Friday, August 21, 2009

Cooking Korean Style Rice

Rice 밥





One of the best books I purchased on my first trip to Seoul was “An Illustrated Guide to Korean Culture” prepared by the National Academy of the Korean Language. It contains chapters on 233 traditional key words. The first entry in the large food section is Bap 밥, steamed rice. This demonstrates how important rice is to Korean culture. By the way, raw rice is called ssal 쌀 and a rice plant is called byeo 벼. In Korean conversation to “eat bap” is synonymous to “having a meal”. I think this is the logical place to start writing about Korean cooking.

What kind of rice

Basic Korean rice is a medium grain rice that becomes sticky when cooked. In the US, Calrose medium grain rice is a very close substitute for imported Korean rice. It is sold at Costco as the Homai brand and by Rhee Brothers as both the Han Guk Mi and Rhee Chun Rice brands. Homai is what I use at home for everyday meals.

What to use to cook the rice

Rice can be cooked in a pot on the stove or using a rice cooker. Rice cookers can be simple and cheap or sophisticated pressure rice cookers that can cost hundreds of dollars. I have two cookers. One is a $30 Aroma model from Costco.



The other is a pressure rice cooker that I received as a gift.

Rice cookers can be very convenient. If you follow the basic instructions for the cooker or on the rice bag, you should be able to produce a good batch of rice without a lot of fuss. On the other hand, it is a useful skill to be able to cook rice well without a special appliance. I’ve been using a regular American style 3 quart pot with a glass lid and a Korean cast aluminum pot gamasot 가마솥 with a black non-stick coating.




Each night for the past week I’ve been making a fresh pot of rice on the stove by cycling through the three different cookbooks mentioned in my previous post. I have made decent rice from each recipe. This is what I did tonight and it produced a very good batch.


My steps to cooking rice on the stove

1) Measure rice into the pot. Two cups will serve two or three people.

2) Run cold water over the rice while swishing it around with your fingers.


3) Tip the pot as needed to drain the water. Be careful not to dump the rice into the sink. Repeat until water is nearly clear.


4) Cover rice with cool water and let soak from 30 to 60 minutes.


5) Drain and cover the rice with the same amount of water as rice. Note: this does not mean the water should be at the same level as the rice in the pot. Two cups of water over two cups of rice will cover the back of your fingers if you gently place your hand flat, palm down, on top of the rice.


6) Cover the rice and bring to a boil on high heat. Stir and cover again.


7) Reduce heat to medium low for 10 minutes and then stir.


8) Reduce heat to low and then cook an additional 10 minutes.


9) Reduce heat to lowest setting and let sit until ready to serve.

This works on my stove but your results may differ. If you have hard rice at the end you should add a little water to the pot and turn up the heat and replace the cover. If the rice is too watery, you should take the lid off and turn up the heat. Stir the rice a bit to help the water evaporate. Try not to disturb the rice at the bottom as by now it has become a little hard. Your rice will improve if you practice and make adjustments to the cooking process.

Friday, August 14, 2009

Korean cooking from the beginning

For now I will start preparing recipes from my three favorite Korean cookbooks. I will be comparing and contrasting them as I expand my knowledge of Korean food. I will do my best to pass along what I’ve learned and the little tips that I already know. What I won’t be doing is giving you the entire recipes verbatim from the books. You should buy these cookbooks. The authors went to an incredible amount of work to get published these books and we should support them by purchasing the fruits of their very hard labor. I own at least three copies of each. If I have a recipe that is original to me, I will include it in its entirety.

The following books will be my reference materials along with quite a few other cookbooks and Korean food and culture books. These three are very worthy purchases:

http://www.amazon.com/Korean-Mothers-Cooking-Notes/dp/8973002996

http://www.amazon.com/Growing-up-Korean-Kitchen-Cookbook/dp/1580082815

http://www.amazon.com/Eating-Korean-Barbecue-Kimchi-Recipes/dp/0764540785/

I’m not recommending Amazon as the source of the books but it’s a good starting place to learn about them. Here is another link to A Korean Mother’s Cooking Notes http://www.hanbooks.com/kormotcookno.html with more information.

The next post will be about Korean style rice.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Gamjajeon Korean Potato Pancakes Part 2

I tried again today but used the small holes on the box grater to get away from the "hash brown" look. I also used Yukon Gold instead of Russets. It produced a lot more water which I soaked up with paper towels. The result looked more like a true pancake but they didn't seem to taste as good as the Russet batch. Next time I'll try Russets finely grated. And I'll use my food processor. The box grater and I didn't get along today.



Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Gamjajeon 감자전 Korean Potato Pancake










I thought I should add something since Young K recommended to the cooking group to check it out.


I made Gangwondo style gamjajeon this afternoon as a snack for my parents and students. I've looked at this recipe for a couple of years and thought about making it but never did until two weeks ago when I felt a burst of ambition and whipped up a batch.


The recipe I use is adapted from Hi Soo Shin Hepinstall's "Growing up in a Korean Kitchen". Egg and cornstarch are mixed together and then chopped peppers, mushrooms, green onions and garlic are added.













Potatoes are quickly grated and mixed in. I use a box grater and if you cut the potatoes in half lengthwise is works well.











The batter is dropped into the pan and cooked for about 4 minutes per side. I prepared a vinegar soy sauce for dipping.













The first time I prepared this the boys complained about there not being enough heat. This time I used 4 peppers. My mouth is still tingling a little. Maybe I'll try three next time.
The only complaint was that I should have doubled the recipe.