Fried Shrimp - (새우 튀김)

Needed:

• 1 lb. shrimp
  
• Tempura batter
• Panko crumbs
• 2 eggs
• dash of salt, pepper, and garlic salt
  

There are many ways to make fried shrimp, and today I decided to use panko bread crumbs.



First wash, clean and devein about 1 LB. of shrimp.



Then add a generous amount of tempura powder into a Ziploc bag and throw in as many shrimp that will fit at a time and shake it around.



Take the tempura coated shrimp and place it into the beaten egg mixture (I used two eggs).



I added some salt, pepper and garlic salt to the panko crumbs. Coat the egg-dipped shrimp pieces thoroughly in the panko mix and you're ready to fry it. (note: You can substitute the salt and pepper for coconut shavings and honey powder and make it coconut shrimp.)



Heat some oil in a pan and then add the shrimp.



Fry each shrimp until golden brown on both sides...



And you're ready to serve!



We dipped the shrimp into some tonkatsu sauce~

Hobak Jun - Korean Squash Pancake - (호박전)

Needed:

• 1 whole squash
• 1 small potato
• 1/2 small onion
• 1 cup Korean pancake batter
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 egg
• 1 TB minced garlic
• splash of sesame oil
• salt and pepper
  

First get your vegetables ready. I only had 1/2 a squash left, but I suggest you use a whole squash because my juns today ended up barely tasting of squash.

Use a mandolin to shred all your veggies. Try and get about 2 cups of squash with 1 cup of potatoes and onions each.

Get 1 cup of pancake mix, 1 egg, and 1/2 cup of water and mix it well.

Add all your vegetables to the mix with 1 TB garlic, 1 TB sesame oil, and a dash of pepper.

Mix everything well and you're ready to grill...

Grease a pan up and heat it and then make smaller sized pancakes like so and brown on both sides...

Fry until golden on both sides...

And you're ready to serve!

Ojinguh Gook - Squid Soup - (오징어국)

This is almost exactly like standard moo gook, but instead of beef broth~ you are using anchovy broth with squid.

Needed:

• 1 squid
• 1 cup of chopped moo
• 1/2 cup green onions
• 1 cup kongnamool (bean sprouts)
• 1 mushroom (or more)
• 1/2 jalapeno
• 1/4 sliced onion
• anchovy/dashima
• 1 TB sesame oil, 3 TB gook ganjang, 1/2 TB minced garlic, 1 TB rice wine
  

First wash and clean one squid. The butcher at the K-market was kind enough to clean the squid for me, so I didn't have to worry about cleaning out the insides.



Cut the squid up into 2 inch pieces and then throw some salt on it and give it a nice scrub. Rinse the salt off thoroughly under cold water and set aside.



Meanwhile, prep your vegetables. 1/4 sliced onions, about a cup of chopped up moo, 1/2 a jalapeno, and 1 sliced mushroom.



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



After the pot is hot, add the squid first and saute it until it's halfway done, then add the moo and onions and throw in 1/2 TB of red pepper powder.

Mix everything around thoroughly (as you can see, I accidentally dumped my red pepper powder so I ended up using a lot more than 1/2 TB).

Add 5 cups of water, and some anchovy/dashima to the soup and bring it to a boil...

Then throw in some bean sprouts and close the lid...

After about 10 minutes, add the rest of your veggies: mushrooms, jalapenos, and some green onions.

Let it boil for about 15 minutes and you're ready to serve!

Kongnamool Haejang Gook - 콩나물 해장국

If you live in the LA area and haven't yet eaten at Han Il Gwan, you must do so NOW. It is one of my favorite restaurants and their kongnamool haejang gook is TDF yummy. It's kongnamool, napa cabbage, peppers and RICE all in a dol sot (stone pot) piping hot with semi-spicy broth. It's so shi-wun-heh.

___________________________________________________________________

I had time to stop by the K-market during my lunch break so I stocked up on more ingredients for a weekend of cooking and blogging. =) I attempted to replicate the kongnamool haejang gook I mentioned above.

Needed:

• 3 cups anchovy/dashima/dried shrimp broth
• 1/4 cup beef (chopped into little pieces and drained of blood)
• 1/4 cup of kimchi (chopped and rinsed a few times of kimchi juice - we're looking for a clearer broth)
• 1 cup of kongnamool
  
• 1/2 TB minced garlic
• 1 TB gook ganjang (light Korean soy sauce)
• 1/2 TB sesame oil
• 1/2 TB sesame seeds
• 1 egg
• 1 TB pureed shrimp jut (fermented salted shrimp)
• 1/2 cup green onions

Total Cooking Time: 1 hour



Since I've never used these on this site yet, I thought I would take a picture of the bag for you. This is dried shrimp. It can be found in the same aisle where they sell the dried cuttlefish. Please do go and check out my INGREDIENTS page where I tried to take a picture of the brands of items that I'm currently using in my kitchen. I tend to alternate brands every once in a while so I will update that page when I find something I like better.



In this teabag there are about 5 shrimps, 4 large anchovies, and a 2 inch piece of dashima. I boiled it with 4 cups of water for about 15 minutes. In the end I was left with about 3 cups of broth.



In a dol sot (pot made of stone to retain the heat) add 1/2 TB of sesame oil, 1 TB of gook ganjang, and 1/2 TB of minced garlic and turn on the heat.




Add your 1/4 cup of beef and saute until the beef is well done.




Then add your 1/4 cup of RINSED kimchi and keep mixing around...



At this point, add about 3 cups of the broth made earlier and bring it to a boil. Don't worry if you have more or less than 3 cups, you will be adjusting flavor later anyhow so it doesn't really matter. EYEBALL it! =P



Add your kongnamool, cover it with the lid, and bring to a boil for about 10 minutes.



Then throw in your 1/2 cup of green onions and bring it to a boil for about 5 minutes.



Here's the interesting part about this....go ahead and add about 1.5 cups of cooked rice. =) Mix it well and have the rice settle nicely to the bottom and bring it to a boil again.



Finally, throw in your egg, let it boil strongly and you're ready to serve. The dol sot will keep the gook piping hot while you're enjoying your meal. Watch you tongue!



Just before you devour it, throw in some sesame seeds....



Some red pepper powder (to YOUR taste)...



....and last, but not least.............some minced shrimp jut. You can skip this if the shrimps still give you the creeps, but with this particular dish~ the shrimp jut brings it all together. 1 TB of this is a must in my opinion. Enjoy! I'm sure my MR is biased, but he said this was GREAT!



How great? This is what was left of dinner. =)

Kimchi Jun - Korean Style Kimchi Pancakes - (김치전)

I decided to make some Kimchi Jun this morning.

Needed:

• 1 cup Korean pancake mix
• 1 cup (a little more) chopped up kimchi
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup kimchi juice (more or less)
• 1 pack tofu
• 1/2 cup scallions
• 1/2 cup chopped up onions
• 1 TB sesame oil
• 1 TB minced garlic
• dash of pepper
• optional: 1/3 can of SPAM
  

First measure out approximately 1 cup of pancake mix.

Put the mix into a large bowl and add 1 egg and 1/4 cup of water. Mix it thoroughly with a whisk.



Then add one package of two-cup tofu (this is about half a normal size package).



Crumble up the tofu pieces using your hands and mix it thoroughly using the whisk to break up the tofu pieces.



Then add about 1/4 cup of kimchi juice.



A little more than 1 cup of chopped up kimchi...



Some green onions...



A splash of sesame oil, a dash of pepper, and 1 TB of minced garlic.



About 1/2 a cup of chopped up onions...



THEN...I actually went and added about 1/3 can of SPAM. =) You can skip the SPAM if you're not a fan.



Mix the batter as best as you can and you are now ready to fry it.



I like to coat my pans with PAM. It just helps make sure that the pan is evenly covered in grease so that the pancakes don't stick. You can just use regular oil too.



Scoop up some of the mixture and when the pan is hot, spread it out evenly and let it cook until it's browned on one side.



Flip it over and brown the other side...



And you're ready to serve! Continue until you've used all the batter. You can use a large pan and make 3-4 at once. I chose to use 2 separate smaller pans to make sure the pancakes came out pretty for this blog. =)