January 2007 | My Korean Kitchen

Monthly Archives: January 2007

Knife Cut Noodles with Seafood From Neutinamu (Zelkova Tree)

January 18, 2007 Category: Restaurants (In Korea)

Knife Cut Noodles with Seafood From Ntinamu top1

Gwangyang city (in Jeon Nam Province) where I live is definitely not a popular tourist destination to foreigners, though we do have some festivals in spring when the plum and cherry blossoms start to appear. They look awesome, but if you want to see them you will be surrounded by thousands of other people looking at them too.

The part of Gwangyang I live in now is a very industrialized area. I am only 5 minutes away from POSCO, one of the largest steel works companies in the world, and their subsidiary companies. So if you happen to come to Gwangyang that would be for business trip in most cases, since a 5 day tour package doesn’t include this city anyway.

So just in case you might stop by this small but very industrialized city one day, I am going to introduce one fine restaurant that I like. The restaurant is called Neutinamu (zelkova tree in English) and it is famous for Pyongyang style steamed dumplings (Mandu) and knife cut noodles with seafood (Haemul Kalguksu). They do have other menus of course like Shabu-shabu, and other hot pot dishes, but it seemed to me that 90% of the customers eat knife cut noodles and dumplings.

Knife Cut Noodles with Seafood From Ntinamu menu

I ordered knife cut noodles for 4 people and a dish of steamed dumplings.

They served this bowl of barley as an appetizer with some steamed vegetables and sauce. The sauce was soy bean paste, but it was a bit thiner than normal soy bean paste. They probably dilute it with some other ingredients. (Michael really liked the bowl of barley, though it used be the symbol of poverty in Korea, up to 20-30 years ago, now it has become popular again because it is known as good healthy food)

Knife Cut Noodles with Seafood From Ntinamu barley

They served noodles and dumplings at the same time. While we were waiting for the noodles to cook, we had dumplings. There were 7 of them for a dish. It was really delicious. The best steamed dumplings I ever ate. It just melts in your mouth and very morish too. I wish I could make dumplings like they do.

Knife Cut Noodles with Seafood From Ntinamu mandu

Finally the noodles are cooked, we started to dig in. It was really good. The broth was refreshing but hot, I nearly burnt my tongue. Unfortunately it only had 4 medium size prawns, and lots of shell fish instead. I am a prawn killer, so having 1 prawn doesn’t satisfy me.

Knife Cut Noodles with Seafood From Ntinamu noodles

Oh oo, I forgot to mention this. Apparently Michael thinks that their Kimchi tastes the best in Korea. I am sure there are lots of good restaurants that serve nice Kimchi, but this restaurant’s one is quite nice, I say best in the local area at least. (They serve freshly made Kimchi, so called Gutjeory, in a big jar, I think we ate 1/4 of a cabbage worth of kimchi)

Knife Cut Noodles with Seafood From Ntinamu kimchi

Total cost = 25,000 won for 4 people (US $26.30)

Steamed dumplings: 5,000 won (US $5.30) – Must try item (5 points out of 5)
Knife cut noodles with seafood: 20,000 won for 4 people (4 points out of 5) – they need to learn more about the beauty of giving away more prawns

Location

1647-5, Jungdong, Gwangyang, JeonNam, South Korea (next to Kookmin Bank)

Knife Cut Noodles with Seafood From Ntinamu shop

I am sorry about the quality of the pictures. It was too dim inside and the sun was facing the other direction. Though I was pretty embarrassed enough by just taking some pictures with a chunky SLR continually. I got a fair bit of attention there. Yet I am still considering taking my tripod, but then Michael might refuse to eat with me.

My Failed Kimchi Dumplings (Kimchi Mandu in Korean) and What I have learnt

Kimbap Places in Korea

Hand Made Tofu Meals

Tags: Gwangyang, Haemul-Kalguksu, Knife-Cut-Noodles-with-Seafood, Mandu, posco, Restaurants (In Korea), steamed_dumplings

Delicious! Dakgalbi (Marinated Chicken in Spicy Sauce), Version 2

January 17, 2007 Category: Eggs and Poultry

37 Comments - Leave a comment!

Delicious! Dakgalbi (Marinated Chicken in Spicy Sauce), The Version 2 1

My favourite meal, Dakgalbi is one of the most popular foods that people are searching for on this blog. I posted about it 4 months ago and have gained a good reputation. I have been busy cooking new dishes every day, so I haven’t had the chance to have my favourite meal for nearly three months now. So since Dakgalbi is so popular amongst you and me, I thought I will do another post about it, but give it a more decent taste and mouth watering pictures. How does that sound?

I was so thrilled to try this out again and very happy with the result I got. OK, I will be honest here, my sister thinks that it wasn’t as good as the one from Dakgalbi street in Chuncheon, Gangwon province where it originates from, but come on! I am an amateur cook and if you compare my food with professionals that is Not Fair!!

Though we all agreed that it was definitely better than some of the local restaurants, so I want you to try it out, and tell me what you think of it. I will appreciate your comments even if you say something mean.

Recommended equipment – Portable gas burner and double handled wok

Ingredients for 4 people

(Expected Prep time – 1 hour 15 minutes, Cooking time – 5 to 10 minutes)

-Meat and the first seasoning

Chicken Breast 500 g
Refined rice wine – 2 tbsp
Ginger powder – ¼ tsp
Pepper 3 sprinkles

-Marinade sauce (mix these well in a bowl.)

Gochujang – 3 tbsp
Minced garlic – 1 tbsp
Korean chili powder – 1 tbsp
Korean soy sauce – 1 tbsp
Dark brown sugar – 1 tbsp
Korean yellow curry powder – 1 tsp
½ an grated onion

-Side ingredients

1 medium size potato (using sweet potato is more authentic, though I forgot to buy one, so I added potato instead)
⅓ of a medium carrot
¼ of a small cabbage
11 perilla leaves (so called sesame leaves, ggaennip)
Fresh rice cakes (Garaeddeok) 400g (It is a lot, but we love the rice cakes. If you are using pre packaged ones, soak them in cold water for 20 minutes before you use them.)

Prep

Rinse the chicken in cold water.
Cut it into mouthful pieces.
Put it into a bowl, then add the first seasoning on top.
Soak for about 15 minutes.
While you are waiting, wash the vegetables, peel the skin off as needed.
Thin slice the potato (or sweet potato), carrot, cabbage, and perilla leaves.
Add the seasoning sauce into the chicken bowl, mix it well, and leave it for 1 hour.

Cooking

Pre-heat the wok for about 20 seconds.
Put some olive oil in the wok.
Put all the vegetables into the wok and add the meat on top.
Stir them well while it is cooking and you can start to eat when it is cooked.

Enjoying Dakgalbi the restaurant way at home

Eat while Dakgalbi is cooking. (So you need to have a portable gas burner and double handled wok or nonstick pot) Eating a warm meal always tastes the best.
Prepare some lettuce and perilla leaves to wrap the cooked Dakgalbi. (I forgot to buy them, I don’t know what I was thinking.)
When you are nearly finished the meal, you can add some udong noodles or rice and stir fry them. (I used rice for us – 1½ cups of steamed rice, some finely chopped Kimchi, a dash of sesame oil, some ripped seasoned laver – I didn’t add any sauce, but if you want you can add some gochujang)

Delicious! Dakgalbi (Marinated Chicken in Spicy Sauce), The Version 2 after rice

Some questions you might ask

1) When do I need to add some noodles or rice?

- If you have little bits of vegetables and meat left in the wok at the end of the meal, then it is the time to add them. This is a picture of the right time. Michael insisted that I shouldn’t post this picture, because it doesn’t look very appetizing, but to make it clearer I am sharing with you.

Delicious! Dakgalbi (Marinated Chicken in Spicy Sauce), The Version 2 after

2) Is 500 g chicken really enough for 4 people?

- Well, while I was eating Dakgalbi, I thought ‘I wish I had added more chicken’. Though since I added a lot of rice cakes, it was very filling for 4 people, but if you going to add less rice cakes than I did, then Do add more chicken.

3) Is it OK to use a portable electric burner?

- I am not that fond of electric burners in general. If it is the only burner available for you, then I guess you can, but I always prefer gas burners. They heat faster and are easier to control.

Related Posts

Hot Wings

Marinated Chicken Stir Fry with Gochujang sauce (Dakgalbi in Korean)

Spicy Chicken and Vegetable Stew

Tags: Eggs and Poultry

Instant Cold Noodles in Broth (Mul Naengmyun)

January 16, 2007 Category: Noodles, Product Reviews

23 Comments - Leave a comment!

Review - Instant Cold Noodles in Water (Mul Naengmyun)2

When I bought a cold instant noodles pack, Michael said I was crazy. His point was, who would want to have freezing cold noodles in the middle of winter? I picked it up as a back up just in case I couldn’t find buckwheat noodles for New years eve, but since I had found buckwheat noodles I didn’t need to use this packet. However as the expiry date was getting closer, I had to use it up somehow. There, that’s my excuse for cooking these in Winter.

My defense theory (for cooking these in winter) was “the smell of garlic takes away the smell of onions.” Along the same theory, there is also a Korean saying “Rule the heat with the heat and rule the cold with the cold.” Michael insisted that it is a crazy idea. So I decided to eat these noodles when Michael wasn’t around. I had my sister over for a couple of weeks now, so I decided to have the noodles with them. It didn’t make me colder than I expected (I was having noodles on a really well heated floor, so called ondol)

Though, maybe Michael was right. I would have appreciated them more if it was a hot summer day.

This is a picture of the instant packet I used. (It does look really nice, doesn’t it? Although my meal doesn’t look nearly as good as this, but as least mine is very encouraging for you to give it a try )

Review - Instant Cold Noodles in Water (Mul Naengmyun)1

Made by CJ

Price : 3,720 won (US $ 3.90) at Homeplus

Inside of the packet (for 2 people) – It includes two packs of noodles, two packs of broth, and two packs of mustard sauce
Review - Instant Cold Noodles in Water (Mul Naengmyun)packet1

Cooking for 2 people

Review - Instant Cold Noodles in Water (Mul Naengmyun)cooking

Slightly freeze the broth in its packet. (It takes about 3-4 hours)
Boil the noodles in boiling water (7 cups) for 1 minute.
Drain the water and rinse the noodles in cold water a couple of times.
Put the noodles in a bowl, add the broth. You can add boiled egg, cucumber, pickled radish, pear, steamed pork etc, as a topping if you want. I only had egg and cucumber available, so I just added those two.
Enjoy! (You can add the mustard sauce if you want)

The noodles’ taste depends 90% on the broth, and the broth was nearly as good as some restaurants in Korea (Apparently not many restaurants make the broth themselves, they buy it from the food suppliers). In my opinion, as long as you can make some effort for the toppings (more than I did), it will taste as good as you can get them from a restaurant.

Total Points for winter : 3.1 (5 is the highest)

Taste – 4/5 (if I had more toppings, I would give 4.5/5)
Affordable price – 4.3/5 (compared to eating it at a restaurant where one dish is usually US $5.30)
Appropriateness for winter – 1/5 (Just writing about this post, makes me shiver. )

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

Instant Udong Noodles

Instant Korean Black Bean Paste Noodles (Jajangmyun in Korean)

Tags: Instant Food, Noodles, Product Reviews

Sugar High, Stir Fried Rice Cake and Noodles (Rabokki in Korean)

January 15, 2007 Category: Noodles, Rice

22 Comments - Leave a comment!

Sugar High, Stir Fried Rice Cake and Noodle (Rabokki in Korean)

I got shocked as soon as I stared at my face in front of the bathroom mirror in the morning. There were lots of traces of the battle between my skin and hormones, and it seemed like the hormones won in the battle called “Sugar high”. I had lots of pimples here and there, because I had consumed too much sugar yesterday. My sister said my face looks like it was bitten by swarms of mosquitoes all night.

Yes, when you having some sweets, you really enjoy the moment. You feel good, become active, cheerful, then a bit violent, cranky, moody, then peace comes finally, and the next day, the glory of pimples.

Rabokki (stir fried rice cake and noodle) is what I had for lunch yesterday. Rabokki is combining words for ddeokbokki and ramyun (instant noodles). It is quite simple to make if you know how to make ddeokbbokki. All you need to do is, add some instant noodles and extra water into ddeokbbokki. Voila~!

I simply used the same ingredients from my ddeokbokki recipe, just increase the amount of them for 4 people.

Ingredients for 4 people

(Expected preparation time – 5 minutes, cooking time – 7 minutes)

Sugar High, Stir Fried Rice Cake and Noodle (Rabokki in Korean) ingredients

-For main ingredients

1 instant noodle pack.
Fresh rice cakes 300g (about 30 pieces) – If you use pre packaged rice cakes, soak them in cold water for 20 minutes before you use them.
Fish cake 4 sheets – 240g
1 onion
4 leaves of cabbage
1 stalk of spring onion (optional)
8 instant dumplings (optional)
1½ cups of water

-For sauce (Mix them well in a bowl.)

Gochujang – 4 tbsp
Dark brown sugar – 4 tbsp ; If you don’t want to be attacked by sugar high pimples, I recommend you to reduce the amount of sugar. maybe reduce it down to 2 to 3 tbsp
Minced garlic -1 tsp
Chili powder (Gochutgaru in Korean) – 1 tsp

Preparation

Thin slice the onion and diagonally slice the spring onion.
Rinse the fish cakes in hot water. (To clean the oil coating from its surface)
Cut the fish cakes and cabbage into medium size pieces.

Cooking (I cooked them on a portable burner, it is the restaurant style of eating)

Sugar High, Stir Fried Rice Cake and Noodle (Rabokki in Korean) cooking

Pour the water into the pot. Start to boil it.
Add the sauce and stir it well.
Add all the other ingredients. (reduce the heat to medium to low)
Stir them well.
You can start eating them when one of the ingredients is cooked.

Although, it was over sweet, it was really delicious. All of us who ate this meal got high later, but it was worth it for short moment.

Related Posts

What Rice Cake, for Cooking, Looks Like

Stir Fried Rice cake with Gochujang Sauce (Ddeokbokki in Korean)

Royal Rice Cake (Gungjung Ddeokbbokki in Korean)

Tags: Noodles, Rice Cake Meals

Eggs Baked on Elvan Stone

January 13, 2007 Category: Food and Culture

16 Comments - Leave a comment!

On my birthday, I got this weird present. They weren’t wrapped with pretty pink ribbon nor beautifully packed with wrapping paper, since I got them on my birthday, I consider that they were my birthday present.

The present I got is eggs baked on Elvan stone. Have you ever had eggs baked on Elvan stone before? I wouldn’t think so. It was my first time trying these eggs too.

You can see them at a sauna (public bath) in Korea. They are called “Maekbanseok gyeran” (Maekbanseok is Elvan stone and gyeran is an egg) Apparently lots of people love to eat those eggs there. Eggs baked on Elvan stone are more expensive than normal eggs, my sister thinks that one egg is about US 50 cents or more. The person who gave them to me works at a sauna, so he said he got it cheaper than retail price.

It takes about 3 hours or more to bake the eggs on the stone, and they taste really good when they are still warm, but they were cold when I had them. It tastes like roasted chestnuts to me (only the egg white part). The unshelled egg is soft, delicate, and shiny. When I first cracked the shell, I thought they were boiled in soy sauce or something.

Now you would wonder why these eggs are so special? I did too.
I couldn’t find any reason for their popularity, but Elvan stone is known as a really useful stone for health. It gets rid of harmful metals in your body, it is good for the skin (it cleans skin diseases, like pimples, tumors etc), and when it is heated, it releases far infrared rays, which are good for blood circulation, delaying aging, and activating cells. So eggs baked on Elvan stone must be good!

In English, there is some information about Elvan stone at Olumpus Spa. It summarizes pretty well. Now I feel like going to a spa and having some warm baked eggs on Elvan stone. What about you?

Other health related Posts

Radish and Oysters on Rice (Gulbap in Korean)

Ginger Tea (Saenggang Cha in Korean)

Ginseng Tea (Insam Cha in Korean)

Tags: Baked-Eggs, Elvan-Stone, Food and Culture, Korean Food, sauna