Korea
Oi Naengguk
Ice-cold Korean cucumber soup with miyeok seaweed, tangy, fresh and gently spicy
30 min·4 servings
Dried miyeok seaweed
Dried brown seaweed in dark, crinkled strips that soak up into soft, silky green fronds with a mild, gently briny taste.
Miyeok is a brown seaweed sold dried in strips or small pieces, known in Japanese as wakame. Before use it is soaked in cold water for ten to twenty minutes, during which it swells to many times its dry volume, so a small handful is enough for a whole pot. Once soaked it is soft, slightly slippery and a little chewy along the ribs, with a mild sea flavour and no fishiness, which is why it can carry soups, broths and salads without overpowering them. It is sold in Asian grocery shops, often also in organic and health food shops and online, usually labelled as wakame.
Substitute:
Dried Japanese wakame is the same seaweed and can be used without any difference. There is no real substitute among other seaweeds: kombu stays tough and is better suited to making stock, nori falls apart in liquid, and neither gives the soft, silky texture or the mild flavour.
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