Sae-woo Chae Juk (새우채죽) Rice porridge

This thick porridge is perfect for those cold winter nights when you need something hearty to warm you up from the inside out.

Ingredients:
1.5 cups soaked rice*
100g minced shrimp
1/2 onion diced small
1/5 carrot, diced small
1/3 pumpkin, diced small (호박)
2 shiitake mushrooms, diced small
2 spoons sesame oil
1.5 spoons cheong ju (청주)
8 cups sardine broth**
Pinch of salt

For frying with rice:
1 spoon sesame oil
1/2 spoon minced garlic.

Steps:

1. In a big pot, fry sesame oil and garlic.  Add rice, fry until rice grains become transparent.
2. Add onion, carrot, pumpkin, mushrooms, and fry until onions are clear.  Add shrimp and cheongju.
3. pour in broth.  Heat to boiling, reduce to low, simmer 20-30 minutes. Stir occasionally.
4. When the rice has absorbed most of the liquid, add salt, sesame oil to taste.

Notes:

* To make soaked rice, soak rice in water for 3-4 hours.  That's it!

** To make sardine broth, throw 7 small, headless dried sardines and a 10cm square sheet of dried kelp into 5 cups of boiling water for about 10 minutes then add 1 spoon cheong-ju (청주).  Strain.

- You can substitute ground or small chunks of meat for the shrimp, or use a different broth if you want.  Also, feel free to add whatever veggies you want or have in the back of your fridge.

Ddeok guk (떡국) Rice-cake soup

This simple, yet delicious soup is traditionally served at the Lunar New Year.  It is said that the thin, flat rice cakes resemble coins, and so by eating it, you ensure a prosperous new year (or so I heard).

Ingredients: (2-3 people)
100g beef
Pounded rice cakes for soup - ddeok (떡국 떡)
1 egg
1 big leek
1/2 spoon miced garlic
1/2 sheet seaweed (김), sliced thin.
1 spoon soy sauce
5 cups kelp broth
salt, pepper to taste

Steps:

1. Separate the egg into white and yolk.  Poach both.  Slice thin.
2. Soak beef in cold water to remove blood.  Cut into bite-sized pieces.  Brown in a soup pot.  Add broth, boil.
3. When beef is cooked, add rice cakes.
4. When the ddeok is cooked (it should be soft, but a little chewy), add leeks, soy sauce, garlic, and salt/pepper to taste.  Serve garnished with seaweed and egg slices.

Notes:

- I know, I know, it says to separate the egg, poach it, slice it thin, and then use the slices to garnish the soup.  Or you could just crack an egg into the soup and stir it up in step 4.

Doeujang guk (배추된장국) Soybean paste soup with cabbage

They serve this dish at school, and it's become the ultimate comfort food for me.  Rich, warm, and salty, it's the next best thing to chicken noodle soup when the nearest can of Campbells is halfway around the world.

Ingredients: (7-8 servings)
1/2 head of Chinese cabbage (~1kg)
300g stewing beef
1/4 Daikon radish
3 spoons garlic, chopped rough
1 big leek
3 sheets kelp 5cm square
10 cups water
1/2 cup doenjang paste (된장)
2 spoons red chili paste (고추장)
2 spoons soy sauce
pinch of salt and pepper

**Clean and slice the cabbage, leek, and radish.

Steps:

1. Soak beef in cold water ~30 minutes to remove blood.  Soak kelp in 10 cups water ~30 minutes to make a broth.
2. Slice the radish into large squares the thickness of a pencil.  Boil the cabbage briefly, drain, rinse with cold water, and pat dry.
3. Break up/cut the cabbage into pieces about the size of the radishes.  Mix in the radish, beef, 1/2 of the bean paste, and red chili paste.  Let everything sit for ~5 minutes.
4. Add mixture from Step 3 to the kelp broth.  Heat to a simmer over medium heat.  Using a sieve, add the rest of the soybean paste to the broth (you want the paste, but none of the bean pieces).  When the residue has filtered out completely, heat to boil, reduce to low, and simmer for an hour.
5. When the cabbage is well-cooked (it will be very limp), add leeks, garlic, salt, pepper, and soy sauce to taste.  Simmer until ready.

Notes:

- Can't find doenjang?  Japanese miso is very similar, the only difference is that Miso doesn't have whole bean pieces the way that doenjang does, which means that you won't have to filter out bean pieces in step 4.

- They also serve it at school with more than just cabbage.  I imagine any bitter, leafy vegetable would work.  Try and see!

Kimchi Jjigae (김치찌개) Kimchi Stew

Who doesn't have some old kimchi sitting in the back of your fridge taking up space?  Give it a new lease on life with one of my all-time favorite dishes.  When it's good, there's nothing better in Korea.  When it's bad, it's still pretty good.  Fiery-spicy, infernally bubbling, and a little bit sour.  There's almost nothing better.  It's also absurdly easy to make.

Nothing better

Ingredients: (4 servings)
1/4 head of kimchi (~600g)
300g pork
1/2 onion, sliced
1 big leek, sliced
1 green chili, sliced thin
1/2 block tofu, cubed
5 cups sardine broth*
1/2 cup kimchi juice**
1 spoon soybean oil

The good stuff

Meat Spices:
2 spoons crushed chilies
2 spoons cheong-ju (청주)
1 spoon minced garlic
pinch of pepper

Kitchen Scissors: a chef's best friend

Kimchi Spices:
1 spoon sesame oil
1 small spoon sugar


**Cut kimchi and pork into bite-sized slices.**

Steps:

1. Mix pork with Meat Spices.  In another bowl, mix kimchi with Kimchi Spices.  Let sit 20-30 mins.
2. Add oil to a pan.  Fry pork and spices.  When the meat starts to brown, add kimchi.  Fry.  Add onions, fry.
3. When onions have started cooking, add broth and kimchi juice.  Simmer 20 mins over medium heat.
4. When the kimchi is ready (it will start to look a little translucent), add tofu, leeks, green chilis.  Heat to a boil.  Serve with rice.

Throw it in at the end

Notes:

- I've heard it's best to use 3 week old kimchi.  You want the kimchi to be nice and sour - it gives the soup a great flavor.  If you don't have old kimchi, you can use newer kimchi, but throw in a small spoon of vinegar.

- I've heard that beef broth works well instead of sardine broth, though I've never tried it.

- You can also throw in other things.  I've seen the thinly sliced ddeok used in ddeok guk, eoh mook (sea span) and enoki mushrooms all added to the pot.

* To make sardine broth, throw 7 small, headless dried sardines and a 10cm square sheet of dried kelp into 5 cups of boiling water for about 10 minutes then add 1 spoon cheong-ju (청주).  Strain the broth and you're ready to go! 

** Kimchi juice is, so far as I can tell, what's left in the bag/pot when you take out the head of cabbage.  

Dak Kal Guk-su (닭갈국수) Chicken Noodle Soup

Down a side alley in Busan's main shopping district, there's a row of gregarious old women squatting on short plastic stools, and serving noodles from a steaming vat of broth to hungry shoppers.  It's one of my favorite places to eat in all of Korea, and the ajumma's surprise at our skill with chopsticks, our tolerance for spicy foods, or our meager Korean skills makes me feel like I'm eating lunch with a proud aunt.  Though they also serve Jap-Chae (잡채), this is my favorite meal there.  Add the chives in at the end instead of salt.

So Good!

Ingredients: (2 servings)
1 whole chicken (~1kg or so)
1/2 Asian squash (ho-bak, 호박)
1/2 onion
1/4 carrot
3 shiitake mushrooms
1 handful (~80g) Asian Chives (부추)
Guk-su noodles for 2 people (~240g)
1/2 spoon soy sauce
pinch of salt and pepper



Chicken Broth:
1/2 onion
1 big leek
10 pieces whole garlic
1 piece ginger
3 spoons cheong-ju (청주)
1/2 small spoon peppercorns
3 liters water

Spices:
5 spoons soy sauce
1 spoon crushed chilies
1 spoon cheong-ju (청주)
1/2 spoon each: minced garlic, sesame oil, sesame salt
pinch of pepper





Steps:

1. Chill, clean the chicken.  Slice onion, squash, carrot, and mushrooms thinly.
2. In a pot, add the whole chicken and the broth ingredients.  Heat to a boil.  When it boils, turn to medium and simmer for ~1 hour.
3. When the chicken has cooked, remove, let it cool and tear into bite-sized strips.  Strain veggies from broth.
4. Mix spices with cut Asian Chives.  Let stand.
5. Heat the chicken broth from Step 3 to a light boil.  Add noodles and cook.
6. When the noodles are nearly done, add the chicken and vegetables from Step 1.  Boil a little.  Add soy sauce, salt, and pepper to taste.  Serve with chives on the side (mix it in for a little salty, a little spicy).

Notes:

- Ho-bak, the Korean squash, is a bit like a fat zucchini.  You can substitute in whatever squash-like vegetable you have, or skip it entirely.

Dak Bokkeum Tang (닭볶음탕) - Spicy Chicken Stew

This dish is another one of our favorite dishes, and oddly enough one that's been a little difficult for us to find at restaurants.  They serve it at our school, and it's unbelievable, a little spicy, and a little sweet.  You might also see this dish written as 닭도리탕 (dak-dori tang).  ("Dori" is Japanese for chicken, so they're trying to phase it out.)

Ingredients: (4 servings)
A whole frying chicken (~750g or so)
3 big potatoes (~600g)
1 onion
1/2 carrot
1 red chili, sliced
2 green chilies, sliced
5 cups water

Cut the potatoes, carrots and onions big.  Cut the chilies small

Spices:
Mix together:
3 spoons crushed dried chilies
2 spoons each: red pepper paste (고추장), soy sauce
1 spoon each: corn syrup/honey, minced garlic
1/2 spoon each: sugar, ginger powder, sesame oil

Sugar, and spice, and everything nice

For cooking the chicken:
4 spoons cheong-ju (청주)
water to cover chicken

Steps:

1. Separate the chicken.  Cut the potatoes and carrots into big chunks.  Slice the chilies.
2. In a pot, cover the chicken with water, boil.  When the water starts to boil, add the 4 spoons cheong-ju.  Boil 3 minutes, until chicken starts to turn white.  Remove from water.
3. In a thick, flat-bottomed pot, add chicken to 5 cups water.  Boil.  When it starts to boil, add spices.
4. Once the broth has reduced by half, add potatoes and carrots.  Turn to medium heat and simmer until potatoes are mostly cooked.
5. When the potatoes are almost ready, add onions and chilies.  Boil over medium heat until onions are clear.
6. Serve with rice.

Notes:

- The recipe calls for a whole chicken, but chicken breast, or whatever parts of the chicken you prefer work just as well.  We also threw some big leeks in at the end, right before serving.

Gamja Tang (감자탕) - Hangover soup

This is probably my favorite dish in Korea.  There's a restaurant near my apartment that serves this stuff 24/7.  It's great for lunch, for dinner, for breakfast, before a night of drinking, at the end of a night of drinking, the morning after a night of drinking.  Anytime.  It's heavenly.  Granted, it takes a while to cook, but it seems easy enough.

Ingredients: (4 servings)
1kg pork spine
300-400g green cabbage
5 potatoes, peeled (~750g)
20 sesame leaves, torn big
1/2 big leek, sliced
1 red chili, sliced
1 green chili, sliced
3 spoons perilla powder or ground sesame seeds
pinch of salt

For the Broth:
1/2 big leek
1/2 onion
2 pieces ginger
1/2 cup soju (소주)
1 spoon doenjang (된장)
5 liters water

Spices:
4 spoons ground chilies
3 spoons each: minced garlic, chopped green chilies,
2 spoons each: shrimp sauce (새우젓), soy sauce, cheong ju (청주)
1/2 spoon ginger powder
pinch of pepper

Steps:

1. Soak spines in cold water 3-4 hours to remove blood.
2. Boil spines 10 mins in new water to remove fat.  Drain.
3. Add broth ingredients, spines to 5 liters water.  Cover and boil over medium heat for 3 hours.
4. Add spices to green cabbage.  Mix.
5. When spines separate, remove and discard leeks, onion and ginger.  Skim off excess fat.
6. Add potatoes and cabbage mixture.  Add sesame leaves, chilies, perilla powder.  Heat to boil.  Salt to taste.  Serve with rice.

Notes:

If you like the savory flavor of the perilla powder, add it just before serving the soup.

Yuk-gae Jang (육개장) - Beef soup

Now that the weather's getting colder, this spicy, savory soup is perfect for those chilly fall nights when you need something to warm you up from the inside out.

Ingredients: (4-5 servings)

300-400g of stewing beef

6 cups water

100-200g bracken fiddleheads (고사리)

100-200g mung bean sprouts (숙주)

2 big leeks

4 cloves garlic, whole

1/2 onion

2 spoons each: vegetable oil, chili oil (고추기름)

1 spoon each: soy sauce, salt, crushed red pepper, sesame oil

Marinade:

Mix together:

1 1/2 spoons crushed red pepper

1 spoon soy sauce

2 spoons minced garlic

1 spoon each: sesame oil, cheong ju (청주)

pinch of black pepper

Steps:

1. Put the beef in cold water for one hour to remove blood.  Drain.
2. Add meat, whole garlic and onion to 6 cups water.  Boil for 20 mins.
3. Remove meat from the water (keep the water!) and let it cool.  Tear the meat along the grain.  Mix with 1 spoon sesame oil, 1 spoon soy sauce and 1/3 spoon salt.
4. Cut vegetables into bite sized pieces  Briefly blanch, then rinse with cold water.  Add to meat with 1/2 of the spice mixture.  Let sit for a bit.
5. Bring broth from step 3 to a boil.  Add mixture from step 4 with the rest of the spice mixture.  Boil
6. Add hot pepper oil.  Boil.  Salt to taste.  Serve with rice.

Notes:

- This recipe is from my secondary cookbook, 국민 요리책.  My main book (오늘의 요리) also has a recipe for this soup, but I haven't translated it yet.  I'll post a link here when I do.