Cycle 15 – Item 79
24 (Sun) March 2024
Chicken Noodle Soup
3.5
by me
at home
-Changgok, Sujeong, Seongnam, Gyeonggi, Republic of Korea-
with the Family
Culinarily speaking, as I do speak about ad nauseam, the worst part of living in Korea is the lack of diversity, not only in the range of cuisines available when eating out, also in the ingredients sold at the supermarket.
Beans, for example, the only kinds that can usually be found in mainstream stores are dried soy beans (see for example 3.166 Kong Biji Jjigae) and canned baked beans (see for example 15.076 Large Chicken Burrito).
Kale is a vegetable, a leafy green cabbage. While living in the States up through the early Aughts, I can’t recall kale being a mainstream thing; it may have been sold as specialty item (e.g., in the organic section of the supermarket), but not a regular thing for normal folk, certainly not the so-called “superfood” that it is today. On GMTD, “kale” has been directly referenced once (see 7.081 Kale in Oyster Sauce), mentioned once in passing (see 13.034 Prawn Wonton Noodle), though neither time did the vegetable seem to look like the leafy versions seen on the internet. A vegetable labelled as “kale” can now be found in Korea at some bigger stores, though it also looks different. So, I dunno.
Added a few strips at the end, if only for color, cautious that maybe it would add too much bitterness, but didn’t make any difference.
One of my favorite one-pot dishes these days (see most recently 15.025 Chicken Noodle Soup; see also 15.015 Chicken Noodle Minestrone Soup). Such an easy way of using up bits of leftover vegetables in the fridge.
I know for sure that the meal is a success when someone at the table declares the dish to be one of their new all-time favorites (see for example 14.314 Creamy Garlic Mushroom Chicken). This time, IZ, it is now his second all-time favorite (see also 14.307 Spaghetti in Clam & Mushroom Sauce).
(See also GLOBAL FOOD GLOSSARY)