My Korean KitchenKorean-Snack | My Korean Kitchen

Seasoned Dried Filefish (Jwipo)

sue — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 03:25:19 +0000

When I was a child I adored Jwipo (쥐포) so much. It was my favourite snack in the world.

Grilled Jwipo is sold on the street occasionally nowadays but it also used be sold at cinema snack bars as well. There was an episode when I went to see “Jurassic park” with my friend. I found that the snack bar was selling some grilled Jwipo, so I bought one just before the movie started. However as I finishing the one I had in my hand, I wanted to have some more. I ended up continually going backwards and forwards to get more Jwipo during the whole movie. I think I nearly ate about 10 or more of them (It was my second time watching the movie, for the record). It felt like I went to the cinema to eat those Jwipos instead of watching the movie, yet since then I don’t have any memories of eating Jwipo.

The other day, Zenkimchi wrote in his post that Jwipo is one of the strangest foods he had ever had, and that reminded of me how I fell in love with it at one time. So when I went grocery shopping the next day I instinctively grabbed Jwipo. The packet I bought only had 4 disks of Jwipo but it was extra big size for 3300 won (US $ 3.50)

I just baked them on a gas burner on medium heat. It was slightly salty and sweet, but fishy. It also was quite chewy. My jaw got sore a bit later. In general, it wasn’t as delicious as I remembered but it was a good snack.

Later I looked at the back of the packet and there were a couple of cooking methods recommended by the manufacturer. The first and second methods were for making spicy seasoned or soy sauce seasoned Jwipo as side dishes, which I will cover some other time. The third method was grilling Jwipo on a frying pan with some butter and the forth method was microwaving it slightly and using some Gochujang (Korean chili paste) or mayonnaise as a dipping sauce. The forth one is a common way to serve at a drink bar as well.

Jwipo is made out of filefish (dried, pressed, and seasoned). Once there was a rumor about filefishes that they are nearly extinct in Korea because of the massive consumption of Jwipo by Korean people. I have no idea if that is true or not.

Korean Sweet Pancakes (Hoddeok) – Fully Home Made Version

Eggs Baked on Elvan Stone

Spring Rolls in Laver (Gimmari in Korean)

sue — Mon, 20 Nov 2006 09:55:48 +0000

If you go to the ddeokbokki special shops or mini vans or carts that sell ddeokbokki, you can see this Gimmari there 90% of the time. You can have Gimmari as it is or ask the shop owner to mix it with ddeokbokki. I always prefer option no.2. It is so yummy. I like Gimmari more than anything else from the ddeokbokki dish.

I was going to make this Gimmari with ddeokbokki today, but as you may know, I used up the rice cakes for ddeokbokki the other day (The rice cakes were so fresh, I couldn’t resist cooking them). So I had to cook Gimmari on its own and had it on its own. It was very crispy and filling, also simple to cook (Though I burnt my wok again, more work for me, yeah~ -_-;;).

Ingredients for 16 rolls

(Expected preparation time – Less than 20 minutes, Cooking time – Less than 10 minutes)

Laver 8 sheets
Glass noodles 1 fistful
1/3 a carrot (small size)
10 stalks of garlic chives

-Sauce

Soy sauce 1 tbsp
Salt 1tsp
Sesame oil 1/4 tsp
Pepper 1 sprinkle

-Coating Batter

White flour 1/2 cup
Starch powder 1/2 cup
Salt 1/4 tsp
Water 3/4 cup

Preparation

Put some water into the pot.
Boil the water. While it is boiling thin slice the carrot, cut the garlic chives into little finger lengths.
When the water starts to boil, add the glass noodles. Boil it until the noodles are cooked. – It cooks nearly instantly by the way.
Drain the water.
Cut the noodles into little finger size with scissors.
Put the noodles, carrots and garlic chives into a mixing bowl.
Add the sauce. Mix it well with your hand or chopsticks.
Sieve the flour, starch powder, and the salt.
Add the water and stir it well.
Cut the laver into halves.
Put the noodle and vegetable mix onto the laver.

12. Roll the laver.
13. When you finish rolling, put the rolled laver into the coating batter bowl (I put 4 rolls at a time. If you put too many in, they can squash each other.)

Cooking

1. Pour some oil into the wok. (for deep frying)
2. When it starts to boil, add the Gimmari (rolled laver).

3. When it cooks, put it onto the plate. (on Kitchen paper towel to soak some oil)
4. When all the Gimmari cooks, re-fry them all. (It is crispier that way.)
5. Serve it on the plate.

I made a total of 16 rolls and it was enough as 2 people’s meal (I was surprised about that). We had 11 rolls total for dinner and left 5 rolls for later snacks. It was good for the first couple of bites, but it became a bit oily. That is why, as I said at the beginning of the post, Gimmari tastes best with Ddeokbokki. I missed you, Ddeokbokki! A lot!!

Tips for Sticking Laver

If you put some water on the edge of the laver after rolling it, it will stick better.

For your curiosity I used these noodles.

Also, I didn’t use the rolling mat. I thought I would, but I didn’t need to.

Hot Wings

Sticky Rice Cakes (Chapssalddeok in Korean)

sue — Mon, 13 Nov 2006 08:08:51 +0000

Chapssalddeok is mainly made of glutinous rice, red beans, and sugar. It reminds me of a snow bowl. It is very similar to Japanese mochi. (maybe even the same)

This is a picture of Chapssalddeok. (About 2000 won – US $2.10 ; You can buy them at the big supermarkets like Homeplus, E-mart, Hanaro mart, etc or rice cake shops in Korea)

I forgot to take a picture of its inside part because I was so busy eating them.
Its inside looks the same as sweet rice cakes (Gyongdan). This is also a common present for grade 12 students in Korea, because we have the SAT equivalent test in Korea, and Chapssalddeok has a sticky character so people wish them to stick with (get in) some kind of good university by giving the present.

Related Posts

Strawberry Rice Cakes for My Valentine

Sweet Rice Cake (Gyongdan in Korean)

Colorful Rice Cake (Mujigae Ddeok in Korean)

What Rice Cake, for Cooking, Looks Like

Fried Honey Cake (Yakgwa in Korean)

Pepero Day

sue — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 02:45:03 +0000

Tomorrow, November 11th is Pepero day in Korea. Pepero is a snack that looks like long thin sticks with a chocolate coating. It is very similar to Japanese Pocky.

Pepero day became like Valentine’s Day in Korea. It is popular with young people and couples and they exchange pepero sticks each other as a gift (as a symbol of romance or friendship). You can learn more about this day from wikipedia.

I haven’t bought any pepero for about a year, but I bought 6 packs already this week. Since every supermarket in Korea has allocated a large space for the pepero for this special occasion, it is unavoidable. That’s my excuse anyway.

This is a picture (below) of the pepero I am currently enjoying. The price (700 won) is the same for the both packets. But the amount of the pepero is dramatically different. The Red pack is the original one, though I liked the black pack pepero better, because it had a stronger chocolate taste.

This is a picture (below) of another kind of pepero. I think they only make this on pepero week. (Sorry, there isn’t an inside picture from this box. I already ate them. ) There were only 3 sticks of pepero in the box, which tastes like rolypoly by Haetae or choco twister by Delfi. (Price is 1000 won)

Related Posts

Fried Honey Cake (Yakgwa in Korean)

Sweet Rice Cake (Gyongdan in Korean)

Colorful Rice Cake (Mujigae Ddeok in Korean)

sue — Wed, 04 Oct 2006 23:58:47 +0000

I like this rice cake’s color, it is so beautiful. It looks sweet but it tastes plain. (so my husband doesn’t like it as much.)Its price was 2000 won (US $2.10). It seemed expensive to me since it is only 3 pieces. Mujigae means “rainbow” in Korean. Apparently this has the meaning of “Achieve your Dream or Wish”. So you definitely should try some.

Related Post

Strawberry Rice Cakes for My Valentine

Sticky Rice Cakes (Chapssalddeok in Korean)

Sweet Rice Cake (Gyongdan in Korean)

What Rice Cake, for Cooking, Looks Like

Fried Honey Cake (Yakgwa in Korean)