Category Archives: Korean

Korean Sweet Potato Noodles with Dark Soy Sauce

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Since I started to explore Asian cuisine (at least 15 years ago), I have tasted a big array of noodles. Whether made of buckwheat, rice, mung bean or wheat, I am fond of all them, but my absolute number one are the Korean dangmyeon, the main ingredient of the famous japchae. I buy them in huge bags and cook them more often than any other noodle kind, but, in spite of that, I have never prepared them Korean way. I have recently been talking to Sue (from My Korean Kitchen) about the non-traditional – though very simple – way I treat these noodles and decided to share it with you.

Dangmyeon (당면), also spelled dang myun or tang myun, fall into the category of cellophane noodles. They are made of sweet potato starch and are easy to spot in Asian grocery shops: they have a characteristic (not very attractive) brown paper, greyish colour. Why do I like them so much? First of all, they are slightly thicker, chewier than other transparent noodles and have the “bounciness” I am very fond of. Obviously, like all the transparent noodles, these also marvellously absorb the flavours from sauces and seasonings. What makes them really different is that they actually have their own mellow, delicate taste I have never experienced in any type of cellophane noodles.

The first time I bought dangmyeon I didn’t cook Korean at all, so I simply started to treat them like other Asian noodles, i.e. stir-frying them with randomly chosen ingredients and sauces and it has stayed this way. One day my husband convinced me to add some Chinese dark soy sauce in order to obtain a more powerful, deeper flavour. It was a sensational discovery and I strongly encourage you to try it. Whatever meat or vegetables you include in the stir-fry, the deep, mushroomy flavour of dark soy sauce is a terrific pairing for mellow, slightly chewy and bouncy noodles.

TIPS: Apart from the sauce, the meat and vegetables vary according to my mood and, more often, to what I find in the fridge, so feel free to substitute them as you wish.

Chinese dark soy sauce has a very dark brown colour, it is thicker than light soy sauce and it’s sold in every single Asian shop I know. Usually the same Chinese brand carries both light soy sauce and dark soy sauce. Sometimes the bottles look almost identical, so pay attention to the description.

Chinese sweet potato starch noodles also exist, but the ones I have tasted lacked the chewiness and bounciness I appreciate in dangmyeon so much.

Preparation: 25 minutes

Ingredients (serves one):

50 g chicken breast cut into strips or bite-sized pieces

1 teaspoon sake

half a medium bell pepper

a small courgette

(one fresh chili, sliced)

50 g Korean sweet potato starch noodles

1 small clove garlic

1/5 cm fresh ginger

1 small onion

Sauce:

1 tablespoon Chinese dark soy sauce

1 clove garlic (grated or crushed)

1 tablespoon light soy sauce

1 tablespoon sake (or other rice wine)

2 tablespoons water

1 teaspoon corn starch

(green onion)

Cut up the chicken breast into bite-sized strips.

Grate the ginger.

Combine with the chicken with 1 teaspoon sake and ginger.

Put aside.

Boil about a liter of water, pour into a big bowl or pan. Let the noodles soak in freshly boiled water, covered, until they are soft (it usually takes about 15 minutes, but some people prefer them much softer, so test them every now and then).

Slice the onion, cut the bell pepper into thin strips.

Cut the courgette into very thin lengthwise julienne strips (a julienne grater is the best here).

Warm some oil on a pan or a wok.

Drain the chicken pieces, dry them with paper towel and fry them.

When the chicken starts browning, add the onion and after 5 minutes add the bell pepper and the chili, if you use it, still stirring.

In a small bowl combine the sauce ingredients.

Drain the noodles and put into the wok together with the julienned courgette.

Stir well all the ingredients. Add the sauce and keep on stirring until the sauce starts thickening.

Serve sprinkled with some chopped green onion (not obligatory).

Korean Mung Bean Sprouts Salad (Nokdu Namul)

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I’m starting to wonder how far will go my obsession with sesame seeds. A jar with roasted sesame seeds is placed just next to the salt container, at the stretch of my hand, so it proves how much I like it and how frequently I use it. Frankly speaking, every time I prepare an Asian (or even vaguely Asian) meal, my first reflex now is to sprinkle it with sesame seeds and I never regret my gesture (although I do manage sometimes to resist the temptation). As for the sesame oil, a small teaspoon stirred just before serving adds a deep, nutty flavour I find more and more addictive too.

This salad, found in Growing Up in a Korean Kitchen: a Cookbook by Hi Soo Shin Hepinstall owes everything to sesame oil and seeds. For me it was was also a interesting new way to consider mung bean sprouts I regularly add to stir-fried meats, rice or noodles. Even though the dressing is light, the tiny amount of powerful sesame oil transforms it into an interesting, fragrant side-dish. The addition of sesame seeds, as always, gives a pleasant crunchy note.

I have scaled down the original recipe to two serving and used European chives instead of spring onions I didn’t have. I have also change the name from “seasoned mung bean sprouts” to a “salad” because I have it cold and treat it as a salad.

TIP: If you have never used sesame oil, I advise buying it in a Japanese or Korean shop (or maybe simply Asian). The only time I bought a bottle of good quality, cold-pressed organic sesame oil made in Europe I discovered something I dislike so much I still wonder how to use it (and it wasn’t rancid). I think Asian sesame oil is made from roasted, not raw, sesame seeds.

This salad is apparently served both at room temperature and very cold. I prefer it cold, so I have quickly rinsed the blanched sprouts in very cold water. If you want to serve it at room temperature, skip this step.

Preparation: 15 minutes

Ingredients (serves two):

150 g/about 5 oz mung bean sprouts

1 teaspoon soy sauce (or more if you use low-sodium soy sauce)

1 teaspoon rice vinegar

1 teaspoon sesame oil

1 small clove garlic

(salt)

ground pepper

1 green onion (the lighter part only); I have used European chives instead

toasted sesame seeds

Blanch the mung bean sprouts in boiling water for a minute.

Quickly drain and, if you wish to serve the salad very cold, rinse it with very cold water.

Drain once more.

Crush the garlic and chop it finely.

Mix it with the soy sauce, the vinegar, the sesame oil, the ground pepper and the salt (if you need it).

Put the sprouts in a big bowl and combine with the dressing.

Chop the green onion or the chives.

Transfer the sprouts to a serving bowl.

Sprinkle with sesame seeds and green onion/chives.

This salad can be served very cold or at room temperature (I have preferred it cold).

Kimchi Soup (Kimchiguk) with Chicken and Potatoes

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Kimchi (Korean fermented spicy vegetables) is known by us, foreigners, almost exclusively in its raw form, served as a cold side dish. Its use in warm dishes is less popular abroad and is not very tempting for some people. The first time I prepared Kimchi Fried Rice I realised that this kimchi has much more to offer than I had thought and its addition to leftover rice has become my regular trick to make this humble dish delicious and complex in just one gesture. With this soup I feel I have discovered a big new chapter of the kimchi possibilities. Just like in the case of fried rice, kimchi has released here complex flavours and aromas, giving a certain illusion of robustness to this evidently light and healthy dish. Unlike in fried rice, here kimchi mellows and loses some of its power, just enough to enchant even those who find raw kimchi too violent. It may sound strange, but there is something evidently comforting and homely about this soup, so exotic in appearance.

The original recipe comes from Growing Up In a Korean Kitchen by Hi Soo Shin Hepinstall, a fascinating book full of food-related childhood memories and homely Korean recipes, some of which are all but “tourist pleasers”. Apart from the famous dishes, I was glad to discover some interesting recipes most Korean cooking sources don’t mention. My first choice went to kimchi soup mainly because I had all the ingredients and because I have been tempted by the concept of a kimchi soup for quite a long time.

I have slightly modified the recipe. First of all, I jumped on the author’s suggestion and used chicken instead of pork. Apart from minor changes in ingredients’ amounts and procedures, my boldest step was to transform this soup into a one-pot meal, substituting tofu with potatoes. I can only hope my Korean visitors will forgive me and still allow me to call it “kimchi soup”. For the real kimchi soup recipe, I encourage you to buy the very special Growing Up In a Korean Kitchen.

If you wish to try kimchi in fried rice, here is a very simple adjustable recipe:

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Kimchi Fried Rice

If you feel like making kimchi yourself, here are some options, all very easy to prepare:

cucumberkimchip

Easy Cucumber Kimchi (Oi Kimchi)

daikonkimchip

Kkakdugi (White Radish Kimchi)

makkimchip

Mak Kimchi (Easy Chinese Cabbage Kimchi)

celerykimchip

Celery Kimchi (this is a short-term kimchi)

TIPS: The best kimchi to use here (or in kimchi fried rice) is well matured, strong kimchi, so it’s also a good way to use up kimchi leftovers.

I strongly advise here home-made chicken stock or at least good quality, natural stock (no taste enhancers, etc.).

If you wish a stronger, hotter soup, add 5-6 tablespoons of kimchi liquid.

Freshly squeezed ginger juice can be obtained by grating ginger and then squeezing the grated pulp (the below 1/2 teaspoon required about 1 cm fresh ginger).

Preparation: about 30 minutes

Ingredients (serves 2-3 as a main dish):

1 chicken breast

2 big potatoes peeled and cut into 2 cm/0,8 in cubes

7 heaped tablespoons Napa cabbage kimchi (cut into 1cm/about 1/2 inch pieces)

(5-6 tablespoons kimchi juice, if you want to obtain a stronger soup)

1 litre chicken stock

5 big shiitake mushrooms (fresh), sliced

3 garlic cloves, chopped

white part of 1 green onion, chopped

3 oz/ 85 g soybean sprouts (I have skipped them in the batch you see above, but they were marked as optional in the book)

Chicken marinade:

1/2 tablespoon soy sauce

1/2 tablespoon rice wine (I used sake)

1 small clove garlic, crushed

a white part of green onion, very finely chopped

1/2 teaspoon fresh ginger juice (see above)

1/2 teaspoon sugar or syrup

1/2 tablespoon sesame oil

salt, freshly ground pepper

Cut the chicken breast into thin, short ribbons.

Combine the marinade ingredients and mix them with chicken pieces.

Put aside.
In the meantime heat one tablespoon oil in a big pan.

Fry the garlic cloves and mushrooms for a couple of minutes.

Add the stock, the chicken, the potatoes, the kimchi (and kimchi juice if you opt for a stronger soup) and cook at medium heat until the potatoes are soft.

Add the chopped white onion, salt, pepper and cook for 5 more minutes.

Serve with fresh green onion or chives, or just the way it is.

Székely Gulyàs with Gochujang, or Koreanised Hungarian Pork and Sauerkraut Stew

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Hungarians and Koreans have at least one thing in common: a huge passion for chili pepper. In spite of such an important link I don’t think I have ever heard of Hungarian-Korean fusions dishes. I don’t know how and why I had a crazy idea to incorporate gochujang (Korean chili paste) into the Hungarian Székely Gulyàs, but I have greatly enjoyed this amusing experiment and thought I would share my impressions with you.

Most of you have probably heard about the famous Hungarian Gulyàs. Székely Gulyàs (pronounced “see-cay goo-yash”) looks and tastes different, mainly because it includes sauerkraut (fermented cabbage). I discovered it last year thanks to Zsuzsa ( from Zsuzsa is in the kitchen). I wrote about it last year (here) and have prepared it many times without feeling any need of alterations. The origins of the name are not clear. Some people say it comes from an ethnic group called “Székely”, who still lives in the present Romania, others – like Kàroly Gundel, a famous Hungarian cook – say it was named after a writer Jozsef Székely, whom Gundel calls the “godfather” of this stew. Whatever the origins, Székely Gulyàs is worth discovering. It is quick, easy, can be made in advance and even though it’s hearty, it has few calories and almost no fat (if you use lean meat). In short, it’s a perfect one-pot meal for cold winter days and the same could be said about its Koreanised version.

Gochujang, one of the staples of the Korean cuisine, is a sticky hot paste based on chili and soy beans. It has different levels of hotness, but gets never as strong as, say Thai curry paste. Here gochujang, used instead of dried Hungarian paprika, mellowed the flavours and brought a different complexity to the final result. Combining gochujang with European saurekraut seemed weird at first, but on the other hand, gochujang is often added to warm dishes containing kimchi (Korean fermented cabbage), so finally the satisfying result of my experiment shouldn’t come as such a big surprise. As a final Korean touch, I have added some toasted sesame seeds and sprinkled the dish with Korean chili pepper. I hope that my Hungarian friends will not be shocked by these bold alterations.

If you don’t feel like “Koreanising” this Hungarian dish, you might want to try the “basic” Székely Gulyàs:

TIPS:

Székely Gulyàs is traditionally served with sour cream, but I find it equally delicious with thick sour milk or Greek yogurt. It was surprisingly good with this Koreanised version.

Like many stews, this one gets at least twice as good when reheated the following day. Actually it improves every time it’s reheated.

Do not throw away the liquid drained from the sauerkraut. You can add it during the cooking process if you feel your dish is not tangy enough. Personally I love my sauerkraut dishes very tangy, so I don’t even drain the liquid most of the time.

Preparation: about 2 hours (but it’s definitely best reheated the following day)

Ingredients (serves 2):

300 g lean pork

1 small onion

1 big garlic clove

300-350 ml sauerkraut (raw, not cooked)

3 tablespoons gochujang (medium hot) or more, depending on your preferences

1-2 tablespoons oil

sour cream or milk

salt, pepper

2 teaspoons toasted white sesame seeds

Korean dried chili pepper (to sprinkle on top)

Drain the sauerkraut, but don’t throw away the liquid (see the TIP above).

Cut the meat into bite-sized pieces.

Chop the onion and the garlic.

Fry the onion until soft.

Add the meat and fry it until golden brown.

Take the pan from the heat, add the spices and the garlic, 125 ml (1/2 cup) water.

Lower the heat and simmer the meat covered for one hour.

Take off the lid, add the sauerkraut and some more hot water to cover the whole dish.

Add the gochujang.

Continue to simmer first uncovered, then, after 30 minutes, covered for about 1 hour in total.

Add sesame seeds about 10 minutes before serving.

Serve with a splash with sour cream and/or sprinkled with Korean chili pepper. You can let it cool down, refrigerate overnight and serve it reheated the following day. (You can also freeze it).

Korean Radish Salad (Musaengchae)

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Winter – or late autumn – vegetables are scarce and can quickly become boring (especially for someone who doesn’t like pumpkin), but luckily there is daikon, the Asian long white radish. It can be served raw or cooked, but it is only the former which, thanks to its spiciness and crunchiness, reminds me of the spring pink radish. I have always liked the way for example Radish Kimchi stops me from feeling heavy and sleepy after hearty meals. This quick and refreshing salad is one of the rare Korean dishes not really requiring exotic food ingredients (apart from the sesame oil which can be easily skipped) and as such it can be served with many, not only Korean dishes. It should be prepared with “mu”, white Korean radish, which is shorter and plumpier than daikon, but I have never seen it sold, so daikon was the only choice I had. I do not complain though because it’s excellent this way too.

I found this recipe in my Korean cookery book (The Food and Cooking of Korea by Young Jin Song) and have only slightly modified it, but its versions vary a lot on internet. I have seen it with ginger, garlic, green onions… so feel free to modify it, as long as the ingredients stay Korean (whatever it may mean!).

Yesterday I saw Hiroyuki (Hiroyuki’s Blog on Japanese Cooking) posted his wife’s Daikon and Tuna salad. I thought it was a funny coincidence to discover two new appetising daikon dishes in one week. Hiroyuki’s wife’s salad is completely different, but very tempting so click here to check it or wait until I post it on my blog .

TIP: The salad does contain chili powder, but the amount and the hotness level depend on your personal choice of course (you can use sweet paprika too). The last batch (several big bags) of Korean chili powder I bought proved to be only slightly hot, so I can use more of it without obtaining fiery results.

Preparation: 10 minutes

Ingredients (serves 2 if it’s the only side-dish):

200 g/about 7 oz very cold white Korean radish or daikon

Dressing:

1 teaspoon delicate vinegar (I have used rice vinegar but it can be cider vinegar too)

1/2 teaspoon sugar (I have used agave syrup)

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon Korean chili powder (or any other chili powder)

(1/2 teaspoon sesame oil)

1 teaspoon lemon juice

toasted sesame seeds

Cut up the radish into matchsticks or grate it on a mandolin or with a special shredder.

Combine the dressing ingredients and stir into the radish.

Serve immediately sprinkled with sesame seeds or put into the fridge and serve it later (it tastes better cold).

Celery Kimchi

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“Charles would love it!” was one of my first thoughts when I tasted this new version of kimchi. First of all, I know that Charles (my blogging friend from 5 Euro Food) loves kimchi and Korean food. Moreover, we have recently had a most interesting conversation about celery (don’t laugh!), which Charles adores and I only start discovering. I am sure that someone has already tried making celery kimchi, but I swear it was my own idea (although maybe Hyosun’s kind suggestion of a Korean celery side dish has put me on the right tracks…). Whatever was the trigger, when I saw celery stalks in my fridge and two containers of kimchi above them (yes, I have become a notorious kimchi maker quite a long time ago), I thought “why don’t I “kimchi” the celery too?”.

The result is stunningly good. The celery has stayed crunchy, refreshing, but tougher than radish in kimchi. Its anise aroma, instead of disappearing, has curiously doubled, so even after a couple of days, the not fully mature kimchi is already particularly strong. (UPDATE: After 5 days the celery aroma started to weaken and sadly the kimchi started to lose its appeal…). I suppose this is only for the celery fans and I wouldn’t advise it to those who hate anise aroma either. For me, who only starts to discover the magic world of celery, this kimchi is a revelation and I am already making place for an additional, constant container in my fridge.

As a reminder, kimchi (김치), is a Korean method to ferment vegetables with garlic, chili and some other ingredients. Chinese (Napa) cabbage and daikon (white radish) kimchi are the most popular, but I think my all-time favourite is cucumber kimchi, I have discovered thanks to Charles’s suggestion. Kimchi has a very powerful smell, but once you taste it and love it, the smell will never be associated with anything unpleasant. It is spicy, hot, sour and, like most fermented vegetables, very healthy. High in fiber, low in calories and fat, it is packed with vitamin C (thanks to the fermentation) and carotene. It also contains several other vitamins, helps digestion, is said to prevent certain cancers… Its importance in the Korean cuisine cannot be compared to anything in any European food culture I know. Apart from being served as a side dish, kimchi is used in fried rice, stew and soups.

I fill my kimchi stock regularly, so that I have at least one kind in the fridge. It’s a perfect side dish and a quick way to add vegetables to any meal, especially when one doesn’t feel like cooking anything more or even making a salad. I also use it often (the cabbage version) in fried rice (see the recipe here) which thanks to kimchi’s strong flavours and its “sauce”, doesn’t require any additional seasoning. I haven’t tried it yet in soups, but am planning to do it soon.

The traditional, whole cabbage kimchi requires some dexterity (or maybe I am too clumsy?) and my three experiments were not fully successful. Its lazy version I prepare, the radish kimchi and the (also lazy) cucumber kimchi are ridiculously easy and can only get better in time, while we adapt the seasonings, the hotness level and the fermentation time to our palate. In short, if you like hot flavours and garlic, do try kimchi one day. Hyosun from Korean Bapsang is my main inspiration in Korean cookery and my radish and cucumber kimchi are based on her easy-to-follow recipes. The easy cabbage kimchi recipe comes from Shu Han’s Mummy I can cook!. I have based my celery version on radish kimchi. Thank you, Hyosun and Shu Han, for introducing me to the world of kimchi.

If celery is not your cup of tea, I propose more crowd-pleasing versions of kimchi (nowadays my chili powder is darker, hence the difference in hues):

daikonkimchip

Radish kimchi

makkimchip

Easy Chinese/Napa cabbage kimchi

cucumberkimchip

And my favourite: Cucumber kimchi

TIPS:

UPDATE: Contrary to the above kimchi, the celery version was excellent only for the first several days. After about 5 days it started to get too pungent and strong. I advise eating it quickly! This is an ephemeral kimchi

Use younger celery stalks which do not require peeling (i.e. which don’t have “threads”). The process will be quicker. I find younger celery bunches in organic shops, but of course it depends on the country you live in.

Hyosun Ro’s and traditional Korean recipes call for raw shrimp or sometimes raw oyster as the fermentation enhancer, but since I can only get frozen shrimp, I thought it would be safer to replace it with additional fish sauce.

Wear gloves if you manipulate kimchi with your hands (apart from the smelly side there is lots of chili in it).

If you taste your kimchi and it seems very bitter, leave it to ferment for additional 24 hours. I did it with my radish kimchi and miraculously the bitterness disappeared!

Preparation: 1 hour + min. 2 days, but 2 weeks are optimal; the kimchi you see above was one week old and improved every day

Ingredients (I adapted the ingredients to my very small “test” batch):

500 g/about 1 lb rather young celery stalks (daikon) cut into 3 cm (a bit more than 1 inch) pieces

3 heaped tablespoons Korean dried chili (my kimchi wasn’t very hot, just hot, but it depends on the chili’s hotness)

1 flat teaspoon grated or crushed garlic

1/2 flat teaspoon grated fresh ginger

chopped green onions (or European chives)

salt (I used about 2 flat tablespoons)

1/2 teaspoon glutinous rice flour

4 tablespoons fish sauce or (as advised by Hyosun Ro):

2 tablespoons finely minced saeujeot (salted shrimp)

1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 raw shrimp (ground)

Prepare the rice paste combining the rice flour with about 20 ml water. Let the mixture simmer until it thickens.

Sprinkle the celery with salt and leave them for 30-40 minutes. (They will release some water but won’t soften like radish does).

Put the celery into a big container (with a lid) and combine well with the remaining ingredients.

Taste and if you think it’s not salty enough, add some fish sauce (Hyosun Ro says it should be just a bit too salty).

Cover with the lid, press with your hands (wear gloves!) to remove the air from between the celery pieces and leave for two days to ferment in room temperature. (Mine has fermented for three days because I prefer it stronger).

Put into the fridge after two days or more. In general it gets stronger every day.

You can refrigerate it only to make it cold and eat it straight away after the fermentation process or you can wait several days or weeks to see how the flavours change and at which stage you prefer it (Hyosun Ro says it requires two weeks to develop the best flavours and I totally agree).

You can keep kimchi in the fridge for several weeks.

Squid and Celery in Gochujang Sauce

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This may sound strange for some of you, but I was brought up knowing only celeriac, the humble and ugly cousin of the beautiful celery, which I must have discovered around the age of twenty. Contrary to what some people think, celery is unpopular in several European countries and its strong anise aroma is disturbing or even unbearable for those who discover it as adults. Celery is widely available and consumed in my city and I am used to it simmered in soups, stews and other slowly cooked dishes (such as Ragù alla bolognese) where it ends up acting rather as seasoning than a distinct vegetable. I am however completely lost when it comes to keeping the celery crunchy or raw. On the other hand, I appreciate its fresh aroma, its pleasant crunchiness and its beautiful bright colour, hence my recent decision to start cooking it more often.

A couple of days ago, ready to prepare my beloved Korean Squid with Cabbage and Carrot, I changed my mind at last moment and decided to use celery as the sole vegetable. Surprised by the excellent result of what I consider an extremely unusual combination, I have decided to share my discovery with you, even though I realise that my enthusiasm for celery will seem ridiculous to those for who this vegetable has been a boring staple for years.

My impressions of the squid and celery combination are difficult to describe. The first thing I have noticed was the unusual mixture of textures. The crunchy celery and the slightly chewy, soft squid were slightly surprising, but very pleasant. The celery’s anise aroma hasn’t shadowed the delicate squid taste and gave the whole dish a fresh, awakening touch. The hot and sweet sauce (based on gochujang, the famous Korean hot paste) not only supplied a red hue the whole meal cried for, but most of all bound the two completely different ingredients into a coherent whole. This improvised, quick meal was a very welcome touch of spring in the middle of rainy autumn days and has emboldened me to further experiments with celery. I will be grateful for any ideas or recipes you would like to share with a beginning fan of celery.

If you don’t like celery, but the mention of squid makes you instantly hungry, I strongly recommend the above mentioned Korean Squid with Cabbage and Carrot, my staple and beloved way to serve squid. I must have prepared this stir-fried delight dozens of times since I discovered it on Hyosun’s blog and still am not tired of it. The sauce I have used with celery was inspired by this Korean recipe.

TIPS: If you keep the celery crunchy, make sure you use the younger stalks without “threads” (the thicker ones were not very palatable and I promised myself to use them next time in longer cooked dishes).

If you don’t have gochujang, add more chili powder mixed with one teaspoon syrup or substitute it with Chinese chili paste (the taste and texture will however not be the same because gochujang is unique).

Before I pass to the recipe I would like to express my compassion with all those affected by the hurricane Sandy. I wish you lots of strength and courage and hope that your lives will soon get back to normal.

Preparation: 20 minutes

Ingredients (serves two):

2 fresh or thawed, cleaned medium squids (mine were about 15 cm long, excluding the tentacles)

3 – 4 young celery stalks (or higher, thin parts of thick celery stalks)

2 flat tablespoons Korean chili powder

2 tablespoons oil

Sauce:

1 garlic clove, crushed or grated

2 tablespoons sake

1 tablespoon gochujang (Korean chili paste)

1 tablespoon maple or agave syrup

1 teaspoon sesame oil

(soy sauce or salt to taste)

1 teaspoon (or more) sesame seeds

Cut off the squid fins and put them aside.

Cut the squid tube lengthwise in order to obtain one flat sheet.

Score it diagonally into a criss-cross pattern (the interior side) and then cut it into 2 cm strips.

Do the same with the fins.

Cut the tentacles into bite-sized pieces.

Cut the celery into bite-sized pieces.

Heat the oil in a pan and stir-fry the celery for one minute.

Add the squid and the chili powder and fry them, stirring, for another 2 minutes.

Finally add the sauce ingredients. Season with soy sauce or salt to taste.

Stir-fry until the squid is cooked (about 3-5 minutes). Each strip should be white (whiter than the raw squid), curled and soft, but still slightly chewy.

Sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve.

Korean Pancake with Shrimp and Scallop (Haemul pajeon 해물파전)

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What you see above is my first, partly successful, attempt to prepare the famous Korean seafood pancake. I say “partly successful” because in spite of a burnt part and some other mistakes, I was literally spellbound by this extraordinary snack. First, I thought I would wait a second, better prepared and better looking batch before posting it, but finally I couldn’t wait to share with you my first experience with for what I consider as one of the most memorable dishes I have discovered in recent months or maybe even years.

Seafood pancake (haemul pajeon 해물파전) is a very popular Korean snack or starter. Apparently it is served cut into small pieces and eaten with hands (I say “apparently” because I have never seen it in any restaurant here). It is composed of a batter made with two types of flour, several seafood species, chili peppers and spring onions. The original recipe (found in The Food and Cooking of Korea by Young Jin Song ) calls for five marine creatures and enoki mushrooms, but since I had leftover shrimp and scallops, I used only these and adapted the amounts to a smaller batch. As I have mentioned above, I had made some mistakes, but the preparation was really easy and quick (I was just a bit distracted) and the result impressive. Frankly, when I had prepared the pancake I didn’t imagine it even half as good as it proved, so the first bite was a huge surprise. I felt as if I were eating a very distant, more sophisticated cousin of a pizza, but it has also slightly reminded me of the Japanese okonomiyaki (see my last chicken version here). Both me and my husband were blown away by the result and the whole batch disappeared in no time at all. I will not exaggerate if I say I know I will prepare it dozens or rather hundreds of times in the near future and serve it for brunch, lunch, picnic or party snacks.

You will be surprised to notice that apart from the dipping sauce the recipe doesn’t require a single Korean (or in general Asian) ingredient. In fact, it can be prepared with very international ingredients, available worldwide. On the other hand the sauce, which brings an important Korean touch was a pure delight and I will never skip it.

Preparation: 20 minutes

Ingredients (serves 2 as snacks):

10 medium shrimps shelled and deveined (cooked or raw)

4 scallops

3 spring onion stalks

1/2 medium hot green chili

1/2 medium hot red chili

1 clove garlic

Batter:

1/2 cup plain flour

2 tablespoons cornstarch

200 ml ice cold water

1/3 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon sugar

1 egg, beaten

Dipping sauce:

3 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon rice vinegar

1 stalk of spring onion finely cut

1 clove garlic, crushed or grated

1/2 teaspoon sesame oil

1/2 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds

Prepare the dipping sauce and put aside.

Prepare the pancake ingredients. Cut the scallops in two horizontally in order to obtain eight flat, round slices.

Slice the garlic finely.

Slice the chilies into very thin strips.

Slice the spring onion stalks into thin strips.

Prepare the batter combining all the ingredients.

Heat some oil in a big pan. (Keep the pan on medium heat, otherwise the pancake will be burnt like mine).

Pour 1/3 of the batter and make sure it spreads on the whole surface.

Scatter the shrimps, scallops, spring onions, chilies and the garlic over the batter and quickly pour on top the remaining batter.

Cover and fry on medium heat until the seafood is cooked.

Turn it over and fry for about two or three minutes just to brown this side a bit too.

Slice the pancake into small pieces (one or two bite-sized) and serve with the dipping sauce.

Gochujang and Sour Cream Sauce

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gochsourcreamp

I have been meaning to share this sauce with you for several months or even years. It includes only two ingredients, so I shouldn’t probably even call it a recipe. Observing blogs and reactions of my family and friends, I realised that even though simple, sour cream and gochujang are not only an uncommon, but also a surprising combination, hence the decision to write about it. I have been preparing this sauce for years, sometimes as often as several times a week. I serve it with dishes and snacks of as different origins as Hungarian and Japanese and make sure both ingredients are constantly available in my fridge.

Gochujang has been a staple for many years now. Actually I was addicted as soon as I tasted it. Its hot and sweet flavours and the sticky consistency have won me over instantly. For those who still don’t know it, gochujang is a Korean condiment, based on hot pepper and fermented soybeans, usually sold in red plastic tubs. It is dark red, a bit sticky, quite hot and slightly sweet (it has different degrees of hotness and I usually buy medium hot). In Korean cuisine gochujang is put into soups, sauces and marinades.

I don’t remember when I had the idea to combine gochujang and sour cream, but somehow it felt very natural. Sour cream (or I should rather say “milk”, because what I use is called “sour milk” due to its low fat content) is extremely cooling and I often use it to tame down very hot sauces and dishes. Combined with gochujang it still is cooling, but gives a fiery “kick” and its taste is much more complex than a simple mixture of chili pepper and cream. Of course the “kick” depends on how much gochujang you have put and what kind of gochujang you buy.

I serve this sauce with grilled sandwiches, Japanese or Korean meat rolls, spring rolls, Indian curries, Mexican dishes such as chili con carne, Hungarian dishes (such as Szekély Gulyàs or Stuffed Pepper), skewers, grilled meat, fish and shellfish, roasts… It’s also a perfect dip for raw vegetables served as snacks at a party (celery, carrot, cauliflower…).

TIP & UPDATE: The Sour cream or milk can be substituted here with Greek yogurt, which is slightly sour.

Preparation: 5 minutes

Ingredients:

125 ml (about 1/2 cup) sour cream (I use thick sour milk) or Greek yogurt

1 tablespoon gochujang (or less/more depending on your preferences)

Mix the ingredients with a fork or, if you want to obtain a homogenous smooth result, with a food processor.

Teriyaki Pork Rolls with Sweet Pepper, Shiso and Gochujang

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First I saw Hiroyuki’s Pork and Radish Rolls, then Kelly posted her Sticky Pork Ribs… Not only have I started to crave pork, but most of all, I realised it has been ages since I wrote about a pork dish. As you might have noticed I am a big pork fan. Most of the meat dishes posted on my blog call for pork and even though I eat much more chicken, it illustrates my affection for this animal, which until recently had been receiving a lot of bad press. You might have also noticed how enthusiastic I have become with Japanese- and Korean-style meat rolls stuffed with vegetables. The meat I choose most often is of course pork (I have wrote about Okra Teriyaki Pork Rolls, Potato Teriyaki Rolls, Asparagus Teriyaki Pork Rolls, Pork Rolls and Shiso in Tempura). I cannot think of a more amusing way to prepare and to have meat and vegetables in one dish. I have such rolls for lunch, as a snack, dinner and it’s great finger food at a party. This is a new combination idea I had last week.

Since I had a huge bunch of shiso (see below), I thought it might be a good idea to pair it with bell pepper (hot pepper was excellent in the Korean Pork Rolls and Shiso in Tempura). I usually coat pork rolls with teriyaki glaze, but this time I longed for a fiery meal and added gochujang (slightly sweet Korean chili pepper paste) to my teriyaki glaze. Gochujang, shiso, pork and pepper combination turned out perfect. While the previously posted Asparagus Teriyaki Pork Rolls had a spring character, these seemed suitable for hot summer days.

For those who don’t know shiso, or perilla (lat. Perilla frutescens), it’s a herb used in Japan (紫蘇) and Korea (ggaennip, 깻잎), although the Korean variety is apparently slightly different. It is usually sold as a bunch of rather big leaves, similar to nettle leaves in shape (see the leaf on the photo). I buy my shiso in a Vietnamese grocery shop and I suppose it is used in other Asian countries. They are either green either slightly violet. The taste is astringent and the smell quite strong, but not as overwhelming as for example coriander. Shiso can be used raw or cooked.

If you don’t like this pepper filling idea, here are other pork rolls I have written about:

-Okra Teriyaki Pork Rolls

-Potato Teriyaki Rolls

-Asparagus Teriyaki Pork Rolls

-Pork Rolls and Shiso in Tempura

TIPS: Of course in this recipe any herb of your choice can be used, as long as it supports well the frying/grilling process (I would recommend green onions, coriander or Thai sweet basil).

Pork rolls (raw) can be prepared the day before, stored in the fridge and fried just before serving.

Preparation : 40 – 45 minutes

Ingredients (serves 2 – 3):

12 -15 thin pork slices (max. 3 mm thick)

1 big bell pepper (or another variety of sweet pepper)

12-15 big shiso leaves (or more if they are small)

flour

salt, pepper

oil

Teriyaki glaze with gochujang:

3 tablespoons mirin

2 tablespoons soy sauce (or 4 if you have low sodium soy sauce)

3 tablespoons sake

1 heaped tablespoon gochujang (or less if you gochujang is particularly hot – mine is medium hot – or if you don’t like very hot dishes)

Cut the bell pepper into thin strips (cut them in two horizontally if they are very long; their length should be adapted to the size of pork slices, so that they do not stick out too much).

Season slightly the pork slices with salt and pepper.

Prepare the shiso leaves.

Place the pork slice on a cutting board, seasoned side up. Put one or more shiso leaves to cover most of the surface.

Put 3 pepper strips at one end of the pork roll.

Roll it tightly and put aside.

Do the same with all the pork strips.

Heat some oil in a pan.

Dust the pork rolls with flour and fry (sealed side down), covered on a medium heat until they are well browned (it will take about 15 minutes).

Combine the teriyaki sauce ingredients and heat them in a small pan or in a microwave.

Pour the teriyaki sauce over the rolls and make sure they are well coated.

Let the sauce thicken for about one minute.

Transfer the rolls to a plate and garnish with the remaining sauce.

Pork Bulgogi Rice Bowl (Dwaeji Bulgogi Deopbap)

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Bulgogi was the first dish I tasted during my very first visit to a Korean restaurant and I still remember how much I enjoyed its unique taste. This famous dish is composed of thinly sliced, marinated and grilled meat. Described like this, bulgogi doesn’t sound particularly original, but I assure you both the marinade and the grilling process with a sauce poured regularly on the meat made my first experience with Korean food unforgettable.

I don’t know about other countries, but here bulgogi is prepared by the client on a very unusual tabletop grill I have never seen elsewhere. Since I don’t have even a standard grill, I assumed I could never reproduce this dish at home. I was wrong! When I saw Bulgogi Deopbap recipe (rice bowl topped with bulgogi) on Hyosun Ro’s blog (Eating and Living) and realised all I needed was a simple pan, I was so happy, I made it practically the day I saw it.

Hyosun Ro’s bulgogi was made with beef, but since I had thinly sliced pork in my freezer (I am a big pork fan), I changed the meat without changing the cooking process. I have prepared at least five bulgogi deopbap dinners in recent weeks and I feel I could have much more often. I never get bored with the delicate, slightly sweet taste of the meat, coated in a delicious sauce, which is partly absorbed by the rice. The marinating time is not long, the cooking time even shorter and I always have the basic ingredients, I find it an excellent easy and relatively quick dinner option. Thank you, Hyosun, for one more easy and delicious Korean recipe!

TIPS: The only modification I allowed myself here was cutting the meat slices into thinner strips. I found it easier to eat when cut this way. I have also used agave syrup instead of honey and sugar.

Asian pear is luckily optional here (I have never managed to buy it).

Preparation: 50 minutes – 1h 30 (including the marinating time)

Ingredients (serves two):

250 g thinly sliced pork (I used pork loin, but fatty cuts will be more tender)

2 spring onions cut into 5 cm (2 inch) pieces

1 medium carrot, julienned or other vegetables of your choice

Marinade:

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoons water

1 teaspoon each sugar and honey (I used agave syrup)

1 teaspoon sesame oil

1 teaspoon rice wine (I used sake)
1 teaspoon grated/crushed garlic

1 teaspoon white sesame seeds

ground pepper
(2 tablespoons grated Asian pear)

Sauce:

100-150 ml anchovy/beef stock or water

1 teaspoon soy sauce (more if using water)

1 teaspoon sugar

In a bowl combine the meat and the spring onions. Add the marinade and let to stand for 30-60 minutes in the fridge.

Heat some oil in a pan. Fry the meat together with the marinade and spring onions.

After about a minute, add the vegetables of your choice and a bit of the sauce.

Stir-fry until the meat is cooked, adding more sauce if necessary and more soy sauce if you find it is not salty enough.

Serve over a bowl of rice.

Korean Stir-Fried Squid with Cabbage and Carrot

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koreansquidp The successful experiment in simmering daikon with squid (click here to see the recipe) reminded me how much I love squid and made me look for new squid dishes. If I hadn’t seen this recipe in The Food and Cooking of Korea by Young Jin Song, I would have never even dreamt of stir-frying white cabbage and even less combining it with squid. Therefore, I treated it as a high-risk experiment, but the result was stunningly good. Actually it was so good that I prepared this dish three times last week! The cabbage was refreshing, slightly crunchy, while the squid was soft and soaked with my beloved and typically Korean sweet and hot flavours. Since the cabbage, a Winter vegetable par excellence, is treated here in a definitely springtime or summertime way, I found this dish a perfect choice for a between-the-seasons meal.

I have slightly modified the recipe skipping the chilies because the gochujang (Korean chili paste) and chili powder make it already quite hot. If you prefer very hot dishes, add 2 fresh chopped chilies to the first frying step.

TIP: You can prepare this dish in advance and serve it… cold. It is delicious served as a cold salad.

Preparation: 20 minutes

Ingredients (serves two):

2 fresh or thawed, cleaned medium squids (mine were about 15 cm long, excluding the tentacles)

1 medium white onion, chopped or sliced

2 cabbage leaves, cubed (without the central thick vein)

1 big carrot, julienned

2 flat tablespoons Korean chili powder

1 garlic clove, crushed or grated

2 tablespoons sake

1 tablespoon gochujang (Korean chili paste)

1 tablespoon maple or agave syrup

1 teaspoon sesame oil

(soy sauce or salt to taste)

1 teaspoon (or more) sesame seeds

2 tablespoons oil

Cut off the squid fins and put them aside.

Cut the squid tube lengthwise in order to obtain one flat sheet.

Score it diagonally into a criss-cross pattern (the interior side) and then cut it into 2 cm strips.

Do the same with the fins.

Cut the tentacles into bite-sized pieces.

Heat the oil in a pan and stir-fry the cabbage, the carrot and the onion for about 2 minutes.

Add the squid and the chili powder and fry them, stirring for another 2 minutes.

Finally add the gochujang, the garlic, the sake, the syrup and the sesame oil. Season with soy sauce or salt to taste. Stir-fry until the squid is cooked (about 3-5 minutes). Each strip should be white (whiter than the raw squid) and curled.

Sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve.

Easy Cucumber Kimchi (Oi Kimchi)

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cucumberkimchip It’s kimchi time again! After white radish (daikon) kimchi and the simplified version of Chinese/Napa cabbage kimchi, I would like to present you the most extraordinary experiment in this field, namely cucumber kimchi. Even though not in its best season now, cucumber is available all year round and brings a pleasant freshness to my meals when I’m fed up with carrots, potatoes, cabbage and other sad Winter vegetables. Combined with hot seasoning and fermented, it gains in precious nutrients, flavour complexity, colours and becomes even more welcome on cold, dark days.

First of all I must thank Charles from Five Euro Food because without his enthusiastic comments I even wouldn’t know cucumber kimchi existed and certainly wouldn’t prepare it so quickly. Charles has never made it himself, but my recipe quest wasn’t long. I found what I was looking for at Eating and Living blog, my main source of Korean recipes. I was even lucky to stumble upon a simplified cucumber kimchi recipe (Oi Kimchi), which was perfect to start with. Traditionally, in Oi Sobagi Kimchi, cucumbers are cut into big chunks, then, with half-length slits, “pockets” are formed and stuffed with kimchi seasoning. Here cucumber is simply cut up into bite-sized pieces and combined with the seasoning. (For those who want to know more about kimchi, I have written about it here and here.)

I have no idea what the traditional stuffed cucumber kimchi tastes like, but this version proved so excellent I can say without any doubts this is by far my favourite kimchi. I adore it for its freshness, crunchiness, lightness and for the fact that it is perfect at every stage of fermentation. First the cucumber’s freshness is dominating, then it reminds me of the delicate Japanese pickles and then, when it matures, the taste is is very close to the Central and Eastern European cucumbers fermented in brine. I cannot even imagine how terrific this kimchi will be when made with seasonal Summer cucumbers. Thank you, Hyosun, for one more wonderful recipe and thank you, Charles, for this discovery!

Even though I haven’t changed the original recipe, you may want to click here to see very helpful step-by-step photos.

Preparation: 45 minutes + min. 20-30 minutes fermentation

Ingredients:

1 long dark green cucumber
1 tablespoon coarse salt

1 teaspoon garlic (grated or crushed)

1/4 teaspoon grated fresh ginger

2 tablespoons Korean chili flakes

1 teaspoon white sesame seeds

1 tablespoon fish sauce

3 green onion stalks, cut into 2 cm pieces

Cut the cucumber into 3 cm chunks and then cut them into 8 strips lengthwise.

Sprinkle the cucumber pieces with salt and leave them for 30 minutes.

Drain the cucumber, but do not rinse it.

Add all the seasoning ingredients and place the cucumbers in an airtight container.

Wait for 20-30 minutes and serve or leave for two days to ferment in room temperature and then put into the fridge for several days.

Exceptionally this kimchi is as good freshly made as well as after a couple of days.

I even liked it after one week.

Kimchi Fried Rice (Kimchi Bokkeum Bap) with Bacon

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kimchifriedricep

I suppose many of you will agree that fried rice is one of the most extraordinary dishes in the world. Whatever we use as ingredients, it always ends up, miraculously, as a flavoursome meal. I am often surprised how good it is compared to some “standard” preparations, where I follow the recipe and respect the ingredients’ list. Naturally, when I learnt about fried rice with kimchi, I had to test this Korean version of fried rice.

For those who haven’t heard about kimchi or haven’t read my previous posts, kimchi (김치) is a very ancient Korean preparation of seasoned fermented vegetables. According to Wikipedia the oldest references to kimchi go back as far as 3000 years ago. Apart from the chili, garlic, ginger and scallions are the most frequent ingredients of the most popular, fiery kimchi version. Kimchi has a very powerful smell, but once you taste it and love it, the smell will never be associated with anything unpleasant. It is spicy, hot, sour and, like most fermented vegetable preparations, very healthy. High in fiber, low in calories and fat, it is packed with vitamin C (thanks to the fermentation) and carotene. It also contains several other vitamins, helps digestion, is said to prevent certain cancers… In short: it’s a wonder food. Its importance in the Korean cuisine cannot be compared to anything in any European food culture I know. It is not only eaten as a side dish, but also put into warm dishes, for example… fried rice.

Kimchi can be made with different vegetables, but the most popular are white radish (daikon) and Chinese (Napa) cabbage kimchi. Until now I have experimented with both (Kkakdugi 깍두기, or Cubed Radish Kimchi, and Mak Kimchi, or Easy Chinese Cabbage Kimchi). Mature and well fermented Chinese cabbage kimchi is the one used in warm dishes, so I waited for its flavours to develop and decided to combine it with fried rice.

Since it was my first attempt to use kimchi this way, I decided, exceptionally, to follow a precise recipe. I have chosen Kimchi Fried Rice (Kimchi Bokkeum Bap) with Bacon found on Hyosun Ro’s Eating and Living. It was easy, quick, convenient and tasted heavenly. The most surprising part was that the complexity of flavours created by the ripe, well fermented kimchi. It was difficult to believe that soy sauce and chili paste were the only seasonings. Thank you, Hyosun Ro, for introducing me to this amazing version of fried rice.

I have respected the recipe, but changed a bit the proportions, added some frozen peas I often mix with rice and substituted bacon with smoked pork loin. I have also skipped gochujang because I didn’t feel like very hot dishes (my kimchi was quite hot).

TIP: As Hyosun Ro advises, the previous day rice is the best here. If slightly microwaved, it breaks easily into grains during the frying process.

Preparation: 20 minutes

Ingredients (serves two):

about 200 g (1 cup) cooked short grain rice (I used the Japanese rice)

1 onion (sliced)

1 small carrot julienned or diced

about 100 g bacon, diced (or other smoked pork cut; I used smoked pork loin)

8 heaped tablespoons Chinese cabbage kimchi, drained and cut into bite-sized pieces

(5-6 tablespoons frozen peas)

4 tablespoons juice from kimchi

1 tablespoon soy sauce

1 tablespoon gochujang (Korean chili paste)

(green onion)

1-2 tablespoons canola oil (to fry)

1/2 tablespoon sesame oil

Heat some canola oil in the pan and fry the bacon (do not brown it).

(You can remove the fat if the bacon rendered too much of it).

Add onion, kimchi, gochujang and carrot.

Stir-fry for about 5 minutes.

(If using, add the frozen peas and stir-fry for two minutes).

Add the rice, the soy sauce and the kimchi juice.

Stir-fry for another 5 minutes scrapping the delicious browned parts that are stuck to the bottom of the pan.

Combine with sesame oil just before serving and serve with chopped green onion (optional).

Mak Kimchi, or Easy Kimchi

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makkimchip

Some of you probably remember Cubed Radish Kimchi (Kkakdugi 깍두기) I have written about a couple of weeks ago. This famous dish was easy, absolutely delicious and made me seriously hooked on the magic world of Korean fermentation. The Mak Kimchi you see above is another flavoursome experiment and certainly not the last one in my kimchi adventures.

For those who have never heard of kimchi, a quick reminder of what I have written in December. Kimchi (김치) is a preparation of fermented vegetables with dried chili peppers and other seasonings and has a very long history. According to Wikipedia the oldest references to kimchi go back as far as 3000 years ago. Koreans didn’t know chili peppers until the XVIth century, so the beautiful red colour and fiery taste are quite recent. (In fact, there exists also a “white” kimchi version, without chili, originating from the Northern Korea. ) Apart from the chili, garlic, ginger and scallions are the most frequent ingredients of the most popular, fiery kimchi. It also always contains a fermentation “enhancer” such as fish sauce, raw shrimp, raw oysters or fermented fish.

Kimchi has a very powerful smell, but once you taste it and love it, the smell will never be associated with anything unpleasant. It is spicy, hot, sour and, like most fermented vegetables, very healthy. High in fiber, low in calories and fat, it is packed with vitamin C (thanks to the fermentation) and carotene. It also contains several other vitamins, helps digestion, is said to prevent certain cancers… In short: it’s a wonder food. Its importance in the Korean cuisine cannot be compared to anything in any European food culture I know. Apart from being served as a side dish, kimchi is used in fried rice, stew and soups. The only Korean cookery book I have contains a whole chapter dedicated to kimchi and many Korean families have special kimchi refrigerators.

Chinese (Napa) Cabbage is the most popular kimchi vegetable and the most versatile, since it is often added to hot dishes (fried rice, soups, noodles). I have once tried making it, but it was very disappointing and the procedure was more complicated than in the case of Radish Kimchi. I thought I would never make cabbage kimchi again, but thanks to Shu Han (from Mummy, I can cook!) I have discovered the existence of “mak kimchi”, meaning “easy kimchi” in Korean. While the classical cabbage kimchi (poggi kimchi) consists in seasoning and fermenting halved cabbages, mak kimchi is cut into small pieces before the fermentation process. This small step makes the seasonings’ distribution easier and accelerates the preparation process.

I have slightly modified Shu Han’s recipe, mainly changing the ingredients’ amounts and omitting the carrot I simply didn’t have. Nevertheless my three days old mak kimchi is already incredibly good, but since I prefer it more “mature” and stronger, it will be more to my taste in a a week’s time or so. Thank you, Shu Han for giving me this wonderful idea and for the easy, foolproof recipe! (Click here to see Shu Han’s original recipe with making-of photos.)

TIP: Wear gloves if you manipulate kimchi with your hands (apart from the smelly side there is lots of chili in it)

Preparation: 1 hour + minimum 2 days

Ingredients:

1 small Chinese (Napa) cabbage (500 g)

about 4 tablespoons coarse salt

2 heaped tablespoons Korean chili powder

1 tablespoon sugar (or 1/3 grated pear)

1/2 teaspoon grated fresh ginger

2 scallions stalks, cut into 2 cm pieces

1 garlic clove, grated

2 tablespoons fish sauce

2 flat tablespoons sweet (glutinous) rice flour

50 ml water

(1 small carrot, grated or julienned)

Prepare the rice paste combining the rice flour with about 50 ml water. Let the mixture simmer until it thickens.

Put aside.

Cut up the cabbage into 3 cm more or less square pieces.

Sprinkle it with salt and leave for at least two hours. The cabbage will soften and let release some water.

Drain the cabbage and wash it.

Put it into a big container (with a lid) and combine well with the remaining ingredients and the rice paste.

Taste and if you think it’s not salty enough, add some fish sauce. (It should be only a bit too salty).

Cover with the lid, press with your hands (wear gloves!) to remove the air from the cabbage and leave for 2 days to ferment in room temperature.

Put into the fridge after two days. In general it gets stronger and more acid every day.

You can refrigerate it only to make it cold and eat it straight away or you can wait several days or weeks to see how the flavours change and at which stage you prefer it.

You can keep mak kimchi in the fridge for several weeks. It is excellent added to rice dishes and soups (I hope posting some recipes very soon).

Kkakdugi (깍두기), or Cubed Radish Kimchi

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daikonkimchip

Seeing radish kimchi at Hyosun Ro’s Eating and Living and then at Hiroyuki’s Blog on Japanese Cooking I felt it was high time I embarked on a fermenting adventure. Kimchi (김치) is the real monument of the Korean cuisine. It is a preparation of fermented vegetables – most often Napa/Chinese cabbage or white radish – with dried chili peppers and other seasonings. Kimchi is certainly one of the oldest dishes in the world, since (according to Wikipedia) the oldest references to it go back as far as 3000 years ago. Koreans didn’t know chili peppers until the XVIth century, so the beautiful red colour and fiery taste are quite recent. (In fact, there exists also a “white” kimchi version, without chili, originary from the Northern Korea. ) Apart from the chili, garlic, ginger and scallions are the most frequent ingredients of the most popular, fiery kimchi. It also always contains a fermentation “enhancer” such as fish sauce, raw shrimp, raw oysters or fermented fish.

To those who haven’t tasted it, kimchi might not sound particularly appealing, especially given its powerful smell. For me well-made kimchi is a pure delight. It is spicy, hot, sour and, like most fermented vegetables, very healthy. High in fiber, low in calories and fat, it is packed with vitamin C (thanks to the fermentation) and carotene. It also contains several other vitamins, helps digestion, is said to prevent certain cancers… In short: it’s a wonder food. Its importance in the Korean cuisine cannot be compared to anything in any European food culture I know. Apart from being served as a side dish, kimchi is used in fried rice, stew and soups. The only Korean cookery book I have contains a whole chapter dedicated to kimchi and many Korean families have special kimchi refrigerators.

I first tasted kimchi a couple of years ago in a Korean restaurant, then at my Korean neighbours’ house (the latter was of course beyond compare) and then tried making my own. The preparation was easy, but I was disappointed with the result. This experience has put me off making kimchi for two years. Last week, however, I decided I had to make at least one more attempt. I happened to have almost all the required ingredients from Hyosun Ro’s recipe, so I have followed closely her instructions and I can proudly say my kimchi is quite palatable. I panicked a little when after two days’ fermentation my kimchi was very bitter, but, strangely, leaving it to ferment for one more day resolved the problem! Thank you, Hyosun Ro, for this easy and efficient recipe! I feel now ready to carry on further kimchi experiments.

TIPS: Hyosun Ro’s recipe calls for raw shrimp as the fermentation enhancer, but since I can only get frozen shrimp, I thought it would be safer to replace it with additional fish sauce. The below recipe is adapted to my small batch (I was worried to make a bigger one for the first time), so if you want to see the original go to Eating and Living blog.

Wear gloves if you manipulate kimchi with your hands (apart from the smelly side there is lots of chili in it)

If you taste your kimchi and it seems very bitter, leave it to ferment for additional 24 hours. I did it and miraculously the bitterness disappeared!

Preparation: 1 hour + min. 2 days, but 2 weeks are optimal; the kimchi you see above was one week old and improved every day

Ingredients (I adapted the ingredients to my very small “test” batch):

500 g white radish (daikon) cut into cubes

3 heaped tablespoons Korean dried chili (my kimchi wasn’t very hot, just hot)

1 flat teaspoon grated or crushed garlic

1/2 flat teaspoon grated fresh ginger

chopped scallions (I used European chives instead)

salt (I used about 3 tablespoons)

1/2 teaspoon glutinous rice flour

4 tablespoons fish sauce or (as advised by Hyosun Ro):

2 tablespoons finely minced saeujeot (salted shrimp)

1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 raw shrimp (ground)

Prepare the rice paste combining the rice flour with about 20 ml water. Let the mixture simmer until it thickens.

Sprinkle the radish cubes with salt and leave them for 30-40 minutes. They will soften and let release some water.

Drain them, but do not wash.

Put the radishes into a big container (with a lid) and combine well with the remaining ingredients.

Taste and if you think it’s not salty enough, add some fish sauce (Hyosun Ro says it should be just a bit too salty).

Cover with the lid, press with your hands (wear gloves!) to remove the air from between the radish cubes and leave for 2 days to ferment in room temperature.

Put into the fridge after two days or more. Mine tasted better (and lost its bitterness) after the third day of fermentation at room temperature. In general it gets stronger and more acid every day.

You can refrigerate it only to make it cold and eat it straight away or you can wait several days or weeks to see how the flavours change and at which stage you prefer it (Hyosun Ro says it requires two weeks to develop the best flavours).

You can keep kimchi in the fridge for several weeks.

Pork Rolls and Shiso in Tempura

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I still remember discovering Korean dishes made me feel like tasting a bolder and hotter version of the Japanese cuisine. I quickly realised this vision was too simplistic, since Korean cuisine is much more than chili and garlic, which are not as ubiquitous as many people think. Until now I have cooked very few Korean dishes and have posted only one (Mandu , or Korean dumplings). Even though I don’t cook Korean more than a few times a year, I am addicted to gochujang and put it in many Asian or European dishes (Black Pudding and Gochujang Toast and Scallops with Gochujang are very good examples). My very recent discovery of Eating and Living, a beautiful, inspiring Korean cooking blog, has triggered off my need to keep on exploring this cuisine, especially since, browsing through posts I realised many dishes can be prepared with the Japanese ingredients I always have in stock.

These pork rolls were the first I have bookmarked. Even looking at them I knew they were my cup of tea: I love tempura, shiso, pork and the chili kick was all I needed on a cold Autumn night. I was also thrilled to discover the excellent pork and shiso combination, broadening the use of the herb I am so fond of. Even though my rolls were not as beautiful as Hyosun Ro’s, the taste was perfect. When cut in half and presented with the colourful filling upwards, my rolls ended up looking quite appealing. I used one slice of hot pepper and one slice of bell pepper, but next time I will stick to chili. Thank you, Hyosun Ro, for this wonderful recipe!

I had them as a main dish, but I can imagine them as an ideal party snack. It didn’t come as a surprise that the Tomato and Shiso Salad was the perfect pairing. You can serve them, as Hyosun advises, with this sauce, or with any sauce of your choice. I enjoyed them with one of my favourite quick sauces: a mixture of thick soured milk and gochujang.

Preparation: 1 hour

Ingredients (16 pork rolls: a starter for four or a main dish for two):

16 thin lean pork slices (1-2 mm thick)

16 big perilla/shiso leaves

1 big bell pepper or chili peppers, sliced (I counted two thick slices per roll)

a couple tablespoons flour

50g tempura flour

cold water

salt, pepper

3 teaspoons grated fresh ginger

oil for deep-frying

Season the pork slices with ginger, salt and pepper. Put aside.

Heat the oil in a pan.

Prepare, in separate bowls: tempura batter roughly mixed with ice cold water (the mixture should have a pancake batter consistency, but it shouldn’t be smooth, but with lumps; the best way is to mix delicately with chopsticks), flour, shiso leaves and sliced chili or bell peppers.

Dredge every pork slice slightly in flour (on both sides), place a shiso leaf on one side, then chili slices (close to the edge) and roll the pork slice very tightly.

Check the oil temperature: if a small amount of tempura starts bubbling and frying immediately (it doesn’t fall down), the oil is probably ready to fry.

Dredge each pork roll in tempura batter and deep-fry for 4-5 minutes.

Pat dry with paper towels and serve.

TIP: I always keep a baking dish in my oven, heated to 60°C, and put there every deep-fried batch, so that they stay warm until I serve everything.

Black Pudding and Gochujang Toast

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I know in the Spring I should normally start craving light green salads, raw vegetables, grilled fish… but what can I do if one day I know I simply must have some black pudding? Apparently black pudding – also called blood sausage – contains a lot of iron (it is made mainly of blood) and since I don’t eat much beef, another iron provider, I suppose I might lack it quite often. Another thing is I am a huge fan of good black pudding, so frankly I don’t know whether my craving is a need or a very strong urge to have something delicious.

Practically most European countries have their own versions of black pudding and whenever I can, I love discovering new ones. Some are excellent, some weird and some uneatable. Apart from the blood, black puddings usually contain some offal and, to keep a firm shape, rice, bread crumbs, buckwheat or barley are added. In France, where I buy my black pudding (not here in Switzerland, where all the black puddings I had were too bland for my taste), usually the fat and onions are the “filling” ingredients, but some regions use rice. Every butcher has his own version of black pudding (boudin noir), though the differences within the same region are tiny. The problem – which doesn’t arise in certain countries – is when it gets hot, the French simply stop buying black pudding and most butchers stop selling it. The clients affirm it’s the fat content and heaviness that don’t go well with hot weather. However they keep on eating greasy sausages and heavy pâtés… In fact, their black pudding refusal comes from the ancient restrictions dating back to the time when fridge, freezer and dried blood were unheard of and when black pudding could be made and sold only in pigs’ slaughter periods.

Those who, like me, are in the minority, have to enjoy it fresh until the end of April and sometimes May, then freezing is the only way to survive until September. For me the best black pudding is with hot spices, but it very very difficult to find, hot spices usually hiding a lower product quality… I buy the standard, but good one instead, and spice it up. The most frequent way I have it cannot really be called a recipe, but rather an idea. It consists of grilling toasts with black pudding slices, glazed with gochujang, Korean hot pepper paste, with highly addictive umami taste.(Click here to find a more than complete gochujang guide on One Fork, One Spoon blog). They can make a good lunch, if served with a green salad, but they are most of all good and nourishing snacks. They make excellent and original canapés and, while I’m thinking, why not a British inspired breakfast?

Before the recipe, a quick reminder of how my gochujang box looks like:

Preparation: 15 minutes

Ingredients (10 toasts):

10 x 4-5 cm diameter good bread toasts (sliced crunchy baguette is the best)

10 x 1 cm thick black pudding slices (skin removed)

a couple of tablespoons gochujang

Preheat the oven upper grill.

Place the black pudding on the bread slices.

Spread approximately 1/2 teaspoon of gochujang on top of each canapé.

Put under the grill and grill them until the black pudding starts sizzling and gochujang caramelising a bit (don’t let the gochujang change the colour: it means it has burnt!).

Serve either as finger food, snack or as a lunch, with a green salad.

Mandu 만두, or Korean Dumplings

Scallops with Gochujang

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Have you ever heard that preparing scallops with strong tasting or hot condiments is the biggest faux pas? I’ve read or heard it thousands of times. Sometimes not believing the “specialists” and taking risks, even with expensive products, is worth it. In fact, the day I tried scallops in Thai green curry sauce (click here to see my version of Thai curry) was a huge revelation! Scallops might look innocent, but they support perfectly well even very hot sauces (unless one is not used to or doesn’t like hot dishes of course!).

Talking of hot condiments…. if you shop sometimes at Asian groceries, you might have come across this red box:

Gochujang is a Korean condiment based, among others, on hot pepper and fermented soybean. It is dark red, a bit sticky, very hot and slightly sweet. In Korean cuisine gochujang is put into soups, sauces and marinades, and that is also how I often use it. If, like me, you love the combination of sweet and hot, you will become addicted to gochujang! I have been using it for a couple of years and frankly cannot imagine finding my red box empty one day!

Anyway, let’s get back to the point! The last time I had scallops in my fridge I was in a lazy mood and didn’t want to cook anything complicated or/and long. Whenever I opened the fridge to find an idea the scallops seemed to wink at me… When I noticed my eternal gochujang box in the fridge, I simply had the idea to put them together! Personally I really liked the result, and to make matters worse for culinary purists, I found it really luscious with… sour cream! (My idea of trying the sour cream came from the gochujang and sour cream cold sauce I often use as a dip).

Preparation: about 15 minutes (depending on your oven)

Ingredients:

as many scallops as your appetite dictates you (shells and corals discarded)

a dollop of gochujang per each scallop

sour cream (or sour milk for a lighter version) served as a sauce

Preheat the oven upper grill.

Wash the scallops. Pat them dry and place on a dish or baking paper.

Spread some gochujang on every scallop and put them under the grill (not too close to the grill though, otherwise they’ll get burnt while still raw inside).

Grill them checking if the bottoms of the scallops are well cooked (no longer transparent, but white and opaque).

Serve with rice or good quality crunchy bread and do try the sour cream or milk!