이남장 - Lee, Nam Jang or Nam Jang Lee

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!

I'm not doing much cooking out here in the Motherland only because I have a wonderful MIL who bans me from entering the kitchen. No, really. She doesn't let me cook at all. I <3 my MIL.

Anyhow, let me begin this post by saying I am not in anyway affiliated with any of the restaurants I'm recommending. If I were - I'd be rich doncha think? =P These restaurant reviews are strictly because I love food and I feel it's my duty to share good food finds with everyone else.

I'm not sure if you've noticed, but our family is a big fan of sulung tang. The one thing the MR, Munchkin and I can agree on when we're stumped on what to eat is always sulung tang. The following restaurant might just be better than my two other favorites - Ham Bat and Jun Tong AKA E-Moon Oak in La-La Land.


The name is simply Lee Nam Jang and the sign states that they have been doing this for over 30 years. The restaurant is divided into three floors. The first floor is most suitable for families and small parties.

The second floor caters more towards folks that are drinking alcohol. It gets pretty loud. You know how Koreans get when they're imbibing themselves. =P

The third floor is composed of ondol rooms (heated floors, shoes off) and caters to larger parties or to people who want to eat in more privacy. However, the third floor also gets pretty loud because there are a lot of larger groups drinking soju while eating sulungtang and soo-yook - which is basically the delicate meat that has been boiled in the broth and served separately.


Upon sitting down, you are greeted with the green onions and kimchi. Their kimchi is a bit on the sweeter side, but it's still yummy nonetheless.



The MR ordered neh-jang tang.



While I ordered good old fashioned sulung tang. Unfortunately I can't seem to find a picture of the soo-yook from our last visit in April so I'll have to end the pictures here. We've already been to this restaurant twice in two weeks. It is one of the best sulung-tang places I've ever been to.

I will be back soon with more restaurant reviews. Until then, hope you have a GREAT rest of the year. Here's wishing that 2011 brings more joy and happiness than all the previous years.

Greetings from Korea

Street Foods. You can't go wrong with this. =) Hope everyone has a very, Merry Christmas!

Kongnamool Haejang Gook - 콩나물 해장국

If you live in the LA area and haven't yet eaten at Han Il Gwan, you must do so NOW. It is one of my favorite restaurants and their kongnamool haejang gook is TDF yummy. It's kongnamool, napa cabbage, peppers and RICE all in a dol sot (stone pot) piping hot with semi-spicy broth. It's so shi-wun-heh.

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I had time to stop by the K-market during my lunch break so I stocked up on more ingredients for a weekend of cooking and blogging. =) I attempted to replicate the kongnamool haejang gook I mentioned above.

Needed:

• 3 cups anchovy/dashima/dried shrimp broth
• 1/4 cup beef (chopped into little pieces and drained of blood)
• 1/4 cup of kimchi (chopped and rinsed a few times of kimchi juice - we're looking for a clearer broth)
• 1 cup of kongnamool
  
• 1/2 TB minced garlic
• 1 TB gook ganjang (light Korean soy sauce)
• 1/2 TB sesame oil
• 1/2 TB sesame seeds
• 1 egg
• 1 TB pureed shrimp jut (fermented salted shrimp)
• 1/2 cup green onions

Total Cooking Time: 1 hour



Since I've never used these on this site yet, I thought I would take a picture of the bag for you. This is dried shrimp. It can be found in the same aisle where they sell the dried cuttlefish. Please do go and check out my INGREDIENTS page where I tried to take a picture of the brands of items that I'm currently using in my kitchen. I tend to alternate brands every once in a while so I will update that page when I find something I like better.



In this teabag there are about 5 shrimps, 4 large anchovies, and a 2 inch piece of dashima. I boiled it with 4 cups of water for about 15 minutes. In the end I was left with about 3 cups of broth.



In a dol sot (pot made of stone to retain the heat) add 1/2 TB of sesame oil, 1 TB of gook ganjang, and 1/2 TB of minced garlic and turn on the heat.




Add your 1/4 cup of beef and saute until the beef is well done.




Then add your 1/4 cup of RINSED kimchi and keep mixing around...



At this point, add about 3 cups of the broth made earlier and bring it to a boil. Don't worry if you have more or less than 3 cups, you will be adjusting flavor later anyhow so it doesn't really matter. EYEBALL it! =P



Add your kongnamool, cover it with the lid, and bring to a boil for about 10 minutes.



Then throw in your 1/2 cup of green onions and bring it to a boil for about 5 minutes.



Here's the interesting part about this....go ahead and add about 1.5 cups of cooked rice. =) Mix it well and have the rice settle nicely to the bottom and bring it to a boil again.



Finally, throw in your egg, let it boil strongly and you're ready to serve. The dol sot will keep the gook piping hot while you're enjoying your meal. Watch you tongue!



Just before you devour it, throw in some sesame seeds....



Some red pepper powder (to YOUR taste)...



....and last, but not least.............some minced shrimp jut. You can skip this if the shrimps still give you the creeps, but with this particular dish~ the shrimp jut brings it all together. 1 TB of this is a must in my opinion. Enjoy! I'm sure my MR is biased, but he said this was GREAT!



How great? This is what was left of dinner. =)

Hobak Jun - Korean Squash Pancake - (호박전)

Needed:

• 1 whole squash
• 1 small potato
• 1/2 small onion
• 1 cup Korean pancake batter
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 egg
• 1 TB minced garlic
• splash of sesame oil
• salt and pepper
  

First get your vegetables ready. I only had 1/2 a squash left, but I suggest you use a whole squash because my juns today ended up barely tasting of squash.

Use a mandolin to shred all your veggies. Try and get about 2 cups of squash with 1 cup of potatoes and onions each.

Get 1 cup of pancake mix, 1 egg, and 1/2 cup of water and mix it well.

Add all your vegetables to the mix with 1 TB garlic, 1 TB sesame oil, and a dash of pepper.

Mix everything well and you're ready to grill...

Grease a pan up and heat it and then make smaller sized pancakes like so and brown on both sides...

Fry until golden on both sides...

And you're ready to serve!

Pickled Peppers

I make a batch of these jalapenos for whenever we grill gogi at home. It's a great dipping sauce for various meats.


First wash and clean 8 jalapenos and 8 serrano chiles.


Use a mandolin to quickly slice all of the peppers into thin slices, then transfer the peppers into a pickling jar.


In a bowl mix together 3 cups water, 3/4 cup soy sauce, 1/2 cup vinegar, 2 TB rice wine, and 1 TB honey powder. Mix this together well and then pour it into the pickling jar with the jalapenos.


Let it sit out overnight and then transfer it into the fridge. Let it ferment inside the refrigerator for about a week before serving.



Just before serving, add some minced garlic and sliced onions onto a plate and then scoop up some sauce with the the jalapenos. This is a perfect dipping sauce for chadolbegi at home! Enjoy~