Sigeumchi-doenjang-guk

A quick, bright-green soup of wilted Korean spinach in a light doenjang broth — a daily staple in Korean homes.

Sigeumchi-doenjang-guk is made in minutes — spinach (sigeumchi) dropped into a simmering anchovy-doenjang broth wilts in under two minutes, its vivid green colour briefly intensifying before the heat claims it, and the resulting soup is one of the freshest, most vitamin-rich preparations in the Korean everyday repertoire. Korean spinach is slightly different from the Western variety — the leaves are larger, the stems are longer, and the flavour is earthier — and in doenjang broth its natural bitterness is rounded and softened into something mild and pleasing. The soup is made in Korean homes almost daily in spring and winter when spinach is at its best, and it occupies the most quotidian, taken-for-granted position in the Korean diet — present at almost every meal but rarely photographed or celebrated. Yet Korean nutrition research consistently highlights doenjang-guk with leafy greens as a cornerstone of the traditional diet associated with low rates of certain chronic diseases. The soup's brevity — from pantry to table in under ten minutes — is one of Korean home cooking's great practical achievements.