Momil Gooksoo in Soba Sauce

HELLOOOO! Is anyone still out there? I know I've been a really bad blogger and haven't had an update of substance in a long time. In fact, I feel kinda guilty coming back today since this post will also be a *non-recipe* of sorts. Anything not made from scratch, doesn't constitute as a *real* recipe to me.

But I digress...

I'm not sure if you've noticed yet, but I really like NOODLES. I actually *LOVE* ramyun, but after being sick I try not to eat it often. Anyhow, whenever I get a late afternoon noodle kick and I'm at home - instead of making ramyun, I try and make this instead. It's a bit healthier and it satisfies my noodle fixation pretty well.



Buckwheat soba noodles. =P



Boil them according to the instructions - probably about 10-12 minutes or so.



Meanwhile, go and grab this! It's in the sauce section of almost every Korean market (or Japanese market). I love this particular brand.



Rinse your noodles and if you have some ice in your freezer (I didn't!) then throw them in there to get the noodles nice a cold.



Grab a grater and start grating some moo (or horseradish as it's called in English). Grate as much as you want! I pretty much used up that whole piece right there.



Then get some wasabi paste and squeeze in as much as you can handle.

Side note: one my my greatest fears going through radiation was being told that I may not be able to eat spicy foods anymore. YIKES. I *LOVE* spicy foods (I'm talking Thai spicy!) and while undergoing radiation, even some of the mildest spices bore a hole in my mouth. Well, I'm happy to say that one year after radiation my tolerance for spicy foods is exactly where it used to be. =) Although I do try and refrain from extra spicyness for my health, I *can* tolerate it and just knowing I can if I wanted to is satisfying.



Throw in some green onions and you have this pretty little concoction!



Pour some of the soba sauce straight in and you're almost done.



Sprinkle some crushed seaweed (or Furakaike if you're lazy like me) on top of the noodles.



And then dip some of the noodles in the sauce (after making sure to thoroughly mix it up! you do NOT want to accidentally eat a lump of wasabi like I did earlier today. =P) and start slurping!



A nice alternative to eating ramyun on a lazy day like today! Hope you enjoy. I promise to be back with a semi-real recipe sooner or later. Would you believe I've become incredibly lazy!?

What can you make with the leftover momil gooksoo?

Go and try THIS TOO!

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!"

Seafood Kalgooksoo - 해물 칼국수

My friend and I were dining at Moo Dae Po II (I wonder why it got such a bad review on yelp?) the other week and they had this seafood noodle pot that they gave us at the end. They used thinner noodles at the restaurant, but kalgooksoo noodles is what I had in my pantry so it had to do.

 

Not to be a noodle whore, but these didn’t taste that great.  =/  I would suggest choosing a thinner noodle instead just like they have at Moo Dae Po.  =P


 

 
I used clams, shrimp, dried anchovies and dashima to make the broth.



First start off by boiling your noodles about HALFway done in a pot.



Rinse the noodles in cold water and let drain on the side.



Meanwhile defrost about three shrimps and six clams.



In about 7 cups of water, I added the anchovy and dashida packet. I probably used about 10 big anchovies and a 2 inch think piece of dashima (dried sea kelp).



While everything is boiling, get your kalgooksoo sauce ready. Look about halfway down the page on the link and there is a recipe for it from a couple years back.



I then transferred the broth to a larger pot and strained it through this. I wanted to make sure none of that white foamy stuff went into the broth.



Throw in the seafood...



Then the noodles...



Top it off with some veggies such as: mushrooms, squash, red peppers, and green onions.



Let everything come to a boil until the noodles fully cook and you're ready to serve!



Add some kalgooksoo sauce to your liking and dig in!



If you have some ggak ddoogi in your fridge, bring it out! I made SO many banchans this week that our fridge is overflowing. I even made bechoo kimchi on my own and I must say it came out pretty decent. One day I will write up a step-by-step how-to for kimchi. One day.

Jengban Momil Gooksoo - Buckwheat Soba Noodles in Spicy Sauce - (모밀 쟁반 국수)

I realized I hadn't updated the recipes on this blog in a while, so I came up with one of my fave dishes for a warm day.


Needed Ingredients:

• Buckwheat Noodles
• 1/2 cup julienne red cabbage
• 1/2 cup julienne cucumber
• 1/2 cup julienne carrot
• 1/2 cup julienne onion
• 1/2 cup julienne Asian pear
• thinly sliced perilla leaves
• thinly sliced red leaf lettuce
• thinly sliced dried seaweed (geem)
• sauce: 4 TB 7-up, 2.5 TB vinegar, 1 TB honey powder, 1 TB red pepper paste, 1 TB red pepper powder, 1/2 TB minced garlic, 1 TB sesame seeds, 3/4 TB sesame oil
  

As always if you have any questions about any of the ingredients, please check out Korean Cooking 101.

First mix together the sauce: 4 TB 7-up, 2.5 TB vinegar, 1 TB honey powder, 1 TB red pepper paste, 1 TB red pepper powder, 1/2 TB minced garlic, 1 TB sesame seeds, 3/4 TB sesame oil and set it aside in the refrigerator.


  
Get a pot of hot water going and then add your buckwheat noodles and boil it according to the instructions. It usually ends up being about 5-10 minutes of boiling time.

 

Then rinse your noodles under cold water and set aside.



Just use a mandolin to slice all your vegetables. Left to right: Asian pear, cucumber, carrot, onion.



Perilla leaves and red cabbage.



Sliced red leaf lettuce.



Now we are going to start assembly. Start off getting a fairly large plate and centering about 2 cups of noodles into the middle.



Add some thinly cut dried seaweed (seasoned) place it in the middle.


 
Add the vegetables on opposite ends like this. You will be using two small bunches of each vegetable.



Just keep going...

...until you use all the vegetables up. (You can also add sliced boiled eggs).


 
Then go to the fridge and grab the sauce mixture and add as much as your tastebuds can handle. YUMMY!



Mix it around thoroughly and you're ready to eat!



It was just what I needed for today's hot weather. ENJOY!!!