Stir-Fried Dried Anchovies (Meddruchi Bokkeum)

I tried this soy sauce version at one Korean BBQ buffet place that we went to and was impressed.   It was different from Myulchi Bokkeum and had some green chili on it.  I loved this soy sauce version too so I wanted to recreate it at home.  I added red bell pepper and onion in mine.  You can omit the red bell pepper but don't omit the onion as it went really well with this dish.  This dish can be spicy, it depends on the green chili that you use and how hot they are.  My green chili was not hot at all so it didn't turn out spicy but sweet and savory.  I duplicated it pretty well and close to the one that I had tried.  My hubby finished the whole bowl!!  Luckily I saved some away for bibimbap the next day.  This is part of a banchan or side dish of a typical Korean meal.  Enjoy!  And as you know I welcome feedback.  :)

Korean Barbecue Meal

I have this electric grill for about 13 years.  This is by far the best home shopping network product that I had bought.  I used to sit at home and watch the home shopping network all day, I didn't know what got into me at that time but I seriously watched it all the times and knew the names of the hosts!!  Of course, I got tempted and bought some things from them and this was one of them.  But this was the best buy ever, the rest I didn't even want to talk about it. :D

I used it to grill our Malaysian satay and now I used it for my Korean BBQ too.  How convenient!  As you can see, I went all out for my banchan.  I wanted to make pa muchim (scallion salad) too but decided not because I got lazy.  :P

Banchan from top right clockwise, unless otherwise noted:  pickled radish, cucumber & carrot, seasoned spinach, seasoned mungbean sprout, spicy Korean radish, seasoned spicy chayote, spicy cucumber salad, red pepper sauce (for dipping), stir-fried soy sauce anchovies, red leaf lettuces (for wrapping).  Served with barley brown rice. 

Recipes for the new banchan and barley brown rice will be shared in my blog later.  Otherwise, look under the label Korean, you will see the recipes I have already posted.  I marinated some thinly sliced chicken breast in my special sauce for this grill.

Korean Meal 2

My second set of Korean meal.  Except my potsticker is a Chinese version without any kimchi, not the Korean mandu. Banchan, clockwise from top:  candied lotus root, seasoned spinach, seasoned mung bean sprouts with chili powder, seasoned spicy chayote and lastly Chinese chicken chives potstickers.  Not very authentic as it was served without kimchi as I believe all Korean meal has to include some sort of kimchi.  I am still not a fan of kimchi yet so I don't even attempt to make that.  :P  So, I usually would just prepared the banchan that I like to eat.

Chicken Chives Potstickers/ pan-fried dumplings

I made a big bag of chicken chives dumplings and freeze it.  On the day when I don't have any leftover for my girl to bring for her school lunch, I just boil (healthier and faster) this dumplings and let her bring to school.  She loved boiled dumplings and she always finished it.  If I had some cut broccoli, I would par-boil that and added in with the dumplings for her to bring to school.  Easy for me and delicious for her.

Candied Lotus Root (yeongeun-jeonggwa)

 

Jeonggwa is a traditional Korean confectionery made by boiling/ simmering plant roots, fruits and seeds in sweet syrupy sauce.  Usually served along side other banchan, as a dessert, snack or appetizer.  The one I have here is yeongeun or lotus root (served as side dish), there are ueong jeonggwa made with burdock (served as dessert), saenggang jeonggwa made with boiling down ginger, danggeun jeonggwa made with carrot just to list a few.

This candied lotus root keeps well in the refrigerator.  Edda liked it a lot, both of us had the most of it.  Love the chewy bite and sweet flavor!

Korean Spicy Chayote Squash Muchim

 
While I was slicing the chayote preparing for my Stir-Fried Chicken Breast with Chayote,  I remembered that it can be eaten raw.  So, I took a piece and tried it and immediately fell in love.  It was really good when eaten raw.  Hence, I was figuring out what to make of it and I thought that it would go well with Korean muchim preparation and serve as a banchan/side dish.  I saved half of the chayote for experiment, therefore my recipe only had half chayote.  It turned out delicious as the refreshing and crisp chayote made such a good banchan.  I thought I might be the first one to thought of this as I really thought of this combination while slicing the chayote for another dish.  So later, I did a search on Google and I found out that other actually made this before, as I saw a picture of this dish being served in a Korean restaurant (no recipe though).  What a surprise, as I figure chayote is not common in south Korea and seriously thought that I invented a new Korean recipe, but realized that Korean American would probably know of this.  Please tell me if this is common in Korea?  Or just an adaptation dish for Korean American?

I am sharing my spicy chayote banchan recipe with you and strongly recommend you to try it.  It's going to be my regular banchan now.  Chayote can be bought at Asian and Hispanic supermarkets.  It has become my regular buy at the Asian market now, I just love it!

Korean Style Spicy Chicken (韩国辣子鸡)

This is one fingers licking good chicken!  Spicy, sweet and sticky, it will beg you to have more.  Very suitable for any party that you are throwing or bring it to a potluck party.  I believe it would be a hit!  I took a short-cut on this as I had some leftover fried chicken wings and drumettes.  If you don't have the leftover store-bought fried chicken wings, just make your own.  Marinate the wings and drumettes with salt and pepper.  Coat it with corn starch or corn flour and deep-fry in hot oil until cook.

As for the sauce, if you like it spicier, you are welcome to add the Korean red pepper powder or substitute it with cayenne pepper powder.  That would be an extra kick for you!

Bibimbap/ Korean Mixed Rice

Bibimbap is a Korean mixed meal or mixed rice, either serve warm or cold.  Usually consists of few banchan (Korean side dishes), raw or fried egg, beef (or pork/chicken) and mixed with gochujang (Korean red pepper paste), sesame oil and toasted sesame seeds.   "Dolsot Bibimbap" is mixed rice in a hot stone pot.  The stone pot will keep the rice warm.  I had some leftover from the Korean meal that I prepared earlier so I made bibimbap out of it.  I didn't add any gochujang, sesame oil or sesame seeds because my banchan and the dak-galbi already flavored with those.  

 

Mixed well together

It did not look too appetizing when mixed together but it was delicious!  To me, the vegetarian bibimbap that consists of all the veggies side dishes, mixed with gochujang, sesame oil and toasted sesame seeds is actually quite healthy.

Korean Fish Patties/ Saeng Son Jon

 

When I saw this recipe in a Korean cookbook that I borrowed from the library, I found it intriguing.  I never thought of adding chopped fish into a pan-fry eggs before.  But after I gave it a thought, actually Chinese also have our version, we called it "Egg Foo Yong", but instead of fish, we used shrimps and BBQ pork.  Since this recipe intriguing me, of course I wanted to see how it would taste like and made it myself.  Chopped fish went so well in fried eggs and this fish patties were actually scrumptious.  But I wouldn't recommend to eat it often as it was a little oily, as with all fried food.  Later I asked my elder girl whether she knew what was in the patties that she loved so much and she had no clue.  After I told her it was fish, she was like ewww.  Well, I didn't know why that was her respond because she is not a fish hater.  I guess if you want to encourage or trick your little fish hater to eat fish, you can make this dish.  Hahaha...

Making an all Korean meal took a lot of work.  So I actually served this with Belacan sweet potato leaves and mint egg drop soup.

Mungbean Sprout MuChim/ SukJu MuChim

Another simple Korean banchan (side dish) that I liked.  When I started to make Korean food, I realized why their food are considered healthy.  They eat lots of banchan which were mainly vegetable either pickled or boiled and seasoned with mainly salt, sesame oil, sesame seeds, red pepper powder, minced garlic and light soy sauce.  As you know, garlic, sesame seeds, sesame oil, red pepper powder are all considered good for us, so I could see generally Korean food is healthier.  This recipe works well with spinach and soybean sprout too.  Just par-boiled the spinach and squeeze the water out before adding the seasonings, but omit the green onion.
 

Korean Tofu BuChim/ Dubu BuChim

This recipe caught my eyes when I was browsing Aeri's Kitchen for some Korean recipe ideas.  It caught my eyes because it looked exactly like a tofu dish my friend served at her house recently.  So, I added this dish because it was so simple to make and I have the organic firm tofu at home.  This tofu buchim didn't fail me, the sauce was delicious and did I say it was so easy to make?  Give it a try if you are having a lazy night and want a quick and delicious side dish for your dinner.  Oh, I liked Aeri's website for Korean food as she also made the trouble of making videos of her preparing the dishes.  I really kudo to those who did the extra step.

Korean Spicy Chicken/ Dak-Galbi

I didn't know what gotten into me, I just felt like having a Korean meal.  When I got that planned, I didn't know what I gotten myself into.  I made three out of four banchan (side dish) before and everything seem simple on the surface.  Only when I started working on it, only did I realize that it was actually quite a lot of work when making it all in a day, like slicing the Korean radish and scallions.  Then, the different methods of cooking the anchovies and bean sprouts.  Anyway, to cut it short, I spent the whole afternoon preparing and washing and ended with a sore back, that's mean I stood for too long.  Hahaha....  I have to admit, I like to take my time in the kitchen, that's why I cannot work in a restaurant setting, I would be so slow that all the customers would walk away and I would be left stressful. 

For the banchan recipes, I provided the links below:

Korean Scallion Salad (Pa-Muchim)

Mu- Saengchae (Spicy Korean Radish)

Myulchi Bokkeum (Stirfried Anchovies)

Mungbean Sprout MuChim/ SukJu MuChim 

Korean Scallion Salad (Pa-Muchim)

This scallion salad is usually served along side Korean barbeque in a Korean restaurant.  You can wrap this and the barbeque meat in a green lettuce leaf and eat it together.  I made this to serve it with my Hanainese chicken because I thought it would go well together with the ginger sauce and chili.  This scallion salad was indeed delicious and it would pair well with any meat dishes.

I think it is best to make this on the day you want to serve it and finish it in the same day.

Korean Jajangmyeon (Noodle with Black Bean Sauce)

Even though I am Chinese but I never seen this noodle dish before in Malaysia.  I actually learned about this famous Korean Chinese food from watching the Korean dramas.  I got fascinated because this jajangmyeon only served in the Korean Chinese restaurant and it is a Korean fusion Chinese food.   Last year I found out that the Chinese restaurant near my house also featured Korean menu and jajangmyeon was one of them.  So of course I got to buy and give it a try.  But at almost $10 a bowl, it was not affordable.  Recently I saw this recipe at a Korean cookbook and found out that it was actually very easy to make at home.  All I needed to buy were the fresh noodle and the black bean sauce at the Korean market and I was set to go.

Originally this recipe called for pork but I used chicken instead.  Oh well, I only have chicken in my house and my mom also asked me to eat less pork.  Overall, it tasted almost identical to the one I paid $10 for.  So, I am happy that I can easily recreate this dish at home and save some money.  I served it up with the Spicy Korean Radish.

Sharing this with Presto Pasta Nights hosted at Ruth of Once Upon a Feast.

Mu- Saengchae (Spicy Korean Radish )

I saw this dish in a Korean cookbook and immediately felt a urge to make it at home.  I combined two recipes together to bring out the best spicy Korean radish dish for myself.  I liked this as it was spicy and went well with rice or jajangmyeon.

Usually this is served as a Korean side dish called Banchan (반찬).  I ate it with rice and toasted seaweed, made Korean pancake, made omelet with it, added it in my Korean spicy instant noodle, or just have it as a side dish to my everyday meal.  Surprisingly my little Edda loves this and she didn't complaint that this was spicy.  I guess I trained them well.  Evy on the other hand, doesn't like this banchan.

Japchae (Vegetable Beef Vermicelli)

The original JapChae, a Korean style vegetable beef with sweet potato vermicelli/cellophane noodles uses beef, but I used chicken in mine.  While looking at my old JapChae recipe, it was so different.  I used to add dark soy sauce because as a Malaysian, I seem to be addicted to dark color food in the beginning of my cooking.  My noodle, fried rice and stir-fried dishes were mostly dark in color.  But over the years, it has change, my cooking seem to be more balance now, not all dishes were dark in color, more white color food came out from me actually.  With the birth of my girls, my cooking also became less spicy.  Guess I would suffer when I go back to Malaysia for a visit as I am not use to that level of heat anymore.

This JapChae was served with Myulchi Bokkeum (Stirfried Anchovies).   The recipe is mostly adapted from the back of the sweet potato vermicelli (dang myun) that I bought in the Asian market.

Myulchi Bokkeum (Stirfried Anchovies)

When I saw this recipe at Little Teochew's blog, I knew I had to try it.  I had this at a Korean's family house ages ago and really liked it.  However, I hardly get to eat this at the Korean restaurant here, granted I hardly go to the Korean restaurant, but the times that I did go, this side dish was not served.  This side dish was sold at the Korean market though but quite pricy.

It was sweet and spicy and if you eat it right away, the anchovies were crunchy.  However, if you kept it for later or kept it in the refrigerator, then the anchovies would turn soft.  I liked it better when the anchovies were still crunchy, then I got the crunchy, the spiciness from the gochujang (Korean hot pepper paste), and the sweetness from the honey and sugar.  Simply irresistible!!  Even both of my girls were enjoying this spicy snack!  With water alongside of course.

Instant Noodle with Cheese

If you watched Korean drama or Korean variety shows, you would probably noticed that they added a slice of cheese in their instant noodle or Korean rice noodle.  At first when I saw it, I was like what was that that they put into the instant noodle, then I realized that it was a piece of cheese.  That was mind blowing for me, cheese in spicy kimchi soup??  I was really curious especially those who tasted it all said it was good.  So, my curiosity got better of me and I bought Korean kimchi instant noodle and my American cheese and decided to give it a try.

To increase nutrition, I added seaweed and an egg.  By the way, the Korean instant noodle was like Taiwanese instant noodle made without preservatives and with all natural ingredients.  So, after I finished cooking, I pour it into a bowl and then top with a piece of American cheese.  When the cheese started to melt like the above picture, I stir to mix it well into the soup.

My verdict:  it actually tasted delicious, the soup when mixed it well together was richer and thicker with the fragrant of cheese.  Thumb up from me!  Try it yourself to believe it!  :-)

Korean Spicy Tofu Stew

Remember the other day I bought lots of bay scallops and finding way to use them? Since I also bought some imitation crab meats and tofu, I just combined them into my spicy Korean soup. The key ingredient here is Gochujang, Korean red pepper paste. You can easily buy this at any of the Korean grocery store. This paste alone is pretty spicy but I always want an extra kick and added a few dashes of cayenne pepper powder. Guess who besides the parents loved this soup?



My little Edda enjoyed this spicy soup very much. Even me the mother thought this soup was spicy and yet this little fellow finished a bowl and requested for more! I had some leftover for the next day so ladled the rice with this soup and some tofu and crab meat for her and she finished everything in her bowl. WOW right? As for the big sister, she won't even dare to touch the soup!

For recipe, click here. Oh, I also added an egg into the soup this time.

Gochujang Soup

I am crazily in love with this soup! This is my latest tofu seaweed Gochujang (Korean red pepper paste) soup. Everything that is good for us are in this soup and it's so tasty with a hint of spiciness. I can have a big bowl of this soup as it's soooo good.

I have already posted my recipe here. But this latest version is with the seaweed instead of napa cabbage. They match so well together. You should give this spicy soup and the combination above a try (if you haven't already)! *wink*

Hmmm...next time I should add Udon noodle in it and make it a Spicy Udon tofu & seaweed soup huh? Then, my lunch is "kau tim".

Dak Gochujang Bulgogi (Korean Spicy Chicken Dish)

Gochujang is a spicy Korean hot chili paste that used widely in Korean cooking. While paying for the smallest tub I could find, I saw the lady behind me with her two giant size Gochujang tubs, I mean GIANT tubs, man. I was wondering whether she open a Korean restaurant?

After seeing Cooking Ninja's Gochujang Bulgogi, I told her I need to buy myself Gochujang so that I can try this dish of hers. I made a little twist and made mine into dak gochujang bulgogi ~ Korean spicy chicken dish. This was the first time I cooked a dish using this method. Frying without oil and with all the marinade until the chicken was cooked. This dish was sweet and spicy and tasted pretty good. However, my hubby took a tiny bite and won't touch the dish again. I wonder whether the color put him off or what? I asked him why he didn't like this dish and I received a silent respond. So, until now I am still clueless. Well, nevermind, more for me! ;)