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Raengmyun in Pyongyang

sue — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 10:01:49 +0000

I got an interesting email from one of my readers, Paul, the other day. It was about his food experience in Pyongyang. So naturally it drew my attention (I’ve never been to North Korea before. Have you?). His description about the Raengmyun (Naengmyun for North Korean) he had was very descriptive and he also kindly attached some photos for us to share.

The restaurant he visited is called “Okryugwan (옥류관) “, one of the landmarks in North Korea, and is located near Daedong river.

(Photo from news.naver.com)

North Korean food is generally known to have a purer and clearer taste than South Korean food. If you are used to the artificial taste of some other food, it might taste quite bland.

Here are some photos of what Paul had and his description about them. Thanks Paul for sharing your experience with us.

(Raengmyun in a brass bowl – Brassware is one of the Korean traditional dishes and apparently it keeps cold food cold and warm food warm. )

The noodles arrived extremely cold and contained a chewy texture. The buckwheat hulls would separate and offered great texture contrast while chewing. The broth was very mild, not salty nor “meaty” flavored but pure and clean.

The mustard and hot pepper condiments are house made. The mustard packed a great punch, but just enough so the noodles natural flavor came through. The red pepper sauce is a winner and combined both sweet and aromatics, one of the best in my memory. Finally vinegar, was just that, white vinegar most likely vegetable as the smell was quite mild.

(I am guessing this is one of the side dishes. It looks like Tangpyongchae – mung bean jelly with beef and egg topping. Is that right, Paul ?)

The many kimchi varieties in Pyongyang tasted to be quite sweet and mild and did not contain heavy amounts of garlic. I learned that this is a Pyongyang characteristic with Kimchi. Truly an eye-opening experience!

If you would like to share your unique Korean food experience with us, please send me an email (sue at mykoreankitchen.com) with photos.

Difference Between Bibim Naengmyun and Bibim Guksu

sue — Sun, 03 Jun 2007 09:47:30 +0000

If you started to wonder what is different between bibim naengmyun and bibim guksu when you read my bibim guksu post the other day, I wouldn’t be surprised. I wasn’t quite sure which one is more accurate as the title either.

Here is a beautiful picture of bibim naengmyun taken by Evil jungle prince and compare it with my bibim guksu picture. Have a close look. Can you tell what the difference is? Not including the toppings?

(Bibim Naengmyun)

(Bibim Guksu)

As far as I know, the main difference is “the noodles”. Naemyun noodles are usually made of buckwheat flour, sweet potato starch or potato starch. They are very resilient and relatively harder to cut with your teeth.

On the other hand, guksu noodles are usually made of wheat flour and sometimes something else added like the soba noodles I used for my bibim guksu (The noodles had 69% wheat flour and 29% buckwheat flour).

I prefer guksu noodles over naengmyun noodles because they are easier to chew, therefore less messy to eat and feels easy on my stomach. What about you?

Here is some information on naengmyun if you are interested.

(Mul naengmyun, photo from hankooki.com)

Types of Korean Naengmyun

Pyongyang naengmyun – Mul naengmyun, served in cold watery radish kimchi broth, the noodles are usually 70% buckwheat flour and 30% starch powder
Hamhung naengmyun – Bibim naengmyun, served in spicy seasoning without the broth, the noodles are usually 100% potato starch.
Busan style Milmyun – the noodles are are usually 70% wheat flour and 30% starch powder

(Type of Milmyun, photo from Gaya milmyun)

Buckwheat Noodles (Memil Guksu in Korean)

Steamed Cabbage Rice Wraps (Yangbaechu Ssambap)

sue — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 04:23:28 +0000

It’s Autumn here in Australia. But still in my mind April means spring, with lots of beautiful flower blossoms and also more fresh herbs to make Namul banchan (seasoned vegetables or herbal side dishes) or Ssam (wraps) – in Korea that is.

Are you familiar with Ssam? Ssam means any wrapped food in edible leaves or wet seaweed like kombu. If you had meat in lettuce at a Korean restaurant that is called Ssam as well.

One type of Ssam I love is Ssambap (쌈밥). Ssambap is wrapped rice in edible leaves or some leafy seaweed. It is known as a healthy diet meal, because lettuce (or cabbage) makes you feel satisfied sooner. However, the material that is contained in lettuce, called lactcarium, can make you sleepy after the meal, so we need to watch out for that.

There are also some Korean restaurants specializing in Ssambap. They have a menu called “Ssambap Jeongsik” (consider this as Ssambap combo) which includes various kinds of leaves with dipping sauce, several side dishes, soup or stew and Jeyuk bokkum (stir fried spicy pork). Man, my mouth starts to water thinking of these already.

(Homemade Jeyuk Bokkum – January 2007 )

The key point of making delicious Ssambap is making delicious Ssamjang, the dipping sauce. Every restaurant has their own secret recipe for this. Me? I don’t have a secret recipe, I am not a specialist at this. However I found a simple and interesting recipe from the free recipe book that came with a magazine.

The dipping sauce turned out sweet but also a bit spicy. But to be honest, it might go better as a Bibimbap sauce rather than as a dipping sauce. Yet give it a try! You never know how you might feel about it.

Ingredients

-Cabbage wraps (for 2 people)

600g steamed cabbage
Steamed plain rice

-Ssamjang (enough to serve 6-8 people)

1 cup of Korean chili paste (Gochujang)
100g beef mince
1 tbsp sesame oil
4 tbsp grated Nashi pear (or Korean pear)
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp honey

-Marinade sauce for beef mince (mix these well)

1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp brown sugar
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp sesame oil
2 tsp minced green shallots
little ground black pepper

Method

Marinade the beef mince with the marinade sauce, leave it for 5 minutes.
Pre heat the wok on high heat for 10-20 seconds then add 1 tbsp of sesame oil in the wok.
Add the marinade beef and stir it fast.
When the meat is nearly cooked add the pear and stir it.
Add the Gochujang and stir it occasionally for about 6-10 minutes on medium heat.
Add the sesame oil, sugar, and honey, then stir.
Turn the heat off.
Serve the Ssamjang (dipping sauce) with steamed cabbage and rice or you can make the roll then serve.

Note : When you serve the Ssamjang, you should scoop out an adequate amount for the size of the meal. You can store the rest of the sauce in a sealed container in the fridge. It should last for at least a month.

Some recipes for Ssambap combo

-Side dishes

Thinly Sliced Radish Kimchi

Fish Cake Stir Fry (Eomuk-Japchae in Korean)

Simmered Lotus in Soy sauce (Yeon-gn Jorim)

Seasoned Green Bean Sprouts (Sukju Namul Muchim in Korean)

-Soup

Tofu Soybean Paste Stew (Dubu Doenjangjjigae in Korean)

Pork and Kimchi Stew (Dwaejigogi Kimchijjigae in Korean)

-Meat

Marinatied Pork Stir Fry with Gochujang sauce (Jeyuk-bokkeum)

Rice Cake and Traditional Kitchen Utensils Museum

sue — Wed, 07 Mar 2007 08:46:01 +0000

(Jangdokdae- A terrace where Koreans used to store pickled or fermented food like Gochujang or soy sauce/ The pots are called hangari)

After enjoying rice cakes and tea at Jilsiru, we decided to visit the rice cake and traditional kitchen utensils museum that are located in a same building. After paying the entrance fee (6,000 won (US $ 6.30) for 2, I thought it was pretty expensive from the beginning), we went up to the second floor where the rice cake museum was. It wasn’t very crowded. There were a couple of families and some kids doing their winter vacation homework. Then I saw a “Do not take pictures” sign. *big disappointed sigh* The exhibition room was a lot smaller than I expected. There were some collections of some rice cakes and traditional equipment that are used for making rice cakes. I have seen most of those as I grew up in text books or TV or even in my house.

(Below – two pictures taken in the rice cake museum at the end of our visit to Jilsiru.)

(Ddeoksal – Rice cake pattens)

After staying in that floor about 5 minutes with disappointment, we went up to the third floor where the traditional kitchen utensil museum was. The very first display you will see is this.

(5 cheop bansang (5 side dish meal) : Rice, soup, stew, soy sauce and 5 other side dishes, Kimchi doesn’t count as a side dish) Do you think it is a lot of side dishes? Yet King and noble people had 12 side dish meal. Crikey!

Surprisingly there was no sign of “Do not take pictures”. So I grabbed the chance, then I just gave it a quick look and we left. I stopped at the second floor and took some sneaky pictures in a section where there was no “Do not take pictures sign”.

(Left part of picture – rice cake making tools such as measuring cups and rice flour mill)

If you haven’t seen any of those before in your life, you might find them interesting. Yet there were no explanation about the tools, so you wouldn’t have any clue. I think they should reduce the entrance fee for the quality of the museum.

Address : 164-2, Waryong-dong, Jongno-Gu, Seoul
Open : Monday- Saturday 10:00~17:00, Sunday 12:00~17:00
Traffic info – (Subway) line 1, 3, 5 Jongno 3 ga station Exit No.7
Entrance fee : 3,000 won for an individual adult, 2,000 won for a student (adult fee applies to uni students) / 2,000 won each for adults in a group, 1,000 won each for students in a group (group means more than 20 people)

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Ddeok (Korean Rice Cake) Cafe – Jilsiru

sue — Sat, 03 Mar 2007 02:01:31 +0000

(Fancy Korean Rice Cakes)

I was very surprised to see these Korean rice cakes, because of their beauty and magnificence. Some rice cakes can be easily mistaken as western style cakes, like this one.

(Wine rice cake, 3500 won (US$3.70))

It looks like a type of cheese cake but it is not. It is slightly glutinous and its topping is slightly sweet and has a familiar taste which I cannot really describe (wine I guess). It was my favourite rice cake that I tried from that shop.

The shop that sells these rice cakes is called “Jilsiru“. It is a Korean rice cake shop and also a cafe. You can eat in or take away. They serve Korean rice cakes which are a bit more fancy looking than normal rice cakes, I say “fusionized rice cakes” and some Korean tea.

(Displayed menu – rice cake lunch set, 5000 won (US $ 5.30))

The rice cake lunch set is a good example of their fusion rice cakes. The very last dish on the bottom right are rice cake sandwiches and on their left there are some Kimchi rolled rice cakes. I didn’t actually have this menu, so I don’t know about the taste. However I read other people’s opinion about this and the response was very different (Some people loved it and others hated it) .

(From the table)

Every table has a glass of water and some flowers in it. It kind of made me relaxed.

(From the inside, a display of a little boy and girl in Hanbok costumes)

(Displayed menu – milk porridge, 6000 won (US $ 6.40))

Milk porridge (Tarak Juk) is a health aid food used in the royal court (Milk was very rare in those days, so only people in a royal court ate it). The king had this porridge when he was sick or feeling weak. In modern days, people make this as a baby’s or patients’ food.

(Displayed menu – Royal court ddeokbokki, 5ooo won (US 5.30))

Royal court ddeokbokki is known as the king’s snack food. Have you tried my recipe yet? Well, my recipe isn’t as authentic as in those old days, but it tastes OK.

(Displayed menu – rice cakes that last for 3 months)

Usually rice cakes don’t taste as nice if they are more than 24 hours old. However Jilsiru made these rice cakes that can last for 3 months at room temperature. All you need to do is microwave it just before you eat it. Pretty Clever!

(Pumpkin latte and rice cakes, 8ooo won (US $ 8.50))

Michael ordered a Pumpkin latte and rice cakes. According to Michael, it was yummy and creamy, similar to a light pumpkin soup, but also a bit different. It is certainly something that would seem fairly familiar to most Westerners. (Michael is not so good at describing food, but hey, he tried).

(Seolgi ddeok and Ssamji ddeok, from the back)

(Chinese date tea with goggal ddeok and Hobak ddeok, 8ooo won (US $ 8.50))

I didn’t order Chinese date tea (Daechu cha), but they served it. Yet it gave me a good opportunity to take pictures like this.

(Citrus tea and rice cakes)

This is what I ordered, Citrus tea (Yuja cha). Then Michael said that maybe I should have drunk the Chinese date tea instead, because it is more intriguing for you to read. Is it? Citrus tea has a slightly sour but pretty sweet taste. Refreshing!

We also bought some rice cakes on the way out.

From top left – Citrus rice cake (Yuja danja), Chocolate rice cake (Choco danja),
Apple rice cake (sagwa danja), Green tea rice cake (Nokcha danja) – 1500 won (US $1.60) each

In general, the rice cakes weren’t as sweet as I usually get. They seemed to try to accentuate the natural taste from whatever ingredient they used for each rice cake. The price seems a bit expensive, but for an occasional treat it wouldn’t be so bad.

Where is it located? There are two shops in Seoul. One big one in Jongno and the other is in Insadong.

(Address : 164-2, Waryong-dong, Jongno-Gu, Seoul)

Traffic info – (Subway) line 1, 3, 5 Jongno 3 ga station Exit No.7
Nearest Tourist info – Changdeok Palace Donhwamun (Jilsiru is about 300 m down the street that ends at the palace)

(Address :10 Gwanhun-dong, Jongno-Gu, Seoul)

Traffic info – (Subway) line 3 Anguk station Exit No.3

The whole building where the big Jilsiru is located is about Korean food. The 2nd and 3rd flour is a rice cake and kitchen utensil museum. The Institute of Traditional Korean Food is on the floors above the museum.

I will do a post about the museum in the next post, so stay tuned.

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Royal Rice Cake (Gungjung Ddeokbbokki in Korean)

Rice Cake and Traditional Kitchen Utensils Museum