Water Kimchi Dongchimi 동치미

Here's another easy kimchi recipe from Marja Vongerichten's The Kimchi Chronicles cookbook. This kimchi is unusual in that it doesn't contain red pepper. I've seen other versions with green peppers included to give it a kick but this would be a good kimchi for those with no heat tolerance. Btw, I forgot to have sugar in the photo. It's an important part of the fermentation process.

Here's is the finished product. I think the head of cabbage may have been way too big. It should have only filled the two half gallon jars and I'm thinking it should have a higher liquid to solid ratio. It will sit on my counter for a few days and then into the fridge it goes.

Making kimchi 막김치

I ordered Marja Vongerichten's Kimchi Chronicles DVDs and companion cookbook. It's been an inspiration to get back to sharing my Korean cooking. I decided to start with her recipe for cabbage kimchi.

I started the day driving down to H Mart in Lynnwood. This is the closest Korean store to my town. It's about 40 miles. Not only is it a grocery store but it also has a food court and a good selection of housewares.

Here are the ingredients for this version of kimchi. From left to right, napa cabbage, Korean radish (mu or moo), green onions, fish sauce, garlic, sugar, sweet rice powder, salted shrimp, yellow onion, coarse salt and coarse red pepper.

 Here is the cabbage cut up in pieces.

 And here is the cabbage after being salted and resting for a couple of hours. Notice that it has wilted quite a bit.

 This is the seasoning. It's a mixture of garlic, ginger, fish sauce, green onion, yellow onion and salted shrimp.

This is the kimchi after the cabbage has been mixed with the seasoning. 

This just makes my mouth water.

1.5 gallons of beautiful cabbage kimchi!

Kongnamul Korean Soybean Sprout Salad 콩나물

Kongnamul is a very popular side dish for Koreans. It almost always included in the banchan (side dishes) in Korean restaurants. I made this version a couple of days ago and took it to work. The 2 pounds batch was gone by the end of the day. One co-worker really liked it and even put it in the soup she was eating for lunch.

When preparing soybeans for cooking, it's important to pick them over and remove discolored ones and any bean skins that are still hanging on. A traditional Korean mother would snip the skinny tails off of each and every sprout before cooking. Thankfully, this is not usually the case anymore. In fact, the tails have a concentration of an ingredient that is great for hangovers. A very good excuse to be lazy.

Here's a closeup of a few individual sprouts. In her cookbook, Growing Up in a Korean Kitchen, Hi Soo Shin Hepinstall relates how musical notes are called soybean sprout heads by Korean children. It makes perfect sense. Also, it is believed that children who eat a lot of kongnamul will grow up straight and tall.





Here are the ingredients I used for a two pound batch of kongnamul. From left to right - ground sesame seeds, sesame oil, soy sauce, red pepper flakes, black pepper, green onion, salt and garlic.

The sprouts are put in a pot with a cup of boiling water. The sprouts are covered with a lid and cooked on high for about 3 minutes. Do not take the lid off the pot while the sprouts are cooking. Every Korean cook will tell you that the sprouts will taste "off" if the lid is removed too soon.

Drain the sprouts. I usually let them cool a bit also. In the meantime, finely chop the green onions and garlic. Mix with all the other ingredients except for the ground sesame and red pepper flakes.

Sprinkle with the ground sesame and red pepper flakes before serving.

Namdaemun 남대문 Great Southern Gate

Namdaemun 남대문 or Great Southern Gate - Seoul, South Korea

This was taken in 2007 before the gate was burned by a mentally unstable man. The Southern Gate is considered the first cultural treasure of South Korea. I'm glad to have visited it before it was damaged. Restoration work is underway. It is scheduled to be completed in 2012.

Korean Seaweed Soup Miyeok Guk 미역국 Pt 3

Some cultural notes on miyeok guk.

Korea is surrounded by seas on three out of four sides. The brown seaweed is plentiful and very high quality. It's mostly dried for later use.

Miyeok guk is eaten after childbirth. It's very good for the mother's health and promotes milk production. Because of this, it is traditionally served on the 100 day celebration (백일) of a birth and all subsequent birthdays. In the past, fathers-in-law would go to the market and buy the best quality miyeok available in hopes of getting a grandson. There was even a superstition that folding or breaking the seaweed would cause a difficult pregnancy.

BTW, I don't usually eat miyeok in soup. At H-Mart in Lynnwood, a wonderful cold salad is sold with vinegar, sugar, red onions and shreds of crab surimi. I don't get enough of that stuff.

Korean Seaweed Soup Miyeok Guk 미역국 Pt 2

I made another batch of soup using a different recipe. This was based on chicken broth and chicken breast. In addition to the chicken, it also had medium firm tofu. The rest of the ingredients and method were similar to the beef version. I used American canned chicken broth that is low in sodium. I dilute with the same amount of water.
I added more salt at the table.

Miyeok guk can also be based on a seafood broth and ingredients.


Miyeok is bought in bags. The photo shows two examples. The writing in red on the upper bag is miyeok in Korean. 미역 This is what you need to look for at the store.
Dry miyeok is very dark, bone dry and brittle. If not using the whole bag, I try to separate the pieces instead of cutting it because cutting produces a lot of little pieces.


Here's the miyeok after it has soaked for 10 minutes.
Here's a big piece of seaweed. A lot of the pieces have a seam that should be cut off. On this piece it runs along the top. I use a sharp paring knife but it can also be torn off.

After the seams are cut, the large pieces should be cut into smaller pieces.

Korean Seaweed Soup Miyeok Guk 미역국 Pt 1

Here is an easy version of Miyeok Guk.

It includes beef, soy sauce garlic, sesame oil, black pepper, light beef broth and seaweed. Sliced green onions are used to garnish it.

Combine the sliced beef with crushed garlic, soy sauce, 1/2 of the sesame oil and some ground black pepper.

After letting the beef marinate, heat up the other half of the oil in a pot and brown the beef. Add the broth and seaweed and simmer (lightly boil) for up to 15 minutes.

The finished soup is ladled into individual bowls and then garnished with the green onion.

I'll add some cultural and cooking notes with the next post.

Comments are welcome but also moderated.

Super Pho and Teriyaki - Mount Vernon, WA

I had a nice meal with Paul, my HK student. I'll write more this weekend.

You can click on this or most any other picture to enlarge it.

Super Pho and Teriyaki - Mount Vernon, WA

Great news!! A new pho restaurant is opening in the near future. I called today 12/1 and they said it should be open tomorrow. :) It replaces Tokyo Stop on 2nd Street in Downtown Mount Vernon. I'll try it as soon as it's open and give my impressions.



Here's a link to their website with location and menu. I love that they have lots of combos.

http://www.superphoandteriyaki.com/

Pho at Thai House - Mount Vernon, WA

The weather turned today. It was cool and very rainy. On the way home I stopped downtown at the Thai House to have a bowl of pho. Of course, pho is a Vietnamese soup, not Thai. I've had their version quite a few times. It's not 100% authentic but it's pretty good and it's the only pho in Mount Vernon (perhaps Skagit County).

Here's a site to learn how to pronounce the word pho. It doesn't rhyme with hoe.

http://www.lovingpho.com/pho-opinion-editorial/how-to-pronounce-pho/

A bowl of pho at Thai House is $8.99. This is a bit more expensive than most pho restaurants. I eat at Pho 99 in Bellingham and their large is $2 or 3$ dollars less.

The lunch specials are a good value. I come here with co-workers every so often. I usually order the phad thai if I'm not getting the pho. My boss and the purchasing manager like the green papaya salad.

The first thing to show up at the table is a plate with Thai basil, jalapeno rings, bean sprouts and a lime wedges. These are all meant to be added to the soup to suit your preference. I always put in the basil and lime juice. Not so much with the bean sprouts and jalapeno.

The sauces are hoisen and sriracha red chili. They are also meant to be added to the broth.

And then the soup shows up. It's a piping hot beef broth with rice noodles, slices of rare beef and garnished with cilantro and sliced green onions.

The broth is seasoned with various spices. The one time I made this with a Vietnamese friend, I remember that we used star anise and ginger that had been charred on a stove top burner.
Add the basil, lime, sprouts, sauces and jalapeno and dig in.

Instead of putting the sauces in the soup, I learned a custom from a northern Viet student who had learned the custom in turn from southern Viet students. I mix the sauces on a plate and dip the meat in it.

In a pho restaurant, the slices of eye of round are just one of the choices. I usually get a combination that includes round steak, tendon, tripe and then some fatty, well cooked beef.

Tacos Tecalitlan 3 - Mount Vernon, WA

This taco truck is behind a smoke shop just down the block from the Grocery Outlet. I had four tacos and a pop for about $7. I had one each of the tripa, buche, chicharrone and carnitas.

The woman working the counter knew just enough English to take my order but not to tell me what buche was other than it was pork. No problem. I'm advernterous. I enjoyed all four.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Japchae 잡채

Here's a picture of the Korean noodle dish Japchae. I made this for a Korean Language Meetup in Seattle. It's considered one of the best Korean dishes to take to a potluck dinner. It can be served at room temperature and keeps well. This version of Japchae contains flank steak, noodles, 3 kinds of mushrooms, onion, carrot, cucumber and bellflower root. It sounds simple but it's fairly labor intensive. All the ingredients are prepared separately and then tossed together at the end. I've made it several times and it's only become a little easier to prepare. I use a mandoline slicer to get the long strips of carrot and cucumber.

Shredded Radish Salad 무생채

Mu saengchae is one of my favorite side dishes. I always eat way more than I should and it's easy to make. This picture doesn't convey how spicy this version is. I used plenty of fine red pepper powder along with sugar, Korean brown rice vinegar and salt. I used two large radishes and I think the three of us will have it gone in another day. I use a Japanese mandoline to cut the radish. It makes it easy and looks good too. The recipe doesn't call for any garnishing but it looks naked without at least a sprinkling of sesame seeds for chopped green onion.

Pre-Cut Kimchi 막김치

Considering the cost of kimchi at Paldo, I've started investing the time to make our own kimchi. I made a couple of gallons of cubed radish kimchi a couple of weeks ago and Monday I made just as much cabbage kimchi.

I hadn't made kimchi in about a year so I was a little worried but the recipes I started with were apparently good. The students have eaten about 20% of the cabbage kimchi in two days with a lot of discussion between them about how good it is. At this rate there may not be any left for kimchi jjigae.

My parents picked up 6 heads of cabbage and 2 radishes (about $12) on their way over from Prosser and I already had everything else so it worked out well. I put in the usual cabbage, radish, green onion, garlic, ginger, fish sauce, red pepper and sugar. The only thing different from a lot of recipes was I used fresh shrimp (or thawed Costco shrimp in this case) instead of the salted shrimp I've used in the past. It was important to me to use Costco shrimp because it's not soaked in chemicals like a lot of other seafood.

Jeotgal 젓갈 Part 2

Seeing and eating the jeotgal reminded me of a great experience when I was in Seoul last November. Professor C and I went to Noryangjin Seafood Market노량진수산시장 to see the sights and eat some fish. The professor escorted me around while I took tons of pictures and then we got down to the business of seafood. We stopped at a live fish monger and picked out a couple of strange looking fish. They were sent to a restaurant in another part of the market to be cooked for us later. We also stopped and bought several varieties of jeotgal. I was overwhelmed by the display and the quantity. Some of the small shrimp vats were as big as barrels. My favorite from that day was the oyster jeotgal. My mouth waters just thinking about it. I was planning on bringing some back to Mount Vernon but decided that customs might have a problem with raw seafood. We ate the jeotgal little by little over the rest of my stay.