Posted by Tammy

새해 복 많이 받으세요! Today is the Lunar New Year, or Seollal (설날), in Korea as well as most of Asia. Our 12-day tteokbokki sauce recipe countdown has come full circle to Gungjung tteokbokki, which is the royal Korean court version of tteokbokki.

Thanks to the Korean TV drama Dae Jang Gum, this dish has become well known all over Asia. Gungjung tteokbokki was a special dish served in royal and noble households back in the days of the Joseon (Chosun) dynasty (1392–1910) on celebration days like the Lunar New Year or during ancestral ceremonies. The dish that people commonly call tteokbokki today with the fiery sauce and fish cakes is a modern, simplified version of this recipe.

There are several Gungjung tteokbokki recipes on the internet. The one most easily accessible to most Americans is posted at Chow, which is the basis of the recipe I made. If you want a downsized version, check out BlogCatalog.

This is the only tteokbokki recipe in which the garae tteok (가래떡) — the fat cylindrical rice noodles traditionally used in tteokbokki — are boiled beforehand and mixed in with the other ingredients quickly at the last minute.

Also notice the additional layers of flavor not seen in some of the other recipes, particularly marinating the meat and mushrooms separately before combining with the other ingredients in the final sauce.

There are two schools of thought on the egg garnish that I decided to use in this recipe. One school says to separate the egg yolk from the white and fry them separately, allow to cool and cut into thin strips, which is the version I use here. The other school says to separate the yolk and white, make the thin omelet and cut them on a diagonal to create diamond shapes.  I had great difficulty cooking the white just right without browning it. Practice will make perfect, someday.

There is one main difference between my version and the Gungjung tteokbokki recipes you will find online or in popular Korean cookbooks. The recipe books recommend using bulgogi type beef. I used ground sirloin in my recipe. I mixed the beef and the shiitake mushrooms in the recommended marinade and let them soak up the marinade for over 10 minutes. Then I  formed the ground beef and mushrooms into tteokbokki-shaped meatballs or sausages.

Main Ingredients
1 package (16 ounces) round (cylindrical) garae tteok (Rice cake)
6 ounces ground beef
1 small carrot, julienned matchstick-style
1 small onion, julienned
1 bunch enoki, separated and rinsed
5 fresh or dried shiitake mushrooms (if dried, pre-soak for 20 minutes and trim “mushy stems“)
3 eggs, yolk and white separated
3 ounces zucchini, seeds removed and julienned matchstick-style
2 ounces mung bean sprouts
1 large spring onion
grapeseed oil for cooking

Meat and mushroom seasoning

2 teaspoons soy sauce
5 shiitake mushrooms, minced
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 cloves fresh garlic (makes 1 teaspoon minced)
1/2 teaspoon doenjang (soybean paste)
1/2 teaspoon sesame seeds
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil

Gungjung Sauce

1 tablespoon sugar
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 cloves fresh garlic
1 teaspoon sesame seeds
1 green onion
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil

1. Mince the garlic and place all the meat and mushroom seasoning ingredients into a medium mixing bowl and mix well.
2. Let stand ten minutes before adding the meat and mushrooms to the meat and mushroom seasoning mix. Mix until throughly combined.  Let stand an additional 15-20 minutes. Shape the meat into tteok-sized sausages.
3. Bring a pot of water to a full boil over high heat. Add the rice cake and boil for one minute.
4. Remove the rice cake from the pot and rinse immediately in cold water. Discard the boiled water.
5. Brush the rice noodles with sesame oil.
6. Separate egg yolks from whites.
7. Whip the yolks together.
8. Pour yolks into a hot oiled pan in a thin layer (tilt pan back and forth to cover bottom of pan).
9. Cook the yolks over medium heat until top is just firm but bottom is not browned. Flip and cook 15 to 20 seconds. Remove from heat and let cool.
10. Cut the cooked yolk into thin strips about 1/8 inch wide by 1 1/2 inch long.
11. Repeat steps 7 through 10 with the egg whites.
12. Place all ingredients for the Gungjung sauce into a bowl and mix well.
13. Lightly coat a stir fry pan with cooking oil and heat over medium to high heat.
14. Add beef and mushroom mix to pan and cook on all sides until they are completely cooked so they will hold their shape.
15. Quickly add all other vegetables and stir fry 30 seconds more.
16. Reduce heat to medium, add Gungjung sauce and the garae tteok, and simmer 10 minutes.
17. Garnish with egg strips and nuts then serve.

We have taken tteokbokki around the world and back again. I hope you appreciate this very versatile rice noodle and come up with your own creative ways of cooking it for yourself.

Tammy Quackenbush lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her love of Korean food started when she taught ESL in Chuncheon, Gangwon-do, back in 1996-1997. However, she didn’t become “famous” for her Korean cooking style until she started making cooking videos on YouTube as Koreanfornian Cooking in 2007 (had to put her college degree to use somehow). Her recipes and articles have been featured on Slice/Seriouseats.com, Foodbuzz, Korea.net and iFoodTV.com.

Tags: All Korean Food, korean recipes, tteokbokki

Posted by Tammy

Today’s tteokbokki recipe keeps us on the Italian peninsula by using Bologna’s famous sauce as the wardrobe for the tteok noodles.

When I lived in Korea, I did not know much about cooking. My cooking skills was limited to grilled cheese sandwiches and the occasional one pot meal, usually featuring a couple of chicken breasts thrown in a rice cooker with 2 cups of rice mixed with random spices thrown in for flavor.

The last 3 months or so I lived in Korea, we had a Korean woman who made lunch for us every day. When she wasn’t making Korean foods like japchae, she was making some kind of Korean fusion recipe (with interesting results). When she made this sauce for us, I though the diced carrots were a Korean innovation. It wasn’t until much later that I discovered Spaghetti Bolognese and realized why the carrots were there. Our Korean cook was right, I was the babo.

There’s only difference between this recipe and hers. I remember our Korean cooks version was a bit sweeter (maybe because she didn’t put wine in her sauce) than the version I have here.  Hubby liked mine better.

There’s only one difference between this recipe and hers. I remember our Korean cook’s version was a bit sweeter — maybe because she didn’t put wine in her sauce — than the version I have here. Hubby liked mine better though.

1 carrot, diced
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/2 cup onion, chopped
1/2 cup celery, chopped
1/2 cup green bell pepper, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
3/4 pound ground beef
2 cans (15 ounce) tomato sauce
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup red wine (use a brand you’d actually drink, not “cooking wine”)
1 teaspoon sugar
2 teaspoons basil
2 teaspoons oregano
1 teaspoon lemon peel, grated
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon thyme, dry
salt and pepper to taste
1 pound garae tteok, presoaked

1. Soak garae tteok (가래떡), which are the fat cylindrical rice noodles traditionally used in tteokbokki, in a hot water bath — not boiling water — for 10 minutes. (Check the instructions on the package of tteok noodles you bought at the Korean grocery store or Asian supermarket for recommendations on this step.)
2. Saute carrots, garlic, onion, celery and green pepper in oil on medium high heat.
3. Add ground beef and brown. Drain fat.
4. Add tomato sauce, water, red wine, sugar and Italian seasoning. Cover sauce and simmer for 30 minutes.
5. During the last five to 10 minutes of cooking time, add the garae tteok and simmer until they’re tender.

The leftover sauce — if there is any — will match well with any pasta, particularly penne.

Tammy Quackenbush lives in San Francisco.  Her love of Korean food started when she taught ESL in Chuncheon, Gangwon-do back in 1996-1997. However, she didn’t become “famous” for my Korean cooking style until she started making cooking videos on YouTube as Koreanfornian Cooking two years ago (had to put her college degree to use somehow).  Her recipes (mostly in video form) have been featured on Slice/Seriouseats.com, Foodbuzz, Korea.net and iFoodTV.com.

Tags: All Korean Food, ddeokbokki, korean recipes, recipe, tteokbokki

I know it’s hard for expats to get iPhones in Korea.  But if you happen to have one, are able to rent one when visiting, or live outside Korea with one of the Jesus Phones, ZenKimchi has gotten a lot more useful.  Using WPTouch, we’ve been able to format ZenKimchi Korean Food Journal, ZenKimchi Dining and the SeoulPodcast for the iPhone and Google Android phones.

Now you can scroll through the blog easily.  The tabs menu at the top also gives you the Recipe page, where you don’t have to go back-and-forth between the computer and the kitchen when cooking your favorite Korean foods.  Just make sure not to drop the iPhone into the pot.  It’s also convenient when shopping for ingredients.  Some of the hard-to-find ingredients are in Korean, so you can go to the local Korean market and show the nice proprieters what you’re looking for in Korean.

ZenKimchi Dining has become more useful than an iPhone app.  Here’s a situation.  You’re in Apgujeong, and you’re hungry.  You want to eat somewhere close by, but you’ve learned from experience that many restaurants in Apgujeong are stuffy rip-offs.  Go to ZenKimchi Dining (smart people have an icon for it on their home page).  Go to the tab dropdown menu at the top and choose the “Category” or “Tag” tab.  Scroll down and click “Apgujeong.” All the ZK Dining entries for that area are there.  You can quickly get previews on which ones are pricey or cheap.  Clicking on a restaurant brings up the full review with the reviewer’s ratings, the readers’ ratings and a conveniently interactive Google Map feature showing you exactly where it is.

Tags: All Korean Food, android, iphone, korean recipes, korean restaurants

Posted by shinshine

For someone like me who is not a big fan of salads, bibimbap is a delicious way to eat lots of vegetables.  I can hardly eat a couple of raw spinach leaves, but I’ll take a half bunch of spinach that’s quick-blanched and seasoned lightly with sesame oil and soy sauce, a typical ingredient of bibimbap, in one sitting.  The ingredients are easily adjustable, so I make a point to pack in vegetables I haven’t had in a while.

My favorite has always been bibimbap in stone pot (돌솥비빔밥; dol sot bi bim bap).  The hot stone pot keeps the content sizzling when it arrives at the table.  A major plus for this version is that the cooking lingers on to toast the rice coated in sesame oil on the bottom.  After eating the rice and vegetables mixed with gochujang (고추장; Korean hot pepper paste), the crispy rice on the bottom is like a dessert before dessert, a highlight of my bibimbap experience that is savored to the end.

So – why not cut to the chase and get the vegetables and the crispy rice?

To make a crispy rice crust) I cooked sweet rice (찹쌀; chap ssal) to maximize the contrast of stickiness on top and crispiness on the bottom.  Regular short grain rice can be also used.  Then I coated a hot cast iron pan with sesame oil.  After reducing heat to very low, I spread a thin layer of rice on the pan.  Then I just checked for the color on the bottom and turned the rice crust once in a while to even out the golden color.  It takes anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour depending on the thickness and the color desired.

One way to cut this rice crust is to do it in about 10 minutes after spreading the rice on the pan, when the round shape has been set (meaning, the rice moves as one big piece when you gently shake the pan) and the bottom starts getting some color.  Cut with a dough scraper in 6 or 8 pieces.  This is when it’s easiest to get a clean cut, after the shape has been set but before the bottom crust has become too crunchy.

When the crust is done, place your toppings of bibimbap or anything else you’d like to create.  There are plenty of bibimbap recipes on the internet these days, which involve cooking short-grain rice, cutting and cooking (sautéeing or blanching to bring out the best color and taste of) various vegetables of your choice and finishing with a sunny-side up egg and gochujang.  I thinned out gochujang with vinegar and water so that I could drizzle it, along with the essential egg yolk, over the rice.  An after-thought was quail eggs on individual pieces to make everyone equally happy, if it is served at a get-togehter.

I was so focused on putting together my favorite parts of bibimbap, I only noticed the obvious visual similiarity to a thin crust pizza afterwards – which is another food I like.  As much as bibimbap has evolved to reflect seasonality and regional specialties and represents an aspect of Korean food – well-balanced, delicious, healthy meal – this crispy version of mine is probably reflecting a certain aspect of myself.

Shinshine grew up in Seoul and has been living in the U.S. roughly the latter half+ of her life.  She’s been living in New York since 2005.  Having switched careers from finance to food, she is now a full-time restaurant cook in New York City after culinary school in 2008.  Recently she started her food diary, www.shinshine.com, which is about three things in life she enjoys the most – food, Korea and New York

Tags: All Korean Food, bibimbap, korean foods, Korean Recipes, korean recipes, recipe, Recipes

Posted by shinshine

Living in New York usually means limited space.  I go through an automatic justification process in my head on how much space a specific item will occupy even before considering its price.  I have a stovetop coffee maker for its compact size and a hand mixer instead of a kitchen aid.  There are so many other things I just decided not to get because it wasn’t worth trying to re-define the kitchen boundary (can I keep an ice cream machine next to my couch?).

Then it dawned on me that the biggest instrument sitting on the kitchen countertop is my rice cooker.  The frequency of use somewhat makes up for its permanent occupancy, but even after reading all about the things I could/should be making with my rice cooker, I’ve made so many of the same plain rice for so long.  Time to change it up and get more rent out of the rice cooker.

Hence the carrot-mushroom rice.  This is an abridged version of my Japanese host mother’s takikomi gohan (I lived in Japan for a year a long time ago), rice mixed with chicken, sliced carrots, shitake mushrooms, fried tofu skin (abura age), and burdock roots (gobou), seasoned with soy sauce and sake, then cooked in dashi water.  Variations are easily found on the internet.

To Make Carrot-Mushroom Rice) To make rice for 2, make dashi water with a piece of kelp (size of any of your 2 fingers) soaked in 2 cups of water for an hour or boil then cool down.  Soak 1 cup of rice in dashi water for an hour.  Add thinly sliced vegetables, in this case, carrots and shitake mushrooms.  Add one tablespoon of soy sauce.  Adjust the water level to barely cover all ingredients sittng flat on the rice cooker bowl (may not need all 2 cups of dashi water).  Press the ‘cook’ button and walk away.  When the rice is done, crack an egg into the rice cooker, and start the rice cooker again.  Check after 5 minutes (may need more/less time) for a perfectly cooked egg to put on top of the rice bowl.  Don’t forget to turn off the rice cooker!

The ratio of water to rice is the tricky part and also varies slightly depending on the rice cooker.  Dashi water is optional, you can use just plain water.  I also used sticky brown rice (=glutinous brown rice, sweet brown rice), which is my favorite kind of rice because of its stickiness and texture (vs. short-grain brown rice lacks stickiness, short-grain white rice lacks texture).

The title of ‘Rice Cooker Series’ is more for me – to encourage myself to make more varied use of my rice cooker.  This could be one of my new year’s resolutions!

Shinshine grew up in Seoul and has been living in the U.S. roughly the latter half+ of her life, including the last 5 years in New York.  Even with her career in finance, her true passion, the kitchen, has always beckoned.  After culinary school last year, she is now a full-time restaurant cook in New York City.  Recently she started her food diary, www.shinshine.com, which is about three things in life she enjoys the most – food, Korea and New York.  When she’s not in the kitchen, she’s usually scouring New York’s markets and streets for cooking inspiration.

Tags: All Korean Food, Food, foods, Korea, korean, Korean Recipes, korean recipes, rice