Inarizushi (Yubu Chobap in Korean) – Instant Version

Yubuchobap on the magazine

When I was in school, I was so jealous when some of my friends brought Yubu Chobap as a lunch on a school field trip day. Mine was just plain vegetable Kimbap like most of the kids, so my friend’s lunch box looked even more fancy, unique and so special. My mom never made any Yubu chobap for me in my life, so I always thought it is really expensive or hard to find.

Now, as an adult, I realized that it is very easy and cheap to get those ingredients at a supermarket, I sometimes buy instant Yubu chobap to brighten my day. :) – Though it is an instant version, so don’t get your hopes too high. It is my favourite non fish sushi by the way. It’s very more-ish.

Ingredients for 16 Yubu chobap (Big enough as one person’s meal or a light meal for 2 people)

(Expected prep and making time – less than 10 minutes)

package inside
  • Freshly cooked white rice for 1 and half people (If I used a measuring cup, it would be about 2 cups, though I can’t guarantee. Use a bit less water than usual for cooking rice.)
  • Yubu chobap package : It includes 16 Yubu (fried bean curd), flavoring sauce (clear liquid sauce), herb mix, and fried flavoring.

Steps

1. Pour the rice in to a bowl. (A big bowl, like a salad bowl is easier to use)

2. Pour out all the sauce from the packet on to the rice. (Though, I only used half of the herb mix, which is the green packet. It is really up to you.)

3. Mix the rice well with a spatula.

making yubu chobap

4. Hold the Yubu and open it.

5. Scoop out the rice from the bowl and fill the Yubu with it.

filing the yubu

6. Serve it on the plate.

zoomed up yubu chobap
This is the packet I used, and different brands are also available. It was 1,950 won (US $ 2) at Homeplus.
Yubuchobap package

As you can see, it is very simple, even a 5 year old child can make it. Good for picnic meals or when you don’t want to bother with heavy cooking.

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Some Things I Want to Say

Dear, My Korean Kitchen Readers,

I’ve had this blog nearly 3 months now. Thanks to ZenKimchi and The Journal of a Girl who Loves To Cook I had a lot of visitors lately. Thank you both of you.

I really appreciate some of you who like my blog, visit regularly, and interact with me by leaving me some comments even if my writing isn’t humorous or as useful to you as it could be.

Before I get to the point, I apologize in advance that my writing can be very blunt or can be rude, due to my English barrier or my personality I got from the garlic and chili food culture. (like Italians, Mexicans etc) :)

chilies

Recently, I have found some difficulty in answering people who started to request from me certain recipes I haven’t posted yet, or comparing my recipes to someone else’s then asking many questions about why they are different.

I would like to answer properly everything you ask though this is Not a company owned website nor am I a super girl who can do everything. It usually takes me about 2-3 hours just to write one post and choose the pictures to upload for that post. Also, when I cook, it takes another 1-3 hours depending on the food, because I am taking pictures on the way, which is the specialty of My Korean kitchen. So I often spend 5-6 hours (sometimes more) on a post.

Cooking, writing, and photographing for this blog is a full time job for me. I don’t have much time to translate other recipes or research and answer why the certain recipes are different for you. A lot of the meals I cook are experiments. I encourage you to add, or change ingredients if you want. Experiment and have fun with your cooking, if it tastes good, go with it.

chapssalddeok

I am leaving Korea, possibly permanently, in three months. So the priority of the recipes I cook while in Korea are :

  • Food that has ingredients I can’t get easily outside of Korea (i.e. Korean ingredients).
  • Recipes that most people want to see.
  • Food that isn’t too expensive (within our household budget)
  • Food I like (If I don’t eat it, what’s the use of cooking it?)

Once I leave Korea, the recipes might be even more useful for you since most of my readers are from outside of Korea. As you can guess, I will need to start from scratch. I will need to find sources of ingredients and might have to make some ingredients myself to cook certain food.

There is a reason for not posting certain recipes right now, like rice cake or noodle dough etc. When the time comes, you will get to see what you want. So, please be patient with me. Of course you are still welcome to ask for certain foods or meals. I make a note of your suggestions and will make it in the future if I can.

Here are some links I think are good English recipe resources. If I don’t have the recipe you want yet, try these websites.

TriFood

KBS Global Cuisine

Korean Restaurant Guide

Dumpling Pastry Pizza (Mandupy Pizza in Korean)

dumpling pastry pizza on the magazine

I found that some Koreans make simple pizzas with dumpling pastry at home. It is very quick to make as long as you can get the dumpling pastry easily. You can buy some at a supermarket in Korea for about 1,300 won (US $1.40) for 260g of pre-made dumpling pastry.

This is a picture of dumpling pastry package. (I bought the package that contains green tea powder which is a little bit more expensive than white flour pastry. Though you can use either pastry. They are next to each other, so are easy to find.) – It is stored next to the instant dumplings or pork cutlets section, which implies in the fridge.

dumping pastry

Ingredients for 2 people (12 small pizzas) – You can alter with any topping you want.

dumping pastry pizza ingredients
  • 7 black pitted olives
  • 2 sausages
  • 1/2 an onion
  • 1/2 a capsicum
  • 3 mushrooms (I was going to use button mushrooms, but I only had shiitake mushrooms)
  • Shredded cheese 2 fistful
  • Dumpling pastry 12 sheets
  • Tomato sauce (Ketchup) – 3 to 4 tbsp (depends on whether you like a bit stronger taste or not. Pizza that had more tomato sauce tastes better for me.)

Preparation

  1. Finely chop the onion and capsicum.
  2. Thin slice the olive, sausage, and mushrooms.
  3. Paste the tomato sauce on the pastries.
dumpling pastry pizza prep

Cooking (with small oven)

1. Place them on the oven tray. (this way, you don’t spill the toppings.)

2. Add the toppings on the top of the pastries as you like.

3. Bake them on 210˚C for 10 minutes.

Baking pizza

4. Serve them on the plate.

dumping pastry pizza

If you don’t have an oven, you can bake them on the frying pan with some oil. (bake them until the cheese melts, usually it takes about 5-6 minutes) I tried this way too, though it wasn’t as convenient as oven baking, and it tastes different. Pan baked pizza tastes like pan pizza, and oven baked pizza (without oil) tastes like thin pizza.

By the way, if you can’t get the dumpling pastries, you can use my tortilla recipe to substitute for the pastry and make some small tortillas out of it instead of big ones. I think it will work out well too.

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Ginger Tea (Saenggang Cha in Korean)

Ginger tea on the magazine

A few days ago, Michael was coughing a lot and he said he had a sore throat and mucus. I am not a doctor, but he thinks I can fix him. :) He basically doesn’t trust modern medicine and loves oriental treats so much. So I made this ginger tea for him. It has a warm character, helps blood circulation and keeps your hands and feet warm. It also helps stop coughing and clears mucus. Though oriental doctors recommend not to drink it, if you have a fever.

Ingredients

ginger tea ingredients
  • Fresh ginger – 80 g
  • Fresh cinnamon pieces- 20 g
  • Water – 8 cups
  • Optional (just before you serve the tea) – 4 to 5 pine nuts, 1 tsp of honey

Preparationginger tea cooking

  1. Clean the ginger well (peel the skin off as well). – I scrubbed it with rough cloth first then used a spoon to scrub off the skin
  2. Rinse the cinnamon in cold water. (You don’t need to cut them into small pieces, mine was already in small pieces.)
  3. Thin slice the ginger.

Cooking

  1. Put the ginger, cinnamon, and water into a pot.
  2. Boil it on medium (or low) heat for about 25-30 minutes.
  3. Sieve the ginger and cinnamon. (Use a white straining cloth if you can, to catch the small dirt from the cinnamon)
  4. Serve it in a tea cup. (You can also add some pine nuts and honey)
ginger tea

It gave me more than 1.5 L of tea (about 7-8 cups of tea). This is how I keep the rest.

ginger tea in a bottle

Michael just reheats a little amount of tea whenever he drinks it – 2 times a day. Here is a comment from the consumer :

“This is my favourite drink. It helps sooth my throat, and is very relaxing.”

This is a picture of the cinnamon (Korean name :Gyepi) I got last year from Homeplus. (about 5,800 won – US $6.10)

Cinnamon

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Uncurdled Tofu Stew (Sundubu Jjigae in Korean)

sundubu jjigae on the magazine

Today, some people may say, “Finally!”. Yes, I finally made “Sundubu jjigae” last night. I think this is the top 3rd keyword search recipe people try to find from my blog. What is so special about this stew folks? I am really curious.

Ingredients for 2 people

ingredients for sundunu jjigae
  • Uncurdled tofu 400g
  • (Unshelled) little-neck clams 200g (Bajirak in Korean – you can learn a little bit more about it from the second paragraph of my other post)
  • 1 pack of enoki mushrooms
  • Oyster mushrooms 1 fistful
  • 1 stalk of spring onion
  • Dried kelp 2 sheets – 10×7cm size each (Though you don’t have to copy the exact size of mine)
  • Water 1 and 1/3 cups
  • Chili powder – 1tbsp
  • Olive oil – 1tbsp
  • Minced garlic – 1 tsp
  • Salt 1/4 tsp
  • Soy sauce – 1/2 tsp
  • Pepper 3 sprinkles
  • Sesame oil – 1 dash

Preparation

  1. Soak the clams in cold water for about 30 minutes. (Add some salt – about 1tsp)
  2. Soak the kelp in 1 and 1/3 cups of water for about 30 minutes.
  3. Diagonally thin slice the spring onion.
  4. Cut the bottom 4-5 cm of the mushrooms off (the roots) and wash the rest for use.
  5. Separate oyster mushrooms with hands.
  6. Drain the clams from no.1 (throw the water away)
  7. Drain the kelp from no.2 (keep the water, we will use it as a broth)

Cooking

1. Put the chili powder, olive oil, and the garlic in a pot.

2. Heat the pot on the stove and stir it.

Cooking sundubu jjigae1

3. Add the clams and stir it.
4. Add the water and tofu. Boil it for about 1 minute. (until the water starts to boil)
5. Add all the mushrooms, salt, and soy sauce. Boil it for about 1 minute. (again until the water starts to boil properly)
6. Add the spring onion, pepper and sesame oil.

Cooking sundubu jjigae2

7. Serve the pot on the table. (You can adjust the taste with salt)

sundubu jjigae

For your curiosity this is the tofu I used for this stew.
It is about 1000 won – US $ 1

sundubu

How to open – cut the red dotted line (next to the bar code) with scissors. Can you see the line?

Also, I hope you use a bit bigger pot than mine because it can boil over. This happened to me last night “again”, I think that is why I don’t like making this stew much. :) (I don’t know how to measure the dish, though I want to give the best description as I can. Its bottom diameter is 11.5 cm and top diameter is about 15.5 cm) If you can’t get a bigger pot then reduce some vegetable ingredients or water.

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Pork and Kimchi Stew (Dwaejigogi Kimchijjigae in Korean)

Tofu Soybean Paste Stew (Dubu Doenjangjjigae in Korean)

Fish Cake Soup (Eomuk-Guk in Korean)