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Korean Spicy Chilled Noodles (Bibim Guksu)
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This classic Korean dish is a pasta salad of sorts, with bold contrasting flavors and textures. Somen is the Japanese name for the type of dried wheat noodle to use here; in Korean they are called somyeon. The noodles are slender and creamy white; look for them, often packaged in bundles, in the Asian section of the grocery store or in Asian markets. Gochujang is a Korean fermented red pepper paste—it's an essential ingredient is this dish. Made with ¼ cup gochujang, the noodles are assertively spicy. To turn down the heat, reduce the amount to 3 tablespoons. If you like, add a halved or quartered hard- or soft-cooked egg on top of each portion.
4
Servings
Tip
Don't overcook the noodles. Somen cooks quickly—in matter of minutes—and the delicate strands quickly go from tender to overdone.
30 minutes
3-4 tablespoons gochujang
2½ tablespoons unseasoned rice vinegar, plus more as needed
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1½ tablespoons white sugar
1½ tablespoons toasted sesame oil
2 tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted, divided
1 cup drained cabbage kimchi, thinly sliced, plus 2 tablespoons kimchi juice
½ English cucumber
4 scallions, thinly sliced on the diagonal
8 ounces somen noodles
Ice
Kosher salt
Ingredients
-
3-4
tablespoons gochujang
-
2½
tablespoons unseasoned rice vinegar, plus more as needed
-
2
tablespoons soy sauce
-
1½
tablespoons white sugar
-
1½
tablespoons toasted sesame oil
-
2
tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted, divided
-
1
cup drained cabbage kimchi, thinly sliced, plus 2 tablespoons kimchi juice
-
½
English cucumber
-
4
scallions, thinly sliced on the diagonal
-
8
ounces somen noodles
-
Ice
-
Kosher salt
Directions
-
01Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk together the gochujang, vinegar, soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, 1 tablespoon sesame seeds and the kimchi juice. Set aside.
-
02Thinly slice the cucumber on the diagonal. Stack several slices and cut lengthwise into matchsticks. Repeat with the remaining slices. Set aside.
-
03Add the noodles to the boiling water and cook, stirring frequently, until tender, about 2 minutes. Drain in a colander, then add 1 cup ice cubes on top. Rinse the noodles under cold running water, tossing constantly, until completely cool to the touch. Remove any unmelted ice cubes, then drain well.
-
04Add the drained noodles to the gochujang mixture, along with the kimchi. Toss, then taste and season with salt and additional vinegar. Transfer to a shallow serving bowl, then mound the scallions and cucumber on top. Sprinkle with the remaining 1 tablespoon sesame seeds. Tossing just before serving.
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Reviews
July 21, 2022
Good but spicy
Enjoyed this but it was quite spicy. I used 3 tbp of gochujang. If you are sensitive to heat I’d suggest cutting back on the gochujang and the kimchi juice. Will definitely make this again. Also might try this with a peanut sauce.
August 29, 2022
delish!!
so good, so fresh, so sesame. I agree about reducing the gochujang. 2 T was perfect. I put a little thinly sliced fresh radish in, too. awesome dishhhh
August 21, 2023
Easy and delicious! One to make often.
I heard this recipe discussed on the Milk Street podcast and had to try it. I already had most of the ingredients but I appreciate that everything needed can be found in a decent grocery store. I used somen noodles. The dish came together quickly and was the perfect side for a seared ahi steak. I could have handled a little more heat but that’s an easy tweak for next time.
As add to my previous comments, leftovers of this, refrigerated in a covered container, were good enough to enjoy eating them the following day but this really seems a dish best eaten within a short time of making it. We wouldn't plan for leftovers next time and reduce the recipe accordingly if needed for serving fewer people.
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Your First Issue
OMG so GOOD but they aren't fooling around with heat if you use the 4TB of gochuchang. We chose 3T - the lower end of recommended range - and while our household likes heat we would not have wanted it one iota hotter. Cooking during the age of covid19 in a state that just ordered 'stay at home' directive, the only thing we lacked for this was somen noodles and it didn't make safety-sense to make a run to market just for those. We did have soba and capellini so selected the latter as most likely to work best as somen sub and it worked really well cooked just al dente and then cooled in an ice water bath and drained well to use to replace the cooked and chilled somen. We omitted the egg. This will be on the repeat list soon.