Raised in a Korean-American household, comfort food in my home consisted of Americanized versions of Korean staples. As old world ingredients were often hard to come by, my mother’s recipes adapted to “suitable substitutes” from the local Safeway.
As a child, one of my favorite dishes was a Korean soup my mother called “siraegi guk,” which roughly translates to “garbage soup.”
What was once considered “garbage” became good cookin’ — like so many of my mother’s recipes.
Siraegi Guk
Outer layers of Chinese cabbage
(10 or so big leaves)
Handful of dried anchovies
1 teaspoon ground garlic
1 sliced pepper
2 heaping spoons of dwaeng jang (Korean miso)
Green onions (thinly sliced for garnish)
Directions
Boil cabbage until leaves become soft. Drain water, then re-boil cabbage with anchovies, dwaeng jang, garlic and peppers. Taste for flavor, adding more or anything as needed. Add green onions before serving.
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