by: Dorie Colangelo

I love kimchi and I love fat, chewy udon noodles. Combining them was a no-brainer for me. If you’re unfamiliar with my two loves, udon noodles are thick, wheat-flour noodles that originated in Japan and kimchi is a side dish of spicy fermented cabbage that’s a staple of Korean cuisine.I use kimchi as a condiment on all my veggie and rice dishes and I also love to add it to soups like this Spicy Kimchi Udon Soup.This dish has just enough heat to make your nose run, but won’t have you breathing fire. The udon noodles are chunky, slippery and full of comforting carbs. The 7-minute jammy eggs are perfectly soft with a hint of runny yolk. This is a great dinner for when you’re cold, congested or just craving soup. If you can’t find gochugang paste, you can use sriracha to taste. If you can’t find udon noodles in your freezer section, that’s very sad, but you can use wide rice noodles instead and everything will be OK.

Spicy Kimchi Udon Soup
Serves 4
1 teaspoon olive oil
1/2 cup thin sliced onion
1 teaspoon grated ginger
1 teaspoon grated garlic
2 scallions, white and light green parts separated and thin sliced
5 cups chicken broth (or vegetable broth)
2 teaspoons gochugang paste or more to taste
2 tablespoons liquid from a jar of kimchi
1 tablespoon seasoned rice vinegar
2 cups shredded napa cabbage
1 medium carrot, shredded (about 1/2 cup)
Salt to taste
Juice of 1 lime
16-18 ounces udon noodles
2-4 eggs

Place a large stock pot over medium low heat, add the olive oil, onion, ginger, garlic and the scallion whites. Sweat the vegetables, stirring often until soft and very fragrant, but not browning or burning; adjust the heat if necessary. Add the broth to the pot and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Stir in the gochugang paste, kimchi liquid, rice vinegar, cabbage and carrots. Add salt to taste as well as the lime juice. Keep the soup hot over medium low heat. Meanwhile, bring a separate pot of salted hot water to a boil and cook the udon noodles for 2 minutes (or according to package instructions). Reserving the salted cooking water, transfer the noodles with tongs to a strainer and rinse the noodles with cold running water, set aside. Add the eggs to the still boiling, salted water and cook for exactly 7 minutes. Remove the eggs from the water, peel them under cool running water and cut them in half lengthwise.

Divide the soup among bowls, add desired amount of noodles and egg halves to each bowl. Garnish with the scallion greens and some spoonfuls of kimchi if desired. Serve hot. Enjoy!

Dorie Colangelo is a food stylist in Los Angeles.