[Korean]Tofu Stew with Soy Bean Paste

There are number of tofu stews with soy bean paste from watery stew to thick paste. This recipe makes slightly watery stew.  Generally, you can put tofu, mushrooms, squash, potatoes, clams, shrimp, onions, green onions, and meat in the stew.


Tofu Stew with Soy Bean Paste (serves 3~4)
    Korean name : gang-dwen-jang
     soy bean paste : dwen-jang

 

Ingredients [click here for details]
1 medium potato, cut into cubes
1/3 medium onion, cut into cubes
1/2~1 tofu (about 4*4*3 cubic inch size), cut into cubes
2Tbsp soy bean paste
0.2 lb ground beef
2 shrimp
1/2 red pepper flake
1 Tbsp minced garlic
1 Tbsp sesame seed oil
2 cups of rice water
[optional]1/2 Tbsp anchovy powder
[optional]1~2 dried kelp
[optional]2 Thai peppers
[optional]mushrooms, squash, etc.

Cooking Instruction

1. Stir fry anchovy powder and 1 or 2 dried kelp with 1 Tbsp of sesame seed oil in a pot. When you have no anchovy powder or dried kelp, just skip this step.


2. Add cubed potatoes, ground beef, shrimp and  diced onions into the pot, and cook till vegetables are half-cooked. Add any other vegetables you like to use in this step.


3. Add 2 cups of rice water from the 3rd rinsing of the rice you will be eating with this dish. Remember this dish serves with steamed rice.


4. Bring it to boil.


5. When it is boiling, add 2 Tbsp of soy bean paste, 1/2 Tbsp of red pepper flakes and 1 Tbsp of minced garlic. Bring it to boil, again. When you add soy bean paste, crush it to dissolve it in the stew.


6. When it is boiling again, add cubed tofu and slashed Thai peppers.


How to Serve
Put this in a large serving bowl. This dish is shared by everyone, but you can serve it individually. Before serving, put some fresh chopped green onions.
Koreans always eat this with steamed rice.

[Korean] Green tea Ice cream

This is soft ice cream with green tea powder. The bitter taste of green tea goes well with sweet taste of ice cream.

Green-Tea Ice cream


Ingredients [click here for details]
300+100 ml milk
4Tbsp sugar
2Tbsp corn syrup
1Tbsp corn starch
2Tbsp green tea powder
200ml whipping cream

Cooking Instruction
1. Heat 300ml of milk, 4 Tbsp of sugar and 2 Tbsp of corn syrup with medium heat.


2. In another bowl, add 1 Tbsp of corn starch and 2Tbsp of green tea powder into 100ml of milk.
Stir well till no powder clumps remain.


3. Add green tea & milk mix to the hot milk from step 1, and keep heating for 10 minutes. The mix should become thicker.


4. Cool the mix in a refrigerator. Meanwhile, whip the cold whipping cream. When the mix cools down, mix it with whipped cream.


5. Keep it in a freezer, and fluff it with a fork often.

[Korean] Bibim-bop, vegetables & meat mixed rice

Bibim-bop (serves 1)
Bibim : mixing
bop : steamed rice


You make various of bibimbop as you like.
it consists of:

steamed rice or barley
cooked vegetable side dishes
fresh vegetables
red pepper paste, red pepper paste bok-kem
meat : a little bit of bulgogi or other cooked meat dishes,
fried egg
sesame seed oil
sesame seeds

What I used :
1 cup of steamed barley
stir-fry mushroom, bean sprouts side dish
chopped red leaf lettuce
red pepper paste bok-kem
fried egg
sesame seed oil


How to Eat
Serve this dish as shown in the picture above for each person.
Then, individuals can mix it by themselves. This doesn't require any side dish or main dish.
If you want, you can add soups, such as miso soup,  for each person.

[Korean]Red Pepper Paste Bok-kem

Red Pepper Paste Bok-kem
 Korean Name : go-choo-jang bok-kem
 Red Pepper Paste : go-choo-jang


Ingredients [click here for details]
1 can of tuna
1/2 cup red pepper paste
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 onion, chopped
2Tbsp honey
1Tbsp sesame seed oil
1 Tbsp black sesame seeds

Cooking Instruction
1. Stir-fry tuna with sesame seed oil on a hot skillet.


2. Add miced garlic, chopped onion, 2 Tbsp of honey. Fry till the water which comes from onions dries off.


3. Add 1/2 cup of red pepper paste on a pan.


4. Mix a little bit of sesame seeds.

***Instead of tuna, you can use the same amount of pork or beef.

How to Serve
This is good sauce for making 'mixed' rice, bibimbop.
You can add and mix this sauce to plain steamed rice, too.

[Korean] Stir-Fry Potato & Fish Cake

Stir-Fry Potato & Fish Cake ( serves 3)
Korean Name : uh-mook-gam-ja-bok-kem
uh-mook : fish cake
gam-ja : potatoes
bok-kem : stir-fry




Ingredients [click here for details]
1 potato, sliced into semicircles
3 pieces  6*6 inch size fish cake, sliced
1/3 medium size onions, sliced into thin strips
3 green onions, cut into 4 segments
1 + 1/2 Tbsp garlic, minced
1.5 Tbsp Soy Sauce
1 tsp Sugar
1 Tbsp dry white wine
1 tsp sesame seeds oil
a pinch of ground pepper
[optional] black sesame seeds for garnish
[optional] 2 Thai peppers


Cooking Instruction
1. On a hot pan, put oil and minced garlic, and cook till garlic become translucent. If you desire, you can add Thai pepper for hot flavor.
I don't eat this pepper itself because it is too spicy. I just used it for flavor.
(Don't rub your eyes after you touch that chili: click here to see the scale of hotness of peppers.)


2. Add potato slices, and keep frying.


3. Add onion slices and stir well.


4. Add fish cake and green onions into a pan.


5. Add 1.5 Tbsp of Soy sauce, 1 tsp of sugar, a pinch of ground pepper, 1 tsp of sesame seeds oil and 1 Tbsp of dry white wine to a pan, and fry till all the vegetables are cooked.


How to Serve
Place it on a serving plate with tongs. Add some sesame seeds for garnish.
You can keep it in a refrigerator for several days.

[Korean] Stir-Fry Mushrooms

This is a sweet mushroom side dish. It goes well with both Korean traditional meals and steak main dish.

Stir-Fry Mushrooms (serves 2)
Korean Name : buh-suht-bok-kem
buh-shut : mushrooms
bok-kem : stir-fry



Ingredients [click here for details]

8 oz white mushrooms, sliced (Minibella and mini oyster mushrooms are also good.)
1/2 small onions, cut into 1*1 inch pieces
1 Tbsp garlic, minced
2 Tbsp Soy sauce
1 Tbsp dry white wine
1 Tbsp oyster sauce
1 tsp sugar 
[optional] a pinch of sesame seeds for garnish
[optional] 1~2 Thai chillies for spicy taste
[optional] 1t sesame seed oil


Cooking Instruction

1. On a hot pan, put oil and minced garlic, and cook till garlic become translucent. If you desire, you can add Thai pepper for hot flavor.
I don't eat this pepper itself because it is too spicy. I just used it for flavor.
(Don't rub your eyes after you touch that chili: click here to see the scale of hotness of peppers.)


2. Add sliced mushrooms, 2 Tbsp of soy sauce, 1Tbsp of oyster sauce and 1 Tbsp of dry wine wine in a pan. Stir-fry it.


3. Add onions while cooking.


4. Then, add 1 tsp of sugar when the sauce is boiling.



How to serve

Put Stir-Fry Mushrooms on a serving plate with a serving spoon.

For a Korean traditional meal, eat it with steamed rice, main dish, soup or stew, and other side dishes. You can keep it in a refrigerator for a couple of days, like other Korean side dishes.

[Korean] Omija hwa-chae, five-taste-berries fruit punch

Omija means five-taste-berries in Korean. To find out the benefit of omija, click here.
We usually make a hot tea with omija by boiling omija for a longtime and adding honey, but you can enjoy it as fruit punch during summer.
You can buy this at Korean markets. 
[notice] Pregnant women are not supposed to eat this.



Omija fruit punch
Korean name : Omija Hwa-chae



Cooking Instruction

1. Carefully open 2 L of the bottle of carbonated water, or it will overflow. Let the carbonation come out of bottle slowly.


2. Put 1/4 cup of omija in the bottle.


3. Leave it alone for at least overnight to extract the flavor out of it. If you like carbonated drinks, keep it in a refrigerator.  Otherwise, leave it outside and open the lid occasionally to let the carbonation come out.


4. Cut up some fruits as much as you want to serve. You can use apples, nectarines, strawberries, kiwi, melons, and etc. Mix fruits with omija water.




How to Serve
Put it in a large glass bowl like punch. Serve it coolly.
Individuals can add honey in it as they like, and you don't eat omija berries.


 

[Korean] Pa-chae, Green onion strips side dish

This is a good side dish for meat, for example, bulgogi. Koreans usually put this in ssam.

Pa-Chae (serves 2)
 Pa : green onions in Korean
 Chae : mix of strip-shaped ingredients



Ingredients [click here for details]
1 Bunch of green onions,(approximately, 5~6 green onions)
1/2 Tbsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp pure lemon juice (You can use apple cidar vinegar, instead.)
1 tsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp sesame seeds oil
a little bit of black sesame seeds for garnish

Cooking Instruction

1. Cut green onions into three segments after washing them.


2. Cut them into thin strips.


3. Wash them well with running water to get rid of spicy taste.


4. Mix all the ingredients listed above.



How to Serve
You should make this right before serving, or green onions become soft. As I mentioned before, this is a good with ssam. So, Cook also some meat or fish and a sauce, such as ssamjang.

[Korean] Delicious Ssam-jang

Delicious Ssam-jang

Ssam-jang is dipping sauce, you add on your ssam.

Using comercial ssam jang product, you can make your own better ssamjang.
When you don't have comercial ssam jang product, you can mix 2 Tbsp of red pepper paste and 1Tbsp of soy bean paste, this substitute might be even better.




Mix followings. ( You can add or omit some ingredients, create your own.)

2Tbsp ssam jang
4Tbsp onion, chopped
3-4Tbsp curshed walnuts
2 cloves of chopped garlic
1Tbsp Green Onions, chopped
1Tbsp of green pepper or carrots or celery
1t sesame seeds
1.5 Tbsp sesame seed oil

[Korean]Bean Sprouts Sidedish

This is easy side dish using bean sprouts and sesame seed oil.

Bean Sprouts Side dish (serves 2)

Ingredients [click here for details]

1/2 lb Bean Sprouts
1/3 tsp salt
2 cloves garlic, minced
1tsp sesame seed oil
1 green onion, chopped
a bit of sesame seeds for garnish

Cooking Instruction

1. Wash bean sprouts with running water, and remove the covers of beans.


2. Cook bean sprouts in boiling water. You should either open the lid or keep it closed all the way through till it's cooked.
When bubbles appear, it is done. It 'd take about 2 minutes.
Rinse cooked bean sprouts with cold running water, and remove the moisture from bean sprouts.


3. Mix all the ingredients listed above.


How to Serve
On a serving plate, put bean sprouts and add some black sesame seeds on the top of them.
This is a side dish you can eat with other main dishes or main dish style stew and steamed rice(bop).