Pork bone soup (gamjatang)

My SO hurt his shoulder few weeks back when doing weight lifting, and up till now is still not completely heal yet. In Korean drama, when the person has bone injuries, their loved ones will always brew ox bone soup for recovery. I guess is the protein and collagen to aid the healing process. But since my SO cannot take beef, I decided to try Korean pork bone soup instead. I guess it would have the same effect.

I found pork bone soup recipe from Maangchi and decided to use her recipe. I had amended the recipe as I have trouble getting some of the ingredients. For example, I can't get perilla leaves & perilla seeds powder, so I just use white sesame seeds. Thanksfully my SO love the white sesame seeds. Oh ya, I can't find hot pepper flakes, so I add in 2 tablespoon more of hot pepper paste instead.

 

I took some photos while cooking....

 

 

The hot pepper paste soup & vegetables done! Waiting patiently for the pork bone soup to brew for 1.5hrs before I can dump everything in.. *Starving*

 

 

Boiling boiling pork bone soup... 

 

 

At last, the final product - pork bone soup! I guess my SO really loves it especially the broth. Sour and spicy with his favourite pork bone. Next time will try to get the pork spine bones since it is highly recommended.  

 

Recipe adapted from Maangchi :-

Makes 2-3 servings. Cooking time: 2 hours.

Gamjatang (pork bone soup) is another Korean traditional nutritious dish. It’s usually made with pork spine bones and vegetables, but I use pork neck bones in this recipe.

Ingredients:

Pork neck bones, onion, garlic, ginger, dried shiitake mushrooms, napa cabbage, potatoes, soy bean sprouts, Asian chives (buchu), green onions, perilla leaves, dried red chili pepper, soybean paste, hot pepper flakes, hot pepper paste, cooking wine, perilla seeds powder (deulkkae garu), fish sauce

Directions:

1. Soak 2.5 lb (about 1 kg) of pork neck bones in cold water for 2 hours.
2. Boil water in a large pot.
3. Put ¼ of a medium sized napa cabbage (about 2-3 cups) into the boiling water and blanch it for a minute.
4. Rinse and drain the cabbage and put it in a bowl.
5. Tear each leaf lengthwise once or twice to make it bite size and set it aside.
6. Rinse pork neck bones in cold water and put them in boiling water with 4-5 slices of ginger (1 tbs). Cook for 7 minutes.
7. Rinse and strain the pork neck bones and put them in a large pot.
   *tip: when you rinse the pork bones, pick out any excessive fat
8. Pour 10 cups of water into the pot.
9. Add 1 medium size sliced onion, 1 tbs of sliced ginger, 2 tbs of soy bean paste, 1 dried red chili pepper (after removing the seeds), and 2 dried shiitake mushrooms to the pot. Boil it for 1. 5 hours over medium high heat.
10. Prepare a small bowl to make the sauce! In the bowl, put 6-8 cloves of minced garlic, 2 tbs of hot pepper flakes, 1 tbs of hot pepper paste, 3 tbs of cooking wine, 3 tbs of fish sauce, 3 tbs of perilla seeds powder (deulkkae garu) and mix it all up.
11. Prepare a large bowl for vegetables
12. About 1 ½ hours later, take the red hot chilli pepper and shiitake mushrooms out of the pot.
13. Slice shiitake mushrooms into bite sized pieces.
14. Add your vegetables and your sauce and the chopped shiitake mushrooms into the soup. Cook for another 30 minutes.
15. 30 minutes later, transfer the soup into a serving bowl and sprinkle some chopped green onions and ground pepper.
    *tip: If you have an earthenware bowl, put the soup into it and heat it up until it sizzles. Sprinkle some chopped green onions and ground pepper!
16. Serve with rice and kimchi or some side dishes!