Kohng Goohksoo (aka Kongguksu) with Soba

If you've ever been to Korea in the summer, you know the heat and humidity are oppressive. And one of the ways to combat that heat and humidity is to cool yourself from the inside with food.

You might already be familiar with a cold buckwheat noodle dish called naengmyun which is often served with crushed ice in the clear beef broth to cool and refresh. A lesser known but equally refreshing summer cool-down meal is kohng goohksoo, literally soybean (milk) noodles.

A simple dish composed of nothing but lightly salted fresh pressed soybean milk, sohmyun noodles (thin white noodles), julienned cucumber, toasted sesame seeds, and a little bit of chopped green onion. Just reading the ingredient list you can tell it's simple, light, nutty, toasty and refreshing.

And because it's so simple and mild, you have to have a bowl of perfectly ripened kimchi on the side to provide a little of that salty/spicy/crunchy/tangy contrast with every bite.

A chopsticksful of noodles, followed by a piece of kimchi, followed by a big swig of that cool soybean milk right from the bowl... MMMMM & AAAAAH. :)

I didn't have Korean sohmyun noodles on hand today so I used my Japanese soba, and I have to say the nuttiness of the buckwheat only added to the dish. I might never go back to sohmyun for this dish again. 

Full album HERE.

shinae

P.S. +Gomo cHowDivine Thanks for putting the craving and post idea in my head! :) Her healthy, delicious  and elegant blog HERE.