Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Qinella]

Alright, so my honey bunny is making her first venture into the lowly depths of an ESL teacher's abode tomorrow, namely at my crib. She has this expectation that I'm going to cook something for her. Let me show you what my typical cookings are:

- baked (toaster oven) chicken breast with a slice of ham and cheese on top, with some spices. Maybe canned beans or a boiled veggie.

- powder soup base with a variety of mixed vegetables and meat thrown in together

- fish, potato, and red pepper powder + paste, boiled.. fantastic, but not dateworthy

- any other kind of meat I can bake and any veggies I can steam or boil along

None of this is impressive to a lady. It's sad to say, but after nearly 1.5 years on Korea, I still haven't gotten used to cooking here. I just don't know what to do with an E-Mart, two gas ranges and a 3 square inch toaster oven.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I realize there was a thread about this some time ago, possibly started by Ya-Ta Boy, but I couldn't find it.

Please... help a brother out!!!

Q.

[JongnoGuru]

When is the date?

I wrote two posts & deleted because it all hinges on how much time you have to shop & prepare.

Crap, TOMORROW.

You're screwed. But hey, buy stuff & bring it home. Self-catering. Simple. And really, since when did Korean chicks expect a guy to cook for them? Yeah, I do it, but then I'm special. They can't ALL expect it.

Wine in nice glasses. Bread, oil, bruschetta, olives, cheese. Pasta. Soup. More wine. A fancy dessert you bought & stuck in the fridge.

Baking something is too much work.

[Qinella]

[peach]

Bruschetta can be maded with all sorts of bread but a baguette is good. There are a whole bunch of places to find recipes online. Kraft has a wide selection of really easy ones, though I don't know how easy it would be to find the ingredients or even non-Kraft alternatives in Korea.

[Ya-ta Boy]

[Yo!Chingo]

You could impress her by making homemade kalbi. It's really simple. If she wants western fare I can recommend some excellent recipes all of which are self tested. I would recommend my stuffed green peppers which could be done in the toaster as long as you can bake in it or shrimp and scallops with white wine and veggies. Both would be a taste adventure for her b/c I'm sure she's curious about western cuisine.

[Muffin]

Totally sympathise, I am a keen cook at home but also can't work out what to do with a toaster, a tempermental two ring stove and an (expensive) E-Mart.

However, most Koreans I know like pasta, and I think this might be the easiest bet with what you have available.

You can boil the pasta, and skin the tomatoes in a saucepan on one ring.

On the other, a frying pan - fry some garlic, zucchine slices, sliced chillis and any other suitable veg you like (onions, mushrooms, broccoli (blanche broccoli in the boiling water first.) When nicely fried you can add meat of your choice, (spicy sliced sausage could be good) and then chopped tomatoes. If you go for seafood instead of meat, this should be added near the end of cooking as squid and prawns and stuff go tough if cooked too long. If it is dry add water or wine. Stir in the pasta, grate some cheese on the top. Season with pepper, salt. If you can find fresh basil, shred it on the top. Easy peasy will take about 20 minutes.

Serve with bread and salad. I am sure she won't even expect a dessert. Melon would probably do.

[mindmetoo]

Bruchetta is a good idea. A tuna pasta salad is also easy to whip up.

http://www.cooks.com/rec/search/0,1-0,tuna_pasta_salad,FF.html

Also go buy that mild Seoul Milk mozzarella. Slice it, lay a ring of onion on top, and a slice tomato on top of the onion. Arrange several on a plate or something.

[rawiri]

Koreans need as much edumacating about gastronomic delights as they do englishee.

DO NOT make "home made galbi", do a simple stir fry-

Fry off some some strips of beef
add heaps of fresh vibrant coloured veggies

make a fresh salad with tomatoes, onions, cucumbers etc and as a dressing just squeeze over some lemon juice

Toast off some crunchy long french rolls and apply some garlic butter.

VOILA!

It's all bout the presentation man.

Keep it simple and add liberal amounts of red wine.

[seoulsista]

I made fajita's for my co-workers one time and the went ape-shit over them. Just tortilla, chicken, peppers, onions, sour cream salsa, taco mix...this is starting to sound complicated.

Have you ever tried marinating some chicken? Olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper then put it in with some zuchini, onions, peppers, and a little minced garlic in tin foil in the toaster oven for 30 minutes. Delicious and healthy.

[Boodleheimer]

go to www.recipesource.com for some good stuff. they're pretty reliable.

here's a suggested menu:

chicken cutlets (that takes up one hob)
stuffed sweet peppers (that takes up the oven)
mash (another hob)

the only complicated thing is the prep for the stuffed peppers, and while they're in the oven you can worry about frying the cutlets and mashing the mash.

oh, and some nice fruit
and a rose' (the wine, not the flower)

[peony]

sure western food is good but can get complicated and is sorta.. expected, ya know what im sayin'

i think if you cooked up a nice korean meal, she would be impressed


whip up some dalk doritang, its easy and doesnt really require all that many ingredients and you can get all at your local grocery store or what you have at home


potatoes
onions
gochu
chicken (i know some supermarkets sell pre-cut boneless chicken just for dalk dori tang or ask for it at your local butcher, he'll cut it for you but whichever you get, make sure you wash it first if its been cut into pieces for you or you will have bone fragments in your dalk dori tang and thats no good)
spring onion

cut the potatoes and onions into similar sized large pieces (as they will melt) and put in pot

add the gochu and chicken

sauce: soy sauce, red pepper flakes, black pepper, minced garlic, a tiny bit of gochujang, sugar, some dashida if you have it

you should make the sauce in a separate bowl first and taste it to make sure not too salty, sweet etc before dumping it in, remember that a little goes a long way and a lot of water will come out of the chicken and veggies so no additional water needed

put the heat on high at first until it comes to a boil, then reduce to low and let simmer until potatoes are tender and chicken is fully cooked and then garnish with finely chopped spring onion

serve with rice, kimchi and a few pre-made banchan from the supermarket arranged nicely in small bowls or something

dessert could be a small cake from the bakery or some cut up fruit


i'd be impressed

[JongnoGuru]

[Qinella]

Yeah, good ideas rolling in! Oh I already went shopping. I bought some kind of tri-colored pasta and I'm going to make my first attempt ever at creating a homemade sauce, and at making bruschetta. If it turns out horribly, well.. it probably won't. I think I can pull it off. And red wine to smooth things over.

Thanks for the other tips. Gonna use those in the future.

[JongnoGuru]