Jjambbong Revolution

[Anchor Lead]

At Chinese restaurants in Korea, one of the most popular dishes is jjambbong, a fiery red seafood noodle soup. These days Chinese restaurants are offering a wide variety of this staple Chinese food, sometimes even taking customers by surprise.

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Fresh seafood delivered from Incheon pier arrives at a jjambbong restaurant. Once the seafood is washed and cleaned,it goes on the pan with oil and vegetables. Here, spicy pepper chili powder is added as well as broth made from boiling mussels and beef ribs for long hours. Precooked noodles, the broth and mussels make a generous serving of jjambbong. When you think nothing more can be possibly be piled on, an entire squid goes on top. And voila, the seafood jjambbong is ready to go.

[Soundbite] "I'm not sure if I'm eating seafood stew or jjambbong."

This time, here is a jjambbong dish that's reserved for the winter. The eye catching green is a type of seaweed called seaweed fulvescens. Known as mae-saeng-i in Korean, the seaweed contains 40 times more iron than milk and is also rich in potassium and vitamin A. It's known to help prevent anemia, osteoporosis, and other adult diseases. Begin with stir frying spicy red peppers, onion and a good amount of oysters. Then add chicken and mussel broth cooked for an entire day. For the green seaweed, give it a quick boil to prevent the aroma from evaporating. Everything goes into a bowl and here you have a savory and spicy 'seaweed fulvescens& oyster jjambbong.'

[Soundbite] "Having seaweed fulvescens and oysters while they're in season, I feel I'm literally becoming healthy."

Another jjambbong dish is particularly popular among younger customers. It's called cream jjambbong. The white broth contains loads of seafood. Cream actually does go in. Make a cream sauce by mixing up whipping cream and milk in a 1 to 1 ratio. Also add some salt. The ingredients are mixed with the cream sauce, Parmesan cheese and finely minced Vietnamese peppers. And there you have the creamy and spicy cream jjambbong.

[Soundbite] "The spicy jjambbong and the taste of savory spaghetti blend so well. It's really good."

There are so many varieties to choose from. What is your style and preference? Be bold and try out a unique jjambbong dish next time you go out.