Tofu Stick Salad

The weather is finally becoming more like summer! I am already getting excited because we already have two camping trips and a few outdoor activities planned for coming months. In this kind of weather, a simple cold dish is just about what I need. When the weather turns hot, you really want to avoid any thing to do with the heat, be it your stove. Also you don't want to have left-overs sitting in your refrigerator for too long since the foods tends go bad more quickly even when kept in the refrigerator.

So here is a perfect dish for this summer, Tofu Stick Salad. It combines these two essential elements of summer dish: you don't have to use the heat, and you are most likely to have these ingredients in your fridge that should to be consumed pretty soon. No need to go grocery shopping. Just enjoy minimal cooking and refresh your appetite for this summer.

Main Ingredients:
tofu (1 block. firm)
cucumber (1/2)
cherry tomato (10)
fake crab meat (4-5)

Ingredients for Sauce:
water (6 tbl)
vinegar (3 tbl)
sugar (3 tbl)
soy sauce (1 tbl)
garlic (1 tbl, minced)
sesame oil (1/2 tbl)
salt (1/2 tsp)

1.

Cut tofu to about 1/4 inch thick sticks.

2.

Julienne cucumbers and other vegetables of your choice thin and long.

3.

Combine all the ingredients for sauce and shake well.

4.

Place the tofu sticks at the bottom and stack all the other ingredients on top. Then pour the sauce over.

Gosari Salad

고사리무침 [go-sa-ri-moo-chim]
This is the third in the Korean vegetable series followed by Spinach Salad and Bean Sprout Salad. While spinach and bean sprouts may be known to Westerners, gosari may still be quite foreign to many people. Gosari is the young stem of brackens which is often harvested in mountainous areas all over the world. While many cultures do not use this plant for cooking, it is commonly consumed in the Northeast Asia including Korea, Japan and China. As a matter of fact, it is also a typical ingredient in a popular mixed rice dish, bibimbap. The gosari salad in this recipe can be consumed as an independent side dish or as toppings for bibimbap.


Gosari is harvested in the spring time when its stem is still young and tender.


When harvested, they are boiled in water for about 5 minutes, then sun dried until they turn completely dry and dark brown as shown above for storage.


Prior to cooking, the dried gosari must be soaked in water overnight until the stems are wet and plump as shown here.


You still need to boil them in water until they turn soft like this. The volume will almost double when fully cooked and ready to be used. Depending on the quality of gosari, the cooking time could last from 10 minutes to an hour. It should be done when it's soft and you can easily chew on it.

Ingredients:

cooked gosari (300g, roughly cut in half lengthwise)
anchovy stock (1/3 cup, made of one large anchovy boiled in water for about 5 min)
olive oil (1 tbl)
sesame oil (1 tbl)
ground sesame seeds (1 tbl)

Seasoning Sauce:
Korean soy sauce (2 tbl)
garlic (1 cloves, minced)
green onion (2 tbl, chopped)
pepper (pinch)

1.

Prepare the seasoning sauce by mixing Korean soy sauce, minced garlic, chopped green onion and a pinch of ground pepper together.

2.

Season the cooked gosari in the seasoning mix in Step 1.

3.

Grease the pan with olive oil and stir fry the gosari mix from Step 2.

4.

Add anchovy stock, cover the lid and simmer for about 5 minutes.

5.

When the gosari mix is wet and moist in anchovy stock, add sesame oil and ground sesame seeds and stir fry for another minute or so.

Korean Spinach Salad

시금치무침[shi-keum-chi-moo-chim]
Spinach is packed with vital nutrients like iron and beta-carotene and is an excellent source of fiber. But unfortunately, I find there are not that many dishes that feature this healthy vegetable as main ingredient. I guess in the Western diet, spinach salad and creamy spinach are as popular as it gets. Salad is always a good option, but I personally don't like creamy spinach because creamy flavor overpowers the real flavor of spinach.

If you are looking for an alternative spinach dish, I recommend Korean Spinach Salad. Though it's called salad, we use half-cooked or blanched spinach. First, you would need a whole bunch of spinach which has stems and a little bit of roots at the bottom instead of the typical spinach leaves sold for salad. Because the spinach is only half cooked, you get the full flavor of cooked spinach while still being fresh when biting it. When it's mixed with garlic soy sauce, you would be surprised to find a wonderful combination of these two super-foods - spinach and garlic - tastes when mixed together.

Ingredients:

spinach 300g (2 bunches)
salt (1 tsp)
Korean soy sauce (1 1/2 tbl)
garlic (3 cloves, minced)
green onion (1 tbl, chopped)
sesame oil (1/2 tbl)
ground sesame seeds (1/2 tbl)

1.

Boil water with some salt.

2.

Immerse the spinach in boiling water with leafy green part on top and blanch the spinach for no more than 30 seconds. Spinach should be only half-cooked.

3.

Rinse in cold water to stop cooking. Drain and squeeze out water. Then cut the spinach bunch into 3 parts.

4.

Make the seasoning sauce by mixing altogether the ingredients above.

5.

Mix the sauce into spinach.

Bean Sprout Salad

콩나물무침[kong-na-mool-moo-chim]
Although bulgogi and Korean BBQ are most well known Korean dishes to many Westerners, they are not part of typical Korean diet as those dishes are only served on special occasions. Contrary to popular beliefs, I think one of the defining characteristics of Korean cuisine is the use of wild and domesticated vegetables in various forms. Typical lunch or dinner table in a Korean household consists of a bowl of rice, soybean soup, kimchi, and a couple of side dishes made with various vegetables. Bean sprout salad is one of the popular side dishes.

This is a really simple recipe but there is one very important component. That is, boiling bean sprouts could be somewhat tricky because you can either have the lid closed or open but NEVER both. If you open the lid while the water is boiling and close it again, the bean sprouts would smell kinda fishy. Therefore, either not use the lid at all from the beginning, or boil the bean sprouts with the lid closed until you see the steaming coming under the lid, turn off the heat, cool off for about 5 minutes with the lid still CLOSED, then rinse the bean sprouts in cold water.

Ingredients:

bean sprouts 400g (tail trimmed)
salt (1/2 tbl)
Korean soy sauce (1 tbl)
garlic (2 cloves, minced)
green onion (2 tbl, chopped)
sesame oil (1 tbl)
chili powder (1/2 tbl)

1.

Trim the tail end of each bean sprout and wash them in water and drain. (This step is optional)

2.

Add some salt and boil the bean sprouts in cold water with lid closed until you see the steam coming off the lid. Then turn off heat and wait for another 5 minutes with the lid closed. Be sure not to open the lid in between.

3.

Wash the cooked bean sprouts in cold running water and drain.

4.

Prepare the sauce by mixing 1 tablespoon of Korean soy sauce, 2 cloves of minced garlic, 1 tablespoon of chopped green onion, 1 tablespoon of sesame oil, and half tablespoon of chili powder. If you prefer it spicy, you can add more chili powder to your liking.

5.

Thoroughly mix the sauce into cooked bean sprout.

Acorn Tofu Noodle Soup

도토리묵국수[do-to-ri-mook-gook-soo]
When we were in Korea last fall, we had mooksabal, acorn tofu noodle soup for the first time and fell in love with it instantly. We had had acorn tofu (dotori mook) before but never seen a noodle soup made with it. When we first read about it, our reaction was how can they make noodle with acorn tofu?! (For those who are wondering how they make tofu out of acorns, check out this wikipedia site.) So we were very anxious to try it.


We had arrived in the Incheon Airport the night before. We rented a car from the airport and drove to Yanpyoung, a small rural/resort town just east of Seoul. We picked Yanpyoung as our first destination because it is not too far from Seoul and is en route to the East coast - we planned to visit the East coast this time since we toured the west and south coasts during our last trip. Yanpyoung is also quite famous for a wide variety of epicurian dining options like wild vegetable bibimbap, azuki bean porridge, Hanwoo (Korean beef) BBQ, etc. Among many, acorn tofu noodle soup is a popular must-try dish in the area.


We drove around the town taking pictures until the restaurant opened. Though Yanpyoung is only 40 miles from Seoul, the air in this part of the country was so fresh that I could feel the crispy winter air deep in my lung. It was quiet and peaceful here except for sounds from roosters and dogs. The streets were empty except for heavy morning fog which engulfed the whole town.


We were the first customers when the restaurant finally opened. We sat on the heated floor where a sign was hanging which read "NO SMOKING FOR 99 YEARS OLD OR YOUNGER." The menu was very simple with only a handful of items which were all made with acorns in some form or another, including acorn pancake rolls, acorn tofu noodle soup, acorn tofu bibimbap, and so forth. We ordered the pancake rolls and noodle soup. They were filled with strong nutty flavors of acorns, and needless to say, were very delicious.

After we came back to the States, we set a plan to replicate the meal with the acorn flour we have at home. I did some research online and finally made it. The memories of heavy morning fog and snow-covered pastoral landscape of Yanpyoung came back along with the first bite of home-made acorn noodle soup.

Ingredients for 2 servings:
acorn tofu (1 block, size of standard size tofu)
kimchi (1 cup, chopped and seasoned with a dash of sesame oil and ground sesame seeds)
egg (1, hard boiled and cut in half) scallion
roasted seaweed (1/2 piece, shredded)
anchovy (6, large)
kelp (1, 2"x2")
daikon radish (1/3)
dry shitake (3)
Korean soy sauce (2 tbl)
water (6 cup)

Seasoning Sauce:
soy sauce (3 tbl)
scallion (1 stalk, chopped)
garlic (1 tsp, minced)
chili powder (1 tbl)
sesame oil (1 tsp)
ground sesame seeds (1 tbl)

1.

You can buy the tofu directly from a market or make it from scratch using acorn flour like I am doing here. If you are using acorn flour, mix 1 cup of acorn flour in 6 cups of water with a dash of salt and then boil over low to medium heat for 20 minutes stirring constantly.

2.

You don't have to cut acorn tofu to look like real noodles. Cut thin, long and flat.

3.

Make anchovy broth by boiling anchovies, kelp, a piece of daikon radish, Korean leek, and dry shitake over high heat at first. Once it starts boiling, take out kelp, add Korean soy sauce and then boil over medium heat for about 20+ minutes.

4.

Make seasoning sauce by mixing all the ingredients above.

5.

Chop kimchi into small pieces (since they are going to be topping) and season with a dash of sesame oil and ground sesame seeds.

6.

Place the acorn tofu noodles (from Step 2), followed by a half of hard boiled egg and seasoned kimchi (from Step 5) and shredded roasted seaweed. Add sliced or julienned cucumber if available.

7.

Pour the anchovy broth from Step 3 over the noodle pile. Add the seasoning sauce (from Step 4) to your taste right before serving. You can serve it chilled or hot.

8.

You can also serve it with steamed rice.

Bean Sprout Soup

Easy clear soup recipe that anyone can make. This soup is very convenient to serve because it can be served either hot or chilled. When it's served cold, a bowl of bean sprout soup could taste very refreshing. I usually make this in a large quantity and serve it hot on the first day, and then from the second day and onward I simply take it out of the refrigerator and serve it chilled. Enjoy simple cooking :D

Ingredients for 1 serving:
bean sprout (1 bag or 300g)
water (5 cup)
scallion (1 stalk)
garlic (1 tsp, minced)
salt (1/2 tbl)
sesame oil (1 tbl)

1.

Wash the bean sprouts in water and drain.

2.

Heat a pot over medium heat and spread a tablespoon of sesame oil.

3.

Stir-fry the bean sprouts in sesame oil. It should sizzle.

4.

When the bean sprouts are half way cooked, add water and bring to boil. Cook for approximately 5 to 10 minutes.

5.

Cut the scallion into 1 to 2 inches long.

6.

Minced the garlic.

7.

Add the scallion and garlic to the soup and boil for another minute or so.

Featured Items:

Pickled Radish Salad

Korean BBQ is usually served with a stack of lettuce, ssamjang (thick dipping sauce), garlic slices, and some vegetable salads. It is intended for you to make a lettuce wrap with a beef slice, a slice of garlic dipped in ssamjang and some seasoned vegetable salad.

This radish salad goes very well with Korean BBQ or samgyupsal. And it can also be served as a side dish to go with your rice. Best of all, this is super easy to make and also very budget-friendly.

In this picture, my salad is poised in a beautifully hand-crafted bowl by Ms. Anna Kim which Anna gave to me as a birthday gift (Thanks, Anna!).

Ingredients for 1 serving:
daikon radish (1/2, medium size)
carrots (1/2)
water (3 cup)
vinegar (1 cup)
sugar (1 cup)
sea salt (1 tsp)

1.

It's helpful to measure out the ingredients in the ratio of water:vinegar:sugar=3:1:1.

2.

You need about half of a this, a medium size daikon radish.

3.

Stir in sugar into water and vinegar mix until they are thoroughly dissolved.

4.

Julienne daikon radish. It's helpful to use vegetable slicer.

5.

Julienne a carrot to add some bright color to the salad.

6.

Soak the julienned daikon radish and carrots into the vinegar+sugar water. Then add a teaspoon of salt. Keep it in room temperature for overnight and then store in refrigerator.