Songsoo Kim’s Clam Noodle Soup with Anchovy Dadegi
Songsoo Kim’s Clam Noodle Soup with Anchovy Dadegi
A nourishing noodle dish that celebrates clams, served with a game-changing, flavour-packed condiment. Words and photographs by Songsoo Kim.
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Welcome to Vittles Recipes! In this weekly slot, our roster of five rotating columnists share their recipes and wisdom with you. This week’s columnist is Songsoo Kim.
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Noodle Therapy: Symbols and Clams
How following the signs in everyday life inspired Songsoo Kim’s clam noodle soup with anchovy dadegi
This summer seemed packed, but it feels like I have nothing to show for it. The things I have achieved – or that I am in the process of achieving, rather – are more long term, soft, anomalous, relational, ancestral, and gentle, not tangible enough for me to straightforwardly evaluate or celebrate. On days when I find myself feeling this way, I start to look for totems in my everyday life, symbols imbued with parables and magic that can guide me to a shift in thought or mood. One of the earliest of these signs I remember was when my mother would crack a double-yolked egg. She would summon me excitedly to look at them with her, in a simple moment that inspired awe.
Two weeks ago, as I picked up my veg box in the market after a long day, I spotted some clams, which sparked the same feeling of possibility and reward as the double-yolked egg. Wednesday evening clams, I thought, excited about cooking clams on a random weekday.
It’s no secret that clams are delicious. But I think they make the best impression when they’re used in a broth, imbuing salty umaminess as they open. In this recipe, I make a noodle broth with clams, courgette, leek, chard, and potato. The broth includes sake, a Japanese rice wine – the addition of rice-based alcohol to clam broths is a common technique in East Asian cooking to support the sharp, seaside saltiness of the shellfish and to remove any unpleasant smells.
To complement the broth, I’ve also provided a recipe for a dadegi, a densely flavoured condiment with green chillies, gochugaru, and anchovies – almost like a cross between chilli paste and relish. In Korea, dadegi – whose name is said to derive from the repetitive sound of a knife on a wooden chopping board – is eaten alongside simple, clear broths, and each restaurant or home has their own take on it. My version of dadegi is a perfect salty, pungent interruption to the gentle clam broth. It also works well in other dishes – a low-effort way to animate weekday meals of rice or pasta. Just yesterday, I ate it with a simple bowl of steamed padron peppers on rice.
This recipe is very seasonal and easy to put together, but it requires a bit of care and some belief in signs and what the world puts out. When I made this dish that day a couple of weeks ago, my flatmate rushed into the kitchen, drenched from stormy rain. I asked if she wanted some clam noodle soup, and she said, ‘Yes!’ As the rain gushed down outside, the soup tasted warm and soothing. In my bowl, the clams were not central but present, a totem that led me to share my noodle moment with a flatmate in a spontaneous dinner, a rarer event than you might think. Take it as a sign from me to you to make this dish.
Clam Noodle Soup with Anchovy Dadegi
Serves 2
Time 45 mins