Spicy Fish Stew(Maeuntang)

….This is one of Koreans’ most-loved seafood dishes. Most Korean households have all these seasonings on hand, so it’s a great way to share a delicious meal with fresh fish. If you love seafood and spicy stews, I’m sure you’ll absolutely love this one. My husband who likes fish always feels uncomfortable because of the fish bones. Today, to make it more convenient for him, I separately made broth with the head of sea bream, removed the bones from the fish fillet, and prepared it as fillet so that there is no inconvenience. I removed the tangled impurities insides and rough scales outside the fish head, made broth, filtered it once through a cheesecloth, and prepared it. Although this process is a bit cumbersome, it imparts the rich flavor of deep fish broth, giving a deep and intense taste to the spicy soup. I boiled the sea bream fillet and flounder fillet that I chose together, and there was also the fun of choosing and eating. The combination of very tender flounder and chewy sea bream made for the best spicy soup. I recommend trying to make spicy soup with fish head broth at least once.

Servings: 4

Time: 50 minutes

Ingredients:

1. 1/2 sea bream head, cleaned
2. 300 g flounder fillets, cleaned and pat dry
3. 400–500 g sea bream fillets, cleaned and pat dry
4. 2 little neck clams, soaked in cold water with some sea salt for 2–3 hours, and then cleaned.
5. 7–8 cups anchovy broth
6. 1 tbsp ginger juice
7. 300 g radish, cut into small pieces
8. 200 g onion, sliced
9. 3 tbsp red pepper powder
10. 2 tbsp garlic, chopped
11. 2 tbsp mixed fish sauce (gukganjang : fish sauce : tuna sauce = 1 : 1 : 1)
12. 1 tbsp gukganjang
13. tofu to taste
14. steamed fish cakes to taste
15. 3 green onions, cut into 2-inch pieces
16. Crown daisy for garnish
17. white alba mushrooms to taste
18. 4 fresh shiitake mushrooms, cut in half
19. 4 tbsp sea bream head broth (after making the fish head broth, set it aside)
20. 1 red pepper, sliced

Cooking Instructions:

1. Heat a pot over medium-high heat and add the anchovy broth to it.

2. Add the sea bream head and ginger juice to the pot and bring it to a boil.

3. Turn down the heat to medium and simmer for 20 minutes with a lid on. Remove any floating bubbles with a spoon.

4. After 20 minutes, remove the sea bream head and strain the broth with cheesecloth. Return the broth to the pot and separate the meat from the sea bream head (add it together to the stew later).

5. Meanwhile, combine the red pepper powder, garlic, gukganjang, mixed fish sauce, and sea bream head broth into a bowl and mix well. Set aside (red pepper powder helps absorb enough moisture).

6. Heat the pot over medium-high heat, add the radish and onion, and boil them for 2–3 minutes.

7. After 5 minutes, add the mixed sauce to the pot and bring to a boil. Remove any floating bubbles with a spoon.

8. Add the shiitake mushrooms, alba mushrooms, clams, and the fish fillets to the pot, and cook until the fish fillets are done with the lid on.

9. Add the tofu, steamed fish cakes, green onion, and red pepper to the pot and boil for 1–2 minutes.

10. Turn off the heat and add some crown daisy on top.

11. When serving, evenly scoop into individual bowls and serve hot.

You can also view this recipe on Instagram.

https://www.instagram.com/p/C2yhI0vrhuW/?img_index=1