버섯전골[beo-seot-jeon-goal]
How many different kinds of mushrooms have you eaten in your life? Both Min and I are mushroom lovers, but when we saw a wide array of mushrooms on display at the Monterey Market a few weeks ago we realized there are so many types of mushroom that we have never known about, let alone taste it. So, we decided to try every single kind of mushrooms sold in the market. The price range varied as widely as from $1 to $20 a pound. We ended up buying about a dozen different kinds of musrooms totaling more than $40. Since there were so many kinds, we left the ones that we normally intake such as shitake, white button, portabella, etc. We bagged each kind in a different bag, and I kind of felt guilty for wasting so many grocery bags. Looking at the long line of mushrooms on the conveyer belt, the cashier asked if we were Chinese. That made me curious whether Chinese buy that much mushroom usually.
Each mushroom is so unique in its appearance, and they look like pale flowers. We took pictures of every single one of them before setting onto a unique dining expereience. One thing we regretted afterwards is that we didn't write down the names of each musroom when we were at the market. We tried to look up online, but the scientific names kind of put me down. If any mushroom experts out there are reading this post, please share your expertise with me.
With all these mushrooms, we decided to make a mushroom hot pot (or mushroom shabu shabu) so that we can taste each mushroom at a time. To enhance the flavor, I added some beef, vegetables, and udon noodles at the end. As unique as their appearance, not a single mushroom tasted the same as another kind. The differences were rather subtle though. The fun of mushroom hot pot is in noticing this subtle difference in aroma and texture as you eat each mushroom. Yumm..
Ingredients:
all kinds of mushroom
anchovy stock (5 cup)
Korean soy sauce (1 tbl)
sliced beef for shabu shabu (1 lb)
kabocha (1/3, optional)
zuchini (1/2, sliced, optional)
pepper (1/2, sliced, optional)
Korean leek root (3 inch, sliced, optional)
Korean parsely/crown daisy/ssookkat (1/2 bunch)
baby bokchoy (3 heads)
soybean paste (1 tbl)
chili powder (1/2 tbl)
Prepare some vegetables to go with the mushroom hot pot. These are optional.
Leafy vegetables like this baby bokchoy makes a good addition to mushrom hot pot.
Make anchovy stock by boiling approximately 3 large or 5 medium size dry anchovies in 5 cups of water and a table spoon of Korean soy sauce. If you prefer meat-based stock, you can use beef stock. Add beef first.
Once the beef starts cooking, add the vegetables and mushroom into the hot pot. Within five minutes of cooking you should be able to eat mushrooms and beef directly from the hot pot. If it tastes too bland at this time, you can dip in soy sauce.
When you are about halfway through, add soybean paste and chili powder to the hot pot and add udon noodle to experience the full soybean-mushroom hotpot. Enjoy.
문어찜 [Moon-A-Jjim]
Frankly, I am not sure how to call this dish in English. It's sort of a stir-fry, but at the same time it's steamed, too. Oh well. It's Spicy Baby Octopus jjim, a Korean name for a steamed dish.
In any event, I am so happy that I finally get to share this special recipe with you. This came out of the magic touch of my mother-in-law's hands, when she was visiting us few months ago. If you are a spicy food addict like many Koreans are, this Spicy Baby Octopus jjim is to die for if not to sweat for. I don't remember how many tissue papers I blew away at the dinner table, but I do remember it was very gooood.
I tried to take good notes while my mother-in-law was making this, but you know Korean moms never bother to use any kind of measuring tools when they are cooking. FYI the measurements are only approximate.
For 4 servings
Main Ingredients:
baby octopus (approx. 2 lb, frozen is fine)
mussels (10-15, not shown)
bean sprouts (1 plastic bag, the key is to have lots of them)
minari/Japanese parsley (3-4 stalks)
Sauce:
potato starch (1 1/2 tbl + 1/2 cup water)
chili powder (3 tble)
chili paste (1 tble)
soy sauce (1 tble)
garlic (2 cloves, minced)
cooking wine (1 tbl)
sugar (3 tsp)
1.
Trim the root and head of bean sprouts.
2.
Cut off the leaves from the Japanese parsley (minari) then cut 2" to 3" long - We are only going to use stems. The Japanese parsley is called minari in Korean. Minari tastes somewhat like celery and is an important ingredient for this dish.
3.
Thoroughly clean the baby octopus or any other seafood you would like to add (e.g., mussels or midodok), and drain.
4.
Finally, making of sauce. Just mix in together all the sauce ingredients listed above except for the potato starch + water. That's next step.
5.
Mix potato starch and water in a bowl and set aside. This will later be used to thicken the sauce.
6.
Now all the prep work is done, the first step is to steam the bean sprouts. You want to steam them just until they get moistened in steam. DO NOT OVERSTEAM.
7.
In a large pot or a deep pan, stir fry the seafood.
8.
Soon after, add the sauce.
9.
You know what to do now. Mix well.
10.
When the seafood is well mixed in the sauce, add the steamed bean sprouts.
11.
Add the Japanese parsley shortly after.
12.
Pour the starch mix from Step 5, and mix them well together over medium heat. Sprinkle some sesame seeds over before serving.
떡볶이[Tteok-Bok-Kki]
It never occurred to me that 떡볶이 is such a funny-sounding name! only until I typed it in English above and tried to pronounce it as if I don’t know Korean at all. I felt like my jaw is dropping after each syllable, didn't you?
Despite this seemingly hard-to-pronounce name, tteokbokki (spicy ricecake casserole) is a widely popular street food in Korea especially loved by children and young adults. In fact, if you are in Seoul and are walking on streets, you would find it hard not to notice one tteokbokki vendor on your way and would be easily tempted to make a short detour. I think Anthony Bourdain, too, had tteokbokki as his first meal in Korea when he was on his way to hotel from the airport even as he was much jet legged.
For 2 servings
For soup base:
water (1 cup)
fishcake broth (1 cup, or water & little bit of soy sauce)
red pepper paste (2 tbl)
honey (2 tbl, or sugar & corn syrup)
garlic (1, minced)
Main ingredients:
rice cakes (20, of ttukbbokki shape)
fishcake (2, flat rectangular kind)
leek (1/2 stalk)
black sesame seeds (1/2 tbl, garnish)
1.
Distangle each rice cake stick and soak them in water for 20 minutes.
2.
On high heat add water (1c) and fishcake broth (1c).
3.
Stir in red pepper paste (2T).
4.
Stir in honey (2T), or instead you could use sugar (1T) and corn syrup (1T).
5.
Cut fishcake and leek. You could also add few slices of jalepeno (optional) if you like it spicy.
6.
When the broth is about to boil, add rice cakes and fishcakes and cook until the ricecakes become soft and chewy.
7.
Add leek and garlic. Reduce to low to medium heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Sprinkle black sesame seeds before serving.
Related Posts:
Spicy Rice Cake Casserole
김치두부전골 [Kim-chi-To-fu-Jeon-Gol]
My mother-in-law used to be a professional chef. Though she’s now retired, I still find some traits of a professional chef in her when she’s at cooking.
First, she cooks at an incredible speed; At one moment, I’d see her opening a refrigerator door, and next I’d find something already being stir-fried on the stove and is ready to be served. She also cooks a lot both by the sheer quantity of food and the variety of dishes she prepare. Whenever we are eating at her place, I see her bring out side-dishes one after another only until there’s no more room on the table. It’s just overwhelming to see so many foods on a table sometimes. Lastly but not least, her dishes are so delicious that they leave our taste buds spoiled for a long time. Need I say more?
Looking at the picture of dinner table at my mother-in-law’s above reminds me of what she once told me about the three qualities of foods: they have to look good, taste delicious and are nutritious for our body. :D
버섯전골 [Beo-Sut-Jeon-Gol]
If you like mushroom like I do, this mushroom casserole is a must-try. When you go grocery shopping, collect as many different mushrooms as you can and few other vegetables, then you are ready to make this casserole. A spoonful of soy sauce and some garlic are all you need to season the soup; the mushroom and vegetables in the soup will do the rest of cooking for you.
For 2 servings
For soup base:
dried anchovies (8)
dried kelp (2)
water (3 cup)
Main ingredients:
mushroom (20, combination of different kinds)
fried bean curd (2, sliced)
onion (1/3, sliced)
carrot (1/2, julienned)
broccoli (6 flowers)
red and green pepper (1/4, sliced to garnish)
For seasoning:
Korean soy sauce (1 1/2 tbl)
garlic (2 cloves, chopped)
1.
Bring dried anchovies and dried kelps to boil. Take them out shortly after the water starts boiling.
2.
Cut mushrooms bite-size or however you want them, and set them aside.
3.
Prepare vegetables and fried-tofu.
4.
Add the mushroom and the rest of vegetables to the anchovy, kelp stock. Season the soup with garlic and soy sauce.
김치버섯전골 [Kim-Chi-Beo-Sut-Jun-Gol]
My mom made this casserole when she came to visit us with my sisters and aunt. You can see their little faces in the laddle. :D It looks quite complicated, but you just need to know the title of food to make it. All you need are kimchi and mushrooms. Yes, I just lied, but I have to say other additional ingredients are only basic and/or optional.
For 4 servings
Soup base:
dried anchovies (13)
dried kelp (4)
water (7 cups)
Main ingredients:
Napa cabbage kimchi (3 cups, cut large)
mushrooms, a combination of different kinds (2 cups)
udon noodles (2 blocks) optional
fishcakes (3 cups) optional
For Seasoning:
chili paste (2 tbl)
1. Bring dried andchovies and kelps into boil in water.
2. Remove kelps right away when it starts boiling.
3. Let anchovies boil five more minutes and remove them, leaving the broth only.
4. In a wide pot, pour the broth and place kimchi, mushroom and fishcakes.
5. Cook for about 10 minutes. Stir in chili paste to your taste.
6. Add noodles 3 minutes before serving.
