I’ve lived in South Korea for two weeks now.  I came with a hundred bucks and, unfortunately, still have 23 days until pay day.  Thus far, I’ve been living on rice, seaweed, and hot sauce- surprisingly good, but getting a bit old.  The circles under my eyes indicate that I need some nutrition in my broke life.  Today, I went to the Korean market and splurged on a $1.20 pack of soybean paste, and decided to use it as a broth.  For a grand total of $5.00, I have enough soup to last me for a few days.  After that, only 18 more days to go!  I guess it’s all part of the adventure.

My not so great diet for the past two weeks

Prep time: 5 minutes

Cook time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

• 6 c water
• 14 oz/400 g mushrooms, chopped
• 5 green onion stalks, finely chopped
• 5 garlic cloves, crushed or finely chopped
• 3 1/2 oz/100 g firm tofu, cubed
• 4 1/2 oz/130 g rich soybean paste
• fresh ground black pepper, to taste

Yields 6 small servings

Soybean Paste Soup