Korean Rice Roll - Kimbab

Whenever it's spring I remember Korean rice roll (kimbab), because my mom made rice rolls when I went to field trip. My mom used ground beef, pickled radish, cucumber, seasoned root, carrot... but she added a lots of steamed rice, so it was not good - it tasted a little bland to me. (sorry mom...)

Korean Crunchy Fried Chicken - Dak-gangjeong

These days, fried chicken and beer are very popular foods in Korea. It is called Chi-mack, Chi comes from the Korean word for chicken and mack comes from the Korean word for beer, mackju. Chi-mack is also popular in China from the influence of the Korean drama 'My Love from the Star". The Chinese wants to eat Chi-mack after they watch the drama - the actress ate chi-mack in the drama. Korean dramas are popular all over Asia nowadays, so the Korean culture is also popular. Especially, Korean food. By the way, there are some people that like original fried chicken, but I like fried chicken with garlic and soy sauce like this picture (Dak-gangjeong), because I like the crunchy, salty and sweet taste of the chicken.

Ingredients
1 lb                                                    chicken thighs
1 C                                                     fried mix powder
1 C                                                     water
2/3 C                                                  milk
1/2 C                                                  mother sauce
4 T                                                      oligosaccharide
1 T                                                      potato starch 
pepper to taste
peanut oil

mother sauce
1 C                                                     soy sauce
1 C                                                     water
1/2 C                                                  sugar
1 t                                                       pepper
3 T                                                      minced garlic
1/2                                                      onion
1/2                                                      apple, peeled

* I made the mother sauce from Yoon's Kitchen (Korean reality show).
  Put all the ingredients in a blender and blend it all together.

Directions
Soak the chicken in milk for 30 minutes, it helps to remove the bad chicken smell (This step is optional)
Rinse slightly and pat dry.
Cut into bite size pieces and sprinkle with pepper and potato starch.
Make a batter with the fried mix powder and water then coat the chicken with the batter.
Deep fry in oil until light golden brown and cool slightly and deep fry again until golden brown - if you fry twice, the chicken becomes crisper.
In a pan, put the mother sauce and oligosaccharide and boil slightly until syrupy. 
Add the fried chicken and stir fry slightly to coat the chicken.
Serve fried chicken with beer!

Spicy Mixed Noodle - Bibim-Guksu

Kimchi represents Korea because it is the most famous food in Korea. So, Koreans eat it in various ways like a side dish, soup, pancake or salad. They also use it like a noodle garnish. If you use a kimchi on noodles, you don't need noodle sauce, because kimchi itself is enough to make it taste delicious. You can use any kimchi for noodles. In my case I used young radish kimchi that I made a few weeks ago, because it has been fermented just right. I added pear for a sweeter taste. Great!
For your information, bibim-guksu is a cold noodle dish that is made with thin wheat flour noodles mixed with a spicy sweet sauce.

Refer to here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7qdymfAa24

Kabocha Soup

This time of year naturally makes you think of soup when a cold wind blows and it gets cold. The warm soup seems to make your body warm and snug. Today, I remembered warm soup in cold weather and I made this soup, there was a pumpkin in the refrigerator. And I added milk and cream for a slightly softer taste. It was so delicious!
But, I wonder why the soup is made in the refrigerator for a day rather than just making it, would it be better to eat it?  Do you know why?
Kabocha is a variety of winter squash, it is heavy and thick similar to butternut squash and sweet potato. So I like  kabocha squash. Delicious, warm kabocha soup will be great!
Let's get started!

Ingredients
1                                              kabocha squash
2 C                                          milk
2/3 C                                       cream
3 T                                           honey
1/2                                           onion
salt and pepper to taste

Directions
Peel and cut kabocha squash, if it is very hard, warm it up in microwave for 4 minutes or more.
Slice onion and kabocha squash into bite size pieces and put it in a pot.
Add 1 C milk and boil until kabocha squash is cooked then mash them.
Add 1 C milk and 2/3 C cream and cook. 
Put salt and pepper to taste.
Add honey before eating.

Mille-Feuille Nabe - Hot Pot

As the weather gets colder, I think of warm soup - cold weather reminds me of hot soup.
Mille-Feuille Nabe is a combination of a French word that means a thousand leaves and a Japanese word nabe which means pot.  Furthermore, it is a dish containing pretty visuals that literally seem to contain a thousand leaves.
Mille-Feuille Nabe is a very popular hot pot with layers of ingredients, usually made with napa cabbage and thinly sliced meet. So, young housewives serve this dish to their guests when it is a housewarming party. Of course, most of guests are very satisfied with this dish. I like to serve this. When I cooked Mille-Feuille Nabe yesterday, my husband was very complimentry and satisfied, too. It is undisputably a great meal! 
So, hopefully this beautiful hot pot dish can warm your winter and give you inspiration when you have a party.
Let's get started!

Refer to here
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NS3bXJWNzoc

Avocado Sandwich

It's a simple breakfast menu. Originally, I was going to spread guacamole on the bread but, I didn't feel like making it. So, I made a simple avocado sandwich.

I opened my refrigerator and there was frozen Italian bread, a ripe avocado and boiled eggs from the day before. These were good ingredients for my simple breakfast!

First, I toasted two pieces of bread on both sides in a pan and sliced the avocado and eggs. I topped the bread with avocado and egg. Sprinkled it with olive oil, salt and pepper to taste. That's it! If you add cream cheese with chopped parsley and green onion and cooked bacon, it is even better. But I kept it healthy. 

Donut

I like a donut, but I am always worried about calories. When I eat donuts, I feel good, but then I regret eating a donut. I am worried about the pressure of high calories. But I LOVE donuts!
So, I decided to make donuts at home. I remember the donuts I ate when I was young, so I went to a Korean grocery store and bought donut mix. Hopefully, it will taste like the old days... Above all, I have a good memory about Korean style donuts. There was a small donut shop near by my house, sometimes I ate one or two. I remember it was so good! It was more delicious because I bought them secretly and my mother never found out. I told this story to my husband and he said he liked the donuts, too. Oh, It brings back memories!

Ingredients
1                                   egg
100 ml                         water or milk
500 g                           donut mix
Oil

Directions
In a bowl, put egg and water or milk and whisk.
Add donut mix and knead.
Cover and let dough rest 10 minutes.
On a cutting board, sprinkle flour and roll the dough to 1/3 inch thickness.
Cut it with a donut cutter or cup.
In a deep, large sauce pan, pour the oil to a depth of about 3-4 inches.
Fry the donuts at 340-350 'F (If a donut comes up in 5 second), 2-3 at a time for 2-3 minutes until they are golden brown
Cool the donut slightly.

Egg and Tomato Tortilla Sandwich

There are always worries when I make my husband's lunch. Korean food has a garlic smell and if I pack rice and bread, it is too many carbohydrates - it is not good for the body. So, I sometimes use an open sandwich, because I can use half the amount of bread - not two sides. But it is not easy to pack and eat. So, a good idea came to mind to make a tortilla sandwich. It was a good idea to make a sandwich with a small amount of carbohydrates and good to eat, because it was covered by filling on both sides, not on one side like an open faced sandwich. First of all, he prefers tortillas to bread!

Ingredients
2 pieces                                      small tortilla
1                                                 tomato
3                                                 eggs
1 piece                                        your favorite cheese
2 t                                               wasabi mayo
A moderate amount of vegetables
oil, salt and pepper

Directions
Pan fry eggs and set aside.
slice tomato, rinse your favorite vegetables.
Fill tortilla with fried egg, cheese, tomato and vegetables.
Sprinkle wasabi mayo and put another tortilla on top.
Cut to your favorite size.

Korean glass noodle - Japche

Japche has a sweet, savory flavor, a crunchy vegetable texture and chewy noodles, so it is one of my favorite Korean foods. I made japche several times and this recipe was the best. Though I didn't use any seasoning it was very tasty. Maybe it was because of the natural seasoning of the food. The benefit of this recipes is that you can make bibimbap and japche with the same ingredients if you prepare each with meat and vegetables. The recipe is almost the same, only the base rice and noodle are different. Bibimbap is vegetables and meat on steamed rice and japche is stir-fried on noodles. It's very simple!

Ingredients
1/3 lb                                                 glass noodles
3 T                                                      soy sauce
6 T                                                      mother sauce
1/5 lb                                                  beef

mother sauce
1 C                                                      soy sauce
1 C                                                      water
1/2 C                                                   sugar
1 t                                                        pepper
3 T                                                       minced garlic
1/2                                                       onion
1/2                                                       apple

garnish
1/2                                                         onion
1/2                                                         carrot
1/5 lb                                                     mushrooms
1/4 lb                                                     spinach
2                                                             eggs
oil, pepper and sesame oil

spinach seasoning
1 t                                                           soy sauce
1 t                                                           minced garlic
pepper, sesame oil

Directions
I made the mother sauce from Yoon's Kitchen (Korean reality show).
Put all the ingredients in a blender and blend it all together.
Add the sauce to the beef and mix them.
Add the marinated beef into a pan and fry it.
Blanch the spinach with salt water and rinse it with cold water.
Mix spinach seasoning together.
Julienne vegetables.
Fry julienne vegetables with oil and add some salt.
Separate egg whites and yolks and fry them separately in a pan.
Make a thin layer of fried egg and julienne it.
When the water with soy sauce starts to boil, add glass noodles and cook it for 6-7 minutes.
Remove the water from the noodles and add some sesame oil.
Put some sesame oil in the pan and fry the noodles and beef together.
Add mother sauce for the seasoning, about 3 T.
Add the vegetables to the pan and season mother sauce to taste.
Serve the food on a dish and put white and yellow eggs on top of the japche.

Flat Dumplings - Nabjak Mandu

Flat dumpling are flat half moon shaped dumplings with glass noodle fillings. What is a flat dumpling (Nabjak mandu)? It's a popular snack food of Daegu, South Korea. What is the difference between a regular dumpling and a flat dumpling? A regular dumpling has more filling, but this flat dumpling is flat, in other words, you use less filling made with simple ingredients. But the taste is good - it is just as good as a regular dumpling. It's easy to make and tastes good!

For that reason, I think that I will make them more often. Especially, because my husband likes them. He likes to eat flat dumplings with red pepper paste seasoned cabbage. Spicy cabbage helps the greasy taste go away. The combination of spicy and greasy works well!

Ingredients

1 pack (30 pieces)                                       dumpling wraps

150 g                                                          glass noodles

1/2 C                                                          green onions, chopped

2 t                                                              soy bean sauce

2 t                                                               sesame oil

Korean hot pepper paste sauce

2 t                                                                Korean hot pepper paste

1/2 t                                                             vinegar

1/2 t                                                             sugar

1/2 t                                                             water

Directions

Put the noodles into the boiling water and cook for 5-6 minutes.

Strain and cut them with kitchen scissors - about half inch pieces.

Put the noodles into a large bowl and add soy sauce, sesame oil, chopped green onions and mix well.

Put the filling mixture into the center of a dumpling wrap.

Dab water around the dumpling wrap edge.

Fold, press, seal the edges to make a half moon shape.

Put oil in a pan and fry the dumplings over medium heat until light golden brown on both sides.

Add a little water (3 T), cover and steam until filling is cooked.

While dumpling is cooking, mix Korean hot pepper paste sauce.

Once they are cooked remove the lid and pan fry them a little more until golden brown.

Serve with sliced cabbage and Korean hot pepper paste sauce.

Condensed Milk Cookies

I've baked cookies several times, but I've never used sweetened condensed milk. Sweetened condensed milk is cow's milk from which water has been removed. Usually, people use sweetened condensed milk, which is thick and sweet, for dessert. So, I am going to use sweetened condensed milk instead of milk. And, I am going to use Truvia instead of sugar, because it is low in calories - Truvia is 75% lower in calories than sugar. If you are worried about calories you want to eat these cookies, make it like this!

Ingredients
1 C                                             unsalted butter, room temperature
18 packets                                Truvia
3 T                                             sweetened condensed milk
3                                                 yolks, room temperature
330 g                                         cake flour
100 g                                         almond flour
1/6 t                                            salt
1/2 t                                            green tea powder
1 T                                              dried blue berries

Directions
Sift the flour, almond flour and salt.
In a bowl cream the butter.
Add truvia and condensed milk to the butter and mix well.
Add yolks and mix.
Add flour mixture and mix by hand, not too much.
Divide into three portions and add dried blueberries to one, add  green tea powder to another and leave one plain.

Place dough on a large piece of parchment or wax paper and make into a log shape.

Put it in the freezer for 1-2 hours to chill.

Slice dough into 1/4" pieces and bake at 350 for 17-18 minutes.

Cool.

Simple Herb Chicken

Sometimes I use chicken when I want to reduce carbohydrates in my diet, so this time I made a simple chicken roast with herbs. If there is low-priced chicken at a grocery store, I buy a family pack and remove the fat and cut it into a suitable size. Season with herbs, salt and pepper. Do you want to remove the bad chicken smell? Use lemon juice, it removes the chicken smell. Usually, a family pack is about 3-4 lb, so it is more than enough for my family. In my case, I freeze the amount I need for each meal in a ziploc bag. Then I defrost what I need for my husband's lunch or a simple chicken salad for me.
Today, I am going to make a simple dinner!

Ingredients
1/2 lb                                        chicken (thigh)   
1 t                                            garlic, minced
1/2 t                                         basil and oregano
1/5 t                                         ginger powder
1 t                                            lemon juice
1 C                                           green cabbage, thin sliced

salt and pepper to taste

sauce
1/2 T                                          mayonnaise
1 t                                              lemon juice
1/2 t                                           sugar
1/2 t                                           onion, chopped
a pinch of pepper

your favorite bread, I prepared corn bread by Trader Joe's corn bread mix

Directions
Rinse and drain chicken slightly and pat dry by paper towel.
Remove chicken fat and cut into suitable size.
Season with herbs, salt, pepper, ginger powder, garlic and lemon juice.
Preheat the pan on medium to medium high and cook the chicken until golden brown.
While chicken is cooking, make sauce and slice green cabbage and rinse and drain.
Serve chicken with vegetable, bread and sauce.
Enjoy!

Korean Boiled Pork Slices

Korean boiled pork is a great way to enjoy kimchi and pork belly, because it makes pork tender and juicy. How to make it is simple. All you have to do is boil everything all at once! So it was one of the foods that I had made many times as a newlywed because it was easy to make. Originally, people ate boiled pork with a special kimchi, but I use regular kimchi.

Ingredients
2 lb                                            pork belly
1 T                                             soy bean paste
12-15                                          whole peppercorns
3-4                                             garlic cloves
1 inch                                         ginger, sliced
3                                                green onions
2 T                                             soju, Korean sake

Directions
Fill pot with cold water (just enough to cover pork)
Add soy bean paste and stir well to have bean paste dissolve.
Add pork, green onioins, garlic, ginger, soju and whole peppers.
Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to medium and simmer for 1 hour or until pork is tender.
Cut pork into 1/4 inches slices.
Serve with kimchi.
Enjoy!

Chwinamul Rice - Korean Wild Vegetable Rice

Chwinamul is a wild vegetable in Korea with a bitter taste and distinctive smell. In the national parks in Korea like Seorak Mountain, Jiri Mountain, there are popular local restaurants. The restaurants sell a lot of foods with wild vegetable. Mountain tourists like to eat meals with local wild vegetables after hiking or climbing. Wild vegetables have a unique taste and flavor, so there are many people who like it. I also do. But it is not easy to buy wild vegetables in the U.S. Fortunately, I found frozen wild vegetables at H-Mart (Korean grocery in the U.S.) So I use them, even though it is not fresh vegetables. Koreans use wild vegetables as a side dish, salad, rice and soup... Among them, I am going to make a wild vegetable rice - Chwinamul rice!

Ingredients
3 C                                        rice
2 packs                                 frozen chwinamul 
2 t                                         garlic, minced
3 T                                        green onions, chopped
2.5 T                                     Korean bean paste
3 T                                        perrilla oil
2.5 C                                     water

sunny side up egg and dried seaweed for garnish

Directions
Defrost frozen chwinamul and rinse and squeeze slightly.
Cut the chwinamul into bite size pieces.
Rinse and drain rice and put in instant pot.
Add water.
Add chwinamul, garlic, green onions, bean paste and perrilla oil.
Cover and set manual mode for 8 minutes on instant pot.
When instant pot is done, release steam naturally.
Open the lid and mix well.
Serve the chwinamul rice with dried seaweed and sunny side up egg.

Kimchi Fried Rice

Kimchi fried rice is quick, easy and inexpensive to make, so most Koreans like it. I am also one of those Koreans. Why do I like kimchi fried rice? Reason is very simple - I can say "It is one of my favorite lunch solutions!" and "I use it almost 3 times a week." It's a perfect lunch, because it is ready in a very short time and simple ingredients are always in my refrigerator.
Kimchi fried rice is a very simple dish, but the most important tip to make delicious fried rice is to use kimchi juice from the container to season the rice. No other seasonings are needed. Please remember.

Ingredients
1 bowl                                steamed rice
1 C                                     kimchi, chopped
1 T                                     kimchi juice
2 T                                     green onions, chopped
1 t                                      garlic, minced
2 t                                      sesame seed oil
dried sea weed and egg

Directions

Heat the vegetable oil in a frying pan over medium heat and stir fry green onions and garlic until fragrant. 
Add the chopped kimchi and stir fry 2-3 minutes. Add rice and stir fry until hot and fragrant.  Season with kimchi juice to taste. Meanwhile in a non-stick frying pan, heat oil over medium heat and add egg.  Turn down the heat to low and cook until egg white is cooked - sunny side up.  Drizzle with the sesame seed oil and top with egg and dried seaweed. 

Short Rib Soup] - Galbi tang

Galbi tang is one of my favorite Korean soups. Galbi tang is made primarily from beef short ribs, radish, garlic, green onion and other vegetables. It takes a little bit of time but it's worth it. But, I didn't like a long cooking time and the smell of meat in the whole house while it was cooking. 

Normal recipe takes about 2 hours on the stove to make, but Instant Pot cuts the cooking time in half! There are many reasons why, but the main reason is ... it makes cooking time easier! 

Ingredients

3 lb                                        beef short ribs with bone

1/4 lb                                     Korean radish, cleaned

1                                            medium onion, cleaned and cut into half

4-5 pieces                            garlic, cleaned

1-2 pieces                            ginger (about 1-2 inches), cleaned

2-3 stems                             green onions, cleaned

water                                     2-3 times the weight of meat

1 stem                                    green onions, chopped for garnish

salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Rinse short ribs and soak in  cold water for 2 hours - you will notice blood seep out of the short ribs into water and drain.

Parboil the short ribs in boiling water for 5 minutes - you will see excess blood and fat.

Rinse the short ribs under running water.

In an instant pot, put short ribs, water, radish, onion, garlic, ginger, green onion and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Press MEAT/STEW button and set for 50 minutes.

When the timer is done, release pressure naturally for 10 minutes.

Open the lid and take out radish and cut into bite size pieces.

Discard the rest of the vegetables.

Serve the soup with bite size radish and chopped green onions.

Korean Radish Kimchi - Kkakdugi

I'm going to share the easiest kimchi recipe - kkakdugi made with Korean radish!
Korean radish is different than daikon. You can find it at a Korean grocery market, but you can use daikon instead of Korean radish - Korean radish is oval shape with green tip, firm, crunchy texture and sweeter and whiter than daikon.

My quick and easy radish kimchi recipe is a good side dish that is easier to make than traditional kimchi. And it's a delicious, spicy and crunchy side dish with steamed rice. So I make it often. FYI,  there are many different kinds of kimchi in Korea such as cabbage kimchi, cucumber kimchi, green onion kimchi. Radish kimchi is also one of the easiest to make and most popular kimchi.

Ingredients
1                           medium size Korean radish (about 2 lb)
1/2                        medium apple
2                            green onions
1 T                         brown sugar

Kimchi Sauce
3 T                        fish sauce
3-4 T                      Korean chili pepper powder
1/2 T                      coarse salt
1/2 T                      minced garlic

Directions
Rinse and cut green onions into 1 1/2 inch pieces.
Grind apple.
Mix kimchi sauce all together and add apple and green onions. 
Rinse, peel and cut Korean radish into 3/4 cubes.
Pour sauce over the radish and mix well.
Finally, add brown sugar and mix well.
Store in an air tight container at room temperature 1 day and keep in the refrigerator for 6-7 days
Enjoy!