South Korea

 Welcome to South Korea!  I  can't say this country is on my bucket list, but I have several friends who have been there and said it is an amazing country.  South Koreans say they have the fastest internet in the world, and they have the first astronomical lab called Cheomseongdae Observatory, which was built in the 7th century.  According to Google, their population is 51.63 million people and the capital is Seoul.  Their national dish is...

Kimchi!

I've only had kimchi a few times, and I was never a huge fan of it, but I was willing to give it a try.  It is said the kimchi is served at every meal in South Korea, and is sometimes put in soup.  So, along with kimchi, I made Yukgaejang, which is a spicy beef soup, and Hotteok, which is a sweet Korean pancake.  The tricky thing about the kimchi is that you have to start it at least two weeks before you want to eat it!  So that's what I did!

KIMCHI

1 large Napa cabbage

1 C coarse sea salt

5 C water

1 lb Korean radish

1/4 large Asian pear

3 - 4 green onions

1 piece dasima, (dried kelp), about 2 to 3 inch square

1 tbsp glutinous rice flour

1/2 C gochugaru

1 tsp shrimp paste

3 tbsp fish sauce

3 tbsp minced garlic

1 tsp grated ginger

1/2 C dasima broth

1. Cut the thick white part of the cabbage in half lengthwise (not all the way through). 
2. Slowly pull it apart to separate into two pieces. Repeat so you have four pieces total. 
3. In a large bowl, dissolve 1/2 cup of salt in 5 cups of water. 
4. Thoroughly bathe each cabbage quarter in the salt water one at a time, shake off excess water back into the bowl, and then transfer to another bowl.
5. Using the other half cup of salt and starting from the outermost leaf, generously sprinkle salt over the thick white part of each leaf (similar to salting a piece of meat). 
6. Try to salt all the cabbage quarters with 1/2 cup salt, but you can use a little more if needed. 
7. Repeat with the rest of the cabbage quarters. 
8. Pour the remaining salt water from the first bowl over the cabbage. 
9. Set aside for about 6 - 8 hours, rotating the bottom ones to the top every 2 - 3 hours.
10. The cabbage should be ready to be washed when the white parts of the leaves are bendable. 
11. Rinse thoroughly 3 times, especially between the white parts. 
12. Drain well, cut side down.
13. Make the dasima broth by boiling a small piece (2 to 3 inch square) in 1.5 cups of water for 5 minutes, and cool. 
14. Mix the rice flour with 1/2 cup dasima broth and simmer over low heat, stirring occasionally, until it thickens to a thin paste, and cool. 
15. Combine all the seasoning ingredients (starting at gochugaru), including the rice paste and about 1/2 cup dashima broth, and mix well. 
16. Set aside until the gochugaru dissolves slightly and becomes pasty.
17. Cut the radish and pear into matchsticks, transferring to a large bowl. 
18. Cut the green onions diagonally into about 1-inch long pieces. 
19. Add the prepared seasoning mix to the radish, and mix well by hand. 
20. Throw in the green onions, and mix everything lightly. 
21. Taste a little bit. It should be a little too salty to eat as is. 
22. Let it sit for about 30 minutes to allow the flavors to meld nicely.
23. Cut off the tough stem part from each cabbage quarter, leaving enough to hold the leaves together.
24. Place one cabbage quarter in the bowl with the radish mix. 
25. Spread the radish mix over each leaf, one to two tablespoons for large leaves.
26. Fold the leaf part of the cabbage over toward the stem and nicely wrap it with the outermost leaf.
27. Place it, cut side up, in a jar or airtight container. 
28. Repeat with the remaining cabbages. 
29. Once all the cabbages are in the jar or airtight container, press down hard to remove air pockets.
30. To collect any remaining seasoning, rinse the bowl with 1/2 cup of dasima broth, and add it to the kimchi container. Close the lid. 
31. Leave it out at room temperature for a full day or two. Then, store in the fridge.
32. Although you can start eating it any time, kimchi needs about two weeks in the fridge to fully develop the flavors. It maintains great flavor and texture for several weeks.

(Source: Kimchi)

 

YIKGAEJANG

1 ounce dried gosari, (fernbrakes)
1 lb stew meat
1/2 onion (do not cut off the stem)

2 bunches of radishes
8 ounces bean sprouts
3 bunches green onion, cut into 4 inch strips

2 tbsp sesame oil

2 tbsp gochugaru
1 tbsp minced garlic

2 tbsp soy sauce, divided

1 tsp gochujang

Salt and pepper, to taste

2 eggs lightly beaten

3 ounces dangmyeon soaked in warm water for 20 minutes

1. Add the gosari and 4 cups of water to a small pot. 
2. Boil over medium heat, covered, until tender. 
3. Turn the heat off and let it cool in the cooking water. 
4. When ready to use, rinse in cold water and drain. 
5. Cut into 4-inch lengths, removing tough ends of the stems, if any.
6. In a large pot, bring the meat, onion, and radish to a boil in 12 cups of water. 
7. Reduce the heat to medium, and skim off the scum. 
8. Boil, covered, until the meat is tender enough for shredding. 
9. Let the meat cool a bit in the cooking liquid. 
10. Discard the vegetables, reserving the stock in the pot.
11. When the meat is cool enough to handle, shred into about 3 to 4-inch strips.
12. In a pan, heat the sesame oil until hot over low heat and stir in the gochugaru. 
13. Turn the heat off as soon as the oil starts to turn red and the gochugaru become a bit pasty. This only takes a few seconds.
14. Add the meat, gosari, 1 tbsp soy sauce, and garlic to the pan. 
15. Toss well to coat everything with the oiled chili pepper flakes. 
16. Add the meat and gosari mixture to the broth. 
17. Stir in gochujang and 1 tablespoon of soy sauce and boil over medium high heat, covered, for about 10 minutes.
18. Throw in the bean sprouts and green onions, and boil over medium heat for another 10 minutes. 
19. Add salt (1 teaspoon or more) and pepper to taste. 
20. A few minutes before turning off the heat, add the noodles. 
21. Slowly drizzle the eggs over the boiling soup and turn the heat off. 
22. Serve with rice.
23. Enjoy!

(Source: Yukgaejang)

HOTTEOK

Dough

1 C lukewarm water

2 tbsp sugar

2 tsp active dry yeast

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1/2 tsp salt

2 C gluten free flour

1 tsp xanthum gum

Filling

1/2 C brown sugar

4 tbsp chopped pecans

1 tsp cinnamon

1. In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, stir together the lukewarm water, sugar, yeast, oil and salt.  
2. Let the yeast proof for about 5 minutes until it starts to get foamy.
3. Add the flour to the yeast mixture and knead with the mixer until smooth.
4. Cover dough tightly with plastic wrap and allow it to rise for 1 hour at room temperature until the dough has doubled in size.  
5. Coat your hand lightly in cooking spray and punch down the dough to remove gas bubbles, then cover again and let the dough rise another 20 minutes.
6. During the last rise, mix together the filling ingredients in a small bowl.
7. When the dough is ready, turn it out onto a floured surface and coat your hands with flour.  
8. Divide into 8 equal-sized pieces and shape into balls.  
9. Working with one dough ball at a time, flatten it out and mound about a tablespoon of the filling in the center.  
10. Pinch the edges of the disc together up around the filling, enclosing it completely in the center of the ball of dough as seen in the pictures.  
11. Repeat with the remaining balls of dough and filling.  
12. Heat a large pan over medium heat.  
13. When hot, add a little oil (about 2 tablespoons) to the pan and let that heat up as well.  
14. When the oil is hot, place a dough ball in it, with the sealed area down and cook until lightly golden brown on the bottom (just about 30 seconds), then flip.  
15. Using a large, flat spatula, press down on the hotteok to flatten it into a wide disc and cook until the bottom is golden brown.
16. Flip the hotteok one last time and reduce the heat to low.  
17. Cover the pan with a lid and cook for another minute or so, just until the bottom is completely golden brown and the filling inside is melted and syrupy.
18. Serve hot! 

(Source: Hotteok)

The verdict?  The kimchi was not anyone's favorite.  Handsome Husband said that he liked it, but our Fun Friends and I didn't like it at all.  It was very fishy, and did not taste great at all.  The soup was good, but not fantastic.  the starch noodles were very strange in it.  I think it would have been better without the noodles or with rice instead.  The soup wasn't as spicy as I expected, but it did have some spice to it.  We all loved the hotteok's.  Gluten free baking/frying is always hit or miss, but this was really good.  I was a little sad we only got two each to enjoy!  I think we were hungry, because we didn't get any pictures of the meal!  But if you go to the links above, you can see what they are like :-)

ME

Taste of Kimchi (1 is terrible, 10 is amazing): 1

Spicy (hot) (1 is not at all spicy, 10 is uneatable): 4

Flavor (1 is no flavor, 10 is packed with flavor): 4

 

HANDSOME HUSBAND

Taste of Kimchi (1 is terrible, 10 is amazing): 6

Spicy (hot) (1 is not at all spicy, 10 is uneatable): 3

Flavor (1 is no flavor, 10 is packed with flavor):7

 

ME

Taste of Yukgaejang (1 is terrible, 10 is amazing): 6

Spicy (hot) (1 is not at all spicy, 10 is uneatable): 4

Flavor (1 is no flavor, 10 is packed with flavor): 6

 

HANDSOME HUSBAND

Taste of Yukgaejang (1 is terrible, 10 is amazing): 6

Spicy (hot) (1 is not at all spicy, 10 is uneatable):4

Flavor (1 is no flavor, 10 is packed with flavor): 5

 

ME

Taste of Hotteok (1 is terrible, 10 is amazing): 7

Spicy (hot) (1 is not at all spicy, 10 is uneatable): 0

Flavor (1 is no flavor, 10 is packed with flavor): 6

 

HANDSOME HUSBAND

Taste of Hotteok (1 is terrible, 10 is amazing): 9

Spicy (hot) (1 is not at all spicy, 10 is uneatable): 0

Flavor (1 is no flavor, 10 is packed with flavor):7

 

Another country down - we're almost halfway through!  Join us next time in North Korea.