Sam Kae Tang 삼계탕

Ingredients
two cornish hens
15-20 daechu
4 ginseng root
15-20 peeled garlic cloves
10 chestnuts
sweet rice

I have such ADD - I ended up buying cornish hen that was already cut in half!! Hopefully you won't =)  You might have to clean out the guts if they already aren't - I am a weakling, I bought one that was cleaned~!  Then soak it in water for about 30 minutes to drain the blood out or you can boil it once and then cool it off

I soaked the sweet rice in water for about 30 minutes as well~  you want enough to be able to stuff about 2/3 of the each chicken

I started to boil the water with the ginseng for now

Next stuff everything inside each chicken~ i put about 8-10 garlic cloves, 5-6 daechus and chestnuts and the rice inside.  Since I bought mine sliced, I came across a big problem!! Usually you can stuff the chicken, and then cross / tie it's legs... but since mine was actually cut in half, I had to improvise =) ended up wrapping it in cheese cloth and using sticks to keep it together =).

 I put the extra daechu in the water with the chicken

You have to just boil it on low / medium heat for a couple hours~ so you have a couple bubbles popping... 

I cooked it about 4 hours~

Spicy Kal Guk Soo 칼국수

Ingredients
kalguksoo noodles
2-3 pieces of dashima
~10 dried anchovies
5-6 clams
5-6 shrimp
2 TB soy sauce
2 cup kimchee + kimchee juice
1/2 zucchini chopped


Start to boil the water with the dashima and anchovies, like you do for the dwen jang ji gae recipe~

In a separate pot, cook the noodles for about 3 minutes, you don't want them fully cooked only about half way done.  Take them out and put them in a strainer and put them aside for now

I didn't have any clams today, but normally at this point you add the clams and shrimp.  Wait about 1-2 minutes then add your vegetables

Have you kimchee ready - cut into bite size pieces... and make sure you get about 2 TB of kimchee liquid too!

Add the kimchee to the broth

Boil for about 1-2 minutes and then add the noodles and the soy sauce.  Cook about 1-2 minutes more and then taste to make sure everything is cooked~ also adjust any taste as needed. Then dish it out!

Mackerel JoRim 고등어 조림

It's been awhile. I need to update this website - it looks like a ten year old made it ha.  AhhhH!!
Anyway here is a recipe for mackerel, yum~ I just got a new wok so I was very happy to use it =)

Ingredients
2 yellow potatoes
1/3 sliced onion
green + red kochu
2 mackerel fillets
3 pieces of dashima
1 sliced green onion

Sauce: 3 tb soy sauce, 2 tb gochu ka-ru, 1 tb gochujang, 1 tp minced garlic, dash of pepper, dash of sesame oil

I bought mackerel that was already cleaned / fillet... but make sure you clean it, use a paper towel to dry it and salt it a bit. Put it to the side for now.

I used the wok and heated a small bit of olive oil.  Meanwhile I cut up my vegetables

I didn't have any red ko-chu, but if you do you can add them.  Make sure to clean out the seeds and slice it then.  I had two potatoes which I peeled and sliced, and then sliced about 1/3 an onion.

Mix together the ingredients of the sauce~ "play" with it as you want ~ if you want it more spicy, add more gochujang etc. Leave it to the side for now...

Next I put the dashima and onions on the wok to start cooking.  I put it on low-medium heat

Next I layered on the potatoes

Next layer, the fish~

The green peppers (and red if you have)

Next pour the sauce you made on top

Add the pa / green onion

Then pour enough water so everything is about covered so you can cook it~

I put the lid on and then cooked it on medium heat for about 20-25 minutes

It should start boiling and cooking everything~ yum

Taste it to make sure everything is cooked.... then plate and eat =)

I swear, I am the WORST at plating... i promise it tastes better than it looks =)

Kal Bi Tang 갈비탕

Ingredients
Yuksoo, or broth (2 "strips" of short ribs, 5 cups of water)
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 sliced scallion
Dash of pepper
1 tablespoon red pepper (gochukaru)
Dangmyun

First you need to make your broth or "yuk soo". It's the same broth for mi yuk guk, so here is the link for the broth.

Once the broth is ready the next day, take it out and bring it to a boil.  Once you get it boiling, add your dangmyun.  Be careful not to put too much! It about doubles once cooked!

Add as many noodles as you want.  If you have radish, you can slice and add it now too.  It takes about 10 minutes for the dangmyun noodles to cook. Added some chopped scallions about 8 minutes in~

Then I got the marinade ready. Mixed together the soy sauce, sesame oil, scallions, pepper and gochukaru.

Taste the noodles to make sure they are cooked, and once they are you can plate

The mister likes to mix in some of the sauce in the broth, but also leave some on the side to dip the meat in

I promise it tastes better than the pictures show

Kim Bap 김밥

Ingredients
4 cups of white rice
Dried seaweed for kimbap / sushi rolls
Bulgogi
1 tablespoon sugar
Dash of salt
2 tablespoon rice vinegar
Spinach
Dakwan
2 eggs
Sliced cheese

First step is to cook the 4 cups of white rice.  After it's finished cooling, I just unplugged the rice cooker to let the rice cool down to room temperature.  Then you need to season the rice. I mixed together the rice vinegar, sugar and salt then mixed it into the rice.

I first cracked the two eggs, beat it and then fried them on the pan.

Also started to cook the bulgogi. You can buy it from the store pre-marinated, or here is the link to marinade it yourself

Once cooked set it aside to cool down to room temperature too

I didn't have as many vegetables as I wanted, so I used what I had.  You can put more things in like carrots, etc if you like. I also used bulgogi, but some people like the spam!

Now, here comes the rolling! Just be sure to roll it very tightly the entire time. First, spread out some rice on the seaweed. I leave some room at the edge and cover about 3/4 of the sheet

Then put your ingredients on top

Start to roll from the side closest to you - making sure to roll it very tightly. I let go of it here so I could take the picture =)  But then I started again from the beginning to make sure it was tightly wrapped

I did about 6 then took a picture. I think I ended up with about 10 rolls in the end! Me and the Mister had it for dinner and brought some to lunch the next day too =)

Dwen Jang Ji Gae 된장 찌개

Ingredients
5 cups of water
2 tablespoons dwen jang
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon kuk kan jang
1 teaspoon gochujang
1 small piece of dashima
~10 dried anchovies
5-6 mushrooms (i LOVE mushrooms so feel free to use less)
1/4 chopped onion
cubed tofu

Bring the water to a boil with the dashima and anchovies.  I usually put the anchovies in a tea bag or small metal "thing" ha not sure what it's called but you can get them at korean super markets, it's a circle shape that locks).  Boil on low-medium heat for about 20 minutes - the broth should start to become a little yellow. Throw out the dashida and anchovies.

In the meantime chop your vegetables.

I didn't have zucchini or I would add that too.  Add the dwen jang paste to the water and mix around to dissolve the paste.  Stir occassionally and bring to medium boil.  Add the kochujang and dissolve as well. Taste the broth to see how your taste buds feels, and then add more dwen jang or kochujang as you see fit~ Add your vegatables and turn the heat up a bit more.

Add the tofu and cook for about a minute more.  Then pour and serve!

Mi Yeok Guk 미역국

It's been awhile! But it's because I have been so busy! This blog is for the working ladies out there who just want to have a nice meal at home, not become a professional cook =)

Ingredients
I forgot to measure officially when I made this, so I am eyeballing, sorry!

dried miyuk (seaweed)
2 table spoons kuk kan kang
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 1/2 tb sesame oil
4 pieces of short rib
4 cups of water

This is how I make yuksu - everyone has a different way... some people use chicken broth instead  too.

You can use any type of meat you want - I had some short ribs left over from making kal bi jeem so I used those.   I put the ribs in the water and brought it to a boil.  I let it boil about 20 minutes to drain the blood - I took the pot off the heat and rinsed the meat and pot.  I put in ribs in water again and brought the pot to a boil, but on low heat. I let it cook for about 8-9 hours to get the broth flavor.

I leave the pot in the refrigerator overnight so the fat can solidify on top.  The next morning, open the pot and you will see a white layer of fat - throw that out!

So, when you are ready to make it:

Put about three small handfuls of dried mi yuk in water for about 3-4 hours.  

Don't worry if you don't think it's enough! It expands~!

Drain the miyuk and squeeze all the water out.  

In a pan heat a little olive oil and start to fry the miyuk in about 1 teaspoon of sesame oil on low heat.  Add the liquid only from the broth (not the meat) and bring to a medium boil.  

Then take the meat (from the broth you had made) and marinade it with 2 tablespoons of kuk kan jang, 1 tb sesame oil and 1 tp of garlic.  Mix together and then put it on top of the miyuk broth!

Makes two servings

Or good addition to the rest of your meal