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Tag Archive for 'noodles'

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Spicy, Sweet and Vinegary Noodles (Bibim Guksu)

Published May 29th, 2007 in Noodles and Vegetarian. 20 Comments

Bibim Guksu05292

This bibim guksu is something I am very much enjoying making and eating lately. I made this 5 times last week already. Yes! it is that tasty and morish. I just can’t get sick of it. Besides, it doesn’t require any complicated preparation or cooking.

Its main taste comes from the sauce, which has a slightly spicy, sweet and sour taste, and the fragrance from the sesame oil is another pleasant experience.

Bibim guksu is a popular Korean summer dish, because the spicy and sour taste rejuvenates your lost appetite in drowsy hot humid summer days. For me, looking at this picture is good enough for now. How about you?

Bibim Guksu05291

Ingredients for 2 people (Ready in 10-15 minutes)

Noodles

  • 180 g organic soba noodles

Toppings

  • 2 medium lettuce leaves, thin sliced
  • 1/4 a leaf red cabbage, thin sliced
  • 1/2 a small cucumber, julienned
  • 1/3 a small carrot, julienned
  • A few snow pea sprouts
  • 2 tbsp thumb nail size Kimchi

Sauce (mix these in a bowl)

  • 2 tbsp gochujang
  • 2 tbsp rice vinegar
  • 1 tbsp soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp honey
  • 1 tbsp brown sugar
  • 1 tbsp Korean sesame oil
  • 1 tbsp roasted sesame seeds

Method

  1. Boil the noodles in boiling water for about 3 minutes.
  2. Sieve the noodles and run the cold water thoroughly over the noodles to cool them down.
  3. Place the noodles in a bowl and add the toppings and sauce.
  4. Mix them well and dig in.

Cook’s Note

You can alter the toppings as you wish, like adding boiled egg or white radish pickle etc. Also if you want more spicy taste, you may add some Korean chili powder or minced garlic in the sauce and more vinegar for a sour taste. However, before you add anything into the original sauce, make sure you taste it first to ensure it tastes good.

The noodles I used for this recipe

Bibim Guksu noodles 0529

HAKUBAKU organic soba (ingredients : wheat flour 69%, buckwheat flour 29%, salt 2 %, water), Price - about AU $2.30, available at Woolworth or Coles
The noodles are conveniently divided into 3 portions with white paper straps.

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Instant Cup Noodles “King Lid” (Wang Ddukkeong)

Published February 14th, 2007 in Instant Food and Noodles. 17 Comments

Instant Cup Noodles King Lid(Wang Ddukkeong) 1

Made by Yakult Korea (110 g, 490 kcal, Sticker Price 850 won)

It’s been nearly 17 years since these King lid (왕뚜껑) cup noodles came out to the world. King lid! What a name! I guess its container is a lot wider than the other ones. What about the taste? As 17 years of history tells, it is pretty good. I think these were the most tasty cup noodles I have ever had so far. Though I remind you, I don’t eat cup noodles very often nor have I tried every cup noodles in Korea yet. I guess I was pretty hungry so it might have helped too.

How to cook (I am sure you know already but for clarification)

Instant Cup Noodles King Lid(Wang Ddukkeong) 3

  1. Open the lid and half of the paper lid. Add the powdered sauce and dried veggies and meat packet.
  2. Pour boiling (100℃) water up to the inside line of the container.
  3. Put the lid on.
  4. Wait about 3 minutes. Stir it well with chopsticks.
  5. Dig in.

Instant Cup Noodles King Lid(Wang Ddukkeong) 2

Yet I prefer slightly undercooked noodles. So I would wait only for 1-2 minutes.

As a Korean, I would describe them as refreshing. That may not work as a description to many of you, but that’s how they make me feel.

Some westerners seem to think that instant noodles are for uni students, yet that is not so in Korea. There is a certain time you crave cup noodles, like a rainy day or when you see someone eating on the TV. Cup noodles are also a very popular snack at Internet cafes, so called PC bangs (but they are usually very smoky, dark, and noisy places unlike a western style one).

What are your favourite cup noodles? And do you have your own secret way to enhance the taste?

Related Posts

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

Instant Cold Noodles in Broth (Mul Naengmyun)

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Instant Cold Noodles in Broth (Mul Naengmyun)

Published January 16th, 2007 in Instant Food, Noodles and Product Reviews. 16 Comments
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 Review - Instant Cold Noodles in Water (Mul Naengmyun)packet2

Cooking for 2 people

Review - Instant Cold Noodles in Water (Mul Naengmyun)cooking
  1. Slightly freeze the broth in its packet. (It takes about 3-4 hours)
  2. Boil the noodles in boiling water (7 cups) for 1 minute.
  3. Drain the water and rinse the noodles in cold water a couple of times.
  4. 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.
  5. 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. :))

Related Posts

Buckwheat Noodles (Memil Guksu in Korean)

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

Instant Udong Noodles

Instant Korean Black Bean Paste Noodles (Jajangmyun in Korean)

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