Birthday Soup – It Has Seaweed Because.

Cooking Time: 1483 minutes
Recipe Difficulty: Easy
Servings Amount: 8

Recipe Lead: …for when you want to impress a Korean person on their birthday…

Ingredients

Dashi

• 2 sheets dashima* (dried kelp)
• 1 handful dried shiitake mushrooms
• 8 cups filtered water

Soup

• 2 cups dried seaweed** (not the same as dashima)
• 1 cup shiitake mushrooms
• 2 tbsp dry malt powder**
• 2 cloves garlic (minced)
• 8 cups dashi
• 2 tbsp non-dairy milk
• 1 tbsp salt
• 1 tsp cracked black pepper
• 1 tbsp sesame oil

Dashi.

1.  Place all ingredients together in an airtight container and leave overnight in the fridge.
2.  The following day, remove dashima and dried mushrooms and bring liquid to a boil.  Once it cools enough to handle safely, pour liquid through a cheesecloth to remove any residual solids.

Soup.

1.  Sauté mushrooms in sesame oil over medium high heat in a large soup pot (I used my Dutch oven) until they get nice and brown.  Add garlic.
2. Pour in dashi and add seaweed, salt, and black pepper.  Bring to a boil and then let it simmer for 20 minutes.
3. Add in non-dairy for extra creaminess and garnish with more sesame oil.  Serve with a bowl of rice and side of kimchi (a MUST).
4. Wish your loved one a happy health birthday!

*You can get dashima here.
**You can get seaweed for seaweed soup here.