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Archive for December, 2006

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Buckwheat Noodles (Memil Guksu in Korean)

Published December 31st, 2006 in Korean Japanese and Noodles. 12 Comments
Buckwheat Noodles (Memil Guksu in Korean) on the magazine

It is the end of the year already. Time flies. One of the best things that has happened in my life this year is starting this blog and making some good friends with people from all over the world. Are you getting ready to welcome the coming year?

I wouldn’t usually eat these Buckwheat noodles in the middle of winter (Most Koreans eat these in summer), but it is Japanese culture to eat these noodles at dinner with family at the end of the year, which is today. (It has a meaning of wishing long and happy life, and the noodles are called toshikoshi-soba.) I wanted to bring back memories from my short adventure in Japan years ago, so I decided to make this noodle.

Ingredients for 4 people (for 2 people, reduce all the ingredients in half)

  • Buckwheat Noodles 600 g

Dashi

  • 1 ½ cups of water
  • 1/2 cup of liquid sauce from dried shaved bonito
  • 1 cup of refined rice wine

A picture of the liquid sauce from dried shaved bonito.

Buckwheat Noodles (Memil Guksu in Korean) liquid sauce

Side additions

  • 2 sheets of laver (Thinly shred them with scissors)
  • 4 stalks of small green onion (Cut them into small pieces)
  • Grated white radish - 4 tbsp (Squeeze the water out from the radish)
  • Wasabi water (mix of wasabi 1 tsp + cold water 1/2 tsp)

Cooking (you will need 2 pots)

Buckwheat Noodles (Memil Guksu in Korean) cooking
  1. Boil the dashi for about 3 minutes, cool it down first then slightly freeze its surface.
  2. Boil the buckwheat noodles in boiled water for 4 minutes and rinse them in cold water.
  3. Serve the noodles on a plate with the dashi and side additions (I added some radish sprouts and laver as a topping but you don’t have to do the same.)
Buckwheat Noodles (Memil Guksu in Korean) 1
Buckwheat Noodles (Memil Guksu in Korean) 2

How to eat

Put the amount of the side additions you want into the dashi bowl and dip the noodles into the bowl and dig in. Enjoy!

Caution

It can make you really cold afterwards, so for people who live where it isn’t well insulated, I recommend not to eat them. :) Michael added that it is a very slurpy dish to eat so don’t eat them on a first date.

This is a picture from a near by park where I live and it is for celebrating New year. It was freezing cold, but I wanted to share the picture of the last day of the lights. (It is a bit blurry though I couldn’t keep taking pictures, because of the freezing cold weather.)

Happy new year

I hope you have wonderful, happy and healthy New year.

Happy New Year! 새해 복 많이 받으세요. (Korean)
明けましておめでとうございます(Japanese) 新年快樂 (Chinese)

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Spicy Noodles with Green Bean Sprouts (Sukju Ramyun in Korean)

Shellfish and Chewy Noodle Soup (Bajirak Kalguksu in Korean)

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Fierce Caviar Sushi (No recipe included)

Published December 29th, 2006 in Kitchen Talk. 7 Comments
Fierce Caviar Sushi (No recipe included)1

Look at this pretty little sushi, but like some movies or fairy tales that have a pretty woman that always turn out to be the evil one, I needed to be more careful when I tasted this sushi. The sushi tried to harm and threaten my life. It was my fault of course, because I am the one who made it. I just wanted to enjoy a relaxing solo lunch, but it didn’t quite work out like that.

Generally I love the taste of wasabi (Japanese horseradish). While I was squeezing the wasabi tube, I didn’t realized that I was squeezing it too much. I made 10 pieces of sushi and after taking some pictures, I tried the first piece. It was good but not excellent (I didn’t put any effort in this food because I wasn’t sharing it with anyone else). Then I tried the second piece and it started to burn my mouth and nose straightaway. I somehow managed to cope and then tried the third piece, then the pretty sushi’s evil plan was revealed.

Fierce Caviar Sushi (No recipe included)2

My eyes and nose started to water and I could barely open my eyes. It was so painful but I continued to try the next pieces of sushi, because I had to complete my mission, which was finishing the sushi without wasting them. The forth and fifth were the worst of all. I couldn’t even swallow them. I had to spit them out and drank lots and lots of water.

Though the first thing I cared was the caviar. You know how expensive those eggs are. (US $7.40 for 250g) I was crying out, Oh~ my precious caviar~rrr. I was so sad, because I had to abandon those precious caviar, not because my favourite sushi was hurting me to much.

So my conclusion is; I am not going to post a recipe for this dish, to protect you from potential suicide, and don’t be a fool for beauty. ;)

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Spicy Chicken and Noodles

Published December 28th, 2006 in Eggs and Poultry and Noodles. 6 Comments
Spicy Chicken and Noodles on the magazine

What kind of taste can you imagine from this picture? I can imagine a slightly salty and savory noodle taste, but if you do so, you are wrong too. :)

It is not a red dish like other spicy Korean food, but it was spicy. It was totally unexpected. I would say it had a Thai food kind of spiciness from a well balanced mix of garlic, pepper, and chili. Though we really liked its sweet and spicy harmony.

Ingredients for 2 people

(Expected prep time - 15 minutes, Cooking time - 5 minutes )

Spicy Chicken and Noodles ingredients
  • 2 packs of Udong noodles
  • Chicken breast 250 g

Chicken marinade sauce

  • Pepper - 1/4 tsp
  • Refined rice wine - 2 tsp
    • 1/2 an onion
    • 1/2 a capsicum
    • 1 green chili
    • Minced garlic - 2 tsp
    • Katsuobushi (dried shaved bonito) - 3 tbsp (optional)
    • Olive oil - 1 tbsp

    For sauce (mix these in a bowl)

    • Soy sauce - 2 tbsp
    • Oyster sauce - 2 tsp
    • Refined rice wine - 1 tbsp
    • Corn syrup - 1 and 1/2 tbsp

    Prep

    1. Thin slice the chicken and marinate it for 15 minutes.
    2. Thin slice the onion and capsicum.
    3. Take out the seeds from the chili and diagonally thin slice it.

    Cooking (You will need a pot and a wok)Spicy Chicken and Noodles cooking 1

    1. Parboil the udong noodles for 30 seconds in hot water.
    2. Drain the water.
    3. Pre heat the wok for 10 seconds and add the olive oil. (You can do step 1 and 3 at the same time)
    4. Put the onion and capsicum in the wok, then stir it for about 30 seconds.
    5. Add the chicken and cook it.

    6. Add the noodles, garlic, chili and sauce then stir it, simmer it for about 3 minutes.

    Spicy Chicken and Noodles cooking 2

    7. Serve it on a plate and sprinkle the katsuobushi on top.

    One thing you need to know is even if you brush your teeth afterwards, the fragrance of garlic remains for an hour at least. :D Have some sweets.

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    Spicy Noodles with Green Bean Sprouts (Sukju Ramyun in Korean)

    Shellfish and Chewy Noodle Soup (Bajirak Kalguksu in Korean)

    Korean Black Bean Paste Noodles (Jajangmyun in Korean)


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