Sujebi (Hand-Torn Dough Soup)

Variations

• Kimchi sujebi: sour kimchi cooked into the broth first, which turns it red and spicy. The acid answers the plainness of the dough (kimchi).
• Potato sujebi: made with plenty of potato so the broth thickens on its own. Gangwon versions sometimes grate potato into the dough as well.
• Perilla sujebi: ground perilla seed stirred in, making it nutty and opaque. Usually with mushrooms.
• With shellfish: clams or mussels instead of anchovy for the broth. They bring their own salt, so cut the soy sauce back (building umami).
• Kaljebi: kalguksu and sujebi in one bowl — the same dough, half rolled and cut, half torn (kalguksu).
• Japan's suiton: the same idea, down to its history as a wartime and postwar substitute food.
• Bowls in the same shape: tteokguk is the same construction — lumps of starch in broth — and janchi guksu and kongnamul guk are built on the same anchovy stock.
• What goes with it: kimchi and gamja jeon, which together are the fixed rainy-day combination.

Tips

• The hour of rest is the whole recipe. Straight from kneading, the gluten is taut and the dough pulls back like elastic. Torn in that state it will not stretch, so the pieces come off thick and round and still taste of raw flour in the middle after five minutes of boiling. An hour in the fridge; two is better (dough and gluten).
• Do not add the water all at once. Flours take up different amounts depending on type and humidity. Go gradually and stop a little firmer than an earlobe. Too wet and it disintegrates into porridge; too dry and it snaps as you pull (choosing flour).
• Thin — about 2mm. That thickness is the difference between sujebi and a dumpling wrapper. Hold a lump in one palm and stretch the edge with the other hand as you tear, and it thins itself. Thick pieces cook only on the outside.
• Into a hard boil. The surfaces have to set instantly or the pieces weld together. Dropped into a gentle simmer they surface as one mass (heat control).
• Lift the kelp before it boils. Boiled, it releases alginates and the broth turns slippery and bitter. Anchovies need their heads and guts out or the stock is fishy (stocks and broth).
• Stir gently. Beaten about, flour comes off the pieces and clouds and thickens the broth. Some body is the character of this dish, but body produced by stirring tastes of paste (thickening sauces).
• Season at the end. The flour takes up salt from the broth and the broth reduces as the pieces cook. Seasoned at the start it is too salty by the time it is done (salt and seasoning).
• The potato does the thickening. No slurry needed. In early and given a little longer, it bodies the broth by itself.
• Courgette in the last two minutes. Any earlier and there is nothing left of it. Spring onion and garlic go in with it, since long boiling costs them their aroma.
• Do not cook it ahead. Left standing, the pieces keep drinking the broth and ten minutes later it is a different dish. Cook what will be eaten, and add more broth when reheating (reviving leftovers).
• The dough can be made ahead, a day in the fridge or a month frozen. A dough rested overnight actually stretches better (freezing and thawing).
• Serve it hot. Cooled, the broth sets thick and the pieces turn tough. There is no pleasure in a reheated bowl of this (serving temperature).