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    Korean Style Ground Pork Soup

    I am a hopeless Ramen-tic! ❤️❤️

    I love, love a noodle kinda diet. Making a giant pot of twirly, slurpy noodles in some kind of rich creamy broth that is spicy, yet a little sweet. Umami, yet with strong citrusy notes. It almost becomes therapeutic. You forget all the worries in the world as you anticipate that bowl, as you start building up the different components of that perfect soup. A good bowl of soup has no beginning or middle or end. When you slurp into it, everything comes together.

    A bowl of this pink colored soup with ground pork, ramen noodles, bok choy and soft boiled eggs.

    This Korean inspired soup happens pretty fast for all those rewarding comforts. It’s full of Asian flavors. Ground pork prepped with plenty of aromatics. That unmistakable heat coming from their gochujang chili paste, though tamed down by a creamy coconut milk based broth.

    That’s not all. This bowl has room for slightly wilted bok choy and those addictive Korean marinated eggs, aka mayak eggs. This is pretty dang incredible!

    Close up of the bowl of Korean soup.

    Here is what you need

    • Ground pork – Though I can see ground beef or chicken making equally cracking yum soup.
    • Aromatics – Ginger, garlic, scallions and cilantro.
    • Sauces and pastes – Soy sauce and gochujang chili paste.
    • Honey
    • Onion – Chopped.
    • Chicken broth
    • Coconut milk
    • Lime juice – Plenty, it really makes a difference.
    • Bok choy
    • Eggs – Soft boiled.
    • Noodles – We used ramen noodles. There are a lot of options here. You can use dried or frozen ramen noodles, or you can even use noodles from those instant noodle packs for convenience (just discard the seasoning packet). We can also see udon noodles working great with this one.

    First, let me talk about the hotness factor here. What is Gochujang?

    A container of gochujang paste.

    Korean cuisine is known for it’s hot and spicy food. And the main culprit is their fermented red chili paste or sauce, called Gochujang. It also comes in powder form. It has a smoky-sweet spicy flavor. Some brands are spicier than others.

    I love the paste rather than sauce, as it has bolder and stronger flavors. Gochujang is an integral part in Korean cuisine and goes in recipes as well as marinades. It’s a “must” in your pantry if you fancy some Korean.

    The closest alternative I can think of is any other similar chili paste, like sambal oelek. You see tons of them in any Asian grocery store. You can use regular sriracha or red chili flakes, though they might not result in the same cracking taste. These authentic pastes are comparatively hotter than sriracha, but if you don’t like much heat you can always go easy on them.

    Saying that, let’s see how to build this soup…

    Step 1. Soft boil your eggs. Bring water to boil, adding salt and vinegar, and gently nestle in the eggs and let them simmer. Once boiled immediately put them in ice water.

    • Boil 6-7 minutes for runny, jammy eggs
    • 8 minutes for soft boiled
    • 9-10 minutes for hard boiled.

    Having those gooyee jammy eggs is such a MUST in any noodle or ramen bowl. We strongly recommend making Korean marinated eggs, which are called Mayak eggs, for this soup as they have more oomph and flavor. You can make them the previous night in less than 15 minutes. Check out my recipe for your very own Mayak eggs.

    Step 2. Now you will move on to the next step of cooking your ground pork topping. Mix chopped ginger and garlic, along with gochujang chili paste, honey, soy sauce, sesame oil and a tad bit of water in a bowl.

    Small bowl of sauce mixture.

    Heat oil in a pan and start cooking the ground pork, breaking it up with a spoon. Mix in the above sauce and cook till pork is cooked. Set it aside.

    Ground pork cooking in a skillet.

    Step 3. Moving on to the broth or soup… IT’S ALL ABOUT THE BROTH…
    In the same pan, heat more oil and sauté chopped onion for a few minutes, till it becomes soft and translucent.

    Mix in gochujang and honey and stir well. Season with a little salt. Stir in chicken broth and bring it to boil. Once it’s boiling, reduce heat to low and stir in coconut milk. Add in fresh lime juice, plenty of it… 🙂

    Simmer on medium low heat for 15 minutes. Taste and adjust seasonings to your liking. Some days I add some extra gochujang at this point. Yes, the coconut milk cuts down the heat considerably, making it a rich and creamy, hot yet sweet, umami flavor bomb with strong citrusy notes.

    Step 4. While broth is simmering, boil water in a separate pot and add in bok choy for 2-3 minutes, till it wilts a little. Remove the bok choy and in the same water cook the noodles according to the instructions on the packet.

    Strain them in a colander once done. In the case of instant ramen, you don’t need the seasoning packet there, cook the noodles without it.

    Step 5. Now to the best part…ASSEMBLING THAT BEAUTIFUL YUM BOWL!

    Ladle the broth into a bowl. Add in plenty of noodles, heap on your pork topping, bok choy, and halved eggs. Garnish it with scallions and cilantro. It looks like a long post, but everything happens really fast.

    Leftovers

    Ahh… leftovers. So, so good the next day when that broth has time to rest. This can be refrigerated in an airtight container for 2-3 days if you make a giant batch. Just reheat the broth and assemble your next bowl.
    There you go. That right there, friends, is delicious pork in oodles of noodles! Slurp!!

    Another picture of the bowl of Korean soup.

    This will warm you right up and fill you right up. This bowl is going to be a favorite, it’s going to be sticking around in your life for a long, long time.
    Can a big bowl of some delicious soup cure all your problems? Well, it’ll cure hunger. Don’t you agree that’s a good start? 🙂

    On that happy note, take a big pull of these noodles, and slurp away at your bowl.

    Be sure to check our other cracking Asian Recipes on GypsyPlate, and come back again for all the new flavors coming to you. Pin or bookmark this Korean yum and make this happen on some cold or rainy day. You are in for a treat. Subscribe to GypsyPlate. Share and spread the love. Take care…

    Korean Style Ground Pork Soup, on my Gypsy Plate… enjoy!

    The bowl of soup atop the Gypsy Plate.

    Try these other quick and tasty Asian recipes!
    Thai Basil Chicken
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    Chicken Caldereta
    Mongolian Beef
    Pork Menudo
    Teriyaki Chicken Bowl
    Chicken Lettuce Wraps
    Korean Ground Beef Bowl
    Kung Pao Chicken

    Korean ground pork soup.

    Korean Style Ground Pork Soup

    Yield: 4 servings

    This Korean inspired soup is a new favorite. Perfectly seasoned ground pork, twirly noodles, bok choy and soft boiled eggs in a delectable coconut based broth. Slurp!

    Ingredients

    For pork topping

    • 1 lbs ground pork
    • 4-5 garlic cloves, finely chopped
    • 1 Tbsp ginger, finely chopped
    • 1 Tbsp honey
    • 2 Tbsp soy sauce
    • 1 Tbsp gochujang chili paste
    • 2 tsp sesame oil

    For broth

    • 1 small red or yellow onion, chopped
    • 1 Tbsp to 1.5 Tbsp gochujang chili paste
    • 1 Tbsp honey
    • 6 cups chicken broth
    • 1 can coconut milk
    • 1.5 limes, juiced

    For garnishings and toppings

    • 2 small heads bok choy, halved
    • 2-3 sprigs cilantro
    • 2 scallions
    • 2-3 eggs, soft boiled
    • 2 packets of ramen noodles (seasoning packet discarded) or any other Asian noodles

    Instructions

    1. Gently add eggs to boiling water. Cook 6 minutes for soft boiled eggs and immediately remove to ice water bath. Optionally, make Mayak marinated eggs the previous night (highly recommended for this soup).
    2. Mix chopped ginger, garlic, soy sauce, gochujang paste, honey, and sesame oil with a table spoon of water in a bowl.
    3. Heat 2 Tbsp oil in a pan over medium high heat. Add pork and cook for a couple of minutes, breaking it with a spoon as you go. Stir in the above sauce mixture and sauté till pork is cooked completely, about 10-12 minutes, stirring in between. Remove and set aside.
    4. In the same pan, heat more oil and add in chopped onion. Sauté it till translucent. Add in gochujang paste and honey and give it a stir for 20 seconds. Season with a pinch of salt and add in chicken broth. Bring it to a boil.
    5. Once it starts boiling, reduce the heat to low and stir in coconut milk. Add in lime juice and simmer for 15 minutes.
    6. Adjust the seasoning like salt, lime and gochujang to your liking and cook for 5 more minutes.
    7. Meanwhile, while the broth is simmering, boil water and once it's rolling add in bok choy. Wilt it for a few minutes and remove.
    8. In the same water cook noodles according to the instructions on the packet and strain in colander.
    9. Assemble your bowl by first adding the broth to to the bowl. Add in heaps of noodles and top it all with the ground pork topping, eggs cut into halves and bok choy. Garnish with scallions and cilantro. Serve hot.

    Notes

    1. When making a broth, after it simmers for 15 minutes, always taste and adjust to your liking. Some like it hot. I have added an extra one to one and a half Tbsp gochujang when I want spicier broth some days.

    Did you make this recipe?

    Please leave a comment on the blog or share a photo on Pinterest

    Picture of Alpana, blogger and recipe developer at GypsyPlate

    Welcome to GypsyPlate! I'm Alpana, former wordwide tour manager and professional caterer, now full time blogger. I love exploring cuisines from around the world, and my recipes have been featured on sites such as MSN, Parade, Brit + Co, CNET and AOL. You can explore my entire collection of sortable recipes in my Recipe Index or learn more about me here.

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      1 thought on “Korean Style Ground Pork Soup”

      • This is a very easy and awesome recipe! The meat is really flavorful! I thought the broth was a bit bland. First time I made it, I eyeballed the chicken broth and I think I put less than 6 cups, it was much better than when I used full 6 cups. With 6 cups of chicken broth, it was a bit watery. I did put shiitake mushrooms in, added red curry paste and that made the flavor even better. Overall, this is a keeper recipe as i really enjoyed it.

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