Dongchimi (Daikon) Kimchi - (동치미 김치)

I realized that I never got around to posting my Donchimi Kimchi recipe. I made this a few times over the years and just found pictures of it from the last time I made it last summer (before I got sick). Anyhow, this time I was at the K-market and found that they had the baby moos perfect for making donchimi kimchi, so I couldn't resist.



Each of these were a bit bigger than a soda can. I already knew that it would be too much, so I used one and a half and then used my mandolin to slice up the leftover half. I'll show you what I did with it on my next post.



Peel the moo and leave a few sprouts at the top.



Chop it up like so and then let it sit in some salt for a few hours.



Meanwhile, get everything else ready. I used 1/4 Asian pear (Munchkin ate half and I'm going to use the other 1/4 for the next recip), 5-6 whole garlic cloves, couple of peppers (green and red) and some jjook pa (thin green onions).



After a few hours, there will be some juices at the bottom. DUMP IT and rinse the moo.



Give it a few rinses.



Place the moo at the bottom of a large container.



Arrange all the other ingredients inside the container as well.



In about 7-8 cups of water (sorry, I didn't really measure) add 2TB of salt and 1TB of honey powder and 1TB of sugar. More or less.



Pour the liquid into the container and let everything sit out like this for a few days before transferring into the fridge. It should be ready to eat in about 21 days. I've made this numerous times and it really tastes much better with *age* - don't be afraid to let it sit in a corner of your fridge.

A picture from a previous time I made this as well. It's SO great with some gooksoo noodles! I never posted a picture of DongChiMi Gooksoo, but I shall the next time I make this. Stay Tuned!

Cold Moo (Daikon) Kimchi

It's another sleepless night, so I thought I would finally go and update this recipe. Basically, I just used my mandolin to slice the moo up into thin slices. Dongchimi moo is a lot smaller than the regular sized daikons, so it actually fit right through my mandolin pretty nicely.

See how thin it is?



I then salted it and let it sit out for a few hours.



This photo was taken about 3 hours later and NO I didn't add any water. That's just the natural juices from the moo. THROW IT OUT!



And give your moo pieces a nice bath...



I had some Asian pear left so I grated a small piece into the following mixture: 1 CUP water, 1/4 CUP vinegar, 1 TB sugar and 3/4 TB honey powder



I had a piece of pear left so I stuck it in there with the moo.



Let it blend together inside the fridge for about a week or two before serving. It's a great side dish to some chicken kalgooksoo! If you want, feel free to add some red pepper powder for some spice. Enjoy! =)

Seafood Kalgooksoo - 해물 칼국수

My friend and I were dining at Moo Dae Po II (I wonder why it got such a bad review on yelp?) the other week and they had this seafood noodle pot that they gave us at the end. They used thinner noodles at the restaurant, but kalgooksoo noodles is what I had in my pantry so it had to do.

Not to be a noodle whore, but these didn’t taste that great. =/ I would suggest choosing a thinner noodle instead just like they have at Moo Dae Po. =P

I used clams, shrimp, dried anchovies and dashima to make the broth.



First start off by boiling your noodles about HALFway done in a pot.



Rinse the noodles in cold water and let drain on the side.



Meanwhile defrost about three shrimps and six clams.



In about 7 cups of water, I added the anchovy and dashida packet. I probably used about 10 big anchovies and a 2 inch think piece of dashima (dried sea kelp).



While everything is boiling, get your kalgooksoo sauce ready. Look about halfway down the page on the link and there is a recipe for it from a couple years back.



I then transferred the broth to a larger pot and strained it through this. I wanted to make sure none of that white foamy stuff went into the broth.



Throw in the seafood...



Then the noodles...



Top it off with some veggies such as: mushrooms, squash, red peppers, and green onions.



Let everything come to a boil until the noodles fully cook and you're ready to serve!



Add some kalgooksoo sauce to your liking and dig in!



If you have some ggak ddoogi in your fridge, bring it out! I made SO many banchans this week that our fridge is overflowing. I even made bechoo kimchi on my own and I must say it came out pretty decent. One day I will write up a step-by-step how-to for kimchi. One day.

Rice Cake and Dumpling Soup - 떡만두국

Let me preface this post by saying there are many ways to cook a dish. There is no right way and no wrong way. If it tastes great to YOU, then you did it the right way!

I realized today that it has been about a year and a half since I started this blog. I've been going through some of my old recipes and my cooking has definitely evolved from some of those older posts. In present day cooking, I might add more shrimp jut or a little less gook ganjang or I may even be more liberal with fish sauce (something I don't like).

With the Lunar New Year's coming up, I decided to make some dduk mandoo gook.

There are so many ways to make dduk gook. You can make it using just plain beef broth like this. You can make different uses of gom gook and make it using that broth instead. You can add the egg directly in, you can pan fry it and add it separately, you can separate the meat and add it on top as a pretty garnish, or you can be lazy like me and shove everything into a pot at the same time.

Do what feels right for you!

Ingredients Needed:

• 6 mandoos
• 4 cups of dduk (rice cakes)
• 1 cup of shredded beef
• 1/2 julienned carrot
• 1/2 sliced onion
• 1/2 sliced squash
• 3 sliced mushrooms
• broth: 1/2 TB minced garlic, 3 TB gook ganjang, 1/2 TB sesame oil

And onto the cooking~~~~


First, defrost some mandoo (dumplings). This mandoo was homemade by my husband's aunt. According to the MR, her family is known for their wonderfully delicious mandoos. He was right! They are absolutely divine. I *wish* I could make mandoo like this. I've made mandoo at home numerous times, but I can't quite seem to get the flavor of the older generations.



Defrost some dduk (rice cakes) and let it drain out as well. This is about half a bag. This recipe won't have EXACT measurements, so please don't kill me.



This time I used flank meat. This is the meat you would use to make yook gae jang. I've already boiled the meat once and thrown out all the guck. then added more water to make some beef broth.



Meanwhile start getting your veggies ready. I julienned carrots and squash (about a cup each). Slice up 1/2 onion very thinly and slice 1 large mushroom thinly as well.



Let the beef broth boil for about 30 minutes or so.



No *real* measurements here. I added about 1/2 TB of sesame oil, 3 TB of gook ganjang, and 1/2 TB of minced garlic. Turn up the heat...



And then dump in all the veggies and stir away!



Meanwhile, remove the meat from the broth and rinse it under cool water (so you don't burn your fingers like I did) and start ripping the meat off. It should be very easy to pull apart. This is exactly what you would do to make yook gae jang.



You want to achieve this. You can place this on top like a garnish when you're done with the dduk gook.



When your vegetables start looking like this...

Add all the beef broth and continue boiling.

Then throw in the meat (I’m lazy) and the mandoo and dduk! No, I do not know how many cups of water I used. =/ I use this Le Creuset pot (yes, it's worth the $$$) when I cook and I just eyeball it. I add just enough water so that everything won't boil over. So...4 quarts? I added MORE water after I took this picture. There wasn't enough beef broth.



Go ahead and add some green onions!



Add your dduk and mandoo -- and just as it starts boiling, SERVE IT! My dduk and mandoo was completely defrosted overnight so there was no need to cook it for a long time. I actually scooped out ALL of the dduk and mandoo and just reused the leftover broth the next day with *new* mandoo and dduk.

Cut some gim up!

And then place some on top. This is the MR’s egg-less version. My husband absolutely LOATHES eggs.



After I was sure that the MR was satisfied with his portion, I went and cracked an egg directly into the soup and let it boil some more.



This is the egg version that Munchkin and I enjoyed. =)



I later found this note stuck to the fridge. It made me smile. HAPPY *early* VALENTINE'S DAY! Go hug the one you love...even if they annoy you.