As the temperature rises, there is nothing better than a delicious bowl of naengmyeon, a popular summertime Korean dish with nutty buckwheat noodles, a creamy boiled egg on top, and flavors of salty and sour pickles. What’s not to love!.
I published a recipe for dongchimi (Korean radish water kimchi) last week, so I thought it would be appropriate to do the same with naengmyeon, a cool dish made with buckwheat noodles that also calls for dongchimi.
Korean cold buckwheat noodle soup known as naengmyeon (or naeng myun) is made with beef broth or dongchimi broth and topped with a variety of ingredients including pickles, Asian, pear, cucumber, scallions, eggs, and/or beef. In Korea, cold noodles are very popular during the summer because they aid in body cooling.
The terms “mul naengmyeon” and “bibim naengmyeon” refer to two different types of naengmyeon. Both are prepared in the same manner, with the exception that bibim naengmyeon includes a spicy sauce. Even though we aren’t using the sauce today, I’ve included a quick recipe for it in the recipe card in case you want to spice up your noodles.
It’s simple to assume from the ingredients that the dish will be so flavorful that it won’t require additional seasoning. However, it turns out to have quite a delicate flavor, which explains why it’s so reviving to eat on a hot summer day. The noodles are nutty and the cold broth is salty and sour, making it the ideal base for toppings that are sweet, spicy, and crunchy.
What is naengmyeon?
Naengmyeon, which means literally “cold noodles,” is a cold noodle dish made with thin, chewy noodles made of buckwheat and potato or sweet potato starch.
According to the method of preparation, naengmyeon dishes can be divided into two categories: mul naengmyeon and bibim naengmyeon.
The noodles are served in a clear, cooling broth for mul naengmyeon, which is typically made with beef broth and/or dongchimi (, radish water kimchi broth). Mul means water, referring to the broth in this dish.
The dish is known as bibim naengmyeon if the noodles are combined with a red, spiciness sauce.
Mul naengmyeon is commonly known as Pyongyang naengmyeon (평양냉면) in Korea while bibim naengmyeon is known as Hamhung (함흥냉면) naengmyeon. These names come from Pyongyang and Hamhung, which are North Korean cities. These cold noodles became popular in South Korea after the Korean war by the people who fled the North during the war.
Naengmyeon: A Warm Love Letter to Cold Noodles
If you have never had this dish, you probably envision a bowl of hot noodles that has been placed in a dark kitchen corner to cool before being brought out and described as a “local delicacy.” But wait, are those leftovers? You probably feel hungry now that you’ve thought about it.
The cool, tangy, spicy, and chewy noodles will be familiar to you if you’ve had cold noodles before. It’s possible that you enjoyed eating them, or that you only tried a small amount to get a taste for the food and decided that two mouthfuls was sufficient.
For the uninitiated, cold noodles, or naengmyeon in Korean, are much more than just plain noodles served cold. They are a dish that, despite being consumed cold, is intricately woven into North Korean culture and history. Even today, cold noodles are a potent food that can promote harmony and cause people to sing.
Let’s explore cold noodles to learn more about the food, its background, and its role in society.
Who knows, you might find yourself wanting a bowl of cold noodles by the end of this!
These noodles are purposefully served cold, sometimes even on ice, as the name implies. We must examine several aspects, such as history, geography, and science, in order to comprehend why they are served cold.
Many people think the current form of cold noodles was developed during the Joseon Dynasty (1392-1897), which was a time when Korea ventured out into the world to begin international trade, even though no one is certain how they came to exist (ask the ancestors, they say). During this time, Korean traders traveled farther abroad and brought back exotic foods (hello, chilli peppers) that had never been seen or used before, which led to a significant development in Korean cuisine. During this time, a number of Korea’s famous dishes underwent modernization.
However, some claim that the introduction of buckwheat by the Mongols to Korea during the Koryo Dynasty (918–1392) is when cold noodles first appeared. Buckwheat was abundant well into winter because it was grown in the summer and harvested in the fall. Then, using buckwheat flour, people would prepare noodles and flavor them with the frozen slush of radish water Kimchi from their earthenware pots that they kept outside.
Korean cold noodles have their origins in the north of the country, with Pyongyang and Hamhung producing the most well-known and sought-after varieties.
The noodles
In the winter, Pyongyang naengmyeon noodles are traditionally consumed in icy-cold dongchimi broth and are made primarily of buckwheat rather than starch. Since potato or sweet potato starch makes up the majority of the ingredients in hamhung naengmyeon noodles, they are thinner and chewier.
Commercially available varieties of naengmyeon noodles include frozen, chilled, and dried varieties.
For quick, convenient meals, pre-made broth or spicy sauce pouches are sometimes included in packages. Only purchase noodles if you’re going to make naengmyeon from scratch because they tend to be more expensive.
