Bibim Guksu with Quick Cucumber Pickle

⏱ 20 min · Serves 2

Icy somen noodles tossed in a sweet-sour gochujang sauce, piled with crunchy cucumber, crisp cabbage and a jammy egg. Ten minutes of chopping, one boiled pot, and you've got Korea's favourite hot-weather noodle bowl.

Per serving: 615 kcal · 22.0g protein · 95.0g carbs · 16.0g fat

Ingredients

• 200g dried somen or thin wheat noodles
• 1 Lebanese cucumber, julienned
• 1/4 small green cabbage, finely shredded (about 100g)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp caster sugar
• 2 tbsp gochujang
• 1 tbsp gochugaru (Korean chilli flakes)
• 2 tbsp rice vinegar
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp honey or sugar syrup
• 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
• 2 garlic cloves, finely grated
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp toasted sesame seeds
• 2 spring onions, finely sliced
• Ice cubes, for rinsing

Method

1. Toss the cucumber and cabbage with the salt and caster sugar in a bowl and set aside for 10 minutes, then squeeze out excess liquid.
2. Boil the eggs for 7 minutes, cool under cold water, peel and halve.
3. Whisk together the gochujang, gochugaru, rice vinegar, soy sauce, honey, sesame oil and garlic to make the bibim sauce.
4. Cook the noodles in plenty of boiling water for 3 minutes, stirring so they don't clump.
5. Drain and rinse the noodles under cold running water, rubbing off the starch, then plunge into a bowl of iced water for 30 seconds and drain very well.
6. Toss the noodles with the sauce until every strand is glossy red.
7. Pile into two bowls, top with the pickled cucumber and cabbage, an egg half each, spring onions and sesame seeds. Mix hard at the table and eat cold.