Beef short-rib soup (Galbi-tang)
Galbi-tang or Beef short-rib soup is a clear soup made with beef short ribs (galbi). It’s a hearty, nourishing soup with a delicate flavor. Typically, the ribs are boiled along with Korean radish, onion, garlic, and ginger until fork tender. A good soup soy sauce is also important for the flavor of this soup. It’s common to add starch noodles to the soup at the end of cooking. Beef short ribs are an expensive cut of meat, so this soup is considered a luxury among Korean soups and often served for special occasions such as wedding receptions.
Rice cake soup (Tteok-guk)
The dish consists of the broth/soup (guk) with thinly sliced rice cake. It is tradition to eat tteokguk on New Year's Day because it is believed to grant the consumer good luck for the year and gain a year of age.
Ginseng chicken soup (Samgye-tang)
Samgye-tang is a warm soup for cold days. Some specialty restaurants in South Korea serve nothing but samgye-tang, having gained local popularity through their special recipes for the dish, which are often kept as secrets. The dish is sometimes accompanied by a small complimentary bottle of insam-ju (ginseng wine) in certain restaurants. Even though samgye-tang is a popular summer food, it’s a perfect soup even in winter (or any other cooler season) simply because it’s warm and gives you nice soothing comfort.
Kimchi soup
A lesser-known fact about kimchi is its versatility as an ingredient in a whole slew of derivative dishes, which comprise a category of their own. In kimchi-jjigae, red cabbage kimchi is chopped, sauteed in oil, and cooked with tofu, cellophane noodles, pork (sometimes tuna), and other vegetables.
Beef seaweed soup (Miyeok-guk)
A traditional dish that Koreans eat on birthday. This soup's ingredients typically include a mussel-based broth, anchovy, beef, clams or oysters, soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic, onions, scallions, salt, roasted sesame seeds, and dried or pickled shrimps. As part of birthday celebrations, guests are served seaweed soup along with rice cakes and other traditional foods. In addition, it is also eaten outside of special occasions during the rest of the year. It is a very common side dish served with rice.
Dumpling soup (Mandu-guk)
Manduguk or dumpling soup is a variety of Korean soup (guk) made by boiling mandu (dumplings) in a beef broth or anchovy broth mixed with beaten egg. Dumplings are made by rolling out thin circles of dough, creating a half-moon shape and filling them with a mixture of minced meat, vegetables, tofu and sometimes kimchi. The dumplings are then boiled in a broth traditionally made by boiling anchovies, shitake mushroom stems and onions.