Korean-style boiled fish stew with an asparagus salad – recipes

A spicy-sweet broth with oily fish and a seasonal variation on a classic Korean side

When we first came across today’s main course, described in Chang Sun-Young’s classic A Korean Mother’s Cooking Notes as “hard-boiled mackerel”, we were as sceptical as we were intrigued. While the idea went against every fish-cooking mantra we knew, a large, fatty fish actually stands up rather well to a fairly long boil, and the process firms it up nicely, so you can pick up chunks of fish while leaving the bones (essential to give body and flavour to the broth) in the bowl. Our all-time favourite version of this dish was at the now defunct Jeju Hang restaurant in Seoul, where they served it with plump, broth-imbued half-moons of Korean radish and a condiment of fermented cutlass fish innards, as well as perfectly steamed rice. The salad, meanwhile, is a seasonal take on one of Jeju Hang’s side dishes (the original used seaweed instead of asparagus), and its mild, nutty, herbaceous flavour is the perfect foil to the sweet, spicy fish.