Top Ten Korean Foods

 

Even though I've left Korea, I still love the food and want to share it here with you!

Korean food is best known for its fiery dishes that induce serious face sweats or for Korean bbq, a carnivore’s dream: meat grilling on a bbq in the table.  While I enjoy the occasional sizzle dishes like dalk galbi, spicy stir fried chicken, provide and I love Korean bbq, especially a 3am galbi, pork rib meat, session.  I also enjoy other dishes and you should too! Korea has a diverse cuisine ranging from simple soups to complex royal feasts. In fact, most Korean foods use sauces and mixtures to enhance the natural ingredients and not all of these sauces are spicy. Staples such as soya sauce, sesame seed oil, garlic, honey, vinegar, ginger, chili pepper, chili pepper paste and fermented soya bean paste are used to add a lot of flavour to meat and vegetables.  I found a Korean maxim in the The Very Best of Korean Cooking: Simple Recipes for Beginners by Kim Young-hee,  which states:“The taste of food depends on the taste of the sauce.” This expresses perfectly the practice of creating elaborate mixtures and sauces to create dominant and flavourful dishes.

I’ve compiled a list of my favourite non-spicy and non-bbq Korean dishes so you can enjoy them if you visit Korea or have a Korean restaurant in your city. Better yet if you feel like having a cooking adventure check out the recipes below. Japchae is labour intensive but worth the effort!

1.       Fire Meat (Bulgogi)

2.       Ginseng Chicken Soup (Samgyetang)

3.       Fermented Soya Bean Soup (Jeong-guk-jang)

4.       Sweet Squash Porridge (Hobakjuk)

5.       Meat Dumplings (Gogi Mandu)

6.       Seafood Pancake (Haemeul Pajeon)

7.       Glass Noodles (Japchae)

8.       Dumpling Soup (Mandu guk)

9.       Sushi rolls with tuna or beef (Chamchi or 
          Seo gogi kimbaps)

10.     Sparerib Soup (Galbitang) 

Bulgogi served at a Korean restaurant

Fire Meat/ Bulgogi--Is a prime example of a dish that uses sauce to create a strong flavour. Thin strips of beef are marinated and then sautéed or grilled. The following recipes are adapted from the ones I used in my Korean cooking class. 

Bulgogi (Fire Meat) Ingredients:  Thinly sliced beef approximately 400-500grams (serves 4)

Sauce: 5 tbsp. soya sauce, 3 tbsp white sugar, 4 tbsp. pear juice, 2 minced green onions, 1 tbsp. minced garlic, 2 tbsp. crushed sesame seeds, 2 tbsp. sesame oil, 1 tsp. black pepper.

Directions:

1.       Combine and mix all sauce ingredients.

2.       Place beef in a bowl and marinate with the sauce
          for approximately 20-30mins.

3.       Gently grill or sauté in a lightly oiled pan 
          over low-medium heat.

4.       Cook thoroughly and serve with rice.

Note: My Korean cooking instructor told me you don’t want to caramelize the meat because it alters the flavour. The pear juice can be substituted for other fruit juices (apple or pineapple).  This dish shouldn’t be too sweet, so test the flavours before marinating the meat. 

Japchae—Is one of my all time favourites. Shiny glass noodles and colourful vegetables all gleam in the sauce--it's a beautiful dish. Glass noodles or sweet potatoes noodles (dangmyeon) are mixed with sautéed meat and vegetables. Omit the beef to make this a vegetarian dish.

100 grams of beef, 2-4 shitake mushrooms, 10 Chinese ear mushrooms, half a large onion, 1 carrot, 50 grams sweet potato noodles, 1 egg, white and yolk separated, 1 red pepper, 1 green pepper (serves 4)

Sauce 1: 3 tsp. soya sauce, 2 tsp. sugar, 2 tsp. pear juice, 1 tsp. minced green onion, garlic, 1 tsp. sesame oil, ½ tsp. minced ginger.

Sauce 2: 2-3 tbsp. soya sauce, 2 tbsp. sugar, 1 tbsp. olive oil, ½ -1 tsp. sesame oil, 1 tbsp. warm water

1.   Mix all the ingredients for sauce 1. Divide the sauce into two portions. Mix all the ingredients for sauce 2. Start with the sugar and warm water to dissolve the sugar. Add the rest. 

2.   If using meat, cut into thin strips. Marinate in sauce 1 for 15 minutes. Cut the shitake mushrooms into thin strips and marinate them in the sauce for 15 minutes. Use 4 shitake mushrooms if omitting the beef.

3.   Soak Chinese ear mushroom in warm water until tender. Tear them by hand.

4.   Sauté the meat, and mushrooms over medium heat and set aside.

5.   Cut carrot, onion and peppers into matchsticks or very thin strips.

6.   Lightly oil frying pan and quickly sauté the vegetables over high heat for 1-2 minutes. Set aside.

Don’t let the vegetables caramelize. In my class, I had to sauté all the vegetables individually. You can do it that way but it’s more work and doesn't change the taste of the final product.

7.   Bring water to a boil and cook noodles until aldente. Remove from heat and strain. Cut noodles in half. Tongs and scissors work best.

8.   Heat the frying pan over low-medium heat. Pour the egg white so it is a circle. Gently cook so it doesn’t break apart. Repeat with yolk. Then cut into thin strips. This is a garnish and can be omitted.

9. In a large bowl, add the noodles, meat, mushrooms, and vegetables and mix by hand with sauce 2.  At this point, you should try some noodles and adjust the flavours. There should be a good balance of  sweet and savoury. If there isn’t much flavour just add more of the ingredients from sauce 2.

10. Place on a serving tray and top with egg. Enjoy!

Note: Sesame seed oil is delicious but pungent. I don’t say this often but less is definitely more when it comes to sesame seed oil. If you add too much just try to balance out the flavours with soya sauce and sugar.