From the Field—Finding Comfort in Dried Pollack Soup
When North Korean refugees come under our care, we do our best to prepare nutritious food that is reminiscent of what they might have eaten in North Korea. Despite being a more traditionally South Korean dish, dried pollack soup is always a hit.
Whenever I cook for North Korean refugees, I never forget to acknowledge that they often have had to leave the people they love most behind. Even though this simple soup of dried fish and eggs is often a new taste for them, I always try to prepare it so that even if it doesn’t taste like home, at least it feels like home. And in order to be able to do this, I, like most North Koreans, don’t use a recipe. Instead, I stand over the pot and sip and stir and add this and that. When the soup finally makes it to the table with fresh rice and other sides to accompany we all gather round, like a family of sorts. Between mouthfuls, the refugees sometimes talk about how they would use similar ingredients to make completely different dishes. Those coming from different provinces would try to hash out which preparation is better, more delicious, and we’d break from the table with no victor but great stories and copious laughter to accompany a full belly. Through these interactions, they would teach us about love and family and happiness and food in North Korea and why escaping to freedom was worth the loss; for some the greatest expression of love. For with leaving, they not only paved a path out of North Korea, but built a bridge back in.
From one table to another, all of us in the field want to thank LiNK’s amazing supporters. Without you there would be no soup, no stories, no celebration. Please, enjoy the recipe for this soup below.
Dried Pollack Soup
Serves: as many as you make for
Ingredients: dried pollack, sesame oil, welsh onion or green onion, garlic, egg, salt, pepper, water, soy sauce (pure soy sauce used for soups) for taste if desired. Possible additions include green chili, soybean sprouts, daikon or white radish, tofu, or zucchini.
Disclaimer: Given limited resources in the field, this method of preparation has been found to be yield a pretty tasty soup. If your parent, friend, colleague, etc. refutes this method of preparation to be authentic, just don’t tell them where you got the recipe, hehe.
Prep:
- Depending on the type of dried pollack you purchase, you may have to cut the fish into one to two inch strips. The best method is to simply take kitchen shears and cut on a diagonal with the grain.
- Take your welsh or green onion, whichever is easier to find, and cut on a diagonal into one inch strips.
- Finely mince garlic. The amount of garlic you add is up to you, but I usually try to mince 1 medium size clove per 1.5 servings. If you have the luxury of using a garlic press, use it.
- Take eggs and beat them in a bowl with salt and pepper to taste. Set aside. For a serving size more than three people, I prepare one egg per person, minus one. (e.g. 9 eggs for 10 servings)
Instructions:
- Place one handful (or two, or three depending on how many people you are cooking for; rule of thumb is one handful is usually an adequate amount for two servings) of dried pollack into a stainless steel bowl. Rinse once under cool running water, lightly squeeze excess water out of the pollack, then pour just enough drinking water into the bowl to cover the fish. Leave to soften for 15-20 minutes. If you are running short on time, just rinse the pollack then move onto the next step.
- If you had time to soak your pollack, lightly squeeze the excess water, but squeeze into the bowl that fish was soaking in. Place the fish onto paper towel and lightly dab. The pollack doesn’t need to be completely dry, just dry enough so if you were to squeeze an individual piece between your fingers you can feel that it is nicely moist. Reserve the soaking water. If you did not have time to soak your pollack, simply place the rinsed fish onto a paper towel and dab away excess moisture.
- Place a pot, big enough to fit the portion you are cooking, over medium-high heat and add some high-quality sesame oil to the pot. (If you’ve caught on you’ll know that I can’t give you measurements.) Just add enough oil to be able to lightly stir fry the amount of pollack you have. The moment you add the oil, be prepared to work briskly because you don’t want the oil to reach its smoking point.
- Add the pollack and minced garlic and lightly stir fry for about 1-2 minutes. It’s not even a real stir fry. Just allow the pollack to be infused with the flavor of the sesame oil and garlic.
Next, add water. If you are making a large portion, I would recommend adding all of the soaking water previously set aside and then add enough drinking water to fit the portion. You’re going to have to eyeball this. If you are making a smaller portion you can do a mixture of 50/50 soaking water to drinking water. - Adjust heat and bring to a boil.
- Once at a boil, take prepared eggs and slowly pour into the pot while stirring concurrently. Think of an egg drop soup and it all makes sense. Make sure to do this while the soup is at a rolling boil, otherwise you’ll end up with a cloudy white soup instead of having streams of eggs running throughout. Once you have added all your egg, keep soup at a boil for about another minute then turn down to medium-low.
- Salt to taste. You can add flavor by using 100% soy sauce, just make sure not to use too much or else your soup will taste like nothing but soy sauce and turn an unappealing brown color.
- Keep the soup simmering until the pollack is soft.
- Add welsh/green onion. Then turn off the heat and serve! Recommended accompaniments are fresh white, brown, or mixed rice, various types of kimchi, and roasted and salted seaweed.
Enjoy!
