{"id":7373,"date":"2016-07-08T13:24:57","date_gmt":"2016-07-08T20:24:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kimchimari.com\/?p=7373"},"modified":"2023-05-22T11:18:49","modified_gmt":"2023-05-22T18:18:49","slug":"soy-milk-noodle-soup-kongguksu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kimchimari.com\/soy-milk-noodle-soup-kongguksu\/","title":{"rendered":"Cold Soy Milk Noodle Soup (Kongguksu \ucf69\uad6d\uc218)"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Cold Soy Milk Noodle Soup (Kongguksu) on our backyard patio table<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Cold Soy Milk Noodle Soup or Kongguksu(\ucf69\uad6d\uc218)\/Kong Guksoo is one of my childhood favorite Korean foods to have in the summer. When Korean summers get really hot, even a ‘skipping meals is just NOT in my dictionary’ <\/em>kind of a\u00a0<\/em>food lover like myself can lose her appetite. But I remember having this wonderful cold noodles in this white cold milk like liquid as a child, it was so refreshing and cooling. I remember being so full but I just could not stop drinking the yummy cold soup. The earliest record of Koreans eating Kongguksu can be found in a cookbook written in the late 1800\u2019s that mentions noodle soups made from soybean milk and sesame seeds. So can you believe this Korean dish is over 200 years old!?!!<\/p>\n

Growing up, I was never a big fan of soy milk that was sold at stores. But I always LOVED home made Kongguksu – noodles served in cold soy milk or broth made from soybeans. In the 70’s, the only soy milk drink in Korea was\u00a0Vegemil (\ubca0\uc9c0\ubc00)<\/a>\u00a0which lot of people loved to drink except me. \ud83d\ude42 Even though Vegemil may not be my favorite cup of soy milk, I should mention the story behind this drink. So, the story goes that a pediatrician called Dr. Chai-won Chung had seen many Korean infants and children suffer from malnutrition due to allergies to cow’s milk during the late 60’s. And some of the babies even died from malnutrition due to their severe intolerance of milk. He was deeply troubled by this but he could never figure out the cause until later when he came to US to study and learn more about his field. While studying in the US, he learned about a condition called Lactose Intolerance and that’s when he realized that many Korean infants and children suffered from this condition!<\/p>\n

I think many Korean adults and children suffer from lactose intolerance because milk was really never a big part of the Korean diet for thousands of years and so many lack the ability to digest milk.<\/p>\n

Excited about this new found knowledge, he returned to Korea and worked to develop a drink that lactose intolerant children could drink in lieu of milk and avoid malnutrition. Hence, Vegemil = Vegetable + Milk was born in 1973. The drink is made mostly from soybean extract and various vitamins. \u00a0The company called Chung’s Foods still produce various soy milk based products today although there’s a LOT of competition in the soy milk market now. An interesting thing is that soy milk is now known as a health<\/em> food<\/em> in Korea, <\/em>good for staying slim..as opposed to an essential survival food<\/em> that many Korean children needed to drink to escape malnutrition in the 70’s. It’s pretty amazing how far Korea has come in just 40 years or so.<\/p>\n

Home made soy milk in Korean soy milk noodle soup is NOT your regular soy milk from stores<\/h4>\n

Good. Now, back to our home made cold soybean soup or soy milk soup. Sorry, Vegemil and other soy milk companies both in Korea and US, I think my home made Kongguk tastes WAY BETTER than soy milk sold in stores. The difference is quite significant both in texture and flavor \u2013 soy milk (\ub450\uc720 duyu) that comes in cartons have no solids and is often artificially thickened with xantham gum (I hate that stuff) or\u00a0<\/b>carrageenan (used in American Silk products) and sometimes even fat is added back if the soy milk was made from defatted soy protein. Also, the soy milk sold at stores are missing the natural fiber that comes with the soybeans. Home made Kongguk (soybean soup) has all the fiber in the little tiny bits of soybeans with tons of great nutty flavor of wholesome goodness as you drink it. You just can’t beat home made Korean soy milk or soy soup (Kongguk).<\/p>\n

BTW, if you want, you can drink this home made soy milk soup also just as a drink. Having tons of leftover soy milk after cooking for this blog post (and having a great meal of Kongguksu and Korean fried chicken wings), I diluted it with water and flavored it with some salt as a drink snack. Optionally, you can also add some sugar if you’d like. It is just so satisfyingly good.<\/p>\n

*It is best to make the soy milk ahead of time and chill in the refrigerator for few hours before serving. If you don’t have time, you can just make a thicker soy milk (use less water) and add ice to cool it down.<\/p>\n

Use good quality soybeans for your Cold Soy Milk Noodle Soup<\/h4>\n

*Just like corn, there are many different grades of soybeans and if you don’t have access to a Korean or Asian market to buy good quality Korean soybeans, the one you want to buy are good quality ones sold for tofu making. Laura’s soybeans<\/a> is a good online place to buy non-GMO soybeans.<\/p>\n

Here is what I bought from our local Korean market –<\/p>\n

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Korean soybeans (Baektae \ubc31\ud0dc) for kongguksu<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Korean Cold Soy Milk Noodle Soup (Kongguksu)<\/strong><\/span><\/h4>\n

Servings: 4 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0Inactive Time: 3 hrs \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Cook Time: 15 min \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 Difficulty: Medium<\/p>\n

Ingredients<\/p>\n