Sujebi (수제비)

Sujebi is the soup Koreans make on rainy days. The name means "hand-torn noodles," and the technique is exactly what it sounds like: you hold a ball of dough in one hand, stretch and tear thin pieces with the other, and drop them directly into a pot of simmering anchovy-kelp broth. The noodles cook in about two minutes, floating to the surface when they are done. It is one of the most tactile, satisfying ways to cook.

The dough is simple flour, water, salt, and a tablespoon of oil, kneaded until firm and smooth. It needs to rest in the refrigerator for at least thirty minutes, which relaxes the gluten and makes it easier to stretch. The stretching is the fun part. You pull the dough into thin, irregular sheets, the thinner the better, and tear them into bite-sized pieces. The irregularity is the point. Some pieces are thick and chewy, some are thin and silky, and the variation in texture is what makes sujebi more interesting than uniform machine-cut noodles.

The broth is an anchovy-kelp stock that simmers for forty minutes before the noodles go in. Potatoes, onion, and garlic add body and sweetness. Fish sauce and soup soy sauce (guk-ganjang) add seasoning. The kelp is removed, cut into bite-sized pieces, and added back in. Then the noodles go in, the green onion and sesame oil go on at the end, and the whole thing goes to the table in big bowls with kimchi on the side. It is the kind of soup that makes a gray afternoon feel worth having.