Korean Job Discussion Forums

[n3ptne]

Ok...

Not sure if a thread like this already exists, but for those of you who cook, I know that living in Korea can be frustrating, especially when it comes to finding that one special ingredient that makes or breaks a recipe.

Anyway, after being here for almost two years I've found it possible to cook quite a few various dishes from back home that turn out quite nicely, but I'm wondering what else is out there.

So, in the spirit of egalitarian brotherhood, or hunger, I'll go first.

Linguini Clam Sauce

Cost

About 25,000won, serves 6 or so.

Availabilty

The only thing that is difficult to find is the cream. E-Mart stocks it, and so does GS Mart, but the availability is sometimes off-putting.

Ingredients

Cream 1000ml
Garlic
Clams
Dry Chardonnay
Butter
Olive Oil

Directions

The only clams I've been able to find here come in a plastic bag that's full of water. I buy two or three for the recipe, and open them up in a pot. Bring to a boil, or cook until the clams open and then take them off the fire.

Its very important to save the water that was in the plastic recipe because finding clam juice here is impossible. Take the clams out of the pot (using a strainer), and deshell them. Then mix with equal parts minced garlic and cut as finely as possible.

Take the garlic/clams and sautee with equal parts butter and olive oil (usually a half of stick, or less), only until brown.

When brown add about a quarter, to a half bottle of the Chardonnay. Let boil until reduced. About 10 minutes.

Add the clam stock that is left over from when you boiled the clams. Not all of it, but about 90%. Continue to let boil for about 10 minutes.

Add about 50% of the cream (the kind I find comes in a cardboard box, and says Whipping Cream on the side), let boil for 10minutes, add another 40% of the cream. Continue to boil for awhile, then let simmer until it thickens. About 30-45 minutes.

Season with pepper whenever, or however, you feel appropriate. A word of caution when using salt though... the clam stock is rather salty, so it is easy to over season.

You can experiment by adding the remaining 10% of cream (for a thicker sauce), more of the clam stock, or more of the chardonnay. Just remember to bring the sauce to a boil before adding anything.

I'm cooking it right now, turns out very well, any questions can be PM'd to me.

Peace

[ruffie]

Shake N' Bake Chicken

Directions :

Get job in Korea.
Work for one year.
Return to Canada.
Buy Shake n' Bake
Return to Korea
Put chicken in bag with Shake n' Bake
Shake.
Bake.
Enjoy.
Repeat as necessary.

[n3ptne]

ㅋㅋ

Somehow I didn't think ESL teachers would know the first thing about fine cooking.

[ruffie]

I've managed to make hummus, some Thai soups, various salsas, yorkshire pudding, carrot cake , banana bread, curries and dahl from scratch, but nothing I would call fine cousine. If it calls for cream, I get disouraged at the prospect of running all over town.

[Nicco61]

[Nicco61]

[the1andonly]

This recipe saved me on saturdays and sundays in Korea.

Bacon, Eggs and Toast

Ingredients:

Eggs (buy anywhere)
Bacon (can get at e-mart, Lotte Mart etc)
Bread
Butter
Salt and Pepper

Cooking:

Fry the bacon.
Fry the eggs, or make scrambled, or poach them- whatever you like!
Put bread in Toaster. Toast.
Lightly butter if desired.
Dash with salt and pepper if desired.


Sounds easy hey? It is! And how many of us do it? My bf thought I was a goddess when I would serve him this.

Enjoy!

[Tokki1]

I cook Korean food a lot, and began experimenting with 'chee gae' recipes years ago. I find Koreans' reactions to this 'fusion food' very amusing, because they always say 'no you can't add this or that to kimchi chee gae' or anything else I'm cooking. It has to follow the traditional recipe. Or does it?

Wae guk cheegay (also known as 'babo cheegay)

When i'm using kimchi, I throw in a tablespoon or so of gochu jang. I like using chicken breast meat instead of pork, or even lean hamburger meat.
I also use those skinny mushroom packs.
-cook the meat (chicken or hamburger) in a frying pan
-boil water in a dol sot pot
-add chopped garlic and gochu jang
-add kimchi
-add the chopped mushrooms
-add the meat
-boil the crap out of it
-enjoy

"You crazy" Koreans say, but when they try it they are always amazed at how good it tastes.

I love telling my students that I ate 'hamburger chee gae' or 'dak duen jang chee gae'. They all tell me in unison: 'teacher, no'.

When I'm using duen jang, I often use hamburger, chicken, potatoes, garlic, spinach, bean sprouts.

I suppose the point here is that kimchi and gochu jang or duen jang are perfect bases for any soup or stew. You cannot screw it up. It's so easy even a wae guk can cook it.

So if you're into chee gaes, try experimenting.

You can't go wrong.

[ruffie]

Mushrooms are great in the geegay! I also fry the meat first with a ton of onion and garlic to bring out flavor. I think the koreans just flick in the raw/frozen meat with the water. Truly horrifying to a western cook, but I guess it's one less pan for them to wash.

It's fun to modify their dishes, to see what will happen. I must confess it's also fun to see their expressions when you tell them what you did. NO! You cannot! I just say when you stop putting corn on pizza and rolling hot dogs in sugar..............

[Vancouver]

any good breakfast ideas? One that's low in fats/oils? I wanna make breakfast for my aunt, but she's old so I want to make something healthy for her

[periwinkle]

I need a good recipe for jang jo lim if anyone has one. The recipe I have is too salty~

[wings]

Can I get tahini in Korea??? I am a hummus junkie!

[PimpofKorea]

Why are some of you mammajammas making Korean food on your free time??? You can get that garbage within 10 feet of wherever you are. I always like to make some food from home. I'm the EggMcmuffin King Bithces!!!!!!!!!!!

[swetepete]

A Nice Hot Sweet Vegetable Curry

You can use this as a purely vegetarian (vegan, even, if you wanna get technical) curry, served with rice or whatever, or you can throw chicken or beef into it. It's all good.

You will need...

(for the sauce) about ten medium sized tomatoes
two big honking onions
apples (if you want)
mangoes (if you want)
garlic
ginger
mixed veggies...like, a green pepper or two, a carrot, a potato perhaps, cauliflower, or whatever you're into, really.

For the curry paste, you'll need...
a jar of curry paste
OR
garlic
ginger
madras curry powder
turmeric
cumin
SALT
black pepper if you want
lots of ghee (clarified butter) or olive oil (or whatever kinda grease you favor.)

Dead simple this one, and it freezes well so you can make a big batch and eat it for weeks.

1) Slice the carrots into discs about 3 mm thick. Ditto the potato, if you're using one, or whatever other root veggies you have on hand. Steam or parboil them til they're starting to soften, but not so much that they are fully cooked; then, remove from heat.
2) While the hard veg is cooking, dice the tomatoes and onions. The ratio should be about 5:2, tomatoes to onions...I like leaving a few biggish chunks of onion but basically we're looking for a fine dice, a mince even; this will be the body of the sauce. Cook it at a low heat until the onions are invisible.
3) Mix in the curry paste to taste; start out with about a quarter cup, and add more if you want. If you wind up over seasoning it, throw in more diced tomatoes to thin it out a bit.
4) Throw in the hard veg from step one.
5) Add big chunks of apple, mango, and green peppers, as well as a little bit of grated ginger and garlic. If you are using cauliflower, throw that in now; don't overcook it though because that's just gross. Ditto for broccoli.
6) Simmer it all together until the fruit and softer veggies are cooked, but not falling apart--probably about five minutes.

Serve over rice, or with nan or pita bread or whatever you got lying around.
This curry is really good with a mango chutney.

Curry Paste

Mince about a quarter cup of ginger.
Mince " " garlic.
1) Sautee over very low heat with about a quarter cup of ghee (or oil).
When the garlic and ginger have softened, they will lose lot of their bitterness.
2) Still over very low heat, add and stir in...carefully now, don't scorch it...
1 tbsps. turmeric
1 tbsps. cumin
4 tbsps. madras curry
3 tbsps. salt
1 tbsps. chili pepper or cayenne or even paprika
more oil if it's too chunky and looks likely to burn. Don't worry, oil's good for you.

This should be about right...mix it into the veggie sauce gradually, so as to make sure you don't make it too hot. If it's not hot enough, use more chili pepper. If it's not curry enough, use more madras curry powder.

TIPS: if you're not using fruit in this curry (and you really should, it's awesome) you'll probably want to add a few tablespoons of sugar.
:Salt it if it's bland.
:Add chickpeas (garbanzos) from a can or cooked kidney beans if you want.
:Freeze the sauce base you're not using, and always add the quick cooking veg and fruit fresh for each serving.
:Not bad with banana thrown in as well, but do that at the very last second; just enough to make the bananas hot, but not particularly cooked.
:If it's too soupy, add a little can of tomato paste and it'll thicken right up.

This is really good, but I've not written the recipe out for years so I may be a little off here and there. Should work well though.

[peppermint]