the birthday soup

my husband celebrated his birthday on march 30, a thursday… he celebrates his birthday on a different date every year… that is because his parents used the lunar calendar (aka Chinese calendar) for his birth date… based on this calendar, he was born on the 2nd of march… and the 2nd of march happen to fall on the 30th… most koreans’ birthdays are based on the lunar calendar… but it is a growing trend among couples nowadays to use the solar calendar for their kids’ birthdays…
my husband turned 36 this year… but that is his “korean age”… his “western” or biological age is 35… in korea, an infant is automatically a year old once he/she is born… the time that the baby spends inside the mother’s womb is not counted prenatally…
as is customary here in korea, i served him “miyeok guk” or seaweed soup in the morning… this is a reminder for his mother’s hard work and labor… after giving birth, a mother is given “miyeok guk” to help stop the bleeding and uterine contraction…
“miyeok guk” can be prepared with beef, seashells or plain… i prefer to cook it with mussels or seashells, whichever is available… my mother-in-law cooks it with beef, though…
“miyeok” is easily available in dried form but can also be found in the market fresh… the best “miyeok guk” i had was made from fresh seaweeds… it was really delicious!
seaweed soup is so easy to make…
miyeok guk
ingredients:
1 cup rehydrated miyeok or seaweed
1 T minced garlic
1 t soy sauce
1 t sesame oil
1 pack seashells (about 12 pieces) or mussels
3 cups water
procedure:
1. Wash seashells thoroughly and steam in 3 cups water. Remove the meat from the shells. Save the water for later.
2. In a pot, saute the seaweeds in sesame oil. Add garlic.
3. Pour water (from the steamed seashells) and add soy sauce. Boil. Simmer for 20-30 minutes.
4. Add salt and pepper as desired.
5. Serve with lots of pride!
easy, isn’t it? why not try to serve “miyeok guk” or seaweed soup in the morning to celebrate somebody’s birthday?…

15 comments

  1. hoy ha kakaloka ang theme experiment mo ehehehehe
    wow ka-bday pala ni hubs mo anniv ni anna šŸ˜€
    ako naman beef for miyeok soup talaga though mom-in-law sumtyms cook em with shells or mussels. being a meat person myself mas preferred ko taste ng beef miyeok guk šŸ™‚

  2. hoy ha kakaloka ang theme experiment mo ehehehehe
    wow ka-bday pala ni hubs mo anniv ni anna šŸ˜€
    ako naman beef for miyeok soup talaga though mom-in-law sumtyms cook em with shells or mussels. being a meat person myself mas preferred ko taste ng beef miyeok guk šŸ™‚

  3. ay mali…late ko na narealize ung lunar calendar thing…ehehehe… tanong mo kay anna why…ehehehe, c ya on thursday ! muah!

  4. hehehe mali-mali na si jaz..alam mo bakit?! over kasi! ako i like mussels with miyeok..mas masarap kesa beef and sesame oil, baliktad kami ni jaz ano?

  5. hahahahahaha…buhay pa ako..!!!!!! ang tagal nawala sa akin ang site na ito….
    ngayon birthday rin ng mother in law ko, so this morning at 6 nakaluto na anko ng miyeok….
    pero sa birthday ko nakalimutan nilang gawan ako…whahahahahaha…
    anyway i just liked the soup……

  6. Korean food is sooo good! And I love love love seaweed so I want to try to make that. I was introduced to korean food because my cousins wife is korean and we’re a filipino family so it was nice having another culture introduced to the family. She would make alot of yummy korean food and I loved it! There’s one that she made that you’d eat with lettuce and rice.. probably what you mentioned but I don’t know what the name is haha. But it’s yummy. I haven’t had any korean food in years so coming across your site reintroduced me to it again haha.

  7. Happy b-day! He must be 40 now! great age!
    i will give a try to this soup. looks like it is easy to cook.
    please keep sharing more recipes! thanks!

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