Kohlrabi and beef soup

Beef and daikon are common pairing in Korean soups, but Mika Chae soon discovered that Korean daikon was challenging to locate when she moved to Australia. A little bit of tinkering and some kitchen magic later, Mika adapted the much more accessible kohlrabi for a twist on her Korean favourite broth and her beef and kohlrabi soup was born.

Credit: Jiwon Kim

• serves

  8

• prep

  10 minutes

• cook

  1 hour

• difficulty

  Easy

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Ingredients

• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 250 g beef chuck steak, cut into 2 cm chunks
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 kohlrabi (around 500 g), cut into 1 cm half-moons
• 50 g thinly sliced brown onion
• 15 g finely chopped garlic
• 1 tbsp Korean soy sauce
• 1 ½ litres water
• 1 tsp Korean fish sauce
• Pepper, to taste
• 80 g spring onion, thinly sliced, to serve

Instructions

1. Heat the oils in a large, heavy-based saucepan over medium heat. Add the beef and the salt to the pan and cook, stirring occasionally for 5 minutes, or until browned.
   
2. Add the kohlrabi to the pan and gently stir to coat in the rendered beef fat. Add the onion and garlic to the pan and cook, stirring occasionally for a further 2 minutes.
   
3. Add the soy sauce and water and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and gently simmer, regularly skimming any scum from the top of the soup and discarding.
   
4. Cook over low heat for 1 hour, periodically checking the kohlrabi, it should be soft and fully cooked, but not mushy. Remove the kohlrabi and beef soup from the heat and season to taste with fish sauce, salt and pepper. Sprinkle with the spring onion and serve.

Photography by Jiwon Kim.

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Cook's Notes

Oven temperatures are for conventional; if using fan-forced (convection), reduce the temperature by 20˚C. | We use Australian tablespoons and cups: 1 teaspoon equals 5 ml; 1 tablespoon equals 20 ml; 1 cup equals 250 ml. | All herbs are fresh (unless specified) and cups are lightly packed. | All vegetables are medium size and peeled, unless specified. | All eggs are 55-60 g, unless specified.

Stream free On Demand

Sustainable Soups

episode • The Cook Up with Adam Liaw • 

cooking • 

25m

G

episode • The Cook Up with Adam Liaw • 

cooking • 

25m

G