Pickle Moochim - (오이 무침)

The hot summer days have been making me crave cold pickles. I made two kinds today. Let's start with the pickle moo-chim first.



I used three Korean pickles today. I think this kind of pickle can be found at any Korean market, but you can use regular pickles if that's all you can find. I just prefer these because the skin is less bitter. I peeled off only half the skin because I like to leave some color and the skin on these pickles tastes GOOD too.



To make my life easier, I just use my trusty mandolin to slice the pickles into thin slices.



Then I sprinkled some salt over it and mixed it around and let it sit there. After about 15 minutes or so, I gave it a thorough washing and let the water drain out.



Then I added 1tb red pepper powder, 1/2 tb minced garlic, 1 tb sesame seeds, 1/2 tb sesame oil, 2 tb vinegar, 1 tb sugar, 1/2 tb salt, and a handful of green onions.



Mix it well and then chill in the fridge overnight and serve. It's the perfect banchan for this summer heat!

Hobak Jun - Korean Squash Pancake - (호박전)

Needed:

• 1 whole squash
• 1 small potato
• 1/2 small onion
• 1 cup Korean pancake batter
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 egg
• 1 TB minced garlic
• splash of sesame oil
• salt and pepper
  

First get your vegetables ready. I only had 1/2 a squash left, but I suggest you use a whole squash because my juns today ended up barely tasting of squash.

Use a mandolin to shred all your veggies. Try and get about 2 cups of squash with 1 cup of potatoes and onions each.

Get 1 cup of pancake mix, 1 egg, and 1/2 cup of water and mix it well.

Add all your vegetables to the mix with 1 TB garlic, 1 TB sesame oil, and a dash of pepper.

Mix everything well and you're ready to grill...

Grease a pan up and heat it and then make smaller sized pancakes like so and brown on both sides...

Fry until golden on both sides...

And you're ready to serve!

Pickled Peppers

I make a batch of these jalapenos for whenever we grill gogi at home. It's a great dipping sauce for various meats.


First wash and clean 8 jalapenos and 8 serrano chiles.


Use a mandolin to quickly slice all of the peppers into thin slices, then transfer the peppers into a pickling jar.


In a bowl mix together 3 cups water, 3/4 cup soy sauce, 1/2 cup vinegar, 2 TB rice wine, and 1 TB honey powder. Mix this together well and then pour it into the pickling jar with the jalapenos.


Let it sit out overnight and then transfer it into the fridge. Let it ferment inside the refrigerator for about a week before serving.



Just before serving, add some minced garlic and sliced onions onto a plate and then scoop up some sauce with the the jalapenos. This is a perfect dipping sauce for chadolbegi at home! Enjoy~

Pa Kimchi - Spicy Green Onions - (파무침)

Ingredients:

• 5 dans of jjook pa
  
• 1 CUP red pepper powder
• 1.5 TB sugar
• 2 TB honey powder
• 3 TB gga-nari fish sauce
• 1 TB fish sauce
• 3 TB rice wine
• 6 TB water
• 1 TB sesame seeds
• 0.5 TB salt
  

Take a look at the ingredients page to see a picture of the item.

Wash and clean 5 dans of jjook pa. Jjook pa is basically the same as regular greens onions, but they are thinner.



Mix together the ingredients listed above: 1 CUP red pepper powder,1.5 TB sugar, 2 TB honey powder, 3 TB gga-nari fish sauce, 1 TB fish sauce, 3 TB rice wine, 6 TB water, 1 TB sesame seeds, 0.5 TB ginger powder, and 0.5 TB salt.



Work the pepper mixture into the pa in thirds. Get 1/3 of the pa and 1/3 of the mixture and mix, and so on...



Once everything is mixed in well, let it sit for about 10-15 minutes. This will make the pa soft and much more easier to store.

Finally, store in a container overnight and then let it ferment inside the fridge for a few days.

After a few days it will be ready to serve!

Kong Jaban - Black Beans in Soy Sauce and Sugar - (콩자반)

Each week I TRY and make at least two new banchans (side dishes). This week I decided to use up the remaining black beans I had in the cupboard.

Ingredients Needed:

• 1 cup black beans (I ended up with slightly more than a cup)
• 3 cups water
• 6 TB soy sauce
• 5 TB sugar
• 1 TB brown sugar
• 2 TB honey powder
• 1 TB corn starch
• splash of sesame oil
• 2 TB sesame seeds
  

First go and get some black beans. I had this sitting in my cupboard and decided I wanted to use up the whole bag. I'm actually on a mission this week to clear out my freezer and pantry. I'm making meals up as I go because I don't want all the food in my freezer to go to waste.



I used what I had left in my bag and it ended up being almost 2 cups of beans.



Let it soak in water for about 4-5 hours and the beans will expand and double in size.



Then throw out the water it was in and give the beans a good rinse. Add 3 CUPS water and put the beans into a pot and turn up the heat on high.



While it's cooking and ready to boil add: 6 TB soy sauce, 5 TB sugar, 1 TB brown sugar, 2 TB honey powder and let it boil on medium heat for about 30 minutes.



Eventually all the liquid will reduce down quite a bit. At this point add 2 TB of cornstarch and keep boiling it on low heat. Keep an eye on it and make sure you don't burn it!



When there is barely any liquid left, you're ready to throw in 2 TB of sesame seeds. Mix it around thoroughly and then turn off the heat and let it cool down.



You're ready to serve! You can store it in the fridge for up to two weeks.

Onion Salad

Once again, I’ve been on a blogging hiatus and I apologize for that. The weather has been SOOOOOOOOOO hot here in SoCal that just the thought of going into the kitchen and turning up the heat was suffocating. I felt bad about not cooking more often, so this past weekend we headed to K-town and picked up some meat. On Sunday we had some yummy steaks and today we ate cha-dol-begi.

Enough rambling and onto the recipe…

Ingredients:

• 1 large onion
• dressing: 1/2 TB minced garlic, 1/2 TB wasabi, 2 TB rice wine, 1 TB soy sauce and 7 TB vinegar

I was being lazy and didn’t want to head upstairs to grab my flash and THIS is what the picture looked like. =/

So I went upstairs, grabbed my flash and this is the result. It’s strange how flash works better for me with food pictures, but when I’m shooting Munchkin or anything else – I rarely use flash. Anyhow…

I usually eat cha-dol-begi (thinly sliced beef brisket) with this sauce. But today I decided that I would make an onion salad similar to the one they *used to* serve at Byul Dae Po – one of my favorite AYCE Korean BBQ places. The last time I was there, the server informed me that they no longer gave out the onion salad because the price of onions had skyrocketed. =/ I dunno if that’s the truth, but I’m hoping they will serve it again in the future. Anyhow this is my replication of their onion salad. Super easy and a perfect accompaniment to gogi-gogi! First, go and grab one large white onion. You can slice it by hand, or use a trusty mandolin to do the work for you! Slice away~

You want it thin, but not too thin…

And then add the following ingredients: 1/2 TB minced garlic, 1/2 TB wasabi, 2 TB rice wine, 1 TB soy sauce and 7 TB vinegar.

Mix it up WELL. You do not want to bite down into a chunk of wasabi.

And transfer it into a nice serving bowl. You’ll be left with quite a bit of liquid so just pour it over the top and discard any excess.

You’re now ready to eat with some gogi!

I know I’ve mentioned Choice Meat Market before and if you haven’t already, you MUST go and try their meats.

It’s a lot more than what you would pay at the K-market, but their meat melts in your mouth.

I sliced up some onions and mushrooms…

Got our trusty old indoor gogi-grill going (there’s even a compartment that collects the drained fat!) – I think the last time we brought this out was over two years ago!

And then it was grilling time!

We ate the whole thing!

Everyone in our small family of three was happy and full! Hope everyone is doing well. I will *try* to be back sooner rather than later. =)