Red Pepper Paste Tofu Soup - Gochujang Dooboo Jjigae - (고추장 두부 찌개)

I have *not* been cooking lately.  Whenever I get a scan, I’m pretty much a ball of nerves until I get the results.  Literally, life is on *hold* and I don’t breathe again until I hear the words, “All is clear and there is no evidence of disease.”  I know I shouldn’t let these stupid scans run my life like that and I’m hoping with more years under my belt, I will learn to control my emotions a little better around this time.  Anyhow, all is good!  So let’s get to the cooking…

Ingredients Needed:

• one pack of firm tofu
• 2 green peppers
• 1 slice of dashima
• few sprigs of soot-gat
• 1/4 onion
• soup base: 3 TB red pepper paste, 1/2 TB red pepper powder, 1/2 TB dwenjang, 1 TB gook ganjang, 1/2 TB minced garlic
• any other veggies you want to use, such as mushrooms, squash, and even potatoes…

As with any recipe – when in doubt, check out Korean Cooking 101

      
Bring 3 CUPS of water to a boil with a piece of dashima.  Let it boil for a good 5-10 minutes to get a nice thick dashima broth.

     
Then pluck out the dashima piece and slice it up like so.

     
Throw the piece back in and season the broth with 3 TB red pepper paste, 1/2 TB red pepper powder, 1/2 TB dwenjang, 1 TB gook ganjang, and 1/2 TB minced garlic.

 

     
Meanwhile wash your veggies…

 
Slice your tofu…

      
Throw in the onions and tofu first and continue to let boil.

 

Slice the green peppers up and throw it in there as well.

 

      
Finally top it off with the soot gat and let everything boil for about 5 minutes…

 

       
Give it a taste test and add more gook ganjang if needed!  You’re ready to serve.  Enjoy~~~

Hopefully I’ll be back sooner than later, but I’ve *really* gone back to work so I haven’t had much time in the kitchen lately.  =P

Spicy Crab Soup - (꽃게탕)

I made this over the weekend, but I've been lazy to put it up. Like always, there are a variety of ways to make this dish, but I tend to cheat and buy the marinated crab at the K-markets.  Why?  Because it's already fully seasoned and all CLEAN and cut - bottom line, it saves me a lot of time.


 
I would say this is roughly about 1 lb. of spicy crab. When the K-market has fresh ggot-gae (crab) in the future, I'll buy it and show you how to make this at home as well. I don't like the frozen ones...



I had already washed and cleaned my veggies the prior night. This about 1/4 onion, 2 small red peppers, 1 green pepper, and 1/2 cup of sliced up daikon radish (moo).



In a pot, add about 3/4 TB minced garlic, 1/2 TB red pepper powder, 3/4 TB sesame oil and 2 TB gook ganjang.


 
First throw in the moo and saute it a bit.



Then add 3 cups of water and bring it to a boil.



Add about 1/2 TB of dwenjang and 1 TB of gochu-jang to the boiling water....



Then throw in all the crabs and bring to a boil again.



Throw in the onions, green onions, and dae-pa (large green onions).



Throw in the green and red peppers...



Let everything continue to boil for a bit...



Throw in some tofu! At this point you can add squash, mushrooms, kongnamool, soot-gat or any other vegetable you want to add. I didn't have any of those (time to go the market again!) so I made mine simple.



Continue to boil for just a little bit longer and you're ready to serve! Enjoy with a nice hot bowl of rice.

As always, if there are any questions regarding ingredients and brands...be sure to check out my Korean Cooking 101 section!

Veggie Udon - 야채 우동

The following is one of my "cheat" meals, meaning it's not completely from scratch. I make this a lot on lazy Saturdays and Sundays when I don't want to spend too much time in the kitchen.            



First bring 3 cups of water to a boil with a strip of dashima.


 
Here's where I cheat. I add 3 TB of the udon sauce. It's quick, it's easy and tastes a lot better than making the broth from scratch using various seafood.




I have these frozen in my freezer, so I just grabbed it and took out as much as I need.


 
In a separate pot, boil the udon.


 
Don't let the noodles boil ALL the way. The reason I like to boil noodles separately is because I want to remove some of the starch by rinsing it.



I used one fish cake, a few thin strips of the pink fish cake, and 1/4 onion sliced...



I had some soot-gat (dunno the English word) so I washed and rinsed some of that for some greens.



After the udon, dashima, and udon sauce has boiled for 5 minutes or so, add the onions and fish cakes. Let this boil for about 5-10 minutes and wait for the broth to thicken.



Throw in the udon and bring to a boil...



Finish it off with the soot-gat! At this point you can add green onions, tempura, gim, egg, anything else you prefer. I didn't have any of those so we ate as is.



Just before eating pour some furikake and ENJOY! Munchkin slurped up his noodles like a champ and said, "Two thumbs up, Mommy!"

Anchovie Dwen-jang gook - (멸치 된장국)

Tap. Tap. Tap. Are you still there? It seems just as I start to build up site traffic on this blog, I go on a hiatus. It's tough trying to keep up this blog sometimes...especially when I don't step foot into the kitchen for two weeks at a time. =P Also, I realized that every since I upgraded my camera (50D baby!) that I'm afraid to take it into the kitchen for fear it might get splashed on, dropped, etc.

Anyhow, here goes a simple dwenjang gook using anchovy broth.    

 

I add roughly 7 cups of water to a pot along with 5-6 dried anchovies and some dried sea kelp.



After everything comes to a boil, add 1TB dwenjang, 1/2 TB minced garlic, 1TB gook ganjang, 1/2 TB minced garlic and let boil on low heat.



I decided to use bokchoy today. I washed and cut up 3 bunches of it.



Toss the bokchoy in and continue to boil.



I also threw in a handful of chopped up moo (daikon radish).



A handful of sliced onions...



And finally some kongnamool.



Let everything boil together for about 30 minutes.



And you're ready to serve! It's a fresh and light gook perfect for picky little Korean toddlers. =)

Clear Ojinguh Gook - (맑은 오징어국)

 

I know I've been gone a long time and I'm going to cheat and not even give a new recipe but something that I should have finished up long ago. It's crazy because I'm not working and my son is in preschool which means I have a LOT of time to myself. Yet, I feel busier than ever just going around and doing random things. I'm supposed to go back to work soon, but taking this last year off has been a blessing in disguise. I feel so much better and re-energized!

I keep saying how I wish there was a way that I never had to work again. Wishful thinking. In this economy, I guess I should be happy that I have something to go back to. =P 
 
Anyhow, here we go! Clear ojinguh gook. I have no idea what else to call it! All the women in my family make this soup for special occasions like choo-suk or my Grandpa's jae-sah. I think the reason is because it's quite time consuming because there are a lot of steps. It's a "special" gook that we eat once or twice a year. 



First go and grab some book-uh.  This is the brand my MIL sent from Korea.  It’s great.  I don’t know if they sell it here.  =/

Anyhow, grab about 1/2 cup of book-uh with some dashima (sea kelp - thanks to whoever pointed that out!) and boil it in about...oh let's say 8 cups of water. Boil it for about 20 minutes or so while you're getting everything else prepared. I didn't measure anything yet again. Sorry. Am I becoming a Korean mother on you? A little bit of this and a little bit of that! =)



Wash and clean your squid and bring a pot of water to a boil.



Drain about 1/2 cup of beef...



Slightly boil the squid. This really helps in getting the fishy smell out and it also gets rid of all the excess liquid from the squid.



Chop up about two cups of moo.



In a pot, heat about 1 TB of sesame oil, 1/2 TB of minced garlic, and 2.5 TB of gook ganjang.



Add the beef and saute until done.



Chop up your squid like so....



And add the squid and moo and mix it for a little bit.



Then add the book-uh broth and some tofu and let it boil for about 30 minutes on low heat. The broth will eventually turn white.



The finished product! Munchkin *LOVES* ojinguh so this is one of his favorite gooks. =)