Green beans with soy bean hummus

 I would love to learn new techniques and perfect the skills.  However, at times, I feel like to retreat myself from "being too much". That's when I take out a thick earthenware pot to cook rice and pay attention to the simplest and easiest things which I do everyday without thinking. It is just as valuable and rewarding as learning a difficult skill. I achieve infinite feeling of calmness from inside. Hearing and smelling as the clay rice pot releases vapor is mesmerizing. Feeling soy beans through my fingers to make tofu is also a peaceful experience to send me to different status of mind. It's just like listening to wind, rain...

I conceived the idea of this dish by accident while making soy bean milk. I used to make quite similar Banchan dish like this one using tofu. Although soy bean hummus is made with pretty much same components with tofu-soy bean and water basically-, it is fresher and, of course tastes better. The nuttiness of soy bean hummus elevates the flavor and the texture of the vegetable without disturbing the essence of it.

I got a bag of green beans from farmer's market. I blanched them in boiling water with a big pig pinch of salt until the color of green beans turns bright green. Then I took out the green beans when they are still crunch, plunged them in the ice water,

Soy bean hummus 

1 cup soy bean/ soaked with 3 cup of water overnight

reserved soy bean cooking water

sea salt

In a big pot, cook soy beans in its soaking water over med-high heat. Boil for 15 minutes. (Over cooking and under cooking will result serious off smell.) Follow the instruction exactly as described in  the previous post except the amount of water. Blend the drained soy bean and peanut mixture in a blender, use just enough water to obtain the hummus consistency, maybe 1/2 cup or a little more. I like to keep it creamy but with a little bit of peanut chunks. Season it with salt. Scoop out as much hummus as you need. Add more reserved cooking water to make soy milk.

Mix blanched green beans with soy bean hummus. Sprinkle some black sesame seeds on top.

The soy bean hummus is very versatile. You can use any kind of vegetable for this Banchan. I hope you try this recipe when you make some soy bean milk. It's simple, healthy, delicious and therapeutic!

Yeol-Moo summer noodle 열무김치비빔국수

Summer is officially almost gone. I think the debate about "wearing white clothe after Labor day" is very funny. Although I don't care much about the proper dress code after Labor day, I do care about eating summer foods before summer becomes past. And Yeol-Moo-Gook-Soo is one the summer foods I have to eat timely. As some of you might already know from my previous blog post, I made some Yeol-Moo-Kimchi a few weeks ago. Yeo-Moo-Limchi has become very mature in the refrigerator, I love it when it tastes just about to turn sour but not quite sour yet. So it is still delightfully crunch in texture. It is right on the climax of its fermentation process.

Yeol-Moo-Gook-Soo 열무비빔국수 serves 4
4 bundles of somyun (somen) noodle
1/4 cup hot noodle sauce (famous O-Jang-Dong-Nangmyun sauce), the recipe follows bellow
4 hard boiled eggs/halved
1/2 seedless cucumber/julienned
2 cups Yeol-Moo-Kimchi
1 Tbsp sesame oil
freshly ground toasted sesame seeds


Cook somen noodle following product's instruction. Rinse the noodle under cold water. Drain and keep the noodle cold until needed.
Mix the noodle with hot noodle sauce and sesame oil.
Put Yeol-Moo-Kimchi, cucumber and an egg on top of noodle. Sprinkle ground sesame seeds on top. Serve immediately.


hot noodle sauce 오장동냉면소스 (famous O-Jang-Dong noodle sauce)
O-jang-dong is the place which is known for Bi-Bim-Nangmyun (a type of cold noodle which is originated from the North Korean region, Ham-heung. It is very spicy) in Seoul. I don't know who smuggled out or imitated the recipe but it is one of the most popular recipes in Korean food websites.


1/2 cup water
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup light brown sugar
3/4 cup Gochugaru (Korean red pepper poder)
1 tsp ginger/finely minsed
1 Tbsp garlic/finely minsed
1 Tbsp corn syrup
1 apple/peeled
1 Korean (Asian pear)/peeled
1/2 yellow onion
1 Tbsp salt


In a sause pot boil water and soy sauce together. When it boils turn off the heat and add sugar. Let in cool down completely.
In a food processor, finely grind the apple, pear and onion together. Add it to the soy sauce mixture.  Add the rest of ingredients together and mix it very well. Keep it in the refrigerator. It will well kept for months. The flavor becomes mature and ready to eat after a 3-4 days.