Korean Hand-made Noodle Soup with Clams, Bajirak Kalguksu

바지락 칼국수

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healthy

kid friendly

soup

nut free

prep time:

30 min

inactive time:

30 min

cooking time:

30 min

total time:

90 min

Raining and chilly out? How about a nice warm bowl of soup with handmade noodles?
Without a doubt, it will comfort you both in stomach and mind. The handmade noodles are very unique in texture and taste, nothing like what you get typically from the store. Try it!

If you are busy, you can purchase pre-made noodles from a Korean store. You can even make it without clams. See tips for details.

Buy Korean ingredients online here.

If you are busy, you can purchase pre-made noodles from a Korean store. You can even make it without clams. See tips for details.

Buy Korean ingredients online here.

INGREDIENTS

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Change to: Metric US

for noodles
24 cups	Flour 밀가루
6 cups	Water 물
2½ tsp	Salt 소금
2½ tsp	Vegetable Oil 식용유
main ingredients
48 cups	Water 물
120	Anchovy (dried) 멸치
12 piece(s)	Kelp (dried, 2" X 2" or 5 cm x 5 cm) 다시마 (optional)
6	Onion (Medium) 양파
6	Potato 감자
1½	Zucchini, Korean (Grey Squash) 애호박
6	Green Onion 파
6 tbs	Garlic (minced) 다진 마늘
2½ tsp	Salt 소금
2 tbs	Soy Sauce for Soup (Gukganjang) 국간장 (optional)
1¼ tsp	Black Pepper 후추
3 lb 15 oz	Short-neck Clams 바지락 (optional)
for garnish
12	Egg 계란 (optional)
¼ tsp	Salt 소금
3 sheet	Seaweed (Gim, Laver) 김

tips:

Optional Ingredients and Substitutions
Noodle: You can buy pre-made Kal-guk-soo (Korean style handmade noodle) from Korean stores if you don't have time to make it. You can use udon noodles instead but the texture and taste will be slightly different.
Claims: You can make it without clams. A good amount of anchovies and kelp will make a great broth.
Kelp: Dried Kelp is a great addition to the broth, but can be omitted.
Soy sauce for soup: if you don't have soy sauce for soup, add more salt instead.

Good to Know
You can also make this with other seafoods or chicken. If you are using chicken, be sure to include bones for rich broth. See how to make chicken broth here.

instructions	photos	summary
Ingredient amounts in the recipe instructions are for the default serving size.	Click to enlarge photos.	Ingredient amounts in the recipe summary are for the default serving size.
1. Dough Mix 4 cups of flour, 1 cup of water, ½ teaspoon of salt and ½ teaspoon of vegetable oil. Knead until the dough becomes smooth and elastic (about 10-15 min). Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and let it rest in the refrigerator for at least 30 min to allow the gluten to relax.		1 Mix 4 cups flour 1 cup water ½ tsp salt ½ vegetable oil Knead 15 min Put it in fridge 30 min
2. Prepare short-neck clams If you are using fresh live clams, place them in cold salt water (add 1 tbs of salt into 4 cups of water) and cover the bowl so the inside the bowl is dark. Leave it for a few hours and clams will open up and spit out sand. Wash in cold water twice and drain. If you are using frozen pre-washed clams, you can just add them in the soup later.		2 Place live clams in salt water Cover
3. Broth Boil 8 cups of water in a pot. Place 20 anchovies and 2 pieces of kelp (about 2” by 2”) in an anchovy net and put it in the boiling water. Once it start to boil, boil it with a lid for another 15 min on high heat.		3 Boil 8 cups water Add 20 anchovies 2 kelp Boil with lid High Heat 15 min
4. Broth Skim off the foams while boiling.		4 Skim off foams
5. Prepare onion Peel, wash and cut 1 onion into ¼” (or 1 cm) thick slices.		5 Peel & wash 1 onion Cut ¼” (1 cm) thick slices
6. Prepare potato Peel and wash 1 potato. Cut it in half and then into ⅛” (or 0.5 cm) thick slices.		6 Peel & wash 1 potato Cut in half Cut ⅛” (0.5 cm) thick slices
7. Prepare zucchini Wash and julienne ¼ of zucchini.		7 Wash & julienne ¼ Zucchini
8. Prepare green onion Wash and cut 1 green onion diagonally.		8 Wash & cut 1 Green Onion
9. Prepare eggs for garnish Separate egg yolks from egg whites into separate bowls. Season with a pinch of salt and beat it.		9 Separate Egg yolk Egg white Season with a pinch of salt Beat
10. Cook eggs Preheat a non-stick pan on med-high heat. Coat with vegetable oil and spread the egg yolks thin in the pan. When it’s fully cooked, remove it from the pan and cool it down on the side. Repeat the same for egg whites.		10 Preheat pan Med Heat Coat vegetable oil Spread egg yolks thin Cook Cool down Repeat for egg whites
11. Cut eggs Once they are cooled down, cut into thin strips (to be used at the end). If they are still warm, you won’t be able to cut cleanly.		11 Cool down Cut in strips
12. Prepare seaweed for garnish Cut ½ large sheet (or 2 small sheets) of dried seaweed into thin strips with a clean dry pair of scissors (to be used at the end).		12 Cut Strips
13. Roll Dough Take out the chilled dough from the refrigerator. Clean, dry and dust the work surface with flour. Unwrap the dough and lightly dust your hands, dough and the rolling pin with flour. Pat down with your hands to make it flat. Roll the rolling pin to make the dough as thin as possible (about 2mm or thinner than 1/16”). (Always roll from the center of the dough and use even pressure.)		13 Take out dough from fridge Dust with flour work surface dough hands rolling pin Pat down Roll (2mm or thinner than 1/16”)
14. Cut Noodles Dust the dough with more flour. Fold the dough into thirds and cut it into 3mm wide strips.		14 Dust dough Fold thirds Cut (3mm or ⅛” wide)
15. Cook vegetables Remove anchovies and kelp. Cook potatoes in boiling broth on high heat for 3 min . Then add onion and zucchini and cook for 2 min.		15 Remove anchovies and kelp. Add potato in boiling broth cook High Heat 3 min Add onion and zucchini cook High Heat 2 min
16. Precook noodles (Optional) Precook noodles in boiling water and boil it for 1 min on high heat. Wash in cold water and drain water in a strainer. If you don’t pre-cook noodles, the broth will become more starchy.		16 Precook noodles 1 min High Heat Wash cold water Drain water
17. Add Short-neck clams Add short-neck clams in the broth with all the vegetables and boil for 3 min.		17 Add short-neck clams boil High Heat 3 min
18. Add noodles & Season Add pre-cooked noodles into the broth. Then, add 1 tablespoon of minced garlic, 1 teaspoon of soy sauce for soup, 1 teaspoon of black pepper and chopped green onions. Cook until noodles are fully cooked and the clams have opened up. Season with ½ to 1 teaspoon of salt. Add salt gradually while tasting.		18 Add noodles Season 1 tbs minced garlic 1 tsp soy sauce for soup 1 tsp of black pepper green onion Cook until noodles done Season with salt
19. Serve Serve in a noodle bowl. Add egg (white and yellow) strips and seaweed strips on top. Enjoy!		19 In a noodle bowl Garnish egg strips seaweed strips