Description
Cold, spicy buckwheat noodles, a venerated year-round dish in Korea, and especially refreshing during summer
Ingredients
Scale
For the pickled radish:
- 2-inch piece of Korean or daikon radish
- 1 tablespoon salt
- ½ teaspoon gochugaru
- ½ teaspoon apple vinegar
- ½ teaspoon sugar
For the sauce:
- ½ small onion, peeled and roughly chopped
- ½ apple, peeled, cored, and roughly chopped
- 2 tablespoons water or more
- 2 tablespoons gochujang (red pepper paste)
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 2 teaspoons soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon gochugaru (red pepper powder)
- 1 tablespoon apple vinegar
- 1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds
- ½ teaspoon honey
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- For the rest:
- 1 package fresh buckwheat naengmyeon noodles (or substitute dried)
- 1 egg, hard-boiled, peeled, and sliced in half
- ½ an apple, sliced
- ½ a cucumber, cut into matchsticks
- ice cubes
Instructions
- To get started, pickle the radish. Peel and slice radish into thin rectangles. Mix with salt and let sit for 30 minutes. Rinse with cold water and drain. Then mix in gochugaru, vinegar, and sugar.
- In the meantime, mix the sauce. If you can make it in advance and let it rest for thirty minutes or so, the flavors will bloom. Puree onion, apple, and water until completely smooth. Add more water by the teaspoon if the sauce is too thick to blend. Add the remaining sauce ingredients and mix thoroughly. Taste, and adjust with more salt, honey, or vinegar.
- Then, cook the noodles. Bring a pot of water to boil and drop in one bunch of fresh buckwheat noodles. Cook for 40 seconds. Drain and rinse with cold water for thirty seconds until the noodles are chilled. If you use dried noodles, just follow the cooking time on the package.
- To assemble, put a fistful of cold noodles at the bottom of each bowl. Top with pickled radish, cucumber, apple, half the hard-boiled egg, and a couple of ice cubes. Add two or three tablespoons of sauce to the middle. Mix well.
- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Cook Time: 5 mins
- Category: Main Course
- Cuisine: Korean