Korean Home Cooking

[Pan]

Those daikon sprouts are beautiful! Could you describe the taste? Earthy? A touch of bitterness, like daikon root?

[melonpan]

Those daikon sprouts are beautiful! Could you describe the taste? Earthy? A touch of bitterness, like daikon root?

they are a tad spicy in the way radish is...

[torakris]

Those daikon sprouts are beautiful! Could you describe the taste? Earthy? A touch of bitterness, like daikon root?

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I love these! They are called kaiware in Japanese and a pack costs about $.30 to $.40, they have a nice spicy kick and the flavor is the same as daikon. They are a great cheap way to add a lot of flavor.

[torakris]

I haven't had time to go shopping for the past couple days so last night's dinner was thrown together with a bit of this and a bit of that.

I had a couple leftover mandu (still frozen--never cooked) so I tossed them into a soup with my last bit of kimchi and some mizuna stems (I used the leaves for the bibimbap a couple days ago). It was pretty good!

[touaregsand]

Looks great.

Sometimes I like to garnish it with egg or gim too.

[Fengyi]

I just wanted to say a big thank you, Tokakris, for posting the picture of dakgalbi. It inspired me to make it today for Sunday lunch and it turned out super yummy!!

A definite addition to the list of 'foods we like to eat'!

This thread also inspired me to make finally some yukhoe (something which I planned to do for a long while) and also to try my hand at making pa jon (which, to my surprise was easier than I had thought)!

Thanks to everyone for their great ideas and inspirational posts!

[Joon]

Other meats are not used for dakgalbi because dak means chicken and galbi means ribs.

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Thank you!

I knew that kalbi meant ribs but I always assumed it was just beef since those were the ones I was more familiar with. I didn't know that dak meant chicken but that helps a lot with my menu reading now!

So can kalbi refer to any kind of bone?

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Technically Galbi means the rib area, not necessarily the bone. (Galbi byuh would actually mean "rib bone".)

"Galbi" in this dish is used very loosely - I would guess that the term is used more as a reference to the marinading and cooking, to mean something more like "marinaded chicken BBQ" more than "Chicken Ribs"...

An excellent addition to dak galbi by the way would be some jjol myun noodles, which is how I remember most places in korea serving it. Any noodles you can find would make a good addition, even ramen.

Edited October 30, 2005 by Joon (log)

[torakris]

An excellent addition to dak galbi by the way would be some jjol myun noodles, which is how I remember most places in korea serving it. Any noodles you can find would make a good addition, even ramen.

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Are the noodles added to the pot during the cooking or served over them?

Would it still be eaten with rice if noodles are added?

[touaregsand]

I'm pretty sure that dak galbi is a dish invented by a restaurant that people started making at home.

I like it very much, but it was not one of my favorite things to order when eating out. There are restaurants that specialize in dak galbi. My brothers who both moved back to Korea to live as adults like I did, would know more about this because it's one of their favorite restaurant dishes.

I recall that chicken ribs that had been marinaded were cooked in a large circular pan in the middle of the table first or with the vegetables. I think the noodles were added to the pan after the chicken had been eaten. I don't remember excatly. I'm sure someone else here would know, if not I can ask my brothers.

[melonpan]

I recall that chicken ribs that had been marinaded were cooked in a large circular pan in the middle of the table first or with the vegetables. I think the noodles were added to the pan after the chicken had been eaten. I don't remember excatly. I'm sure someone else here would know, if not I can ask my brothers.

i think there are at least two different types of dak kalbi. the first kind, much more common is marinated chicken cooked in a large circular pan with veggies and noodles.

the other, much rarer kind, is marinated (mostly in gochujang and gochuggaru) chicken cooked over charcoal (sutbul) and served with a side of rice and banchan...

thats what ive seen at least...

[handmc]

If anyone is unfamiliar with the kochujang in stores here is a picture of the one I have

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Oh hail altar of kochujang!!!

I can't keep this stuff around. Favorite breakfast, fried egg, kochujang, hot white rice. It starts my day with a kick!

[Soup]

egg, kochujang is really good.

Lately for me though, I been trying right a soup called kong namul kuk. This is a soybean sprout soup. The base is clear should made from kelp and dried anchovies. My difficulting is getting a clear flavorful soup that doesn't over power too much.

Any thougths?

[Ktepi]

I know very little about Korean cooking (something I'm trying to change), but FatMan Seoul's entry on Choon Chun Jip's dak galbi is one of my favorite bits of food blog writing. I've tried making similar things, but with no access to sesame leaves or the chili paste he talks about, I'm sure what I end up with is only an approximate relation.

[Marco_Polo]

Lately for me though, I been trying right a soup called kong namul kuk.  This is a soybean sprout soup.  The base is clear should made from kelp and dried anchovies.  My difficulting is getting a clear flavorful soup that doesn't over power too much. 

Any thougths?

Hi Gary,

This deceptively simple, rather thin, but cleansing and satisfying soup is a regular accompaniment to Korean meals. Soy bean sprouts have so much more flavour and distinctive character than mung bean sprouts. For our kongguk, we keep things really simple and pure, with no anchovies or kelp. It could be what you're looking for (you could always add a little brown seaweed - miyok - to make the broth richer).

Kongguk - soy bean sprout soup

1/2 pound soy bean sprouts

2 garlic cloves, peeled, crushed and finely chopped

1/2 inch knob of fresh ginger, peeled and grated

3 tablespoons soy sauce

2 teaspoons sesame oil

Salt

2 or 3 spring onions or scallions, shredded on the diagonol

Pinch of toasted sesame seeds

Pinch of coarsely ground red chili pepper or red chili pepper threads

Remove the hairlike roots from the soy bean sprouts and wash well. Steam for 5-10 minutes, then in the same pot, add the garlic, ginger, soy sauce and sesame oil, and a pinch of salt to taste. Add about 1 1/2 pints of water (900ml) and bring to the boil, reduce heat to simmer and cook for a further 15 minutes. Garnish with the shredded spring onions, toasted sesame seeds and red pepper or red pepper threads.

recipe from Flavours of Korea

[chefzadi]

Korean Mother Sauces and Stocks

[Soup]

ChefZadi & Marco Polo, Thank you for the info.

ChefZadi,

On the Anchovy stock, I got the measurements fine off your website. Thanks. Any insight on the technique? Do you boil the Anchovies hard with the dashima or bring it just up to boil and basically let the dashima and anchovies soak?

Marco Polo,

Never had kongkuk without a stock based on anchovies. I got to try it just to see how it turns out. I'm just curious as to how a the soup will taste?

Soup

[melonpan]

i found out today that "dak dori tang" has some etymology in japanese. ! the "dori" is from the japanese "tori". the dak is korean (spelled dark in korean) and the tang comes from the chinese for soup (native korean for soup is gook). ha. strange bird of a word. korean-japanese-chinese. who knows where the names comes from. dakdoritang. "chicken chicken soup". but its not a soup. this dish is spciy chicken and potatoes.

my husband ate this dish growing up. i think its fairly commonly made in homes, but my mom never made it (and because my father dislikes pork, we never ate samgyeopsal either! sad childhood). its a simple dish, made mostly with staples. i usually only have to buy the chicken and jalapenos. you can have one squeezed out in no time.

<b>melonpans dak doritang</b><blockquote><blockquote>into a medium sized pot combine:

3 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp sake

1/3 cup water

2 tsp sesame oil

2 tbsp gochu ggaru (korean chile powder)

2 tsp sugar

5-6 cloves garlic pressed through a garlic press

2-3 halved jalapenos*

mix well. dont cook yet. add:

1 lb boneless chicken thigh (dark) meat, chopped into 1 inch chunks

2 medium potatoes, chopped into 1 inch cubes

1 onion, chopped

mix everything really well; then, over medium heat, cook for 20 minutes covered.

in the last 2 minutes, you can add some sliced scallions to taste.

spicy goodness!

<i>*you may seed or not (i dont) and you may omit them entirely if you want something milder</i></blockquote></blockquote>

[torakris]

this sounds great!

Do you think if I leave out jalapenos kids will be able to eat it? or should I decrease the chile powder as well.

My kids can all handle the heat of medium hot kimchi chige but only one can eat kimchi straight.

[melonpan]

Do you think if I leave out jalapenos kids will be able to eat it? or should I decrease the chile powder as well.

you can actually leave out the jalapenos. and it will be fine. a lot of the heat depends on the quality of your chile powder.

try making this without the jalapeno and a tbsp of the gochuggaru. it should be just fine. not very spicy though, which is what we are going for.

[tug]

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Oh hail altar of kochujang!!!

I can't keep this stuff around. Favorite breakfast, fried egg, kochujang, hot white rice. It starts my day with a kick!

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I too eat this on everything possible. One question though, should it be refrigerated?

[Soup]

Kochujang does not need to refriderate. I leave mine out covered tight in a cool dark place (i.e., my pantry). The top will get darker but don't worry about that.

[torakris]

Kochujang does not need to refriderate.  I leave mine out covered tight in a cool dark place (i.e., my pantry). The top will get darker but don't worry about that.

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How long should you be able to keep it in the pantry?

I refirgerate mine, but it gets quite hard and becomes difficult to use....

[Soup]

I've kept mine in the pantry for over a year with no problems. The stuff I have currently is 6 months old (I put date on it when I open it).

[_john]

I refrigerate my kochujang. I haven't noticed any skin formation or hardening. I also refrigerate my gochuggaru, is that strange? At the small stand where I bought it the old lady brought a small bag out of a refrigerator and told me in Japanese and English that her special gochuggaru should be refrigerated.

[Soup]

Kochugaru seems to last longer in the fridge. I do the same but there really is no problem with the Kochujang. The stuff used to be (and currently still) kept on terraces long before refridgeration.