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~

Spicy Penne

Spicy penne pasta will be up shortly!

Pa Kimchi - Spicy Green Onions - (파무침)

Ingredients:

• 5 dans of jjook pa
  
• 1 CUP red pepper powder
• 1.5 TB sugar
• 2 TB honey powder
• 3 TB gga-nari fish sauce
• 1 TB fish sauce
• 3 TB rice wine
• 6 TB water
• 1 TB sesame seeds
• 0.5 TB salt
  

Take a look at the ingredients page to see a picture of the item.

Wash and clean 5 dans of jjook pa. Jjook pa is basically the same as regular greens onions, but they are thinner.



Mix together the ingredients listed above: 1 CUP red pepper powder,1.5 TB sugar, 2 TB honey powder, 3 TB gga-nari fish sauce, 1 TB fish sauce, 3 TB rice wine, 6 TB water, 1 TB sesame seeds, 0.5 TB ginger powder, and 0.5 TB salt.



Work the pepper mixture into the pa in thirds. Get 1/3 of the pa and 1/3 of the mixture and mix, and so on...



Once everything is mixed in well, let it sit for about 10-15 minutes. This will make the pa soft and much more easier to store.

Finally, store in a container overnight and then let it ferment inside the fridge for a few days.

After a few days it will be ready to serve!

Bokeum Bap - Fried Rice - (볶음밥)

Finally...nothing special, but here you go.



Whenever I make fried rice, I dig through my fridge and try to add as many vegetables as possible. Today I added about 1 cup each of onions, potatoes, celery, carrots, edamame beans, squash, and corn.



Add 2TB of sesame oil, 2 Tb oil, and 1 TB minced garlic to a large wok and turn up the heat.



I'm sure you've noticed that we are a pro-Spam household. I added about 1/2 a can, but you can easily substitute the Spam for regular beef, chicken or shrimp.



First add your carrots and potatoes and cook for about 5 minutes until the potatoes are almost done.



Then add the rest of your vegetables.



Then add 2 TB light soy sauce (gook ganjang) and 2 TB soy sauce and mix it well.



Eyeball it and add roughly half as much rice as the veggies.



Keep stirring on medium heat until all the vegetables are done (about 10 minutes).

It looks delicious, no? You can substitute the SPAM for any other meat or you can even skip the meat altogether.

You're now ready to serve! You can add egg to it if you wish, but with this version of fried rice, I prefer it without egg.



In case you're wondering why I make so much fried rice at once~

I actually store them in these Ziploc containers and then freeze them. They're single servings and can be reheated in the microwave. Heat on high for about 2 minutes with the lid slightly loose. Then mix it around a bit and heat on high for an additional 2 minutes and you've got instant fried rice. =P It tastes surprisingly good and fresh.

I told you I don't COOK often. This is a perfect cheat meal.