Korean beef and sea mustard soup

Name: Korean beef and sea mustard soup
Total time: 35 min
Yield: 3 servings
Ingredients: Dried sea mustard 20 g; Beef brisket 150 g; Garlic 3 cloves, minced; Sesame oil 1 tbsp; Korean soup soy sauce 1 tbsp; Water 1.2 L

Iodine from the seaweed and iron from the beef in one bowl. Because you drink the broth, the minerals that leach out are not lost.

3 servings35 min

Ingredients

Dried sea mustard20 g
Beef brisket150 g
Garlic3 cloves, minced
Sesame oil1 tbsp
Korean soup soy sauce1 tbsp
Water1.2 L

Method

Soak the dried sea mustard in cold water for 20 minutes. It swells nearly tenfold, so use a generous bowl.
Rinse the rehydrated seaweed two or three times to draw off salt. Dried sea mustard retains sodium from processing.
Cut the beef into bite-sized pieces and mince the garlic.
Heat the sesame oil in a pot, brown the beef, then add the seaweed and stir-fry for three more minutes.
Pour in the water, bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer for 20 minutes.
Season with the minced garlic and soy sauce, and simmer two minutes longer.

Cooking note

Sea mustard is so rich in iodine that a single bowl can carry well past the daily recommendation. That is no problem for most people, but if you have a thyroid condition or are being treated for one, discuss how often you eat it with your doctor. The Korean custom of eating it daily after childbirth deserves the same caution.

Ingredients used here

Seafood

Nutrition data

Sea mustard (wakame)

Its iodine and calcium made it a postpartum food. That same iodine is why thyroid conditions call for caution.

Meat

Nutrition data

Beef

Beef's heme iron absorbs at 15–35%, against 2–20% for non-heme iron from foods like spinach. The real questions are the cut and whether it is processed.

Vegetables

Moderate evidence

Garlic

The evidence for garlic points to a modest drop in blood pressure and cholesterol. The trick is to crush it and wait ten minutes before it hits the heat.