Pajeon-guk

A delicate, lightly seasoned soup built around thick spring onion stalks (daepa) braised until silky in an anchovy broth.

Pajeon-guk is a simple soup that transforms one of Korea's most used aromatics — spring onion — into the star of the bowl rather than a background player. Large, thick spring onion stalks (daepa) are cut into sections and briefly sautéed or directly simmered in an anchovy-kelp broth until they turn sweet and translucent, their pungency cooking away to reveal an unexpected mildness. A beaten egg is sometimes poured in at the end in a thin stream, creating egg-flower ribbons throughout the pale broth — a technique borrowed from the same culinary logic as Chinese egg drop soup. The soup's lightness makes it a frequent choice as a first course in traditional Korean multi-dish meals, where heavy, long-simmered soups would overwhelm the palate early. It is also a common winter preparation in Korean country cooking, when spring onion crops come in abundantly and home cooks look for ways to use the surplus beyond the conventional roles in jjigae and namul. The flavour, though restrained, is warming and savoury in a way that feels deeply nourishing without heaviness.