My Korean Kitchen – Kimchi Jjigae – Kimchi Stew (김치 찌개)

Kimchi Jjigae was one of the first soups/stews I was ever introduced to. Even before I arrived in Korea. I organised two of my best friends to join me on a little Korean adventure to a Korean restaurant in Johannesburg to sample the cuisine. My friends were just as intrigued as I was so we ended up ordering some Bibimbap, Kimchi Jjigae and Chicken Fried Rice.

The Kimchi Jjigae arrived in this gorgeous bubbling black pot bursting with aroma. I could feel my nose hairs singe as the chilli wafted across the table. I didn’t expect it at all. My friend Nick did his best to finish it and he even likes spicy food. I took one spoonful and my head almost exploded. It was such an intense sour spicy fishy combination. I couldn’t handle it so I continued ravaging through my Bibimbap.

Nick and his Kimchi Jjigae

After I had arrived in Korea I was introduced once again to the spicy pot of hell. This time however I managed to handle the heat and after a few months my taste buds started changing and I could handle the spiciness like never before. Add more Hot pepper Flakes please!!

Once I started teaching myself how to make Korean food I just knew that this Jjigae had to be on the menu. So here it is. It was also made with my fresh homemade kimchi.

Ingredients

100g Sliced Pork (Pork Belly)

1 cup Homemade Kimchi

1/4 cup Kimchi juice (from same container)

2 Tbs Hot Pepper Flakes (depending on how spicy u want it)

1 Tbs Gochujang (Korea Red Pepper Paste)

1/2 Onion (chopped)

2 Spring Onions

1/2 Square of Tofu

1 Tbs Sesame Oil

2 Cups Water

1. Fry Kimchi, Onions and Pork in a pot with some oil. Add Kimchi Juice and cook for 2 minutes.

2. Add Hot Pepper Paste and Hot Pepper Flakes and mix together then add water.

3. Boil covered for 10 minutes and then turn down to a light simmer for 20 minutes.

4. Chop the Tofu into small squares, add to the soup and boil it for 5 minutes.

5. Add a drizzle of Sesame Oil and serve.

It’s traditional in Korea to have your Jjigae with a steaming bowl of rice and I definitely recommend it. It also helps cut through the sting of the chilli. You can also omit the pork for a vegetarian option and some people even add tuna.

Homemade Kimchi Jjigae with Homemade Kimchi

My Korean Food Adventures – Belly Up on The Blowfish

Nothing is really more exciting than getting a bit risky with your dinner and by risk I don’t mean trying out a new recipe. I mean knowingly eating something that could cause potential death. Why the hell not right? You only live once.

This particular death trap is what we like to call Blowfish or Fugu (Japan) or Bo Go 복어 (Korea) a Japanese delicacy that has migrated over to Korea where they have added their own twist. Blowfish is the most lethally poisonous fish in the world and a small dose of its death inducing tetrodoxin and your well, pretty screwed. Death by asphyxiation, while you are still fully conscious, with no known antidote? Sounds like a fun dinner right? Luckily every single Fugu Chef in the world has to have a certificate to be able to prepare Fugu. These Chefs go through a grilling process of over a few years where they ultimately have to prepare and eat their own dish. Pass = Live, Fail = Death and this system has been strictly enforced in Korea. It’s pretty safe to say that no matter what Blowfish restaurant you end up in, you’ll still be alive by the second course.

We headed to a great Blowfish restaurant out in Sangin. Take Exit 4 from the subway. Walk straight for about ten minutes and it will be on your right hand side on the second floor. The name of the restaurant is 복어마을 and there is a picture of a happy blowfish with a chef hat on. You can’t miss it.

 

Being the first time anyone of us has ever tried it we decided to go all out and try everything. We had the set menu which costs us each 13 500W. One set can easily serve 4 people. First on the menu was blowfish skin salad. The spikes had been removed and the skin sliced into small pieces mixed with spicy red sauce, onions, carrots and cabbage. To be honest it didn’t really have much flavor as the sauce was quite overpowering. The skin was chewy and soft and tasted like nothing. I was just snacking on the side dishes of fried fish, cucumbers, dried fish and japchae (noodles). At this point I was starting to get more excited waiting in anticipation for my mouth to start tingling and my breath to quicken, with my life flashing before my eyes as my body falls into paralyses. Well…..clearly that never happened. Guess our chef was really good. No tetrodoxin for us.

Blowfish Skin Salad

 Second on the menu came a big steaming plate of blowfish flesh and bean sprouts in yet another spicy red sauce. This we cooked over the gas stove on our table. The fish was delicious and melted in my mouth. There were a lot of bones and the strong flavor of the bean sprouts was a little overwhelming. Nevertheless, the meat was juicy and tasty.

Blowfish Skin

Dried Fish in a Spicy Red Sauce

Fried Blowfish Deliciousness

While we were nibbling on that THE BEST course arrived. Fried Bok!! (Fried Blowfish) hell anything fried is delicious but this was pretty darn good. The batter was crispy and thick and the meat inside was tender and cooked to perfection. It also came with fried green peppers which was a great addition.

Blowfish Soup

The final course was blowfish soup. Just a few chunks of meat, some bean sprouts and a little garlic. At this point the waitress also took our second course plate and filled it with rice which we put back onto the heat to create some kind of ricey pudding with the leftover juices. Always got to have rice.

Dancing with the devil at dinner was quite an exciting experience and is definitely a must while you are in Korea.

My Korean Food Adventures – Galbi Tang in Suwon

During the long weekend I was lucky enough to head up to Seoul for quite the adventure. I had heard of an area to the north of Seoul called Suwon and have been planning a rather interesting itinerary around it. This long weekend was gonna be the chance that I would tackle yet another UNESCO World Heritage Site and eat on some delicious local food.

Suwon is famous for a dish known as Galbi Tang (Meaty bones In a broth) (Galbi – Meat on bone a.k.a Rib, Tang- Soup) and after the long ass day my friend Melissa and I had it was more than deserved. We got hopelessly lost and confused when we arrived but eventually got helped out by a local pharmacist who guided a taxi to our hostel. We stayed in the Hwa Seong Guesthouse which after swearing at for about an hour or two because of lack of good directions or anyone answering the phone; we settled in. First order of business was finding food. As Suwon is so famous for its Galbi we were sure to find one on every street corner.

Luckily reading Korean has gotten a lot easier these days when u know what ur looking for however as we sat down the owner knew exactly what we wanted to order. Boo, I couldn’t practice my ordering skills in Korean, ohwell will just have to order a beer later and see if she understands haha. Obviously 2 waygooks in the city of Suwon, in a restaurant right next to the famous Hwaseong Palace in a place famous for Galbi Tang are gonna order…..yep u guessed it Galbi Tang hahaha.

 

A waitress then brought over some banchan (side dishes). The traditional cabbage kimchi, some radish kimchi, diced spring onions and some onion dipping sauce.  At this point of most Korean Meals I’ve had u never really know what to expect after this point. But ooooh was I expecting!! I wanted meat in my belleehh and I wanted it now! We then got served 2 steaming bowls of broth filled with big hunky chunky beef short ribs. I could have honestly just eaten the meat and left the greens for the rabbits but it was time to be traditional and do it the way it should be done. We weren’t reli sure what to do next so we started staring at the couple next to us and came to the conclusion that u just chuck everything in the pot???

 

Haha The lovely owner could tell that these waygooks were damn useless so she came over and helped us out. First she took the meat out of the bowl and started cutting the meat off the bone with the scissors. This concept of cutting meat with scissors has honestly been the most interesting and intriguing thing I have experienced since being here. Once the meat was off the bones she cut them into smaller chunks and popped them back into the broth. Now time to add the spring onions and a small bowl of rice.

I wasn’t sure if we should put the kimchi into the bowl so she showed us. U take a scoop of the brothy mixture withurspoon, then pop on a piece of radish kimchi and BOOM inurbelleeehh!!!

 

WOWSA is all I can say!! The meat was soooo tender and juicy, the broth had the perfect amount of flavor which was sucked up by the glutinous rice and the cold chunky sour and spicy radish finished it off perfectly. It was an absolute winning combination and slightly strange at the same time! But hey this isKoreahaha. There were also a few noodles in the mixture too which was fun slurping up with every bite. One bowl is quite a generous portion for one person and we were stuffed afterwards.

The traditional Suwon Galbi is also served BBQ style but we never tried that. Next time for sure. Suwon Galbi is very famous because it is marinated in unique flavors such as sesame oil, garlic, toasted sesame seeds and pears. It is characterized as being much larger and having a much more specialized taste than any other districts serving a similar dish.

To get to Suwon is pretty darn simple. U can catch the KTX there or even a bus. From Seoul Station its around an hour so rather take the KTX there directly. If u need a place to stay I’d definitely suggest the Hwa Seong Guesthouse. It’s a fantastic base to experience the Hwaseong Fortress UNESCO World Heritage Site and Hwaseong Palace, sample some Galbi Tang and head to the Korean Folk Village about 50 mins away. It’s a pity we didn’t have more time in Suwon but I’ll definitely be heading back to take in more of what it has to offer.

My Korean Food Adventures – Mandu in Seongju & Daegu

Before I even came to Korea I had heard about dumplings/won tons/dim sum/steamed balls of yummy goodness. Or as they actually call them in Korea, Mandu (만두). Mandu are a staple snack diet for most Koreans and they were the only things I ate for the first 3 days I was here. I was too petrified to venture out of my little shoebox apartment that all I bought was 2 packets of frozen Mandu and a steamer haha lol!!

Dumplings in a bag

My Korean Food Adventures – Samarkand Uzbeki Lamb in Daegu

Coming from South Africa, the frequent lamb agasm happens to the best of us around a hot fire with some ice cold bevi’s most weekends. The juicy texture, the wild flavours, the perfect spices, the perfect combination of meat and fat. HELLO!!! Lamb agasm baby. However since being inKorea, this utopic experience has been cut short by the lack of good proper meat. For a country that eats a bucket load of meat they don’t necessarily have the best variety. Beef and Chicken? Pork or Fish? Laaaaammmeee!! I want some sheep in my beellleeh! Well thank goodness for the insane amounts of foreigners that are slowly and most definitely surely taking over the Korean cuisine, lamb agasms have now become a reality for everyone.

It’s been 8 months almost to the day that I have had lamb. I’m not talking about those flakes of lame broiled lamb they sell at the Turkish kebab shops. I’m talking about a lamb chop. Meat on bone. Lamb on bone. Lamb meat on bone in my face. You can understand my feelings about lamb at this point. I want to eat you and I want to eat you now.

I discovered a Russian/Uzbekistan = Uzbekussian Restaurant while reading The Daegu Compass in the first month I was here but just never had the desire to actually go and check it out as I didn’t really know much about Russian food?? Vodka laced mutton?? Hmm maybe?  Russian/Uzbekistan food basically defines lamb as an overall experience and not just a meal. Very similar to how we love and cherish our skaap tjoppies (lamb chops) back home. They do anything and everything with sheep/lamb/mutton. Mostly mutton but hey who is getting technical now? They are also big on their bread, which is quite dense and heavy. I’m assuming to be dipped into mutton stews to lap up all the sauces. One other dish, something that didn’t even register with me at first was Shish Kebabs. Shish Kebabs originate fromTurkey and through the years they have made their way around the world, even back to South Africa where we call them Sosaties. The term derives from sate (“skewered meat”) and saus (spicy sauce). BOOM!! In Saffa land we usually marinade our lamb skewers in a curry like sauce with dried apricots and onions and then we “gooi it on the braai” (throw it on the barbeque) Yumdelicious.

The name of the restaurant is Samarkand. Samarkand is the second largest city in Uzbekistan and the perfect place for a melting pot of the worlds cultures in Korea. Pot? Melting? I’m hungry! On to the menu!!

The menu consists of all the best that Uzbekussian has to offer. Note at this point I had absolutely no clue what to expect all I knew was there was lamb. We got a divine starter of burnt croutons placed on the table which we obviously ate, I mean who doesn’t like burnt croutons? We also got a few sauces, kinda like that Spaghetti sauce you can buy in a jar and then good old ketchup, some pickles, some marinated julienne carrots and some pickled chilli’s.

I love me some burnt croutons

Some thing quite traditional which is stuffed cabbages (Golubsky) was recommended to us by the ever so young, waitress (who was probably about 14 years old and still in her school uniform, child labour much?). As adventurous as we were by being in an Uzbekussian restaurant I didn’t think any of us wanted to spoil the evening with anything remotely similar to Kimchi. Be gone cabbage, be gone!! Next time most definitely. We decided to order some Samsas, which are flaky pastries stuffed with meat and served with a spicy sauce. Think of a Cornish pasty or any kind of pasty and it comes very close to this. It was divine!! You could easily share one Samsa as it’s quite big, probably the size of your hand. We all ended up ordering the same basic thing – Chizbif. What a cool name!! What was even cooler, was that it was a stack of proper cut chips piled with lamb! And not just lame broiled lamb but roasted perfectly yummily prepared lamb. Yep just chips and hulks of lamb. I could not have been happier. 1, 2, 3, and Lamb-agasm. I was in my element.

Chizbif and Samsa (top right corner)

The next course of Shish Kebabs arrived on long metal skewers and was just as amazing as the lamb in the Chizbif. Clearly from all the pictures you can see how happy I was in my little lamb kinda world.

Lamb Agasm FOSHO!!

Lamb Duel!!!!

To drown it all, they have a good selection of vodkas and strong Russian beers. I had a beer called Baltika No. 7. It was delish, the first real tasting beer I’ve had since being inKorea. A lot better than Hite or Cass. It also had this cool bottle top that u kinda popped off! That was more entertaining than the actual beer drinking.

Popping the bottle

Overall the night was lovely I just wish I had actually tried more of the traditional foods, especially after doing a bit more research and inspecting the menu a bit more.

Clearly the food was good

Definitely on the to try list is;

Shurpa – Lamb and Potato soup

Borsch – Sour Beetroot Soup

Manty – Uzbekussian dumplings with meat, onions and spices

Golubtsy – Cabbage filled with ground lamb

Plov (Rice Pilaf)– Meat and carrots with rice

Have a look see at the menu. Yes I took pictures of each page in the menu. Its a pleasure.

 

The meal cost us each about 17 000W. That was after 2 beers, a plate of Chizbif, one Shishkebab and some Samsa. Not too bad me thinks?? Check out the prices on the menu pictures.

Words of wisdom

1. It takes really long for them to prepare the kebabs, about 20 minutes and you only get one skewer (not four like in the picture). So skip right to that part of the menu and order those bad boys first.

2. Spend some time looking through the menu and looking at the pictures. They are pretty self explanatory.

3. If you order anything with lamb you are guaranteed a lamb agasm.

4. Definitely try ordering more of the traditional foods without lamb; it will give you an overall experience for sure.

The Map in Korean

Directions

Samarkand is located in the downtown area of Daegu. The best and easiest way to get there is to take the subway to Jungangro Exit 2. Get out turn around and cross the road and walk towards the entrance of Lotte Young Plaza and CGV on the main street. Now turn your body so that Lotte Young Plaza and CGV are on your left. Now walk down the main street towards Novotel. Take your first left down a pedestrian walking street. It’s full of shops and has a cobbled like road.Samarkand will be on your left on the third floor of the building after about a 30 metre walk. Yes my directions are quite detailed and possibly slightly confusing, that’s because we all got lost for about 30 mins looking for it haha.

Happy Lamb Agasaming Peeps^^

My Korean Food Adventures – Ducky Pumpkin in Daegu

What better way to start my first foodie post than to write about one of the most deliciously divine meals I’ve ever eaten since my time in Korea. Duck in Pumpkin or  오리호박   in Korean. Someone posted about it on the In Daegu Facebook group about 2 months ago and since then I have been on the hunt to find a Duck in Pumpkin restaurant in Daegu. My new co-teacher Jessi was kind enough to find out all the information and I was more than happy to have her come along and help me experience this meal first hand. Duck in Pumpkin is apparently not a typical kind of Korean meal. Some call it Korean Fusion food. I just call it amazingly delicious. My co-teachers Jessi, Mrs Lee and Jessi’s friend Pico all joined me for the feast.

At first we were given pumpkin soup which was amazingly divine. I haven’t eaten pumpkin since my time in Korea so it was pure bliss. Then the banchan (Korean traditional side dishes) arrived. There was the traditional Kimchi which happened to be a little sour than usual. Jessi suggested that it had possibly been fermented for too long. Then there were marinated mushrooms (Think I ate all of them), cabbage salad, chilli peppers, onions, garlic, lettuce leaf salad,, some kind of marinated vegetables, sesame leaves, lettuce leaves and we also had a small bowl of seaweed soup – 미역국.

Pumpkin Soup on the left - Wasabi Soy Sauce mixture on the right

 We dug in straight away and I was sooo excited to see the main event I couldn’t contain myself. Then BOOM!!! There it was!! A big burst of pumpkiny goodness with a roasted ducky mountain bang in the centre. My heart start doing flickflacks!! The waitress each gave us a section of the pumpkin as we weren’t really sure how to begin. I just placed a piece of the duck with some Doenjang and some onions onto a lettuce leaf and wolfed it down! Jessi asked the lady manager how we should eat it and she just said take a piece of the duck dip it into the sauce (kinda like a mix of soy sauce and wasabi) add on a piece of pumpkin and boom into your belly. Absolute perfection. I was in pumpkin ducky heaven and could have honestly ordered another one. The pumpkin was perfectly roasted and the section of pumpkin underneath the duck had absorbed all the delicious juices and tasted even more unbelievable then my first bite. Duck in pumpkin had certainly lived up to its name.

Ducky Pumpkin Heaven

My piece of heaven

I want you in my belly!!

What was left

Mrs Lee and I

Kimchi Style Smile 🙂

We then ordered some  칼국수, which is flour noodles in a kind of a vegetable broth. I was quite surprised that we didn’t also order rice as it’s a staple meal here in Korea. I guess the noodles could be a substitute. I had a similar type of noodle meal in Gyeongju when I went on a field trip with the teachers last year November. It reminds me of the Vietnamese Pho minus the beef and coriander.