Chef Jeong-sun
Amjuk (Dried-Grain Weaning Porridge)
Powdered rice or dried baekseolgi cooked thin in cloudy rice water, an old Korean first-spoon porridge that asks for patience at the sieve and gentleness at the stove.
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Saeu-juk (Korean Shrimp Porridge)
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A gentle Korean rice porridge built from shrimp shells, soaked rice, and patient stirring, sweet from the sea and finished simply with sesame oil and scallion.
Breakfast & Brunch
Korean
Comfort Food
35 min
Active Time
35 min cook•1 hr 10 min total
Yield3 servings
Shrimp porridge lives or dies before the rice goes in. People throw away the shells, then wonder why the bowl tastes thin. Boil the shells first. Ten minutes is enough to pull out their sweetness, and too much longer makes the stock rough. That is the small coastal thrift my mother respected: use the whole shrimp, then let the rice carry it.
Saeu-juk (shrimp porridge) is breakfast food, sick-day food, and a quiet bowl for someone whose stomach doesn't want a fight. It should not taste like a seafood stew. The shrimp stays sweet and clean, the rice soft enough to give itself up, and the sesame oil comes at the end so it perfumes instead of turning heavy. Let it taste like itself.
What this asks of you tonight is patience, not strength. Soak the rice. Stir often enough that it doesn't catch. Add the chopped shrimp late so it stays tender. 손맛 is real. I measure it anyway, because the next person at your table should be able to make the same gentle bowl without guessing.
Juk (rice porridge) has been part of Korean eating for centuries, used as breakfast, recovery food, and a way to stretch grain into something nourishing and easy to digest. Saeu-juk belongs naturally to coastal home cooking, where shrimp shells could be boiled into stock so even a modest handful of seafood flavored the whole pot. The modern juk shop boom in South Korea in the early 2000s made shrimp porridge a common purchased comfort food, but the older home method remains simple: rice, stock, restraint, and time.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
short-grain white rice
Quantity
1 cup
rinsed until the water runs mostly clear
shell-on shrimp
Quantity
250g
peeled and deveined, shells reserved
water
Quantity
5 cups
dried kelp (dasima)
Quantity
1 piece, about 3 inches square
neutral oil
Quantity
1 tablespoon
onion
Quantity
1/2 small
finely minced
carrot (optional)
Quantity
1 small
finely diced
garlic
Quantity
1 teaspoon
minced
soup soy sauce (guk-ganjang)
Quantity
1 tablespoon
kosher salt
Quantity
1/2 teaspoon, plus more only if needed
toasted sesame oil
Quantity
1 tablespoon
divided
scallion
Quantity
1
thinly sliced
toasted sesame seeds
Quantity
1 teaspoon
gim (roasted seaweed) (optional)
Quantity
to serve
crumbled
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| short-grain white ricerinsed until the water runs mostly clear | 1 cup |
| shell-on shrimppeeled and deveined, shells reserved | 250g |
| water | 5 cups |
| dried kelp (dasima) | 1 piece, about 3 inches square |
| neutral oil | 1 tablespoon |
| onionfinely minced | 1/2 small |
| carrot (optional)finely diced | 1 small |
| garlicminced | 1 teaspoon |
| soup soy sauce (guk-ganjang) | 1 tablespoon |
| kosher salt | 1/2 teaspoon, plus more only if needed |
| toasted sesame oildivided | 1 tablespoon |
| scallionthinly sliced | 1 |
| toasted sesame seeds | 1 teaspoon |
| gim (roasted seaweed) (optional)crumbled | to serve |
Equipment Needed
- •Heavy 3-quart pot or Korean stone pot
- •Fine-mesh strainer
- •Wooden spoon or rice paddle
Instructions
- 1
Soak the rice
Rinse the rice in several changes of water, rubbing it gently with your fingers, until the water runs mostly clear. Cover with fresh water and soak 30 minutes, then drain well. Soaked rice softens evenly and releases starch without needing to be punished in the pot.
Short-grain rice is right here. Long-grain rice stays separate and lean, and juk needs the grains to swell and soften into one gentle bowl. - 2
Make shrimp stock
Put the reserved shrimp shells, 5 cups water, and kelp in a pot. Bring just to a simmer over medium heat, then pull the kelp out right away so it does not turn slick or bitter. Simmer the shells 10 minutes, pressing them once or twice with a spoon, then strain. You should have about 4 cups pale shrimp stock.
- 3
Chop the shrimp
Set aside 6 shrimp whole for the top if you want a prettier bowl. Chop the rest into small, rough pieces, about 1/2 inch. Do not mince them to paste. Small pieces season the porridge evenly, while a few whole shrimp tell the eye what the bowl is.
- 4
Toast the rice
Warm a heavy pot over medium heat. Add the neutral oil and 2 teaspoons of the sesame oil, then add the drained rice, onion, carrot if using, and garlic. Stir 3 to 4 minutes, until the grains look glossy and the onion softens. This light toasting keeps the porridge from tasting flat before the long simmer begins.
- 5
Simmer slowly
Pour in the shrimp stock and stir well, scraping the bottom of the pot. Bring to a gentle boil, then lower the heat so the porridge murmurs rather than jumps. Cook 22 to 25 minutes, stirring every few minutes, until the rice grains bloom and begin to break at the edges. If the pot thickens too fast, add hot water 1/4 cup at a time.
- 6
Season the bowl
Stir in the soup soy sauce and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Taste the liquid before adding more salt. Shrimp brings sweetness, not much salt, and soup soy sauce gives depth without darkening the bowl too much. The seasoning should be quiet enough that the rice and shrimp still read clearly.
- 7
Add the shrimp
Add the chopped shrimp and any reserved whole shrimp. Cook 3 to 4 minutes, stirring gently, until the shrimp turns pink and just firm. Add it late because shrimp overcooks quickly, and a rubbery shrimp in soft porridge is a small disappointment you can prevent.
- 8
Finish and serve
Turn off the heat and stir in the remaining 1 teaspoon sesame oil. Ladle into bowls and finish with sliced scallion, toasted sesame seeds, and crumbled gim if you like. Serve with baechu-kimchi (napa cabbage kimchi) or a small dish of dongchimi (radish water kimchi), something bright enough to wake the rice.
Chef Tips
- •Buy shell-on shrimp if you can. Peeled shrimp will still make porridge, but the shells are where the stock gets its clean sweetness. That is a safe corner to modernize only when the market gives you no choice.
- •Keep the heat low once the rice goes in. Juk thickens from patient simmering and stirring, not from hard boiling. Hard boiling breaks the rice unevenly and makes the bottom catch.
- •If you are cooking for someone recovering, leave out the garlic, carrot, gim, and most of the scallion. Use the shell stock, rice, shrimp, salt, and a few drops of sesame oil. Korean cooking bends around what a body needs.
- •For a richer bowl, beat 1 egg and drizzle it in during the last minute, stirring in one direction. It is not necessary, but it makes the porridge softer and more filling for breakfast.
Advance Preparation
- •The rice can be rinsed and soaked up to 8 hours ahead in the refrigerator. Drain it before cooking so the oil coats the grains properly.
- •The shrimp stock can be made 2 days ahead and refrigerated. Chill it quickly and keep it covered, because seafood stock does not forgive neglect.
- •Leftover saeu-juk keeps 2 days refrigerated. Reheat gently with splashes of water, stirring often, because porridge thickens as it rests.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 470g)
Calories
390 calories
Total Fat
10 g
Saturated Fat
1 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
9 g
Cholesterol
85 mg
Sodium
820 mg
Total Carbohydrates
58 g
Dietary Fiber
2 g
Sugars
2 g
Protein
16 g
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