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Tag Archive: Korean Food

White Prawn and Mussle Stew (Saewoo Honghap Tang)

January 22, 2007 Category: Seafood, Soup and Stew

This stew is something you might like on a cold night, along with Soju. The soup was so flavourful and moreish, you can not dislike it if you love Korean food.

When I had the first spoonful of soup it gave me a feeling as if I solved some kind of a mystery, though the hit of the chili powder on your throat is something you always need to watch out for.

I cooked this stew on a portable burner, something I very much enjoy doing lately when I cook. I think the food tastes best when it is kept hot during the meal, and it makes you feel as if you are eating at a restaurant.

Ingredients for 4 people

(Prep time – 10 minutes, Cooking time – 10 to 15 minutes)

White Prawn and Mussle Stew (Saewoo Honghap Tang)ingredients

White prawns – 380g
Mussels – 300g
4 shiitake mushrooms
1/3 a zucchini
White radish – 150g
Crown daisy (ssukgat in Korean) – 66g
Bean sprouts (kongnamul)- 100g
Water 5 cups
11x15cm size dried kelp
1 green chili (spicy)

Sauce (mix these in a bowl)

Chili powder – 3 tbsp
Soy sauce – 1 tbsp
Anchovy sauce – ½ tbsp
Refined rice wine – 2 tbsp
Brown sugar – 1 tsp
Minced garlic -1 ½ tbsp

Prep

Clean the mussels individually with a rough cloth or brush and trim the hair with scissors.
Rinse the prawns. (I didn’t cut or trim any parts of them and still survived. )
Clean the vegetables (peel the skin as needed. Discard bad beans.)
Thin slice the zucchini and white radish.
Discard the stem from the mushrooms.
Take out the seed from the chili and thin slice it diagonally.

Cooking (You will need two pots)

1. Boil the water (5 cups) and when it starts to boil add the mussels.

2. When the mussels open their shells, sieve the water through a cloth strainer to get rid of the sand that comes out of the mussels (use this water in step 3).

White Prawn and Mussle Stew (Saewoo Honghap Tang)prep

3. Put the boiled water into a pot, add the dried kelp, and boil it for 2-3 minutes.

4. Take out the kelp (you can throw it away), add the radish and sauce. Stir it well.

5. Add the rest of the vegetables, prawns, and cooked mussels into the pot and when it starts to boil, you can start eating the cooked ingredients.

White Prawn and Mussle Stew (Saewoo Honghap Tang)cooking

6. Enjoy your meal.

White Prawn and Mussle Stew (Saewoo Honghap Tang)2

Terms from the title

Saewoo – General terms for shrimps or prawns
Honghap – Mussels
Tang – Boiled soup or stew

King Oyster Mushrooms and Prawns on Rice

Tags: Korean Food, Mussle, Seafood, Soup-and-Stew, White-Prawn

Eggs Baked on Elvan Stone

January 13, 2007 Category: Food and Culture

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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

Seasoned Green Bean Sprouts (Sukju Namul Muchim in Korean)

January 10, 2007 Category: Side Dishes (Banchan), Vegetarian

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Seasoned Green Bean Sprouts (Sukju Namul Muchim in Korean)1

I am into these green bean sprouts lately. They give a flavourful taste to soup and a savory taste to side dishes. I don’t make many side dishes (I prefer one dish meals that don’t require any side dishes, because it is simple and quick, and I don’t need to wash many plates later on ), but I thought I should try some side dish recipes to show you, since I haven’t made one for a while. So I tried making seasoned green bean sprouts and the more I eat them, the more I like them.

Their flavour comes out with a good balance of salt, garlic and sesame oil. They have a mild taste and chewing their fiber is another pleasure (They give a bit of a soft yet crunchy feeling).

Ingredients for 4 people

(Prep time – 2 minutes, Cooking time – 10 minutes)

Green bean sprouts 250 g
Salt – ½ tsp
Sesame oil – 1 tsp
Minced garlic – 1/8 tsp
Finely chopped green onion – 2 tsp
Parched sesame – 1/8 tsp

Steps

Rinse the green bean sprouts in cold water, discard the bad beans.
Boil some water in a pot. (I used 3 cups of water)
Add the green bean sprouts when the water starts to boil.
Par boil them for 2 minutes.
Drain the water. Cool down the sprouts. (if you lift them with tongs or chopsticks frequently, it cools down faster.)
Add the salt on top (sprinkle it all over the place) and leave it like that for 3 minutes.
Squeeze the green bean sprouts with your hands. (discard the water if it comes out)
Add the rest of the seasoning sauce, and mix them well.
Serve them on a dish.

Seasoned Green Bean Sprouts (Sukju Namul Muchim in Korean) steps2

Side story about “Sukju Namul” (Green bean sprouts)

Seasoned Green Bean Sprouts (Sukju Namul Muchim in Korean)3

Writing about Korean food certainly makes me study. While I was translating sukju namul into English, which was about a month ago, I found that they are called green bean sprouts in English. Green bean sprouts? Are they made of green beans? I didn’t realize that they are made of green beans (apparently I was ignorant about Korean food and its history before I started this blog), because they disguised their name into sukju all this time. Green bean is Nokdu in Korean, then how come Koreans call green bean sprouts Sukju namul instead of Nokdu namul?

Well, apparently, there is a popular traditional theory and most Koreans seem to believe, that is the true. There was a scholar called Shin Suk-ju in 1462, and he betrayed his king when there was a coup (There was a young king called ‘Danjong’, and his uncle ‘Sejo’ tried to take over the throne.) When the coup happened he was asked to help his king, but he refused to do so. Apparently green bean sprouts go off very easily, so their easily changing characteristic is similar to Shin Suk-ju’s mind. That is why Green bean sprouts are named Sukju namul instead of Nokdu namul.

Apparently green bean sprouts are more nutritious than bean sprouts and have 80 times more nutrients than green beans themself.

Thinly Sliced Radish Kimchi

Boiled Beef and Quail’s Eggs in Soy sauce (Sogogi Jangjorim in Korean)

Tags: green_bean_sprouts, Korean Food, Side Dishes (Banchan), sukju-namul, Vegetarian

Pork Belly (Samgyeopsal in Korean) Party

January 5, 2007 Category: Food and Culture, Red Meat

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Pork Belly (Samgyeopsal in Korean) Party on the magazine

It’s been a very long time since I last had samgyeopsal. I think Koreans have to eat samgyeopsal on a regular basis – Otherwise people go crazy like me.

According to a recent Korean news paper, Koreans consumed about 17 kg of pork per person in 2005, compared to beef – 6.6 kg and chicken – 7.4 kg, and more than 50 % of the pork was the samgyeopsal. To meet this consumption, Korea has imported massive amounts of samgyeopsal from 14 countries, the amount was about 85,000t for the last 11 months. Why are Koreans so crazy for samgyeopsal?

Well, for me, it is delicious. That is all I can say. I especially like it when the meat is cooked in a golden crispy way.

The reason I haven’t had it for a long time was, simply, I didn’t have a grill plate for it. I wasn’t going to buy it until I moved out from this house, because I didn’t want to increase our load, but my tolerance had nearly reached the limit. I decided to buy a grill pan finally, whether it will be a burden or not. (I will tell you about the grill plate in the next post.)

This is the samgyeopsal we ate. (1.4 kg served 4 people – about US $22, I know it is a lot to eat, but we haven’t had this for nearly for 8 months, we were like some kind of hungry wolves. )

Pork Belly (Samgyeopsal in Korean) Party pork

It was s~o good, the meat was melting in my mouth. I totally loved having baked Kimchi with the meat. It is another level of delight.

Pork Belly (Samgyeopsal in Korean) Party cooking

Enjoying Samgyeopsal dos and don’t

Have some fresh vegetables with the meat. You can wrap the meat with some lettuce and Perilla leaves (Korean style sesame leaves – Ggaennip in Korean). It is healthier and also helps digestion.
Bake some garlic and spicy green chilies on the grill and add them when you wrap the meat. It really enhances the taste.
You can also bake some fermented Kimchi on the grill. Some restaurants serve you 1 year old fermented Kimchi. It is not as horrible as you may think, it totally rocks. Some experts say that it is the best part of having samgyeopsal.
Cook the meat on the strong heat for a short time. That way you don’t loose the meat juice (you don’t want it to go dry).

Don’t

While the meat is cooking on the grill, don’t turn it over every so often. Apparently the more you do, the more it looses its flavour. Some experts say that only turning the meat once is best.
Don’t stretch out your hands to pick the meat from the opposite side. People get angry at you. (Every wolf is hungry here)
Don’t keep eating. You need to learn the beauty of cooperation by joining in turning the meat when it is cooked. You are a mean spirited person if you keep eating while the others work together to turn the meat.
Don’t eat the meat when it is burnt. It is bad for your health (The burnt part can cause cancer).

I couldn’t keeping taking pictures after smelling it (and who would?), so I can’t give you a visual image of “dos and don’t”, yet I am going to hold another party soon, then I can show you more of the side dishes I made.

Related Posts

BBQ Grill Plate

Pork Belly BBQ (Samgyeopsal Gui)

Steamed Pork Wrapped in Leaves (Bossam in Korean)

Steamed Pork Ribs (Dwaeji Galbi Jjim in Korean) – Natural Sauce Version

Tags: BBQ, Food and Culture, Korean Food, Korean-cuisine, Meat, Pork-Belly, Red Meat, Samgyeopsal

Stir fried Kimchi and Rice (Kimchi Bokkumbap in Korean)

January 3, 2007 Category: Rice

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Stir fried Kimchi and Rice (Kimchi Bokkumbap in Korean) on the magazine

When I was making Kimchi Bokkumbap for lunch, my sister was helping me out. I said to her to cut neatly and put the ingredients neatly on a plate, because I need to take some pictures to post for the blog, and my sister was surprised because I haven’t posted recipes for Kimchi bokkumbap yet. I sort of did here, but it is more complicated because it has some extra ingredients and didn’t taste as good as this one, if I remember the taste right. (It was a very early post, so my cooking wasn’t as good as nowadays.)

This recipe is really simple and quick to make, you can also appreciate the Kimchi taste more (this implies that it has a stong Kimchi taste). It works really well with bacon and enoki mushrooms too. It was the best Kimchi bokkumbap I ever had.

Ingredients for 3 big eaters or 4 medium eaters

(Prep time – 5 minutes, Cooking time – 5 minutes )

1 cup of Kimchi (at least 1 week fermented)
3 ½ cups of steamed rice
1 pack of enoki mushrooms
Bacon 150 g
Minced garlic – 1/2 tsp
Kimchi liquid – 4 tbsp (this is the sauce in the bottom of the kimchi container)
Sesame seed oil – 1 tbsp
Olive oil – 1 tbsp
3-4 eggs for topping (by the number of people)
Some parched sesame seed (optional)

Prep

Cut the Kimchi and bacon into small pieces.
Cut off the root of the enoki mushrooms and rinse them.
Pan fry the eggs individually.

Cooking

Pre heat the wok for 10 seconds and add the olive oil then spread it well.
Add the garlic, stir it fast for 10 seconds.
Add the bacon and stir it until half of it cooks.
Add the Kimchi and stir it until 80% of it cooks.
Add the mushrooms, stir it for a second then add the rice.
Add the Kimchi liquid and mix all together throughly.
Add the sesame oil and mix it throughly with other ingredients.
Serve it on a plate (You can sprinkle some parched sesame seeds on top) add the egg on top.

Stir fried Kimchi and Rice (Kimchi Bokkumbap in Korean) 1

Vegetables and Caviar on Rice (Albap in Korean)

Tags: Kimchi-Bokkumbap, Korean Food, Korean-cuisine, Quick Meals, Rice, Stir-fried-Kimchi-and-Rice