Korean Food
My love of Korean food started when I was in the Air Force Weather Forecasting school at Chanute AFB, IL. I had a friend whose wife was Korean and she used to cook for us. I enjoyed everything she made, which worked out well when we were later stationed in Seoul for 2 years. Since that time, I've been trying to gather recipes that were our favorites while we were over there. Some things are close, others are not, but all taste pretty good.
Click on the recipe name and you'll be taken to that recipe below:
Kimchi - Spicy pickled cabbage, from a friend's wife.
Mandu - Dumplings, best fried, also good steamed.
Bulgogi - Marinated beef.
Chop Chae - Rice noodles and stuff.
Dipping Sauce (Soy) - Sauce for dipping your Mandu or Kimshe pancakes.
Dipping Sauce (Kochu) - My favorite sauce for Yaki.
Spicy Fried Pork - As the name implies, spicy fried pork, mmmm, good!
Kim Bop Rice - Use this rice to make Kim Bop, what most Americans know as a California roll.
Spicy Chicken Bulgogi - Spicy marinated chicken.
Kimchi Pancakes - Classic Korean street snack.
Kimchi
2 Bunches cabbage (Romaine lettuce)
Or
2 Oriental radish
1/2 cup Chunk salt
3 Large cloves garlic
2 1/2 inches fresh ginger root
1 Bunch scallions
10 tablespoons Hot pepper (Kochu - 1 bag)
6 tablespoons Sugar
2 tablespoons Bokhap miwon (MSG)
2 tablespoons Salt
Chop up the cabbage. Turn over and soak in the chunk salt and water for about
1/2 hour. (if your making radish kimshe you don't have to soak). After the 1/2
hour rinse well in fresh water and put in a colander to drain totally. In a very
large Tupperware bowl combine the rest of the ingredients and the cabbage or
radish and mix well for about 3-5 minutes until it turns red and tastes right.
Seal bowl and let sit in the sun for 1-2 days then refrigerate. Eat with rice or
fry when it gets a little old.
Like my Yaki, I buy my kimchi at a local Korean market. Unless you are eating a bunch of kimchi, it's hard to beat what you can buy at the market.
Mandu
1 lb Cooked ground beef
8 each Minced green onions
2 cups Finely chopped cabbage
1 cup Bean sprouts
1/2 cups Bean curd
3 Large minced cloves garlic
1 teaspoon Sesame oil
1 tablespoon Toasted sesame seeds
1 teaspoon Ground black pepper
1 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon MSG
1 tablespoon Soju or Dry white wine
1 tablespoon Soy sauce
2 pack Gyoza skins (wonton wrappers) 10oz
1 Egg white
1 cup Water
Vegetable oil - enough to fry in
Squeeze all the liquid from the bean curd. Combine the first 12 ingredients. Put
1 tsp of mixture in the center of the wrapper. Fold, forming a half circle. Seal
the edges with egg white and crimp the edges. Pan fry or steam them. Serve with
dipping sauce.
Now honestly, if you've got a Korean market nearby, like I do, I'm not sure these are worth your time. I always buy mine (Yaki Mandu) at the market, frozen and prepared. Just fry and eat.
Bulgogi
Marinade
5 tablespoon Soy sauce
3 tablespoon Sugar
4 Green onions, finely shredded
3 Large garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon Ground white pepper
2 tablespoon Soju, sake or dry white wine
2 tablespoon Sesame seeds, toasted
1 tablespoon Sesame oil
2 lb Thinly sliced beef rib eye
2 Carrots, thinly sliced
Mix all ingredients except for the sesame oil. Add to the sliced meat and
marinate for 30 min to 1 hr. Add the sesame oil just before cooking. Bar-b-que
the meat slices over a charcoal grill or a portable table top grill. Turn only
once. A WOK can be used if a grill is not available. Serve with rice.
Chop Chae
2 oz Clear rice Noodles
1 tablespoon Oil
1 teaspoon Salt
2 Med Onions
1/2 lb Mushrooms
1 Medium Carrot
1/4 lb Snow Peas
1/2 lb Beef
2 ea Eggs
Soy Sauce
Fresh Ground Pepper
Slice Onions. Julienne Mushrooms, Carrot and Snow Peas. Soak noodles in hot
water. Drain and chop coarsely. Beat eggs, cook and slice into thin
strips. Slice meat and marinate as you would for Bulgogi. Heat wok and add oil.
When hot, add salt and stir fry the vegetables one at a time. As vegetables are
cooked, remove and keep warm in large metal bowl or pot on low heat. Fry meat
last and add to vegetables and add noodles. Mix well and season to taste with
soy sauce and pepper. Garnish with egg strips.
Dipping Sauce (Soy)
3/4 cup Soy sauce
1/4 cup Water
1 tablespoon Sugar
1 tablespoon Rice vinegar
1 Garlic clove chopped
1 teaspoon Sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon Dried hot chili flakes
Combine all ingredients. Allow flavors to blend for 30 minutes.
Dipping Sauce (Kochu)
1 part Kochu Jong (Korean pepper paste)
1 part soda (coke or sprite)
Combine all ingredients. Allow flavors to blend for 30 minutes. I think this is
the best sauce for the Yaki.
Spicy Fried Pork
12 oz Pork loin
1 Spring onion
1 Clove garlic
1 1/2 inch Fresh ginger
2 tablespoon Hot pepper paste
2 tablespoon Soju
3 oz Red pepper
3 oz Onions
3 tablespoon Vegetable oil
Cut pork in small thin slices. Cut the spring onion crosswise into very fine
rounds. Combine pork, spring onion and chopped garlic, ground ginger, bean paste
in a bowl. Mix well and allow to marinate at least 1 hour. Cut pepper into 1/2''
squares. Cut the onion into 1/2'' cubes and separate layers. Just before serving
put the oil in a large non-stick frying pan and set over high heat. When hot,
put in the pork together with all its marinade and stir fry for 3 minutes until
the pork is white all the way through. Add about 6 tablespoons of water and the
red pepper and onion. Stir and cook for another 2
minutes over high heat. Serve with rice.
Kim Bop Rice
3 cup Sushi Rice
3 teaspoon Rice wine vinegar
1 teaspoon Sugar
1/2 teaspoon Salt
Cook rice. mix other ingredients and add to rice. mix and let rice cool a
little. you can mix next to a fan to help evaporate the liquid, but be careful
because you can dry out the rice if you're not careful.
To make Kim Bop, or a California Roll, as most Americans know it, I do the following:
6 lg Kim (seaweed) sheets
3 crab sticks sliced in half
1 or two carrots (enough to give you six long strips)
3 eggs
soy sauce
sesame oil
water
sesame seeds
It helps to have a bamboo roller.
While the rice cooks, I slice the crab sticks and carrots, you want long sticks of each that are approximately the width of the seaweed sheets. Scramble the eggs, adding some soy sauce while you scramble them and cook them in a pan with a little sesame oil. Let the eggs cook almost completely, then flip, so they form a thin sheet. Remove from the pan and slice into strips. You should be able to get 6 strips out of the center, long enough to put with the crab and carrots.
I usually setup an assembly station. You'll need a place for your rice, the crab/eggs/carrots, a small bowl of water and a small bowl with about a teaspoon of sesame oil in the bottom. From there, follow this process:
- lay out a seaweed sheet on the bamboo roller.
- spread a thin layer of rice over all but about 2 inches of the seaweed. I usually fill the end closest to me, leaving a 2 inch strip at the 'far' end.
- place 1 crab stick, 1 carrot stick and 1 egg stick across the end of the rice closest to you.
- roll the roll away from you, towards the end you left uncovered.
- when you get to the end of the rice, dab some water on your fingers and wet the end of the seaweed that was left dry.
- finish rolling.
- dip your fingers in water and rub along the seam to make sure you get everything damp, but not wet.
- dip your finger in the sesame oil and use it to lube the bottom of a plate with a very thin layer of oil.
- lay the finished roll seam down on the plate.
- dip your finger in the sesame oil one more time and rub down the top of the finished roll.
- sprinkle sesame seeds over the top of the roll.
- repeat the procedure (all but the lubing of the plate) 5 more times.
This process works best if you are working with the rice while it's still warm. I get the best results from real sushi rice. Let the rolls cool to room temperature, then slice cross ways, like you see them typically served. Dip in dipping sauce. The process takes some practice, but I've gotten pretty good at it now and am very happy with the results.
Spicy Chicken
Bulgogi
4 Half chicken breasts, skinned and boned
4 tablespoon Soy sauce
4 Green onions, slivered
2 teaspoon Minced garlic
1 tablespoon Sesame seeds, toasted
2 tablespoon Dry white wine
2 tablespoon Sugar
2 tablespoon Kochu jong
1 Carrot
Flatten the chicken slightly with a meat pounder or a heavy rolling pin. Slice
into thin strips on the diagonal. In a medium bowl, combine the remaining
ingredients. Add chicken, mix well and let sit in the fridge for 30 min to 1 hr.
Cook on a grill for 3-4 min or cook in a WOK. Serve with rice.
1 cup Korean rice pancake mix
1 cup kimchi
1 cup water
Mix all ingredients in a bowl. Heat a frying pan over medium heat and lube with a little sesame oil. Scoop 1 cup of pancake mixture, taking care to get a good mix of kimchi and pancake mix. Add to hot frying pan and spread out. Cook until lightly browned, then flip and cook until lightly browned. Cut into squares and use soy dipping sauce.