Korean Kitchen Essentials

[stephle]

Hi Gang -- heading out to the Korean Supermarket (Galleria in Northridge CA)...went there once before and was overwhelmed so only ended up buying my usual Japanese staples.

This time, I'm heading out with the intention of buying ingredients to beef up my Korean repetoire...

What would you guys consider to be the staples of being able to throw together a quick Korean (or Korean inspired meal)...

Obviously Kimchi, gojuchang -- but what else?

[coquus]

If you have a well stocked Japanese kitchen, it's not much else, chile flakes, buckwheat noodles, sweet potato noodles, mung beans, fish sauce, some rose hips and barley for tea and you're set you can substitute Japanese ingredients for the most of the rest you need. Or the other way around, I find Korean ingredients just a bit more intensely flavored than the Japanese counterparts, probably because they use chiles elsewhere or in combination so it needs to stand out a bit more.

A great starting point for Korean food is to make your own Napa Cabbage Kim Chee. There are lots of recipes out there for it, mostly good, just don't substitute for the chile flake or powder, use the Korean kind.

[Peter Green]

Lessee.....(and forgive my transliteration, I'm horrible at this)

gochujang - the chili bean paste

tenjang - bean paste

gochugaru - the Korean chili powder

sesame oil - lots

soy sauce - lots

sesame seeds

salted shrimp (for kimchi)

kim - (Japanese nori)

garlic - buy a farm

dried mushrooms (if you can't get fresh - just in case stuff)

dried kosari - fiddle head ferns

-the "happy lady" - this is an Asian mandolin that's got this smiling Japanese lady on the outside of the box. Sorry, we just call it the "happy lady"

-a mortar just for your sesame seeds

-another mortar for everything else

-a cuisinart is useful

-you should have enough knives around for a good slasher pic

That's probably a start.

Oh, beer and soju. Plenty of beer and soju.

[Peter Green]

whoops, double post

Edited May 14, 2007 by Peter Green (log)

[miladyinsanity]

Why do you need a separate mortar and pestle for sesame seeds?

[stephle]

You guys are the best! Thank you.

And I'd particularly like to thank Peter for the beer suggestion. The most essential part of any good asian meal especially a fiery one

[Peter Green]

Why do you need a separate mortar and pestle for sesame seeds?

←

First answer: I get yelled at if I try to use it for anything else.

Expanded answer: Yoonhi says that, as the sesame mortar is wooden, and as she doesn't dare soak it or clean heavily for fear of cracking, it's important not to introduce flavours that would overwhelm the sesame. She cleans it with a moist wipe.

I know your next question. "Why is it important to use a wooden mortar for sesame?"

I asked Yoonhi this...."Why is it important to use a wooden mortar for sesame?"

She answered with "I don't know".

That's not an answer I normally get.

I find that quite heartening!

[phage]

Then again, should you not have a mortar of any kind, a blender will do the job as well....

If you're not all that familiar with cooking Korean food, perhaps you don't want to start out with kimjang. You can buy your kimchi and various banchan for now.... If you want to make a side dish or two, get some soybean sprouts and a recipe or two for cooking them. Thats not too bad to began and if you mess it up you won't have ruined a big investment. They are bigger than the usual mungbean sprouts.

Someone suggested dwenjang (toenjang, twenjang, etc....). This is a pretty basic food item, served with many a meal - a good thing to get down.

Get some seaweed and make miyok-guk - a typical breakfast soup.

Or some ddeok-guk-ddeok (sliced ovalettes of ricecake) and make ddeokguk, another simple soup.

Produce: Besides the soybean sprouts, get one of those big fat Korean radishes (mu) - they are good in soups and stews or you can shred them and make some banchan that you can eat right away.

Shiitake mushrooms - you probably have some dried ones around - these are also used in Korean cooking. Same with sheets of nori which are also used, not only in kimbap (sushi), but just to wrap bites of food in.

You might find tofu in a squeeze tube. This is good for sundubu.

Kochukaru (chile powder) comes in two forms, course flake for making kimchi, and fine flake, used for seasoning dishes.

***********

Another approach would be to look thru a Korean cookbook or food website - pick out the dishes that sound good to you, and then buy what you need.

- Phage

[miladyinsanity]

Why do you need a separate mortar and pestle for sesame seeds?

←

First answer: I get yelled at if I try to use it for anything else.

Expanded answer: Yoonhi says that, as the sesame mortar is wooden, and as she doesn't dare soak it or clean heavily for fear of cracking, it's important not to introduce flavours that would overwhelm the sesame. She cleans it with a moist wipe.

I know your next question. "Why is it important to use a wooden mortar for sesame?"

I asked Yoonhi this...."Why is it important to use a wooden mortar for sesame?"

She answered with "I don't know".

That's not an answer I normally get.

I find that quite heartening!

←

That makes sense, sort of, and I won't have to do this because my mortar is a solid stone one. If I dropped it on my foot, I think all the bones would be powdered.

I have to disagree, phage. For certain uses, I find that grinding sesame seeds with a mortar tastes better.

[SheenaGreena]

my mom has one of those tall plastic mortars with a wooden pestle that she used to use way back in the day...

now she uses a food processor.

so for korean staples, I'll throw in my 2 cents:

dwaengjang

gochujang

gochugaru

soysauce

rice vinegar

sesame seeds

etc, basically everything everyone else says

just buy everything you need for a japanese kitchen and add dweangjang, gochujang, and some gochugaru.

oh and korean veggies/namul are so easy to prepare...just sautee them in some oil and add salt or maybe some garlic

you should have:

spinach

bean sprout

gosari - fern bracken

doraji - bell flower root ( I could eat a huge tub of this stuff, only if my mom makes it)

and a whole host of other veggies that are usually sold in dried form and I have NO clue what they are called...some are bitter but are very very very delicious if you like that sort of thing

[seisei]

Some additions I would also recommend (two already mentioned by Peter), especially as they will keep practically forever:

saewoo jut: salted fermented tiny shrimp (comes in jars)

gim/kim: dried laver/seaweed sheets

anchovies, either dried or in powder form

The anchovies are used as flavoring agents in soups, and the shrimp in kimchi, among other uses. They provide that sea salty flavor in many uses, and if you get the whole dried anchovies, can be sauteed for a banchan you can whip up in no time. The salted shrimp can be added to steamed eggs as well, and my favorite is using it as a dip for steamed pork dishes.

As for the gim, briefly toasted over a flame and spread with sesame oil and some salt, it's a great snack, and a delicious addition to the table when you're short on banchan! And you can easily roll your own kimbap.

edited for clarity

Edited May 18, 2007 by seisei (log)

[SheenaGreena]

I can't believe I forgot garlic

you have to buy A LOT. My family (mom, dad, sis, and me) can eat 2-3 heads of garlic when we grill samgyupsal - I am not kidding.

A good trick my mom and I do is we take tons of garlic cloves (freshly peeled of course) and throw them into the food processor until they are finely minced. Then you take the minced garlic and put it into a freezer ziplock bag making sure to press down so that the minced garlic is flat and in a "sheet". After the minced garlic has been in the freezer for a few hours, you take the sheet of garlic and then cut it into small squares. Throw the squares back into the freezer bag and then freeze them. You can use a square or two of minced garlic whenever you need it for soups or for frying.

Be careful if you are making home made gochugaru with a food processor though. You will be coughing, wheezing, and breathing in chile flakes for a while if you don't keep the room well ventilated.

[Peter Green]

I can't believe I forgot garlic

you have to buy A LOT.  My family (mom, dad, sis, and me) can eat 2-3 heads of garlic when we grill samgyupsal - I am not kidding.

A good trick my mom and I do is we take tons of garlic cloves (freshly peeled of course) and throw them into the food processor until they are finely minced.  Then you take the minced garlic and put it into a freezer ziplock bag making sure to press down so that the minced garlic is flat and in a "sheet".  After the minced garlic has been in the freezer for a few hours, you take the sheet of garlic and then cut it into small squares.  Throw the squares back into the freezer bag and then freeze them.  You can use a square or two of minced garlic whenever you need it for soups or for frying.

←

Lots and lots. We just keep one tub of minced garlic in the fridge, and one in the freezer as an immediate backup. We'll buy a bundle of garlic once a month, soak them to help get the skins off, and then work from there.

But I like the prepped squares idea! We've got to try that.

Oh, and get in the habit of buying spring onions for no apparent reason. You'll find you need them all the time.

Edited May 18, 2007 by Peter Green (log)

[SheenaGreena]

Oh, and get in the habit of buying spring onions for no apparent reason. You'll find you need them all the time

This is SOOOOOOO TRUE. I am always running out of spring onions and when I have them they always go bad. What is up with that?

koreans consume garlic and green onion like it's going out of style. I think koreans also consume more garlic than any other country in the world.

Edited May 18, 2007 by SheenaGreena (log)

[Joon]

A good trick my mom and I do is we take tons of garlic cloves (freshly peeled of course) and throw them into the food processor until they are finely minced.  Then you take the minced garlic and put it into a freezer ziplock bag making sure to press down so that the minced garlic is flat and in a "sheet".

←

Hah! My mom does the same thing too!

I'm thinking someone needs to come up with a T-Shirt (or bumper sticker) about Koreans and garlic. Scratch and sniff would make it even better.

[Joon]

I know there've been lots of responses - here's my personal take. I'll try to concentrate on things that are are strongly korean (excluding things like soy sauce) since you already have a Japanese kitchen.

Condiments, spices, things that last forever:

1. Gochu garu (the other chiles just aren't the same!)

2. Gochu jang

3. Ssam Jang (or Den Jang - Ssam Jang is den jang + stuff)

4. Sesame Oil and Seeds

5. Saewoo jut

6. Gim - the pre-salted roasted and cut kind.

7. Noodles - Ramyun (Shin, NeoGuri), Jajang myun (Chapaghetti (not chacharoni), BiBim Naeng Myun (I believe I get Paldo Bibim Myun)

Food, fresh:

1. Scallions

2. Korean peppers

3. Whatever "namul" veggie floats your boat - spinach, bean sprouts, gosari, doraji, etc.

4. Korean Pears

Food, pickled/cured:

1. kimchee

2. Your choice of Jut - my favorites are changran (fish guts) and myungran (fish eggs) jut.

Protein:

1. Soft (Silken) Tofu for Soon Dubu

2. Sliced beef/Pork for galbi/bulgogi/dejibulgogi

3. Gulbi (semi dried/salted...croaker?) or Cod (for MaeOonTang Fish Soup)

I think that's what I usually get anyway.

Edit: I can't believe no one on this thread has mentioned the quintessential korean protein - SPAM! Must have spam at all times.

Edited May 31, 2007 by Joon (log)

[Joon]

Oh, and get in the habit of buying spring onions for no apparent reason. You'll find you need them all the time

This is SOOOOOOO TRUE. I am always running out of spring onions and when I have them they always go bad. What is up with that?

koreans consume garlic and green onion like it's going out of style. I think koreans also consume more garlic than any other country in the world.

←

My mom's gotten me into the habit of chopping then zip-lock bag freezing green onions. It's almost the same as fresh since I primarily use it to finish off soups.

I also happen to be a fan of Pa Kim Chee or Bu chu kimchee so when I'm in a bind I'll just throw some of that into the soup.

[muichoi]

Oh, and get in the habit of buying spring onions for no apparent reason. You'll find you need them all the time

This is SOOOOOOO TRUE. I am always running out of spring onions and when I have them they always go bad. What is up with that?

koreans consume garlic and green onion like it's going out of style. I think koreans also consume more garlic than any other country in the world.

←

I find it's best to keep spring onions out of the fridge just until they are dry to the touch. They then keep refrigerated for ages.

[seisei]

Edit: I can't believe no one on this thread has mentioned the quintessential korean protein - SPAM! Must have spam at all times.

←

**Shudder** Many a quickie pan chan in my youth consisted of spam jun--sliced, coated in beaten egg and pan-fried. I can still recall the way the egg coating steamed itself off to reveal the still-pink spam underneath--