What’s not to love about this dish?
The last time I went to Korea, my “Emo’s” and I stopped for a rest after rushing through the open air Market for Fish and Veggies and stopped at one nondescript street vendors station and had steaming bowls of this stuff…ladled up for us in less than 5 seconds–no lie!  Boy was it the best damn Jajangmyun of my life!

I stay up on sleepless nights sometimes salivating over this unappealing black mass of lumpy sauce and noodles.  Sure, it wouldn’t win the Miss America title of the prettiest foods contest BUT, the harmonious marriage of thick, savory, meaty sauce drenching fresh, chewy, chubby noodles is a memory I won’t soon forget.

What you’ll need:
Udon Noodles
1-2 ts Sesame Oil
1 Onion
1 Zucchini
2 Medium Potatoes
1/4 Cabbage
1 lb of Ribeye (or anything that’s nicely marbleized)
1 cup Water + 4-5 tb of Roasted Black Bean Paste
1/4 cup Water + 1-2 tb Cornstarch
S & P to taste

*Garnish with julienned English Cucs and serve with pickled Radish and Kimchi and purposely make more or save some for rice later too*!!!!

Thank you nameless street vendor people in Korea!

Watch the saucy action here:

How to Make Jajangmyeon

Enter the humble Bánh mì.

I love Bánh mì because it’s one of those light and refreshing individual bundles that’s all reserved just for you.  What I don’t love is the mystery meat in it.  Rather than deconstruct this matter, I took things into my own hands.  I stuffed my own version with…wait for it….

Galbi!  Often times, my rationale is this.  If I love this, and I love that, they should hook up (in a not a one night stand but forever kind of way).  Now, my baby brother escalated this idea and obsesses over Brownies doused in Hot Sauce.  I don’t get it, but hey, no judgement here.

So here is my simplified version of Bánh mì (no Chocolate and Hot Sauce involved)

Watch it break down here:

Korean Inspired Galbi Sandwich

You’d probably think I’m alcoholic, right? I’d rather be called a cheap wine   connoisseur and spice enthusiast. What you see is only 1/3 of my spice collection; the rest are in the freezer. I’m not a snob who only insists on expensive wines; I feel rather lucky that I’m not because wine price in Korea is way beyond what my poor salary can afford. So I’ve learned the hard way how to pick good value wines. I’ve been always interested in transforming traditional Korean flavours into something that has an ternational appeal and can accommodate the preferences of people who wish to enjoy Korean food with a glass of wine, like myself. On rainy days, nothing beats sipping wine by the window, watching the view of outside world obscured by rain drops while listening to mellow jazz music in the background. Rainy weather often makes people fancy certain kinds of food, like Korean pancake and rice wine for Koreans, and pizza and beer for others. On that particular day, feeling the urge to exercise my creativity that had been fading, I decided to make a  Korean fusion dish that would go with my wine.

a beautiful dish I had in Barcelona, Spain, which was a baked apple stuffed with ground meat, nuts and dried fruit.

I made different variations since I had decided to get my hands dirty for this once-only accasion: meat stuffing with and without kimchi, tofu stuffing with and without kimchi. To get straight to the verdict, for the ones with meat stuffing, especially the spicy ones tasted really good and worked well with the sauce, but as for the ones with tofu stuffing, well…I actually preferred the non-spicy ones as kimchi seemed to overpower tofu in the other. My friend who came around to give me a hand also agreed on my conculusion.

Here was my first attempt of Korean Cooking since I do not have a kitchen in my place: Bibimbap

You would notice its colorful. I should have put the Chili Paste on top of the egg (yellow). Sizes (lengths) of the food when you slice it must all be similar!

Some kind of Jeon. Each piece consists of 5 different ingredients: Carrots, Beef, Zuccini, Egg, Mushroom. You have to cut them with the same size, put them together. Slightly fry it with egg!

Some sweet snacks.. and Cucumber Finger as they call it in Korean.

The left photo is made of flour and kneaded into dough then deep friend. Glazed with sugar. These are all very tedious tasks to prepare. So I just can imagine the Jewel in the Palace Korean drama….

Beef Patty as I coined it…

Grinded beef, mashed tofu! Slightly friend with Egg. You must not burn the egg when cooking! It must all look the same with similar size!

Refreshing soup!

Pear soup for Neng Myeon!

I have never eaten something like this in restaurants especially for the Cold Noodles: Neng Myeon. It is indeed only for the kings!

It looks like a Bibimbap! The only different thing is: it has less variety of vegetables and a soy sauce marinated beef.

Procedure:

1. Marinate beef with soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil

2. Let it set for 30 minutes or longer

3. Cook in pan

4. Serve with rice, put some lettuce and seaweeds on top!

It is as simple as that!

We found this in Jeonju, where the young people hang out! It costs around KW7,000.00

More info about Jeonju: http://karinachua.blogspot.com/2010/12/christmas-away-from-home-and-whole-new.html

Ingredients

- 300 g (1⅔ cups) non-glutinous rice 400 g (2 cups) water
- 80 g soaked bracken
- broth
    200 g (brisket·shank)
    200 g (1/5 ea) radish
    2.4 ㎏ (12 cups) water
- seasoning sauce①
    6 g (1 tsp) clear soy sauce
    9 g (2 tsp) minced green onion
    5.5 g (1 tsp) minced garlic
    0.3 g (⅛ tsp) ground black pepper
- 80 g skinned bellflower roots 4 g (1 tsp) salt
- 150 g bean sprouts 100 g (½ cup) water, 1 g (¼ tsp) salt
- seasoning sauce②
    9 g (½ tbsp) clear soy sauce
    7 g (½ tbsp) minced green onion
    5.5 g (1 tsp) minced garlic
    2 g (1 tsp) sesame salt
    4 g (1 tsp) sesame oil
- 13 g (1 tbsp) edible oil
- 6 g (1 tsp) clear soy sauce
- 6 g (1½ tsp) salt

Preparation

1. Wash the non-glutinous rice, soak in water for 30 min. drain water on a strainer for 10 min.

2. Clean blood of beef with cotton cloths, put the beef and radish in the pot. Pour water into the pot and heat it up for 10 min. on high heat. When it boils, lower the heat to medium, boil it for another 20 min. Take the radish out from the pot, and simmer for 40 min. more. Take the beef out and cool the broth down and filter through cotton cloths (1.3 kg).【Photo 1】

3. Cut off durable part of the bracken, wash and cut it into 6 cm-long (75g).

4. Cut the bellflower roots into 6 cm-long, 0.3 cm wide/thick. Fumble with salt, rinse in water and squeeze the water out (65 g). Remove the heads and tails of bean sprouts, wash them cleanly (140 g).【Photo 2】

5. Blend seasoning sauce ①, ②.

Recipe

1. Put water and the rice in the pot, heat it up for 3 min. on high heat. When it boils, continue to boil it for another 4 min. lower the heat to medium, boil for 3 min. When the rice become sodden, lower the heat to low, steam it for 10 min.

2. Cut the boiled beef and radish into 2.5 cm-wide, 3 cm-long and 0.5 cm-thick. Season with seasoning sauce①.

3. Season bracken and bellflower with ⅔ of seasoning sauce ②. Preheat the frying pan and oil, stir-fry the bracken and bellflower for 2 min. respectively on medium heat.

4. Put the bean sprouts, water and salt into the pot, heat it up for 1 min. on high heat. When it boils, lower the heat to medium, boil them for 3 min. and season with remained ⅓ of seasoning sauce ② (110 g).

5. Pour the broth into the pot, heat it up for 5 min. on high heat. When it boils, add the seasoned beef, radish, bracken, bellflower roots and bean sprouts, boil them for 2 min. When it boils again, lower the heat to medium, boil for another 10min. 【Photo 3】

6. Season with clear soy sauce and salt, bring it to a boil. 【Photo 4】

7. Place warm steamed rice in a bowl and add the beef soup.(Janggukbap)

*Tip
1. Do not boil bean sprouts too long, or it may become tough.
2. Green onion, salt and/or ground red pepper may be added upon taste.
3. Soaking non-glutinous rice, Preparing beef and vegetables, Blending seasoning sauce

Ingredients
- broth
    200 g beef(brisket , shank)
    2 kg (10 cups) water
    9 g (½ tbsp) clear soy sauce
    8 g (2 tsp) salt
- dumpling skin
    190 g (2 cups) wheat flour
    2 g (½ tsp) salt
    90 g (6 tbsp) water
- fragrant seasoning
    40 g green onion
    20 g (4 cloves) garlic
- 250 g mung bean sprouts
    1 kg (5 cups) water
    2 g (½ tsp) salt
- 150 g (½ ea) pumpkin1 g (¼ tsp) salt
- 150 g minced beef (top round)
- 15 g (3 stems) brown oak mushrooms
- 10 g (1 tbsp) pine nuts
- seasoning sauce
    18 g (1 tbsp) soy sauce
    4 g (1 tsp) sugar
    4.5 g (1 tsp) minced green onion
    2.8 g (½ tsp) minced garlic
    0.3 g (⅛ tsp) ground black pepper
    2 g (1 tsp) sesame salt
    4 g (1 tsp) sesame oil
- 2 kg (10 cups) steaming water
- 60 g (1 ea) egg
- 15 g (3 stalks) watercress 3.5 g (½ tbsp) wheat flour
- 13 g (1 tbsp) edible oil
- vinegar soy sauce
    18 g (1 tbsp) soy sauce
    15 g (1 tbsp) vinegar
    15 g (1 tbsp) water
    3 g (½ tbsp) pine nuts powder

Preparation
1. Clean blood of beef for broth with cotton cloths (190 g). Trim and wash the fragrant seasoning. Put the beef and water in the pot and boil it on high heat for 9 min. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer it for 30 min. Add the fragrant seasoning and simmer it for 20 min. more. Strain it through cotton cloths, season with salt and cool it down (1.4 kg).

2. Add salt and water to the wheat flour and knead (280 g). Wrap it with cotton cloths and let it sit for 30 min.

3. Clean blood of minced beef with cotton cloths (140 g). Soak the brown oak mushrooms in water for 1 hour, remove the stems. Wipe excess water with cotton cloths and shred it into 0.2 cm-thick and wide, season them respectively (40 g).【Photo 1】

4. Clean the pumpkin and cut it into 4 cm-long. Peel the skin off into 0.2 cm-thick round and shred it into 0.2cm-wide. Marinate with salt for 10 min, wipe water with cotton cloths (82 g). Remove the tails of mung bean sprouts and wash (230 g). Remove tops of the pine nuts and wipe the nuts with dry cotton cloths.
5. Panfry the egg for yellow/white garnish (thin sheet and then cut it into strips). Panfry the watercress after thick coating with wheat flour liquid and beaten egg. Cut them into 2 cm of diaper pattern.
6. Blend vinegar soy sauce.

Recipe
1. Preheat the frying pan and oil. Stir-fry the beef and mushrooms for 3 min. respectively on medium heat.

2. Pour water in the pot and boil it on high heat for 5 min. When it boils, add the mung bean sprouts and salt, scald it for about 2 min. Drain water. Chop them into 0.5 cm-long (140 g). Preheat the frying pan and oil, stir-fry pumpkin for 10 sec. on high heat, maintaining green color, cool it down.【Photo 2】

3. Provide filling stuffs with the mixture of beef, mushrooms, mung bean sprouts and pumpkin. Press and roll the kneaded dough with wooden roller to be 0.2 cm thickness, cut it into 7 cm square for dumpling skin. Stuff the dumpling skin with 13~15 g of fillings in the middle, put two pine nuts on it. Pinch four corners together to form square shape.【Photo 3】

4. Pour water in the steaming pot, heat it up for 9 min. on high heat. When it gives off steam, layer damp cotton cloths on the bottom of the pot, place the square dumplings on the damp cloths and steam it for 5 min. on high heat. 【Photo 4】

5. Place the square dumplings on a dish and pour the broth, top with fried egg strips and watercress. Serve it with vinegar soy sauce.

*Tip
1. Steamed square dumplings may be served with vinegar soy sauce without broth.(Pyeonsu)

Ingredients

- 300 g beef (brisket , shank) 1.6 kg (8 cups) water
- fragrant seasoning
    20 g green onion
    10 g garlic
- seasoning sauce
    3 g (½ tsp) clear soy sauce
    1.1 g (¼ tsp) minced green onion
    1.4 g (¼ tsp) mince onion
    0.1 g ground black pepper
- 300 g radish
- 5 g kelps
- 3 g (½ tsp) clear soy sauce
- 6 g (1½ tsp) salt
- 20 g green onion

Preparation

1. Clean blood of beef with cotton cloths, and wash fragrant seasoning.

2.Put the beef and water in the pot, boil it on high heat for 7 min. When it boils, lower the heat to medium, simmer for 30 min. Add fragrant seasoning, simmer it for another 30 min.

3. Cut the radish into 2.5 cm-square and 0.5 cm-thick (260 g).

4. Wipe the kelps with damp cotton cloths, cut it into 2.5 cm-square. Cut the green onion into 2 cm-long diagonally. 【Photo 1】

Recipe

1. Take the beef out from the broth, cut it into 2.5 cm-square and season. Filter the soup through strainer. 【Photo 3,4】

2. Add radish and kelps in the pot, boil for 7 min. Season with clear soy sauce and salt.

3. Add green onion and bring it to a boil. 【Photo 4】

*Tip
1. Autumn radish is more sweet and tasteful.

Ingredients

- 200 g beef (top round)
- 50 g (1/6 cake) tofu
- seasoning sauce
2 g (⅓ tsp) soy sauce
1 g (¼ tsp) salt
2 g (½ tsp) sugar 4.5 g (1 tsp) minced green onion
2.8 g (½ tsp) minced garlic
- 21 g (3 tbsp) wheat flour
- 120 g (2 ea) egg
- 39 g (3 tbsp) edible oil
- vinegar soy sauce
18 g (1 tbsp) soy sauce
15 g (1 tbsp) vinegar
15 g (1 tbsp) water

Preparation
1. Clean blood of beef with cotton cloths and mince it.

2. Wrap the tofu with cotton cloths, squeeze water out and mash. Put the beef and tofu together, add seasoning sauce, mix it by fumbling with hands (300 g). Then shape round and flat patties into 4 cm-diameter and 0.5 cm-thick.【Photo 1, 2】

3. Beat eggs.

4. Blend vinegar soy sauce.

Recipe
1. Coat patties with wheat flour and dip in beaten egg. 【Photo 3】

2. Preheat the frying pan, oil, and panfry patties on medium heat for 3 min. and another 2 min. after turn over. 【Photo 4】

3. Serve with vinegar soy sauce.

*Tip
1. When the meat and tofu kneaded together strongly, the surface of fried patties may be clean and smooth.
2. Coat dumplings with plentiful flour, shake off the flour and dip in the egg water. Then the surface of the fried patties may be more clean and less-oily.

Ingredients:
3 tablespoons of sesame oil,
100 g of beef,
100 g of clam meat,
2 cloves of garlic (chopped),
1 tablespoon of red pepper powder,
2 cups of beef stock,
a package of soft tofu,
2 tablespoons of soy sauce,
2 scallions,
egg (optional).

Put sesame oil into a soup pot and stir fry the beef and garlic for about 5 minutes. Add the beef stock and soy sauce. Bring to a boil.

Add soft tofu and bring to a boil again. Add the clams and boil until the meat is cooked. It should take about 7 minutes. If you’re using fresh clams, wait until the shells open.

Add scallions and turn off the heat. Soondubu Jjigae is the perfect soup for a cold day.

To see all of my recipes go to Slice of Seoul.