Korean Food and Recipes
In Korea, glutinous rice is called chapssal (찹쌀), and its characteristic stickiness is called chalgi (Hangul: 찰기). Cooked rice made of glutinous rice is called chalbap (찰밥) and rice cakes (떡=ddeok) are called chalddeok or chapssalddeok (찰떡, 찹쌀떡). Chalbap is used as stuffing in samgyetang.
In Korea, we use mackerel for soup, stew, or a side dish. For the side-dish, fry it with only salt and oil without any bread crumbs, flour, or butter. This special salted blue mackerel is for frying. They are already cleaned and salted and ready to cook. Just fried salted blue mackerel, with fresh warm rice, is enough to make your stomach happy. 😉
Tteok (also spelled ddeock, duk, dduk, ddeog, or thuck) is a Korean sweet cake made with glutinous rice flour (also known as sweet rice or chapssal) by steaming. There are hundreds of different kinds of Tteok eaten year round. In Korea it is customary to eat TteokGuk (Tteok soup). This particular shape of rice ovaletts are used for new year soup.
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Korean soy sauce, (called Joseon ganjang (조선간장) in Korean) is a byproduct of the production of doenjang (Korean fermented soybean paste). Joseon ganjang, thin and dark brown in color, is made entirely of soy and brine, and has a saltiness that varies according to the producer. Traditionally in Korea, we have different kinds of soy sauce, depending on the length of the fermentation time. Basically we use 2 types of soy sauce the most. One is normal soy sauce, which is fermented for more than 3 years. The other is soup soy sauce which is fermented for 1 or 2 years. The longer you keep the soy sauce the darker color, and the stronger flavor. Nowadays, many Korean people just buy soy sauce from the store instead of making it at home since it is difficult and time consuming.
MiYeok JulGi is usually used for a Korean side-dish, MiYeok JulGi BokkEum in Korea. You can buy salted seaweed stems from a Korean or Asian store. Look for them in the refrigerator section. Since they are heavily salted, you will have to soak them in water at least one night before cooking. This is chewy and salty enough to eat without adding extra salt. If you want to a cook small amount and save some for later, cut them (Of course, they should be already soaked in water) into the size you want, and keep them in the freezer.
Hot pepper oil (gochu gireum=고추기름) is a condiment made from vegetable oil that has been infused with dried chili peppers and sometimes also additional ingredients. It is also employed in the Korean Chinese noodle soup dish jjamppong. Chili oil is typically red in color. It is made from vegetable oil, often soybean oil or sesame oil, although olive oil or other oils may be used. Other spices may be included such as Sichuan pepper, garlic, or paprika. The spices are soaked in oil. Commercial preparations may include other kinds of oil, water, dried garlic, soy sauce, and sugar. Recipes targeted to Western cooks also suggest other popular oils such as canola, peanut, grapeseed, olive, and any dried or fresh chili peppers. Chili oil is commercially available in glass jars, although it may also be made from scratch at home.
Apple vinegar is made from apples and has a yellowish color. It is very popular, partly due to alleged beneficial health and beauty properties. We use both brown rice vinegar and apple vinegar interchangeably for Korean cooking.
Frying mix is one type of flour Korean people use for fried foods. As the name says, it’s already mixed with various ingredients for making frying batter. Simply mix this powder with some water. I usually use a mix of half frying mix and half normal flour for my frying since it tastes better that way.
In South Korea, kamaboko is called either eomuk (어묵) or odeng (오뎅). Eomuk can be boiled on a skewer in broth, and it is often sold on the streets of Korea. They can be eaten with alcoholic beverages, especially soju, similar to the function of hot dog stands in other countries. The broth is sometimes given to the customer in paper cups for dipping and drinking. An alternate preparation is called Hot-Bar, which is a deep-fried variation. It consists of eomuk along with various vegetables, served with different kinds of sauces or condiments such as ketchup. Eomuk is different from kamaboko.
