This is 냉면, Korean cold buckwheat noodles, that I would anglicize as neng myun or naeng myun. It just means "cold noodles" in Korean. You can find these in any Korean grocery store and many Asian groceries. I love them because I am IMPATIENT and they cook in one and a half minutes, three minutes max. Hey, that's better than ramen! Just make sure to rinse them immediately with cold water or they'll turn into a globby mess. Traditional way to eat is in a cold soup--cold chicken or beef broth, or mixed with hot pepper paste, gochuchang.
Buckwheat is also very good for you and has tons of fiber. Although you may see buckwheat pancakes and such marketed as "whole grain", that's a misnomer: buckwheat is more like a grass (ergo, no gluten) than a grain, but you'll still get a buttload of fiber, so to speak.
Here's a great guide on eating naeng myun at a Korean restaurant.
Here's a neat picture of buckwheat field all aflower - 메밀꽃
Here's a passage from my novel about eating naeng myun during the summer in Korea.
2 comments:
Love cold noodles. The first time I ate them, I couldn't figure out the crunchy fruit floating in the broth...a very unique pear!
I also love the Japanese cold noodles with meimei soup broth sauce (my kids are addicted to the sauce...like a sweeter soy but you cut it with water).
My best buy lately? Hot pepper sauce (gochugang) in a ketchup squeeze bottle!
Aha--
the fruit is called a "bae"--pear. It's those big golden things they call "Chinese apples" in the States. And indeed, the taste is between apple and pear. Yum!
Gochuchang rocks on eggs!
I'll post an excerpt from my novel where the protagonist discovers the perfection of cold noodles on a hot summer day:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0807083895/ref=sib_dp_pt/104-6287766-5561569#
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