Curled Mallow soup/아욱국 ( a- wook-guk)/冬莧菜汤

Curled Mallow or Chinese Mallow/아욱 ("a-wook") is the vegetable that Korean likes to use it for preparing soup, especially cook it together with the deonjiang and dried shrimps.

韩国人喜欢用冬苋菜来做汤，尤其是用它来与豆酱，韩式虾米一起煮豆酱汤。

Malva verticillata, also known as the Chinese Mallow is a species of the Mallow genus Malva in the family of Malvaceae found in East Asia. M. verticillata is an annual or biennial that grow up to 1.7 meters in high and can inhabit woodland areas of different soil types. In temperate climates, it flowers from July to September and the seeds from August to October. The flowers of the plant are self fertile but can be also propagated by insects.



野葵（学名：Malva verticillata）是锦葵科锦葵属的植物。分布在缅甸、埃塞俄比亚、锡金、埃及、印度、朝鲜、欧洲以及中国大陆的新疆、青海、云南、吉林、四川、内蒙古等.

别名，地菟葵（尔雅、图考），旅葵（古诗），棋盘菜（湖北），土黄芪、蓍葵叶（滇南本草），芪（茄、荠、其）菜、巴巴叶或把把叶、棋盘叶、冬苋菜（云南）



又名冬莧菜、冬寒菜、葵菜等，属锦葵科一、二年生草本植物。黄帝内经中说的「五菜为充」中的葵，指的就是冬葵。温暖地方春、秋两季均可栽培，寒冷地方春季栽培，直接播种或育苗移栽。原产于亚洲东部.

冬寒菜的叶子肾形稍绉缩，有的变种绉缩比较严重，如绉冬寒菜；夏初自叶腋生出总状花序，开淡红色小花。

( source : wikipedia)

Ingredients:

curled mallow / Chinese mallow 400 g
broth 4 cups (use about 8 pieces of  the dried anchovies to boil with water)
deonjiang 2 Tsp
Korean red pepper paste 1 Tsp ( optional )
Korean dried shrimp 50 g
minced garlic 1 tsp
1 green pepper
chopped green onion 2 Tsp
tofu  150 g

Method :

1. To prepare the broth, use the dried anchovies to boil in the water for about 5 to 10 minutes, remove the dried anchovies.

2. Remove the leaves of the curled mallow from the stem, if the leave is too long, many chop it into half; for the stem, please peel the outer layer of the stem, chop the stem for about 4 cm long.

3. While washing the vegetables, please use your hand "to massage " the vegetables,the purpose is to get rid off the bitterness from the vegetables.

4. When the broth is boiling, add in the doenjiang,red pepper paste,curled mallow,Korean dried shrimps,green pepper,tofu,garlic and finally green onion.

5. Serve hot.