Korean Cooking 101 - Ingredients

I was asked to do a run down of the most used Korean ingredients, so I thought I would oblige. There were a few items that I just realized that I didn't take a picture of, but I'll add them later when I get the chance. I'm sure you've noticed by now that the MOST important items (at least on this blog) are the following...



Gook Ganjang - If you can see on the bottom it says "Traditional Korean Soy Sauce (for soup)" and that's the best description of it. It's basically a light soy sauce that is used to flavor broth. You should most definitely buy a Korean brand because it is very different from other “light” soy sauces that might be out there.  I prefer the one on the right, though I buy the one on the left time to time to change things up a little.



Sesame oil - I just buy whatever is on sale.



Dwen jang - aka soy bean paste is used for a lot of different types of soups. I alternate brands all the time, but these are a couple that I remain loyal to.

Gochu jang - aka red pepper paste (on this blog) - aka hot bean paste is exactly that. It's paste made from red peppers and I prefer the one made by Haitai though this last time I bought the one on the right because it says it’s Made in Korea.  =P


 
This is what I refer to as “cooking wine” on my blog – I tend to buy whatever is on sale because to me, they all taste the same.

Corn Syrup



Soy Sauce



Red pepper oil



Fish Sauce - There are a lot of Korean brands of fish sauce, but personally I like using the Vietnamese Three Crabs brand.

Gga-nari fish sauce



Red pepper powder - My MIL brought us this from Korea.



Honey Powder



Dried Shrimp



Miyuk - dried seaweed (plant?) whatever.  I’m currently using the one on the right.  It says it’s for “babies” so all the seaweed is precut.  I like it because it saves me a step!



Shrimp Jut - Salted Shrimp


 
Honey Powder.

 

  
Korean Pancake Mix

 

   
Soft Tofu AKA SoonDooBoo – I prefer the ones inside the cups instead of the tubes because they tend to be less watery.  Soondooboo is already so watery so this helps.

 

   
Bean Sprouts AKA Kongnamool

    
Book-uh – Dried Pollack – This is the brand I’m currently using.  My MIL sent it from Korea, so I have no idea if they sell it here.

 

    
Ojinguh Che – Dried Cuttlefish

 

  
Salt – When I’m just *salting* stuff, I use regular Kosher salt.  But when it comes to cooking and using in the recipes, I will use sea salt.

 

     
Tofu – I always buy this one by Pulmuone.  I love that it has *two cups* and each cup is perfect for one jjigae.  The blue one is for jjigaes and the orange one is firmer and can be used to fry.

As of now, this is the basic run down of my cabinet. =P I'm sure I'm missing some things, but I will add them as I think of it. Hope this helps~

Pa Moochim - (Korean Green Onion Salad) - (파무침)

I'm not sure why I'm posting this, because it's such an easy thing to make, but who knows~ maybe there are people curious as how to make Pa Moochim (Green onion salad would be the best English translation).

Needed:

• Green onions sliced thinly (I just buy the pre-sliced kind available at the K-Market)
• sesame oil
• vinegar
• red pepper powder.

Whenever I'm washing red leaf lettuce I will save the tiny middle part for pa moochim. Here I chopped it up~



And then I added the sliced green onions (you can slice it youself).



Then add a 1 to 1.5 ratio of sesame oil and vinegar. 1 TB sesame oil, 1.5 TB vinegar and finally as much red pepper powder as you can handle. It's a simple dressing and this complements all types of Korean BBQ perfectly.

Baked Ziti

We don't eat Korean food EVERY day, so I thought I would occasionally post up the other things that we eat. =P

I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July weekend! We went up to visit my SIL&BIL, so I decided to take some food with us. This is another recipe I got off of Allrecipes.com that I tweaked to my liking. It's a really simple meal that can be enjoyed by everyone.

First, you need to make a pasta sauce. The original recipe called for 1 LB. of ground beef, 1 onion, and 50 oz. of spaghetti sauce. You can do that or just make any kind of sauce that you like. Here's what I normally do...



First I lightly oil the pan with some olive oil and saute the beef.



Then I add a ton of seasonings. In this case, parsley, basil, oregano, garlic salt, lemon pepper, seasoned salt, and some other stuff I had on hand...



Throw in one small chopped up onion...



Some chopped up green bell peppers and minced garlic.....and when I'm making plain old spaghetti sauce, I'll also add chopped up potatoes in there once in a while. It's GOOD, but too drying for this ziti.



Some mushrooms...



And finally add the 2 jars of spaghetti sauce. I LOVE Prego, but get sick of it every once in a while...so this time I bought my 2nd favorite Barilla.



After draining any excess oil, pour the sauce over...



And add some Parmesan cheese...I also added some hot sauce too. =)



In another pot cook the ziti for about 8 minutes until it still has a bite in it. It's going to bake in the oven, so be careful not to overcook it.



Get your other ingredients ready and when the ziti is done.....



On a greased pan layer a little bit of sauce......



Then ziti.....



Then the provolone cheese...



Then smear some sour cream over it.....



Add a nice thick layer of sauce.....



Some more ziti...



Some mozzarella cheese.....



Some more sauce....



And top with some grated Parmesan and more mozzarella, then stick it into a preheated oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes and you're done!



I always have leftovers, so I make another smaller batch for later.



30 minutes later, you're going to be in cheesy, carb heaven. =)



Yummy!

Miyuk Gook w/Beef Broth - (미역국)

I never bothered to do a miyuk gook recipe because it's one of the easiest gooks to make and I assumed everyone knew how to make it. But then I checked my Google stats and found out that the #1 search term used to find my site was "miyuk gook" ~ so why not give the strangers visiting my blog what they're looking for? (Plus, it's munchkin's favorite meal so I make it once a week anyhow~)

All this time I assumed 99.9% of my readers were from Xanga, but I found out today that there are over 100 people that found this site through Google. How cool! I'm such a desperate housewife...

Needed:

• 2.5 cups dried miyuk (seaweed)
• 1 TB sesame oil
• 3 TB gook ganjang
• 1/2 TB minced garlic
• 1/3 cup beef (drained of blood)
• 6 cups of water

I'm currently using this brand of miyuk for no other reason than my MIL brought it for us from Korea the last time she was here. It tastes GREAT! I don't know what it is about products straight from Korea, but they always seem to taste better...



I took about 2.5 cups of it and broke it into smaller pieces before adding the water...this saves me time later because I don't have to cut it up.



Then add some water and let it sit out for about 20 minutes. It will GROW...



Once it's been sitting for a while, sprinkle with some salt and wash it thoroughly...



In a pot add 3 TB gook ganjang, 1/2 TB minced garlic, and 2 TB sesame oil.



Add the 1/3 cup of drained meat and saute until it's cooked.



Then add the miyuk and stir it around for 5-10 minutes.



Finally add the 6 cups of water, bring to a boil, and reduce the heat to medium-low and let simmer for up to an hour. It tastes better the longer it cooks.........and you can adjust the flavor with the gook ganjang. I ended up splashing just a tad bit more.



Then you're finally ready to serve! This is Munchkin's FAVORITE soup and he will finish a bowl in no time.

PS. You can also make this soup using mussels or clams as the base for the broth. The MR isn't a fan of seafood so I mostly use beef broth for all the soups that we cook in this house. But go ahead and experiment!