Korea Life and People: Ggak Ddoogi–(깍두기)

2010년 12월 17일 금요일

Ggak Ddoogi–(깍두기)–Version 2.0

Is fall/winter (they sorta just blend in SoCal don’t they?) finally hitting SoCal? About time, eh?

It has been hot for so long that I’m sort of welcoming this cold. SORT OF. I’ll always be a SoCal girl and that means my body can only tolerate so much cold.

On a side note, the MR has been out of the country for almost a month now leaving our house feeling a bit empty. It has been just Munchkin and I for the last 23 days and counting. Although it has been a bit trying at times, I’m relishing my one on one time with him. He is now an almost five-year-old and I’m thankful every day that I was able to be here for three birthday parties after my diagnosis (I was diagnosed the day before his 3rd birthday party).

I see Munchkin developing leaps and bounds every day. He talks SO much. SOOOOOOO much. He talks about anything and everything under the sun. “Can I ask you something?” is one of his favorite lines and you bet he will definitely ASK ME SOMETHING. He drives me to the brink of insanity, but will then turn around and do something so sweet and inspiring that I thank God for each and every day.

To be honest, since it’s only Munchkin and I – our consumption of Korean food has been almost nil. =P With the exception of kimchi, Munchkin and I rarely eat Korean food. We recently devoured the latest batch of my mom’s chong-gak-kimchi so I decided it was time to make some ggak ddoogi in it’s place. I opted for a quicker and milder version this time since I was pressed for time and feeling absolutely lazy.

Ingredients Needed:

5 LBS of daikon radish (moo)
1/4 CUP red pepper powder, 4 TB minced garlic, 1 TB salt, 3 TB honey powder, 2 TB rice wine, 1/2 TB ginger powder, 3 TB minced shrimp jut plus about 1 TB of the shrimp jut liquid.

I bought about 5 lbs. of moo (daikon radish) at the K-market and went to work on my kitchen floor. Yes, I did the kimchi squat. =P

I chopped up the moo into smaller pieces than normal.

Try and make it about 1CM-ish. It will get smaller once you salt it up.

Continue chopping it ALLLLLL up and dump it into a large bowl.

Dump about 1/4 cup of salt on top…

…mix it around and just let it sit. No need to add water.

Leave it for a few hours and when you come back, there will be all this liquid in the bowl.

Rinse all the moo pieces CLEAN.

Give it a nice bath a couple of times even.

And let it sit and drain out for about 10 minutes or so.

Then add all the following ingredients: 1/4 CUP red pepper powder, 4 TB minced garlic, 1 TB salt, 3 TB honey powder, 2 TB rice wine, 1/2 TB ginger powder, 3 TB minced shrimp jut plus about 1 TB of the shrimp jut liquid.

MIX, MIX, MIX! I used this red pepper powder for the first time today. I had brought it back with me earlier this year on our trip to Korea. It looks a lot spicier than the one I used prior which is why I adjusted my recipe. I actually used half a cup of red pepper powder, but I think 1/4 cup would have been plenty.