Sujebi

Sujebi () is a traditional Korean soup. It is a Korean-style pasta soup consisting of hand-torn dough flakes with various vegetables and has been eaten from the early Goryeo period. In ancient times, when the Korea people were poor, they didn't have much foodstuffs and so made "sujebi" with small quantity of dough and leftover vegetables. In addition, rice was rare after the Korean War, so many people ate sujebi instead of rice because wheat flour was cheaper at that time. However, "sujebi" with various kinds of ingredients was considered a special food, so it was eaten on special days like a celebration day or feast. Nowadays, there are many kinds of sujebi and many people enjoy it as a health food. It is similar to another Korean traditional food "Kalguksu", but "Kalsuksu" is made with noodles while "sujebi" is made with wheat flakes. Both of them are considered as proper food for a rainy day due to its hot and rich flavored broth. It is usually eaten with kimchi.
Origin.
It was during the mid Joseon period that "sujebi" was named. Its name was originally came from Chinese letter 手(su, 수) meaning ‘hand’ and 摺(jeop, 접) meaning ‘folding’. The pronunciation has been changed as time passes for the ease of articulation. It is called differently depending on the regions, but sujebi is the standard word and most commonly used.
Classification.
Generally, there are two kinds of "sujebi" depending on the type of broth. One is with Korean clear soup, and the other is with seaweed soup. In the former one, dough flakes are roughly torn by hand, whereas in the latter one, dough flakes are round shaped. This round-shaped dough is called "Saeal"(새알 in Korean). When people order or make "sujebi", it usually refers to the former one in Korea. Then, it is again classified as various types depending on other ingredients. Typically, there are "potato sujebi" which includes potatoes and "seafood sujebi" with seafood. However, many restaurants are making new sujebi variations to attract customers these days.