Hi guys,
Galbitang is delicious hearty Korean soup!
My mom used to make galbitang for special occasions, because galbi, beef short rib is very expensive in Korea!
Galbi means rib and tang means soup- so it means rib soup?! lol In Korea, beef is used be very expensive (I believe it still is) and this Galbitang is very very special meal back then.
My mom used to make with other cut of beef as well, since Galbi is one of the most expensive cut, so we all could have lots of beef meaty bites in our soup bowl!
The key of this recipe is clean yet flavorful broth.
Galbitang is usually serve with bowl of rice, kimchi and side of chopped green onion, salt and pepper. So the person who is enjoying this meal can add more green onion, salt and pepper to their taste.
Traditionally, you should soak the ribs in cold water for 8 to 10 hours to get rid of blood, because removing blood is main key for the clean broth. But my mom always just blench them in boiling water since she never had a patient to soak the meat in water. lol
So a daughter as her mother, I do the same trick she does. ?
Hope you guys give this recipe a try one day, before weather gets too warm!! 🙂
Good luck and have fun in your kitchen!!❤️
PrintGalbitang (Korean Beef Short Rib Soup)
- Total Time: 2 hours 40 mins
- Yield: 4 to 6 1x
Description
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 lb. beef short ribs, possible 1 1/2-inch thick
- 1 1/2 lb. Korean radish, moo or daikon
- 1 bulb garlic
- 1 medium size yellow onion
- thumb size ginger
- 3 to 6 green onion, plus more for garnish
- 15 cups cold water
- 5 oz. Dangmyeon, Korean glass noodles (optional)
- 1/2 tsp. light soy sauce
- 1/2 tsp. fish sauce
- 1/2 to 1 Tbs. sea salt
- extra salt and pepper to serve with
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to boil; add beef short ribs and blench them for 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, wash all your vegetables throughly. Peel and cut edges off from korean radish, cut garlic bulb in halves, cut edges off from onion(leave skin), slice ginger and cut green onion in halves.
- Drain and rinse beef ribs under cold water with wiping action, set aside. Also quickly wash your pot, so we don’t have to use 2 pots for this recipe. 😉
- In now-clean-pot, place blenched ribs, all of prepared vegetables and 15 cups cold water. Bring it boil over high heat without cover. Skim sums and fat as needed. (I like to use my very fine skimmer, it’s very convenient when you’re making Asian soups)
- Reduce heat to medium, cover and simmer for 2 hours.
- Right now (when you put soup into simmer) is perfect timing to soak Korean glass noodles in warm water, so they will soften during soup is simmering.
- After 2 hours, turn of heat and take all vegetables out. You can discard all vegetables except radish, because we are going to serve radish in Galbitang. Take most of little bits bottom of pot by using skimmer if you are using to make Galbitang as clean as possible.
- Season Galbitang with soy sauce, fish sauce and sea salt to taste.
- Slice cooked radish into bite sizes and chop 1 to 2 fresh green onions for garnish.
- Let’s assemble Galibtang.
Bring Galbitang back to boil. In a serving bowl, place soften glass noodles if you prepared, and place sliced radishes. Pour ribs and soup into serving bowl. Your soup must be boiling while you are pouring into serving bowl, to be able to cook glass noodles properly. Garnish with green onion and black pepper and serve with a small bowl of salt and pepper mixture, a bowl of warm rice and kimchi if you like.
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 2 hours 30 mins
13 comments
What other cuts of beef do you suggest to use, not as expensive? Thank you!
Does it matter if the beef short ribs are cut thick? because the only kinds I can find in the chinese asian store are thinly sliced short ribs with the bone still attached…so pretty much the same thing but thin. Does that make a difference?
Of course you can use thiner cut beef shot ribs! In that case, you won;t need to cook as longer though! 😉
Hey Seonkyoung
Thanks for sharing this recipe. I can’t stop my mouth from salivating. It looks like a great source of protein for a soup lover like me. I’m just wondering of oxtail could be used instead of short ribs? Thanks.
Cheers
Ida
Of course!!! Oaxtail will be great, if you use oxtail, the soup name will be Ggori-gomtang!
Hi Seonkyoung – is it ok to omit the radish from the soup? I am having difficulty even getting a daikon to substitute the Korean radish or can you suggest another alternative? Thanks 🙂
You can do with potato! It will work great! 🙂
Turnip is a good alternative if you can’t find korean radish
Is it ok to use beef chuck boneless short rib? How will it affect the cooking time? Thank you!
Is it possible to make this with boneless short rib? If so, how long will I have to cook it for? Thanks!
Hi!
I plan on making this, but the short ribs I got weren’t cut into small slices. I’m a small eater so I was trying to think of a way around this. I definitely can’t cut through the bone with a regular knife and there was no butcher around to cut it for me. Will it work with bigger pieces of ribs?
Love this recipe and cook many times and it’s a family favorite! Would you mind sharing the size and dimension of your yellow cast iron dutch oven? I need to get a wide low profile just like yours to accommodate the one tray of short ribs or ox tail (approx. 10 pcs) I often found at Hmart . My current 6qt round cast iron dutch oven is just too crowded. Please help! I cook this soup every 10 days cause it’s that good!
Can’t wait to make this. Could you make recipe print without photos?