[Korean] Yubu mandu (fried tofu dumplings)

Yubu mandu is a dumpling with skin made of fried tofu. You can eat it alone or in a soup with other things. The picture above shows yubu mandu in a fish cake soup.

Ingedients:

fried tofu pouches (As many as you need. Probably about 6. See below for picture)

1/2 tofu brick (9 oz.)

1/3 pound beef (any cut is fine)

1 finger-loop of Korean vermicelli

1 large green onion stalk, minced

2-3 cloves minced garlic

1 Tbsp soy sauce

1 tsp sesame oil

salt and pepper to taste

Method:

First, soak the vermicelli in water to make it soft (it should take about 15 minutes).

Meanwhile, mince the beef, green onions, and garlic, and mix with the tofu, soy sauce, salt, pepper, and sesame oil. When the vermicelli is soft, mince that too and mix it in with everything else. It should look like this when you're done.

Now, cut one side of the fried tofu pouches open. The pouches look like this:

You can find these in the freezer at a Korean grocery.

Stuff the tofu pouches with the filling you made. Use as many as you need. Be careful not to tear the tofu pouches while you're filling them.

Usually you tie the open end of the tofu pouches with parsley sprigs, but if you don't have any of those or something similar you can just be gentle with the mandu while you're cooking it. Cook the dumplings by boiling or steaming them until the meat is done (probably 10 minutes or so). You can cook them and eat them alone, or put them into a soup.

If you want to make a soup, yubu mandu goes well with Korean fish cakes. To make this kind of soup, first you'll need to make the stock.

Boil some anchovies, Korean-style radish, green onion, dried kelp, shiitake mushrooms and a little pepper for about 10-15 minutes. 

After you boil these together, take out and discard everything except the mushrooms and add various fish cakes (there are many to choose from at any Korean grocery. They will be in the freezer) and vegetables.

Shown here: green onions, shiitake mushrooms, mock crab, three types of fish cake, cabbage, carrots, mugwort, and yubu mandu.

Add some soy sauce (about 3 Tbsp, or to taste)

...and dry white wine (around 1 Tbsp).

Now let it cook! Boil everything together. 

The fish cakes should swell to 1.5-2 times their original size.

Once the fish cakes have swollen, your soup is ready to eat. This dish is good on its own, with rice, or as a drinking side dish.

[Korean] Fried Tofu Boiled in Soy Sauce

Fried Tofu Boiled in Soy Sauce (Dubu Jorim), presented by Mr. Sgoi

This is a nice and easy dish for two people that you can eat with rice and whatever Korean side dishes you may have (or whatever vegetables you have in your fridge). You could also use this dish itself as a Korean-style side dish, in which case this recipe would make enough for a party of 6-8 people. 

Cooking/prep. Time: c. 30 minutes

Ingredients [click here for details]

18 oz. (510 g.) package of (medium firm) tofu

2 Tbsp olive or canola oil 

Half an onion, sliced

Sauce:

4-6 cloves of garlic, chopped

5 Tbsp soy sauce

Half a cup of water

1.5 Tbsp sugar

1 Tbsp red pepper flakes

1 Tbsp dry white wine

1 tsp. sesame oil

3 green onion stalks, chopped

A pinch or two of sesame seeds

Cooking Instructions

1. Slice the tofu brick into segments about 1.5 cm. thick.

2. Heat the olive or canola oil in a frying pan and fry the tofu segments over medium-high heat. I sliced my tofu brick into seven segments, but could only fit four comfortably into the pan. Sad story!

Here's what the tofu should look like when it's done with the frying stage. Plan on about five minutes per side. You can mix the sauce while you're waiting for the tofu to brown up.

3. When you've fully fried the tofu, take it out of the pan. At this point you would normally fry the onion slices in the leftover oil. I was, however, sadly out of onions today, so I substituted garlic slices. (edit- if you use garlic slices instead of onion, you should reduce the soy sauce to about 3 Tbsp. or it will be too salty!)

4. After you've browned the onion or garlic a little, put the tofu back into the pan and add the sauce you mixed up. 

Let it cook for a while. I didn't adjust the fire at all throughout this whole process. When most of the sauce has boiled off, it's ready to eat.

I took this picture a couple of minutes before it was done. 

If you're eating this as or with a meal, put it on a single plate for the table or on individual plates, depending on how Korean-like you want your experience to be, and alternately take bites of it, your rice, and whatever else you've got on the table. 

This would also be a good side dish for drinking (the "ahnjoo" you've heard so much about) in my opinion. I think it would go well with lousy but cold beer or with soju, but you know better than me. Geonbae ("cheers")!

[Korean] Squash pancake

Squash Pancake
Korean name : ho-bahk boo-chim-gae
ho-bahk: squash or pumpkin
boo-chim-gae : pancake


Ingredients [click here for details]
1 small squash, cut into thin strips
3 green onion, chopped
1/2 cup Korean pancake mix (you can get this from Korean market, or you can use flour.)
1 egg
1/2 cup water
1 tsp salt
vegetable oil
[optional] hot red pepper
[optional] corn starch

Cooking Instruction
1.  Mix Korean pancake mix or flour well with  same amount of water.


2. Add 1 egg, squash strips, and chopped green onion fragments into mix. If the mix is too watery after adding vegetables, add more corn starch.


3. Cook the batter in a hot pan with vegetable oil. You can use some red pepper as a garnish and for a hot taste. Flip when you can see the brown color at the edge like the picture below.

Cook the other side, too. When it is brown and crispy, it is done.



How to Serve
It is tasty enough to eat it alone, but you can serve a sauce along with pancake. The sauce should be served separately or the pancake becomes soggy.
The sauce is made of 1) soy sauce, and 2) a little bit of vinegaror sesame seed oil, and 3) finely chopped green onion or red pepper flakes, or sesame seeds.

[non-Korean] Italian Style Mussel Stew

This is a good appetizer or a side dish with a tomato base. I used New Zealand green shell mussels, which can be used for alleviating the symptoms of arthritis and for anti-inflammatory reaction. 

Italian Style Mussel Stew (serves 4)
  


Ingredients
600g mussels (about 20 big mussels)
14 oz diced tomato can
6 garlic cloves, sliced
3 Tbsp dry white wine
2 Tbsp olive oil
[optional] 1 fresh tomato, chopped
[optional] Italian parsley flakes


Cooking Instruction
1. Wash well mussels with cold water and get rid of all the dirt on the outside of shells.

(white creamy color is male mussel, while orange is female. ^-^ )

2. Heat a pot with 2 Tbsp of olive oil, and cook garlic till garlic becomes translucent.


3. Put diced tomato can in the pot and keep heating for 5 minutes with strong fire. Add chopped, skinned fresh tomato at this point.


4. Add washed mussels  and 3 Tbsp of dry white wine into the pot. Stir well while heating them for 2 minutes with strong fire.


5. Cook mussels for 7~8 minutes with a medium fire with a lid on.

How to Serve
Before serving, add parsley flakes for garnish.
This is good appetizer. You can serve it with garlic bread.  
This can also be served as a side dish for drinking or for a mild taste main dish.

[Korean] Fried Pork with Red Pepper Paste

Fried Pork with Red Pepper Paste (serves 2)
 Korean name : je-yook-bok-em
 stir-fry: bokem



Ingredients [click here for details]
1lb Pork sirloin, sliced into bite size pieces with 0.5cm thickness
1 onions, cut into pieces similar in size to pork
2 green onions, cut into several pieces
3Tbsp red pepper paste
1.5Tbsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp soy sauce
1.5 Tbsp garlic, minced
1Tbsp sugar
2Tbsp corn syrup
2Tbsp dry white wine
1Tbsp sesame seed oil
a dash of ground pepper
[optional]1Tbsp sesame seeds
[optional]1tsp minced ginger
[optional]2Tbsp chopped onion
[optional] rice cake slices

Cooking Instruction
1. mix all the ingredients except the onions and the green onion pieces. Marinating overnight is recommended. If desire, add chopped onion, sesame seeds and ginger.


2. Cook marinated meat, onion, and green onions with the strong fire.


3. Add a little bit of rice cake, if you want.


4. Cook till the meat is thoroughly cooked.


How to Serve
You can serve this either as a main dish in a serving plate or over the steamed rice or as a ahn-joo, which is a side dish for drinking.

[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] Soy Sauce Rice Cake, Royal Rice Cake

Soy Sauce Rice Cake, Royal Rice Cake (Serves 2)
      Korean name : goong-joong-ddeok-bok-ki
      It is believed that royal family of ancient Korea enjoyed this dish.
      Red sauce rice cake is more popular.




Ingredients [click here for details]
 
2 handfuls of rice cake, about 10 oz.
0.3lb of beef or pork
1/3 onion, sliced into 1*1 inch pieces
1 carrot, sliced
1/2 green bell pepper, sliced
2 Tbsp of Garlic, minced
2+1 Tbsp of Soy sauce
1+1 Tbsp of sugar 
1/2 +1/2 Tbsp of sesame seed dressing oil ( not cooking oil)
a pinch of ground pepper
[optional] various hard vegetables, I used one stem of celery.
[optional] 1 Thai pepper for hot flavor

Cooking Instruction

1. Cut up all the vegetables as mentioned above.


2. Marinate meat for 30 minutes with 1 Tbsp of soy sauce, 1 Tbsp of sugar, 1/2 Tbsp of Sesame seed oil, and a pinch of pepper. Originally beef sirloin is used, but other part of beef or pork can be used, too.


3. Cook rice cake in the boiling water for 2 minutes. Rice cake doesn't have to be cooked completely now. When it is soft, turn off the fire.


4. 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.)


5. Add marinated meat till it is half done.


6. Put rice cake in a pan. Add 2 Tbsp of soy sauce, 1 Tbsp of sugar, 1 Tbsp of sesame oil, and a pinch of ground pepper. Stir well.


7. Put vegetables in order of decreasing hardness, i.e. put hard vegetables like carrots first then softer vegetables.


8. Cook till rice cake absorbs the sauce. Sauce should be shiny and sticky. I like to cook rice cake till a little crispy.




How to Serve

Put it in a large bowl.  You can eat it with kimchi as a meal, or with a cool glass of beer as a side dish.