cucumber naengmyun

I know it's not the right weather for mul naengmyun but last night I was re-watching the episode with Kim Hyun Joong on Happy Together and they were eating his dish so enticingly, I knew I had to attempt the recipe - Cucumber Naengmyun.

 So if you don't know what mul naengmyun is, it's a Korean cold noodle dish, typically made out of thin and chewy buckwheat noodles in a tangy broth, topped with some cucumber, sesame seeds, egg and sesame seeds. You might have guessed it already but this dish is typically consumed in the summertime - perfect for the lazy and refreshing in hot weather.

So Kim Hyun Joong's version is actually naengramyun because he uses instant noodles instead of the usual buckwheat noodles. Also his version is much more simpler (maybe a little more unhealthy) because he uses the sauce pack of this bibimmen packet. And since I don't have access to this bibim sauce pack I just made my own bibim sauce substitute.

Recipe: 오라면 by 김현중 (1 serving)

Ingredients

for the sauce:

• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt 
• 1 tsp red chilli pepper flakes
• 1 1/2 tbsp gochujang (red pepper paste)
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp vinegar
• 1 clove garlic minced
• 1 tsp sesame seeds

others: 

• 300mL water
• a small handful of semi-crushed ice cubes (about 5)
• half a cucumber (julienne)
• instant noodles (1 serving)
• 1 hard-boiled egg

What to do:

1. Boil a pot of water to cook the instant noodles.
2. While waiting for the water to boil, mix together all the ingredients for the sauce and set aside
3. Once noodles are cooked, drain the hot water out and rinse thoroughly in cold water. 
4. Place the drained noodles into a bowl.
5. Add the water and crushed ice cubes to bowl of noodles.
6. Top with the sauce, julienned cucumbers and half a hard-boiled egg. 
7. Optional: garnish with some chopped green chilli, chopped green onions and more sesame seeds.

Woops - the bottom of my egg broke off and I tried to piece it back together but that didn't go so well....
Anyway, so if you have the bibim sauce packet from that instant noodle packet shown above, you can skip the sauce making process and just cook the noodles, add water, cucumbers and squeeze the sauce packet on to the noodles.