Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Jayoss2]

Hi everyone,

I'm getting a bit bored of my usual 4 meal rotation of pasta, stir fry, eggs and sandwiches. Does anyone have any good suggestions of non korean meals to make? (Don't usually cook korean food as I can never make it as good as the restaurants do so I usually just go out for it) I've been searching receipe sites, but am having trouble finding meals with ingredients available here. Thanks!

[desperation]

[Bondgirl]

Desperation, nice simple meal ideas. Mashed potatoes and beans is always a winner too.
As for the meat, (I don't really it, particularly cheap stuff) - if it is cheap, it has usually been raised under pretty questionable farming techniques. Pigs get a rough deal as it is, and pork that is cheap is most usually from battery bred and raised pigs, kept in poor conditions and fed crappy diets and hormones to make them grow quickly.
That sounded a bit grim.
As for butchers, I walked past one the other day amongst one of those mega housing complexes, and it looked ok from the outside, so they do seem to be around, but perhaps more in the smaller residential shopping districts near those apartment plantations, rather than in the usual shopping districts.

[Vancouver]

get a chicken breast, sprinkle whatever spices you want on it, and leave it in a container filled with 250ml orange juice, and lets say..100ml lemon juice. let it marinate for a couple of hours. then fry it on a pan. well, add the juice too. when the juice evaporates, add in crushed garlic and butter

[sojourner1]

I have been frying zucchini and egg plant slices quite a bit as a summer treat. You can get cornmeal in Seoul or frying powder at a Homeplus outside of Seoul. Recently, Homeplus began selling tater tots which are a tasty treat too. I often finely dice onion and bell pepper and add to lean beef to make a tasty burger thats like meatloaf. I fry chicken sometimes too. I sure am looking for some good fish to fry as well, but haven't really found that as I have been experimenting with buying fish here which is questioning my lifelong belief that I love seafood. Just isn't so, unless it's catfish, bass, bluegill, shrimp, blue crab, dungeoness crab, and lobster which are extremely rare here.

I have been making chili some this summer too as I found chili powder at the Red Door store in Itaewon. Everything else for chili can be found at Homeplus. You can make tacos with that chili powder too by adding oregano, salt, and pepper to add to the ground beef. I use those Dorito knock off chips to make taco salads since shells don't seem to exist here.

I have been making potato salad, cucumber and onion salad, and mix fruit salad too this summer. The only things I am lacking in my kitchenette are oven baked foods like roast, baked potatoes, homemade pizza, Sheppard's pie, and lasagna though I am not losing weight or going hungry here.

Now if there was a good restaurant serving scrumptious hot cooked lunch around, I would have no food issues what so every here as it is not practical to cook for yourself with limited time while lunch time is when you really need the biggest and best meal, not at night. I got burned out on boiled eggs and P&J sandwiches too.

[rumdiary]

Throw chopped potatoes, carrots, onion and garlic into a covered pan with some olive oil and let it simmer for about an hour. Its also really good if you throw in one of those curry seasoning packets they sell at all the shops here.

Thinly sliced sweet pumkin, pan fried in butter is delicious.

[Jizzo T. Clown]

Fajitas:

chicken breast, onions, bell peppers, black pepper, lemon or lime juice, grilled together

make your own tortillas (takes practice, I found) using flour, a bit of water and a little baking soda

buy some salsa at a black market store or make your own with a blender, tomatoes and peppers

Grilled chicken is very versatile. It's about all I eat.

[tzechuk]

risotto.

fry onions and garlic in olive oil and salt. throw in some mushrooms if you want. add chicken, fry until the outside is all white. add rice, fry a bit. add chicken stock and half a can of water (depends on how much rice you have). bring to boil. simmer until rice is cooked. add pepper and salt to taste.

[littlemisssmiles]

Does anyone have any more meal ideas? I am having trouble coming up with things to make as well. This is my first time living on my own so I am not used to cooking. I am also finding it challenging to find ingredients, and not having an oven or microwave. So far I have made pasta, salad, pb&j sandwiches, grilled cheese sandwiches, eggs. What is everyone else living on?

[aldershot]

pasta salad:

rotini (cold), feta cheese, red onion, italian dressing.

[spliff]

I eat Korean for lunch and Thai for dinner....breakfast is an open-faced egg sandwich w/ ham, cheese, pepper and hot sauce or Quaker Oats w/ banana and honey...it's fast. and easily prepared by my wife who doesn't like to be saddled w/ too much when she wakes up in the mornings.

[kimchi_pizza]

I gotta get my weekly potato fix or I go beserk. Hash browns are my quick fix as I grate a few taters, mix it with copped onions and minced garlic, heat some olive oil in a frying pan and fry'em up. When golden brown I toss on some salt, ground pepper and then more than enough ketchup (Heinz! I can't stand the local stuff). It'll make ya feel REEalll good.

[Dome Vans]

Being vege there is a multitude of fresh vegetables to be had. Due to being very busy I will cook something big on Sunday and Wednesday and eat it for a few days, either:

*Chili (Kidney bean, aubergine, onions, mushrooms, garlic, chilli and tomatoes, bay leaves)

*Curry (Tofu, cauliflower, potato, mushrooms, onions, garlic, aubergine, curry powder, tomatoes, cardamons)

*Pasta sauce (Aubergine, chilli, tomatoes, onion, garlic, mushrooms) or (bechamel sauce, butter, flour, milk, cheese) or both together. Can't find lasagne sheets so with spaghetti this is a simplified version.

*Basil grilled tomatoes on wholemeal toast, with crushed pepper, sea salt and drizzled with olive oil.

My new toy is a hand blender: So it's healthy soup for me:

*Carrot, broccoli (apparently as soon as you drop broccoli in the water it starts losing it vitamins, but the vitamins stay in the water, so boiling even for a moment it loses a lot of vitamins, that's why Thai's put it in raw and allow the steam to cook it. Or better let it cook in a stew or soup so the vitamins actually stay in the pan)
*Potato and leek
*Tomato and feta cheese
*Thai vege soup
*Curried split pea soup

Served with french bread.

*Red bean burgers (Adzuki beans, egg, rice, flour, basil, chopped chilli, onion, s+p) Served in french bread and a side salad.

*If I have my friends round for dinner I'll cook chicken in a casserole with English dumplings (flour, egg, oil, herbs, water, baking powder, s+p and chili powder)

Cooking a big dinner and eating over a few days really helps because it can sit in the fridge for up to a week and a half. I go to the gym three times a week so I like to come in from school, eat, wait an hour and then off to the gym. No pfaffing around with cooking something new everyday.

[smurfetta]

Buy yourself a little toaster oven. You can actually make quite a few things in it. I make mini pizzas in mine. If you want instructions on how to do it then just pm me. I've also roasted potatoes, sweet potatoes, and squash in it. I've made muffins, cookies and apple crumble in it too. When I am lazy, I make cheese toasties and french fries.

I've been meaning to make stuffed peppers in it but haven't gotten around to it.

Here's a website that might give you some inspiration:

http://www.toaster-oven.net/List-Pages/toaster-oven-recipes.htm

[valkyrian2]

You are here for a year or more.

Time to quit camping and live like you mean it.

70k won at Lotte mart will get you a basic microwave oven.
(100k gets a nice one with more options than you will ever use.)

40k won will get you a pressure cooker.

Those 2 items change your options from just stove top boiled and fried to anything/everything under the sun.

Roast beef is quick and easy in the pressure cooker (with or without potatoes).
Soups and stews.
Beef, port or chicken stew with dumplings.
Get fancy and make swiss steak.
Roast chickens with bread stuffing are cheap and easy in the microwave.
Basic cakes, are easy to do.

Google is your best friend for cooking options after you have those 2 basic items.

Really, put it in perspective - when you think about it, you probably spend more than 100k on a weekend out or Saturday night at the pub.

.