[Korean] Tangsuyuk (sweet and sour pork)

Tangsuyuk one of the most popular dishes in Chinese restaurants in Korea (#1 is jjajangmyeon). This recipe is a typical version.

Ingredients:

Sauce-

2 Tbsp ketchup

6 Tbsp sugar

4 Tbsp vinegar

3 Tbsp soy sauce

2 cups water

corn starch water (3 Tbsp each of cornstarch and water)

Handful of each of: pineapple cubes, diced onions, carrot segments, diced green (or other color) pepper, moki mushrooms (the English on the package says "black mushrooms", if that helps. If you've never seen them before, you might think they look more like seaweed.)

Meat-

300g pork

Breading-

1 Tbsp soy sauce

1 egg

1 Tbsp dry white wine

a little salt and pepper

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup corn starch

1/2 cup cold water

Method:

First make the sauce. Boil the ketchup, sugar, vinegar, soy sauce, and 2 cups of water together (we'll add the corn starch water later).

Now prepare the vegetables.

When the sauce boils, add the vegetables.

Let the vegetables cook while you fry the meat. Mix the "breading" ingredients together and cut the pork into strips. Heat some canola oil (or other oil that can take high heat) in a pan, dip the pork in the batter, and fry it. 

Fry the pork until it looks like it does in the picture below, but don't get too excited. You're not done yet! We're going to let the pork cool for a little while and then put it back into the pan.

Now, add the pineapple chunks to the simmering sauce (you can add apple slices too/instead if you like).

When the pork has cooled a little, fry it in the pan again. Frying it twice is a key point. Your tangsuyuk will be better if you don't skip this step. 

Fry the pork until it looks like this:

The sauce should be ready now, so mix in the corn starch water slowly and the sauce will thicken.

Put the fried pork onto a plate and pour the sauce onto it,

and it's done!

Eat this with or without rice. Popular side dishes for this dish are Korean radish kimchi and raw onion.

[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] 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.

[Korean] Fried Breaded Pork 2

Fried Breaded Pork version.2 (serves 2)
 Korean name : qubuhroo 2



Ingredients [click here for details]
1 lb pork sirloin
1 cup sweet rice flour
1/2 cup corn starch
1/2 cup canola oil
2 Tbsp Soy sauce
2Tbsp Vinegar
3Tbsp sugar
2 green onions, sliced into long thing strips
1 tsp ground pepper
a pinch of salt
a little bit of black sesame seeds for garnish 


Cooking Instruction

1. Slice pork sirloin into pieces with 0.1 inch width. It is easier to cut meat thinly when it is slightly frozen than when completely thawed.
 If you desire, cut off fat.
 Cut meat into 2*3 inch pieces.

2. Marinate meat in 1/2 cup of  rice cooking wine, and 1 tsp of pepper.
   Mix well and leave it for 30 minutes.


3. While meat is marinated, in a big bowl, put 1 cup of sweet rice flour and a pinch of salt.
Pour 2/3 cup of water in it, and stir well.


4. Put a piece of cling wrap over the bowl and poke a little hole in it for ventilation.
Microwave for 2 minutes.
After stirring, microwave for another 2 minutes.


5. Pour oil on a cutting board. Pour rice dough while hot.
Oil a piece of cling wrap completely, cover rice dough with it.
Roll rice flour into a thin sheet.


6. Cover marinated meat with rice dough piece.


7. Put corn starch on the both sides of rice cake meat.

8.Drop a little bit of water on corn starch so it can stick well on rice cake meat.


9. You can either fry on a stove top using canola oil, or bake it with a little bit of oil in the oven at 375 F for 15 minutes. If fried, the meat is crispy, while baked meat is chewy.

10. Put 2Tbsp of Soy Sauce, 2Tbsp of vinegar, and 3 Tbsp of sugar in a sauce pan.

11. Heat it with low fire till the sauce reduces ans becomes thicker.
When you stir it with spatula, the track should remain for a while, as shown in the picture.



How to Serve 
Mix meat with the sauce. Slice 2 green onions into thin long strips.  Put green onion and black sesame seeds on the top of meat.

Fresh sweet onion slices goes well with this dish.
Ssam-radish (Cold sweet and sour big Korean radish) would be good with this dish. (I'll post this recipe later.)



How to Eat
Eat meat and green onion strips at the same time.

It would be even better when adding ssam-radish (cold sweet and sour Korean radish).

[Korean]Rice Cake Wrapped in Pork Belly with Red Sauce

This is sweet chewy pork dish.
If you don't like spicy food at all, this might be hot for you.

Rice Cake Wrapped in Pork Belly with Red Sauce(serves 2)
    Korean name : sam-gyeop-sal ddeok-mal-ee
        pork belly : sam-gyeop-sal
        rice cake : ddeok
        food wrapped with something : mal-ee



Ingredients [click here for details]

0.75 lb pork belly slices
4 oz rice cakes, approximately
1/2 cup rice cooking wine, (you can substitute this with vodka.)
2 Tbsp red pepper paste
1.5 Tbsp garlic, minced
1 Tbsp Soy sauce
1 Tbsp dry white wine
1 Tbsp red pepper flakes
1/2 Tbsp sugar
1/2 Tbsp corn syrup, (you can substitute this with honey.)
a pinch of ground pepper
[optional] 1 tsp sesame seed dressing oil, brown (not yellow cooking oil)
[optional] a several pepper corns




Pork belly : you can buy one at Korean markets, or some big grocery stores.
 [click here for details]




Cooking Instruction

1. Thaw pork belly, and marinate it with 1/2 cup of cooking wine for about 30 minutes.  Add several pepper corns, if you have.
Pork belly slices should be long enough both to wrap rice cake and to stay in shape after the pork  shrinks when it's heated.


2. Thaw as many frozen dried rice cake sticks as pork slices , and heat it in the boiling water for short time till water bubbles appear. Rinse it with cold running water, and set aside.



(a picture when a several bubbles come up) 



3. Smooth a pork slice with your finger to make it longer and thinner.



4. Dip one end of pork in corn starch to help it stay wrapped.


5. Roll rice cake in the meat.



6. Cook these in a skillet till meat is done. Be careful not to unroll them. Drain pork fat.


7. To make a sauce, mix 2 Tbsp of red pepper paste, 1.5 Tbsp of minced garlic, 1 Tbsp of Soy sauce, 1 Tbsp of dry white wine, 1 Tbsp of red pepper flakes, 1/2 Tbsp of sugar, 1/2 Tbsp malt syrup (or honey), 1/2 Tbsp of brown sesame seed oil, and a pinch of ground pepper.


8. Cook meat with sauce till the sauce becomes brown.




How to Serve
as a meal:
Carefully display them on a large plate. For a side dish, any fresh vegetables, such as carrot sticks, would be good since the meat has strong taste. You can add some starch, like steamed rice. You can also eat some raw sliced garlic.


as a side dish for drinking: A side dish for drinking is called 'ahn-joo'. Koreans usually eat some main dish type foods when drinking.