North Korea

 Welcome to North Korea!  Can such a thing be said?  My heart goes out to those in North Korea.  While looking up interesting things about North Korea, I found some ridiculous and some sad.  For example, Kim Jong Un ordered all male citizens to have the same haircut as him, and all female citizens to have the same haircut as his wife.  North Korea has its own time zone, created in 2015, which is 30 minutes different from South Korea and Japan.  If you are a Malaysian citizen, you do not need a passport or visa to enter North Korea. The average annual income for a North Korean family is between $1,000 and $2,000 dollars.  There are many more things to say, but I will stop there.  I encourage you to pray for this nation.  According to Google, the population is 26.07 million people and the capital is Pyongyang.  Their national dish is...

 

Kimchi!

Just like South Korea!  Because I just made kimchi for South Korea, I didn't make it again (gasp!), but I did find some other recipes to try.  Everything I read said that the people of North Korea eat kimchi with every meal, much like they do in South Korea.  For dinner this time, I made North Korean Mandu (dumplings) and North Korean Naengmyun, which is a cold noodle soup.  I will put the kimchi recipe here again as well.  Here'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)

 

MANDU

Dumplings
1 C white rice flour

2/3 C tapioca flour

2 tsp psyllium husk powder

1/2 tsp salt
1 C hot water

2 tsp oil

Corn starch, for rolling the wrappers
Stuffing
1 C ground beef
1 C ground pork
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp chopped ginger
1 tsp chopped garlic
1/2 tsp salt
Pepper to taste
1/2 C chopped kimchi
1 C bean sprouts plus 1/2 tsp sesame oil and 1/8 tsp salt

1 bunch of green onions
Dipping Sauce
1/4 C soy sauce
2 tbsp rice vinegar
Chives, to garnish

1. Mix together all the dough ingredients and knead for a few minutes until the dough is even throughout. 
2. Keep the dough covered with a wet towel while you put together the stuffing.
3.  Season the meat with the soy, garlic, ginger salt and pepper.
4. Add the meat to a large bowl.
   
5. In a pot of boiling water, add in the bean sprouts. 
6. When the water comes back to a boil, drain the spouts and rinse with cold water.
7. Gently squeeze the sprouts to remove excess water and then rough chop them. 
8. Season with sesame oil and salt and add to the meat mixture.
9. Finely chop kimchi and remove any excess seasoning so that it is not too liquidy.
10. Place in bowl with sprouts.
11. Finely chop the green onions, add to the bowl, and mix all the ingredients together.
12. Bring a large pot of water to a boil.
    
13. To assemble, tear off a piece of dough about the size of a walnut and roll into a ball.
14. With a rolling pin, roll out to a round piece about 5 inches.
15. Add in two heaping tablespoons of stuffing to the dumpling round.
16. Wrap the dough around the stuffing and seal the edges by pressing firmly together.  I used water on my finger to make it stick.
17. Repeat until all the dumpling dough is used (I had extra filling).
18. Add the dumplings to the pot of boiling water, and make sure not to overcrowd.
19. Let them cook for about 7-9 minutes. When the dumplings rise they are cooked.
20. Remove with a slotted spoon.
21. Serve with dipping sauce.
22. Enjoy!

Source: Mandu and Dumpling Wrappers)

NAENGMYUN

1 package of buckwheat noodles
8 C water
4 shiitake mushrooms
4 inch piece of dried kelp
10 dried anchovies
1 tbsp mustard powder
2 cucumbers, sliced thinly
Salt, to taste
Sugar, to taste
Rice vinegar, to taste
1 Asian pear
2 hard-boiled eggs, sliced thinly or in quarters

1. Stock:
2. Boil 8 cups of water with 4 shiitake mushrooms, a 4 inch piece of dried kelp, and 10 dried anchovies for 20 minutes over high heat.
3. Lower the heat to low and simmer another 20 minutes.
4. Cool it down and keep it in the refrigerator.
5. Toppings:
6. Mustard paste:
7. Mix 1 tbsp of mustard powder and ½ tbsp water and set aside.
8. Cucumber:
9. Slice 2 cucumbers into thin strips. 
10. Add a ½ pinch of salt, ½ teaspoon of sugar, and ½ teaspoon of vinegar. 
11. Mix it up and and set it aside.
12. Pear:
13. Slice 1 Asian pear into thin strips and set aside.
14. Egg:
15. Slice the hard-boiled eggs into quarters or slices and set aside.
16. Make the noodles.
17. Put a package of buckwheat noodles into a big pot of boiling water. 
18. Stir them with a wooden spoon so that the noodles don’t stick to each other and cook until done.
19. When the noodles are cooked, move the pot to the sink and pour cold water over them. 
20. Drain some of the water out and pour more cold water over them again.
21. Drain the noodles in a colander.
22. Put it all together:
23. For each serving you need to make, mix 2 cups of stock in a bowl with 2 teaspoons vinegar, 1 teaspoon salt, and 2 teaspoons sugar. Add more vinegar to taste. 
24. Place noodles in a bowl and add the cold broth, cucumber, pear, mustard paste, and egg on top.
25. Serve cold. 
26. Enjoy!

(Source: Naengmyun)

 

The verdict?  The dumplings were great!  Well, let me clarify. The filling was great.  The actual dumplings had the texture of undercooked dough, but they were completely cooked.  I think they may have been better if they were fried.  The tapioca starch absorbs a lot of moisture, so the dough was really thick.  But, they held together, which was a win for gluten free dumplings!  I did not care for the soup at all.  The noodles had a nice texture to them, but the taste of the soup was not good at all.  I wasn't able to finish the soup.  We are going to experiment with the leftover dumpling filling, because the flavors there were very good.  Overall, though, not a meal we plan to repeat.

 

   

 

ME

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

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

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

 

HANDSOME HUSBAND

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

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

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

 

ME

Taste of Naengmyun (1 is terrible, 10 is amazing): 2

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

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

 

HANDSOME HUSBAND

Taste of Naengmyun (1 is terrible, 10 is amazing): 4

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

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

 

Another country down!  We will be taking a little hiatus for the next few weeks, so the next country will be a surprise!