Moo Malengi

Grab about 1.5 cups of dried horseradish and let it sit in water to soften.



Keep changing the water out and rinsing the moo every 5-10 minutes until the 'smell' is no longer there. Using a cheesecloth or your bare hands, SQUEEZE out all the excess water from the moo.



Season it with the following: 1TB minced garlic, 2TB honey powder, 1TB red pepper powder, 2TB gook ganjang, 1.5TB corn syrup, 1TB sesame oil, 1TB sesame seeds and a handful of green onions.



Mix it around...



And you're finished!

Fish Cake Stir Fry - (어묵 볶음)

I had some fish cake patties leftover from the kimbap the other day, so I decided to make some bokeum with it.



First cut it up into smaller pieces.



Chop up some onion...



Add some oil to a pan and mix together both the uh-mook and onions with a generous portion of sesame oil and about 1/2 TB of minced garlic.



Throw in some broccoli and a dash of red pepper powder.



Top it off with some sesame seeds and then stir fry everything together and you're ready to serve!

Steak Bibimbap - (스태이크 비빔밥)

One of my current obsessions right now is the Korean drama called Brilliant Inheritance (찬란한 유산). In one of the episodes the main character makes Steak Bibimbap and ever since I've been dying to try and replicate it. =P

The MR, Munchkin and I don't eat at the dinner table together. I often eat standing in the kitchen while the MR takes his food in front of the computer and Munchkin eats on the coffee table while watching Special Agent Oso. =P We're all on different schedules.

SOOOO - the MR and I got to talking and decided that we will eat together at least on the weekends......even if it kills us. So far, so good. The first time we did it, Munchkin said, "Why we eating at the table Mommy?" hahaha. Yah, I felt really bad after that.

Anyhow, for breakfast/lunch I made the steak bibimbap I mentioned yesterday.



Ever since the cancer diagnosis, I've been trying to cut down on meat consumption and if we do eat meat, I make sure it's organic. It's a little pricey, but since we only eat it maybe once a week our grocery bills haven't gone up much.



In a bowl mix together the following: 1TB soy sauce, 1TB sesame seeds, 1TB honey powder, 1TB rice wine, 1/2 TB minced garlic, and a dash of ginger powder.



Thoroughly coat the beef (this is a little more than 1/2LB of NY steak) and let sit while you prep the other food.




Grab some bell pepper and onions and stir fry with some olive oil and a dash of lemon pepper.



Meanwhile, wash some baby greens...



And mix the following for the bibimbap sauce: 2TB red pepper paste, 2TB rice wine, 1.5TB honey powder, 1TB sesame seeds, 1/2TB sesame oil, and 1/2TB vinegar. (If you have some sprite/7-up, add a splash of that as well).



Fry two eggs and slice them up thinly...



Then grill your steak until it's well done.



Slice the steak into thin pieces and set it aside as well.



You're now ready to assemble. First plate your rice at the bottom of a large bowl.



Layer the greens on top. At this point you can use some scissors to cut up the greens into smaller pieces.



Plate the onions and bell pepper with a little bit of the hot sauce on top.



Add your steak pieces on top...



And then I threw on the eggs.



And I added gim as well. =P Before mixing, drizzle a heap of sesame oil on top and start mixing it around.



Add more hot sauce according to your own taste and you're ready to eat!

PS. My tolerance to spicy foods is slowly coming back. I still can't eat the rooster sauce, but kimchi and everything else in moderation no longer sets my mouth on fire. My biggest fear was not being able to eat spicy foods again so I'm happy. Each day my face is lightening up more and more and now I can go around without makeup. You can still tell, but it's no longer as red as it was in the beginning.

I'm healing.

Pickled Cucumber - 오이지

I'm sorry to tease you, but I forgot to write down any ratios when I made this. Because my taste has dulled just a little, I wasn't sure it would turn out OK so I resorted to the taste as you go-Korean-ajooma-style and made it last week. The MR said it turned out great! I'm not sure if he was trying to spare my feelings or if he really meant it. =P

First you soak the cucumbers in salt water for a few days, then rinse it clean. The pickling juice is made of soy sauce, vinegar, water, salt, sugar, and rice wine. I promise I'll update this when I make it again in the future.



In the meantime, enjoy the pictures. =) It was so refreshing and just perfect for the recent heat wave.

Horseradish Stirfry - (무 볶음)

My dad is a 경상도 (a region of Korea) man through and through. He's one of those 'tough' 깡패 (gangsta) men you see on TV. =P He also speaks with a heavy 경상도 accent. Most of my friends still have trouble understanding him even after 15 years. LOL.

Anyhow, the reason I bring this up is because I had no idea my dad had an accent until I was in 7th grade. My friend Bean and I were watching a Korean drama and the main character had a heavy 경상도 accent.

I could barely understand what the guy was saying and remarked, "Man, his accent is so annoying! I can't understand anything he's saying."

Bean turned her head from the TV slowly and looked at me like I was a freak of nature and said, "Um, do you realize that your dad has the same accent? If anything your dad's accent is heavier." WTF?

I had NO idea. The minute my parents came home that day I asked if my dad spoke with an accent. My mom said YES and that my whole dad's side of the family spoke with the same accent. In fact, my mom was the ONLY one who didn't speak with an accent.

So all my life I grew up oblivious to my family's satoori until the 7th grade.

Anyhow, my mom told me the following is one of my dad's hometown staple recipes. Most of the recipes on this site are my mom's which was derived from my grandmother's 경상도 style.

Here goes...an easy-peasy recipe that feels like home.



First grab a piece of moo and a mandolin to shred it. (I didn't have my flash with me and was too lazy to go back upstairs.)



But I realized the quality of food pics just doesn't pop without a flash so I went and got the flash. =P



Throw the shredded moo into a pot and turn up the heat. This is about 3 cups of moo. Drizzle some sesame oil over the top (about 1 TB) and add about 3/4 TB of minced garlic.



Add some SALT. Add to your taste. At this point, I added about a cup of water and threw in a handful of green onions and let it all cook together until the moo was nice and soft. Even though you only add a cup of water, MUCH more water will start to come out of the moo. After I was done, I scooped up the moo and put it into a container and used the same leftover juices to make kongnamool.

Keep stirring until the moo becomes translucent.

And you're done! Ready to serve~



A quick pic of my Munchkin's dinner plate. And YES he ate it ALL~ That's all for now! I will come back soon and update again more regularly. I'm slowly getting my groove back. =P

Mini-kimbap for the Kiddos

My kitchen will be a kimbap factory in a few minutes. If you want to make some with me, go here and follow along. =)

I'll post a few pictures of the mini-kimbaps I make for Munchkin. He has swim class today, so I wanted to make sure he had something to eat immediately after he was done.

The kid ate dinner TWICE yesterday.

Our house became a kimbap factory yesterday...



A quick how-to make mini kimbaps. First cut the gim in HALF. and then put the rice on halfway as well. Fill using only 3 fillings at a time...or just add a little bit of each filling as possible. I cut the moo into quarters, as well as the odeng, etc.



I just make a variety of combos using 3 of the ingredients in each roll. These are about the size of a thumbnail. Munchkin was HAPPY to see this after working out in the pool. =)

Seasoned Perilla Leaves - (깻잎무침)

So I finally bit the bullet and made the seasoned perilla leaves this afternoon. I've been having severe headaches the last few days, so standing in the kitchen wasn't something I wanted to do but the thought of letting all these leaves go to waste got my butt into action.

Here goes! This is one of the MR's favorite dishes and it's a lot easier to make than you might think. =)



The first step is to wash and let dry all your perilla leaves. It took seriously forever washing them one by one. After I was done washing them, I was tired so I left them sit in the colander while I took a long nap. By the time I got up, all the leaves were nice and dry. I bought 3 bags of leaves.......I would say this is well over 100 leaves.



In a separate bowl, mix together the following:

• 1 CUP soy sauce
• 1/2 CUP water
• 2 TB red pepper powder
• 1 TB sesame oil
• 1 TB rice wine
• 1 TB gook ganjang
• 1 TB minced garlic
• 1/2 small onion (sliced THINLY)
• handful of green onions (chopped)
• optional: handful of buchoo (chopped)

Have questions about any of the ingredients? Check out Korean Cooking 101!



I had some buchoo left over from the yulmoo kimchi I made earlier in the week, so I decided to throw those in there as well.



Add some chopped green onions...



Mix it around really well and you're ready to begin~



Lay one leaf down into a deep container and add a little bit of the sauce mixture.



Keep going until you use ALL the leaves.......ONE at a time. Yep, this takes time and patience! =P



If you feel like you're gonna run out of sauce, just use the sauce that has now dripped into the bottom of the container. I just scoop from the bottom and keep going.



Before you know it, you'll have used all the leaves up. What seemed like way too many leaves will condense and fit nicely inside your container.



Use your fingers and push all the leaves down firmly into the sauce mixture. Every few days, I'll take the bottom half of the leaves and bring them up to the top. After about a day or two, you're ready to eat! Enjoy~~~

P.S. This is a side dish you eat with rice. Most people take a leaf and wrap it around their rice. It's much too salty to eat alone!