuts
1/2 Cucumber
8 Cherry Tomato
1 Tbsp Peanut Butter
1/2 Tsp Salt

Method

1

Place the soya beans in a large bowl, wash thoroughly in cold water and drain. Add enough water back in to the bowl to fully cover the beans and leave to soak for 8 hours (or overnight).

8 hours / overnight
2

Drain the beans, transfer to a large pan, re-cover with water and bring to the boil. Continue to boil for 15 minutes.
3

Carefully drain the beans once more and transfer back into your bowl. Fill with cold water and allow the beans to cool down.
4

Once sufficiently cool, scrub the beans in the water to remove the skins. The skins should float to the top of the bowl making it easier to catch and discard them. Drain the water out and repeat the process until most of the skins have been removed.
5

Purée the beans in your food processor, or blender, along with the peanuts, cashew nuts, peanut butter, salt and 650ml of cold water. Run the food processor until the mixture is as thin as you can get it.
6

Pour the purée through a sieve to remove the small bits, allowing only the soya milk to drip through into a jug. You may need to push the mixture through the sieve with the back of a spoon.
7

Put the jug of soya milk into the fridge to chill while you prepare the rest of the dish.
8

Cut each cherry tomato into quarters and slice the cucumber into thin julienne strips.
9

Fill a large pan with water and boil the somyeon noodles according to the instructions on the pack. They should typically only take 2 to 3 minutes.
10

Once cooked, remove the noodles from the heat and drain. Rinse them well in cold water 2 to 3 times then split evenly between your serving bowls. Add the tomato and cucumber on top of the noodles.
11

Pour the soya milk over the noodles. You can additionally add a few ice cubes to the bowl to cool the dish down further if you like. Add further salt as required to taste.