2010년 4월 25일 일요일

Tteokburger (Rice Cake Burger)



Korean street junk fusion is on the up. I feel like I’ve been reading for months about the Kogi Taco trucks in LA, and a few weeks ago, Zen Kimchi posted an interesting piece about the bulgoki hotdogs, chopped galbi and fries and beef and kimchi sandwiches that are becoming popular in the states.



As most of these things seem to be happening in America though, thus far I haven’t really felt able to relate. On Friday night however, en route to the pub, I got the opportunity to sample what may well be the next item in this flavour mashing craze; the Tteokburger.

Selling from a street stall near Gangnam station, the Rice Cake or ‘Tteok’ burger is pretty much what it sounds like. Beef patties are roughly formed around three or four thick, cylindrical ricecakes. They are then cooked on a hotplate, and sandwiched into a sesame seed bun with some shredded cabbage and lots of ketchup and mustard.



As street burgers go this was pretty good. The patty was thick and meaty (even with the addition of the rice cakes the burger probably had more beef than any of the nearby fast food chains,) and the tteok managed to lend a bit of substance to the burger without being intrusively chewy or bland. What I really loved about this burger however was the sauce overload. A couple of good squirts of ketchup and that watery Korean mustard (it looks like cheese in the photo) and the burger turned into the sort of cheap, sweet, messy affair that’s made for right between the third and fourth beers of a Friday night.

Now that’s what I’m tteoking about!

2010년 4월 19일 월요일

Recipe:Dolsot Bibimbap(돌솥 비빔밥)

What is Dolsot Bibimbap?

Bibimbap is originated from Jeonju in Jeonna province but now its taste and flavor capture every tourist. Bibimbap is one of the popular Korean foods. Thus, it is served in a plane as a flight meal. Bibimbap is just mixing various kinds of vegetables, rice and seasoned beef. Dolsot bibimbap is slightly different from normal bibimbap because of the way to serve it. Usually, Dolsot bibimbap is served by setting with a Dolsot. Dolsot means a rice pot and it contains steamed crops such as rice, chestnut, bean, red bean and so on.

- Preparation Time : 1hour and 30 minutes - Cooking Time : 1hour , serving size: 1 person

▷ Ingredients

- rice : 2 cups raw rice, 1 Cup glutinous rice, 1 Cup red bean, 1 Cup bean, 6 Ginkgo nuts, 2 chestnuts,
5 Cups water
- boiled red pepper paste : 2Ts red pepper paste, 1 1/2 Ts soy sauce, 1Ts finely chopped garlic,
2Ts chopped leak, 1Ts sugar 2Ts sesame oil, 1Ts ground sesame

- 100g minced beef + 1ts soy sauce, 1Ts chopped leak, 1Ts crushed garlic, 1Ts sesame oil
- 1/2 large carrot + 1ts salt, 1ts sesame oil

- 100g roots of Chinese bellflower or 100g sliced cucumber + 1Ts salt,1ts ground sesame,1ts sesame oil
- 50g bean sprout + 1ts salt, 1Ts chopped leak, 1Ts crushed garlic, 1ts sesame oil, 1ts ground sesame
- 3 Pyogo mushrooms + 1ts salt, 1ts sesame oil

2 leaves lettuce, 1 egg

▷ Preparation

1. Soak beans and red beans before cooking for 24 hours.

2. Rinse rice and glutinous rice. Soak them for 30 minutes.

3. Branch chestnuts and cut them in half.

4. Heat a frying pan over low heat and fry ginkgo nuts slightly. Then, scrub them for taking the shell off.

5. Knead roots of Chinese bellflower (or sliced cucumber) with salt. Rinse and drain well.

6. Slice carrot thinly.

7. Tail bean sprouts and throw it in boiling water for 10~15seconds. Drain and chill.

8. Refresh lettuce under cold running water. Slice

▷ Recipe

1. Before 30 minutes for cooking, drain the soaked rice and glutinous rice.

2. Place rice, glutinous rice, chestnuts, red beans, beans and ginkgo nuts in a rice pot with water.

3. Do not cover the pot and heat to high. When it is about to overflow, reduce heat to low.

4. When it is almost done (rice is translucent), heat highly again for 30 seconds
and simmer uncovered 2 minutes.

5. Turn off the gas and cover the pot for 5 minutes. Uncover and stir slightly.

6. Heat a frying pan. Season meat with soy sauce, sesame oil, chopped leak, crushed garlic and pepper.

Cook beef over medium heat in a pan.

7. Mix roots of Chinese bellflower(or sliced cucumber), ground sesame and sesame oil.
Then, cook in a pan.

8. Blend carrot, salt and sesame oil. Cook.

9. Cut Pyogo mushrooms into long thins. Add salt and sesame oil and cook.

10. Knead bean sprouts with salt, chopped leak, crushed garlic, sesame oil and ground sesame.

11. Prepare a sunny-side up egg.

12. Place red pepper paste with prepared spices in a pan. Heat until boiling.

13. Place rice in a bowl. Add cooked vegetables and beef on the rice.

14. Pour boiled red pepper paste in center of rice.

15. place egg on red pepper paste. Decorate rice with sliced lettuce.

16. Serve.

Recipe:Samgyetang(삼계탕)

"Sam" means ginseng and "gye" stands for a chicken.("Tang" is soup or stew.) Most Korean people generally love samgyetang because it is very tasty.
In hot and stuffy Korean summer, this unique dish is good for your health and appetite.
It is kind of Herbal soup that contains several sorts of oriental herb.
That is why visitors cannot lay down their chopsticks and keep eating Samgye-tang.

- Preparation Time : 30 m / Cooking Time : 80 m / Serves : 1~2


* Ingredients


1~1.5kg chicken
15 Cups water
1/3 Cup glutinous rice

3 cloves garlic

One root of ginseng
5 jujubes
Salt, pepper

* Recipe

1. Rinse and place rice with clean water in a large bowl, about 30minutes.
2. Wash and peel garlic, rinse jujubes. Drain.
3. Wash ginseng thoroughly and cut diagonally into long thin slices.
4. Rinse chicken thoroughly inside and out.
Remove and discard any offal. (Do not cut it in half)
5. Press mixture (glutinous rice, garlic, jujubes and ginseng) into cavity.
Seal ends.
6. Place chicken in a large pan. Add water.
7. Boil over high heat for 15minutes then cook with lid on over a low heat until tender, about 1 hour.
8. Lift chicken out and remove string. Reserve stock for soups.
9. Serve with salt and pepper.

2010년 4월 6일 화요일

Korean soap opera:You are beautiful(미남이시네요)


During its run, the drama
, a story about the lives of the members of a teenaged pop group, received an impressive 10% viewer rating, faring quite well against the blockbuster drama airing on a different channel. The drama focuses on the dilemmas and love lives of a group of band members and had an audience mostly of young women in the teens and 20s. Based on a well thought out plotline and lively, engaging characters, the drama drew a very loyal group of followers. Main characters include Go Minam (who joined the pop group ‘A.N.JELL’ mid-way), Yoo He Yi (the ‘mean girl’), and a journalist who sneaks around trying to find out Go Minam’s true identity. Though the story’s main concept is nothing new for TV audiences, a cast of brilliant actors and a series of unique plot twists give new life to the age-old story of love, fame, and growing up. The cast is made up of some of Korea’s brightest stars: veteran actors/actresses Kim Seong Ryeong and Choi Ran, new talent Jang Geun Seok and Park Shin Hye, and singer-turned-actor/actress Yi Hong Gi, Yui, and Jeong Yong Hwa. The drama created quite a stir with its sweet and romantic OST and the stuffed ‘pig-rabbit’ featured in the drama, which became a popular icon.

Information
Chief Producer: Jo Nam Guk
Screenplay: Hong Jeong Eun, Hong Mi Ran
Directors: Hong Seong Chang, Bu Seong Cheol
Broadcast Period: Oct 7th – Nov 26th, 2009
Production Company: Bon Factory, Market Inside
Cast: Jang Geun Seok, Park Shin Hye, Jeong Yong Hwa, Yi Hong Gi


Synopsis
A.N.JELL, one of the top boy bands in all of Asia, consists of three cute and talented young men: Hwang Tae Gyeong, an arrogant music genius; Jeremy, a classy guy with a sunny disposition, and Gang Sinu, a seemingly cold and reserved prince. One day A.N. JELL decides to add a new member to the group, Go Minam. Go Minam ends up not being able to join the band because of botched plastic surgery and his sister Go Minyeo joins the band disguised as her brother. The two siblings are convinced that joining the band is the only way to find their long-lost mother, but of course, things don’t turn out exactly as they planned. When Minyeo joins the band chaos ensues, but later she finds herself and discovers true love.

Characters
☞ Jang Geun Seok as Hwang Taegyeong

Jang Geun Seok, who starred in such popular dramas as and , now takes on the role of the star of the most famous idol group in Korea, A.N.JELL. He is a brilliant song writer and piano player, and needless to say, very popular. His father Hwang Gyeong Se is a world famous conductor, descending from a long line of musical nobility. On the outside, Geun Seok seems perfect; but on the inside, it’s a totally different story. He’s got a million faults and idiosyncrasies that make his life anything but peaceful. He has stomach problems, night blindness, a shrimp allergy and he sleepwalks and is a germaphobe. The list goes on! He’s tactless, stubborn, arrogant, and seems as if he couldn’t care less about Go Minam. Despite his many faults and rough veneer, he is warm and sensitive on the inside and helps Minam whenever he/she gets into trouble.


Go Minam and Go Minyeo (Jemma, the Christian name given her when she was a nun in training) are twins. They grew up together in an orphanage at a nunnery. Minam is selected as the new member of A.N.JELL and plans to join the group, but an unfortunate set of circumstances get in the way, prompting Minyeo to join the band in her brother’s stead. After being away from the real world for so long, Minyeo is socially awkward and rather straight-laced, but she’s also very pure and sensitive. She tries the best she can to fill her brother’s shoes and fulfill her part as a member of A.N.JELL – singing and preparing for concerts. After continually hanging out with Hwang Tae Gyeong, the leader in A.N.JELL, she starts to have feelings for him.

Jeong Yong Hwa as Gang Sinu

He has a beautiful and solemn face. He’s not interested in anything and seems not to be affected by anything. If Tae Gyeong is the sensitive and uptight one, Sinu is the cool and apathetic member of the band. He’s almost like a tired old man who has ‘seen it all’ and no longer enjoys the pleasures of life. Although he’s currently a part of the band, he’d rather become a successful entrepreneur in the show business. When Go Minyeo first joins the band Tae Gyeong regards her with curiosity (and maybe even a little suspiciously) but then comes to fall in love with her and her innocent charm.



Yi Hong Gi as Jeremy

He is a healthy young man with a sunny personality. He’s Korean-English with very successful parents; his father is a UK aristocrat who is also a world renowned photographer and his mother is a supermodel. He’s very optimistic and balances out the more dramatic personalities in the band. He had always thought that he could never be friends with a girl, but after meeting the man/woman Minam he’s not sure how he feels.



Filming Locations

Gongseri Catholic Church

This is the place where Jemma (Go Minyeo) says her prayer and where David, Julian and Thomas clean a stone sculpture. Gongseri Catholic Church (공세리성당) is the second oldest cathedral in Chungcheongnam-do. In 1895, Father Devise, as he first came to the region on his mission, bought an 80-kan warehouse used for “Gongse” (tribute to the King) storage. Then in 1897, he changed the place into a cathedral and parsonage. The 113-year-old cathedral is designated as Cultural Asset #144 in Chungcheongnam-do. Among the cathedral’s holy annexes are: the main cathedral building, a museum, Peace House, Stations of the Cross and graves of three martyrs (who are brothers), Bak Ui Seo/Won Seo/Ik Seo.


Myeong-dong

Hwang Tae Gyeong was supposed to meet Minam in front of Myeongdong Cathedral, but he never shows up. Instead, Sinu takes his crush Minam around Myeong-dong, and they have a great time shopping and eating. Myeong-dong is a shopping Mecca in Korea where you can see the very latest fashion trends gathered all in one area. It is also one of the most famous places for Koreans to meet and hang out. Take a walk in Minam’s shoes with a scenic stroll through Myeong-dong.


The Garden of Morning Calm

It is the place where Yoo He Yi and Hwang Tae Gyeong kiss and share rings. It’s also the place where Go Minam shoots her music video and where Yoo He Yi cunningly makes Minam wear girl’s clothes. The Garden of Morning Calm is an artistic, beautifully organized garden set against the picturesque natural backdrop of Chukryeongsan Mountain. It’s the place to be for urbanites that are looking to relax in a soothing forest setting. This unique garden opened in May 1996 and since then, has frequently been used as a filming location for various dramas and movies.

Recipe:Kakdugi(깍두기)

There are so many types of Korean kimchi, such as Bossamkimchi(which is made of Chinese cabbage), Dongchimi(made of radish), Oisobaegi(made of cucumber) and you name it! Among them KKakdugi is one of radish kimchi. Of course, many people enjoy KKakdugi itself, as a side dish. But also KKakdugi makes fantastic combination with "Seolleongtang" which is traditional beef and bone soup. KKakdugi is easier to make than any other kinds of kimchi and perfectly fits most sorts of food, especially Korean soup that is called "Tang." That is why many people keep looking for delicious KKakdugi, when they eat "Tang" stuff.

- Preparation Time + Cooking Time : 1 hour 20minutes
- Serving size: 4 people


▷ Ingredients

1kg 3 radishes, 1/3cup salt

* seasoning : 1/2 Cup red pepper powder, 30g crushed garlic, 50g leek,
20g crushed ginger, 3Ts sugar, 1/2cup anchovy juice, 1/2cup salted shrimp, 3Ts sugar

▷ Recipe

1. Wash radish and cut it into 2cm cube. Salt down in a half hour.
(If you want juicy KKakdugi, you don't need to salt.)

2. Cut leek diagonally in 3cm length.


3. Drain salted radish. (If you want juicy KKakdugi, don't need to drain.)


4. Mix red pepper powder with radish. Wait until radish turns red.

5. Knead radish, sugar, salted shrimp, anchovy juice, ground garlic, ground ginger and leek.
(If you didn't salt down radish in
and add salt.)

6. Put it into a jar and cover with radish leaves.

7. Store it in 5~10℃ or serve it immediately.

2010년 4월 5일 월요일

Recipe:Deodeok Gui(더덕구이)

What is grilled Deodeok?

The appearance of Deodeok is like Ginseng but it is more crude and stiff. It has unique smell that seems like the odor of the ground. I am not talking about the disadvantage of Deodeok. I am just saying what Deodeok looks like. Don't get me wring, please. Although it has an alienating flavor and strange figure, it goes very well with other dishes once it is grilled. It takes long time and effort to make it flat for softness but it is really worthwhile. Most of grilled Deodeok are seasoned with red pepper paste. These days, Teriyaki-Deodeok, Honey mustard Deodeok salad, or even Deodeok dessert (I have no clue about it, but definitely it has peculiar flavor.) are in the food market!

Preparation Time:30 min │ Cooking Time : 10 min │ Serves : 4

▷ Ingredients

you can use 10 ginseng instead of Deodeok(Codonopsis lanceolata)
※ Seasoning-3Ts Red pepper paste, 3Ts Soy sauce, 2Ts chopped garlic, 1Ts chopped leek, 2Ts sugar, 2Ts ground sesame, 2Ts sesame oil

▷ Preparation

Peel the Deodeok. Wash and soak.

② Drain and cut in a half.

③ Pound with a bat/knife until it is flat.

④ Mix seasoning well.

▷ Recipe

① Brush the Deodeok all over with seasoning.
② Grill Deodeok over a medium heat. Turn it over and brush with seasoning. Repeat.
③ Using scissors, cut each Deodeok into 3~4cm length. Serve.

2010년 4월 1일 목요일

Recipe:Sinseollo(신선로)

First of all, "Sin seon" in Sinseollo" is called gods of mountains. They protect mountains, play Korean chess and sometimes make a fool of normal people who peep at their lives. Believe it or not, "Sinseonllo" is Sin seon's food. It consists of various items and it is not easy to make in a very short period of time. For these reasons, it is often served at every rite, like a sacrificial rite. In Sep, there is a big holiday, "Chuseok" (Korean Thanksgiving Day).
Why don't you make Sin seon ro and be Sin seon, huh?

Preparation Time:40 minutes │Cooking Time : 1 hour │Serves: 2~3

▷ Ingredients

- 100g finely chopped Beef (seasoning : 3Ts flour, 1 egg, salt and pepper)
- 50g fillet of cod (seasoning : 2Ts flour, 1 egg, salt and pepper)
1/2 carrot, 1/2 dozen Korean parsley, you can use 1 stick of celery, instead of this), 1/2 Onion, 50g beef, 3 Pyogo mushroom, 15 Ginkgo seeds (you can use any nuts.)
-2 Cups beef stock

▷ Preparation

1. Sprinkle sliced cod with salt and pepper.
2. Fry Ginkgo seeds and rub with paper. Remove cover.
3. Cut Pyogo mushroom and carrot into 1.5cm *4cm.
4. Remove Korean parsley leaves and cut into 4cm length.

▷ Recipe

1. Combine chopped beef, flour, egg, salt and pepper. Knead and pat well.
2. Fry 50g of chopped beef in a square pan. Cut as same as carrot.
3. Divide into 15 pieces of chopped beef. Make a small meatball. Fry.
4. Coat each fillet of cod with flour then dip into stirred egg.
5. Cook in a frying pan until lightly golden.
6. Slice beef and onion.
7. Half of them, for stock, cook over medium heat with 2 Cups of water for 10 min.
8. Rest of them, fry 2 min.
9. Prepare a large round pan, instead of Sinseollo.
10. Place fillet of cod, mushroom, Korean parsley, carrot, onion, chopped beef and sliced beef on a pan overlapping and placed close together.
11.Decorate with Ginkgo and meatball.
12. Pour stock and boil. Serve when it is boiling.