.: evil jungle prince :.

Now that it's getting hot in the desert again, I'm breaking out some cool summer dishes. This one, today's lunch, is kong guksu (콩국수), which is cold noodles served in a chilled sesame-soy broth. Oh baby, was this tasty...

1. To make the sesame-soy broth, I first soaked 1/2 cup of dried soy beans in water for an hour. These were then boiled for 45 minutes on the stovetop.

2. Meanwhile, I placed a few tablespoons of sesame seeds into a pan and dry roasted them until they began to be fragrant. These were then placed into a blender with a little water and pureed until liquid. After the soy beans were done boiling, I added these as well and more water. Both were pureed until liquid.

3. Next I squeezed the sesame-soy bean mixture through cheesecloth to create the sesame-soy broth. After removing the solids and retaining all the liquid broth, I added sea salt to taste and placed the broth into the refrigerator to cool.

4. After about 45 minutes, allowing the broth to cool adequately, I began boiling the wheat noodles. Once ready, I removed them and rinsed them with cold water thoroughly. I then arranged them in a bowl and poured the chilled sesame-soy broth over them, also adding some julienned cucumber, tomato slices, and some sesame seeds.

Tip: if your broth isn't totally chilled at this point, you can add some ice cubes. You will find that a chilled broth is far superior in taste than a semi-chilled one. Also, not sure if this is authentic or not, but I finished mine off with a little bit of mustard oil just because I like my food to have some kick.

This was the perfect meal for a hot afternoon. 95F/34C today and it's only May!