Beef Chili Paste Sauce

약고추장 [yaak-go-choo-jaang]
I originally made this sauce to use as a dressing for bibimbap but decided to make it a separate post. It is part of bibimbap recipe, but it goes well with many other dishes as well. You can mix in a spoonful of this beef chili paste sauce onto your rice for instant beef-chili-bibimbap, or use it as ssamjang for vegetables or BBQ. If you like the original Korean chili paste, I am sure you will like this even more.

Ingredients:

ground beef (1/2 lb)
cooking wine (3 tbl)
ground pepper (pinch)
chili paste (2 cup)
ginger (1 tbl, ground)
garlic (3 tbl, minced)
onion (1/2 chopped)
honey (4 tbl)
sesame oil (1 tbl)
ground sesame seeds (3 tbl)

1.

Add cooking wine and pepper to ground beef and mix well. Stir fry the peppered ground beef and set it aside.

2.

In a pot, mix the remaining ingredients together (chili paste, ground ginger, minced garlic, chopped onion, honey, sesame oil and ground sesame seeds) and boil.

3.

When the sauce boils, add the ground beef from Step 1, reduce to low/medium heat and cook for another 5 to 10 minutes.

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.