soy glazed anchovies with peppers

I am actually best known for my Myulchi Bokkeum among my friends and family. And it’s probably one of the dish I make the most. So I’m not sure why I haven’t posted this before…I guess I really didn’t think that it was anything special..but then recently eating at a restaurant, I realized how the taste can vary from the ones that are really bland,  to the ones that have the perfect balance of salty and sweet and then the ones that are just overloaded with spice and garlic – making it hard for you to really taste the anchovy at all.  Also in terms of texture,  it can be too wet and mushy or too hard and gummy – missing the perfectly chewy and crispy range in the middle. Of course, there is the wet version (Jorim)  which is supposed to be very soft but we are talking about the dry version here which is called bokkeum (볶음) and that is all about having the right amount of crispness without it being too hard.

Nutrition: Because you eat these anchovies whole including the bones, they are loaded in calcium. My husband says that this is how he was able to grow tall even though he hardly drank any milk while growing up. Myulchi is also a good source of DHA which is an important nutrient for the brain. So you can see that myulchi bokkeum is really one of the most nutritious lunchbox (doshirak) banchan you can make for your child. And most likely, your child will love the taste of it, so give this a try!

Print Recipe

Servings: 3-4                           Cooking Time: 15 min                               Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients

• 1 C small dried anchovies for stir fry (볶음 bokkeum)
• 1 T vegetable oil
• 1 pc of ginger slice (1/4 in thick)
• 2 shishito/green chili peppers (optional)
• for the glaze
  • 1 T soy sauce
  • 1 T sugar
  • 1 T sake or rice wine
  • 1 tsp water
  • sesame seeds
  • 1/8 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 tsp maple syrup or rice syrup or malt syrup
  • 1/4 tsp sesame oil

1. Try to buy good quality dried anchovies (마른 멸치 mareun myulchi). They should not be too dry (it should still be somewhat soft and not hard). If the anchovies are really dry it means it’s too old. The best way to judge the quality is to taste them – they should be still soft, chewy and taste not too salty but meaty and even a bit sweet. Here’s a pic of some good quality myulchi and their varying sizes. All these three sizes are good for making myulchi bokkeum.

different sizes of dried anchovies

Anything bigger, it is really not fit to be eaten whole since the innards taste quite bitter. Some people may even say that the bigger size at top left is too big. But if you take off the head along with the gut from the anchovy, you can enjoy a more meaty mulychi bokkeum. Below is a photo that shows how you can take out the gut and the head – hold the head with one hand and twist it off gently and most likely the gut will come off with the head.

gutted anchovy (top right)

2. Prepare the glaze -  in a bowl, add soy sauce, sugar, sake, water, and sesame seeds. Set aside. Cut shishito peppers into bite size pieces.

ingredients for myulchi bokkeum

3. On medium high heat and brown ginger in oil (2 min or so) until brown. The essence of ginger will get infused into the oil which will take away any fishy smell from the anchovies.

ginger in oil

myulchi saute

4. Add dried anchovies and sliced peppers to the hot ginger oil and saute for 3-4 minutes until they are slightly browned. This step is very important. Make sure you saute enough until the anchovies are well browned before going to the next step.

5. Lower the heat and add the soy sauce glaze to the pan. Stir for about 2 min. until the anchovies are evenly glazed with the sauce.  Drizzle the maple syrup and stir for another 1 – 2 min until the anchovies are well coated and has a sheen to them. Turn off the heat. Finish the dish by drizzling some sesame oil.

myulchi bokkeum

Serving Suggestions

Myulchi Bokkeum is really one of the most basic banchan in a classic Korean meal. It is a great item in children’s lunchboxes and also in ssam (try this instead of pike mackerel or bulgogi in a ssam). Also great with various soups – both spicy and savory/mild flavors.

Storage

Most markets will store these in the fridge but it tastes best when it is kept at room temperature. It will stay fresh for days to even a week at room temperature due to its salt and sugar content.

Variations

Make a spicier version by reducing soy sauce to 1/2 T and adding 1/2 ~ 1 T gochujang. The recent trend is to add nuts such as walnuts, sliced almonds and peanuts when making myulchi bokkeum so it’s something worth trying if you like nuts.

Bugeo Gook

My daughter called me the other day and asked me to post my Bugeo (dried pollock) Gook recipe because she wanted to make some for herself in her dorm. This is always one of the first things she asks me to make when she comes home from college. This soup is also one of the easiest and quickest Korean soups to make and is very popular because of its soothing and tummy warming taste. When I write these posts, sometimes I really wish there were more English words that can accurately describe the various ways Koreans express taste and texture. Koreans often describe the taste of this soup as 시원하다 (she-won-hada) which, when literally translated, means “cool” or “refreshing”. How can a soup that is piping hot be “cooling?” But when Koreans eat a soup that somehow feels like it reaches all the way down to your stomach, leaving you a clearing feeling, we say it tastes 시원하다. I looked up the word in the dictionary and it listed the following words – cool, refreshing, reviving, invigorating, clean, clear.  And I would say it is the combination of all these words and more that expresses the true taste of the soup.

The quality of the bugeo makes a huge difference in the taste of this soup. We get our bugeo usually from Korea so I can’t tell you about any specific brand I buy here but my advice is to buy the ones that are not too dry and not too hard (when they are too dry, they become hard like rocks and taste like paper) Buy those that are still a little soft and moist. If you can taste one before you buy, that is the best. It should taste good just by itself. If it tastes kind of like nothing, then it is too old and too dry and lost its taste. The color is not all that important because it is hard to say which ones are better with just the color. Because HwangTae (yellow dried pollock) is popular and is also more expensive, some sellers actually color their dried pollock with food coloring.

OK, let’s get cooking…

Cooking Time: 2o min.          Prep Time:   10 min.               Servings:  2-3

Ingredients

• 2 handfuls of Bugeo (dried pollock) strips or 1 whole Bugeo
• 5 C anchovy stock
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 C sliced Korean radish (daikon radish is also OK) – optional
• 1/4 onion, sliced
• 2-3 green onions
• 2 tsp sesame oil
• 1 T chopped garlic
• salt and pepper

1. You can either use a whole Bugeo and cut it into 1 1/2 inch pieces or tear them into strips like the picture on the right.

whole bugeo (dried pollock)

dried pollock (bugeo) strips

Strips are easier to eat when cooked so I like using strips. You can sometimes buy bugeo strips in packages so you may want to buy them instead of going through the trouble of tearing them into pieces.

2. Prepare anchovy stock. See my tipspage on how to make stock in advance.

anchovy stock

3. Prepare the vegetables. Cut radish by first slicing a 1 inch thick round piece. Then cut it into halves and then into square pieces. Cut onions and green onions as shown below:

onion, radish and green onions for Bugeo Gook

sliced onions, radish, green onions

4. We are ready to start the soup! Turn the heat to medium high and add about 2 handfuls of bugeo strips (shown below):

bugeo (dried pollock) strips

5. When the soup starts to boil, lower the heat and add onions, radish and garlic. Stir and let it simmer for 15 minutes or so until the radish and onions are fully soft.

bugeo gook with radish and onions

6. Add the green onions. After they have cooked for a couple minutes,  add the beaten egg to the soup. Season with about 1 tsp of salt, taste it and adjust to taste. Because the pollock is salty, you will not need a lot of salt. Sprinkle some black pepper.

7. Add the sesame oil and turn off the heat. Sesame oil loses a lot of the flavor and aroma when it’s cooked so remember to add it at the very end right before or after you turn off the heat.

bugeo gook with sesame oil added

And there you go! Serve with some rice, kimchi and maybe some other side dishes and enjoy!

Some variations and tips -

• add a dried red chili pepper or some red chili powder to spice things up
• some people like to add tofu (1/2 C or so)  and/or soy bean sprouts (kongnamul 콩나물) to the soup to add extra flavor and texture
• you can use water instead of stock if you don’t have anchovies
• if you find that the soup doesn’t taste as good, chances are you haven’t put enough bugeo or garlic. Increase these amounts and most likely your soup will taste much better.

Pan Seared Dried Pollock (Korean Bugeo Gui)

Dried Pollock (북어bugeo) was actually NOT one of my favorite foods when I was a child. I am not sure exactly why but I think it had something to do with the fact that it often had many bones in it and I was never good at avoiding them. The bugeo that’s sold now have almost no bones and being married to a bugeo lover for 20 years, I have grown a true liking to them.

Bugeo (booguh/bukeo/buk-uh) is a great food to have in your pantry/freezer because you can make soups and side dishes out of it at any time. Since bugeo is dried, there’s no need to defrost. And a great thing about this dish is that you can freeze the marinated bugeo pieces in advance and just pan sear them almost instantly.

In Korea, dried pollock (bugeo) is traditionally known to have great health benefits. In general, it is said to have the ability to help the body get rid of toxins and also recover more quickly from a hangover. If you ask any older Koreans who like to drink alcohol, if the dried pollock soup (북어국 bugeo gook) helps them with their hangover, they will all swear by it. I have certainly made my share of bugeo gook in my younger days for my husband – good thing he is now mature and has not had a hangover in years..  My mother-in-law also believes in eating bugeo gook to help one’s body clear away any toxins before and after an herbal medicine regimen. I also remember my parents giving boiled dried pollock head soup to our dogs whenever they ingested something bad (even rat poison – after getting them to throw up the poison first) and most of the time they recovered fully. I searched online in both Korean and English and did not find much research on this but I did find that pollock has an abundant amount of an amino acid called methionine that helps with normal liver function  which is essential for elimination of toxins in the body. So make sure you keep some bugeo in your pantry!

Cooking time: 10 min per batch       Prep time: 15 min.          Servings: 4 – 6

This bugeo gui is also called 북어 불고기 bugeo bulgogi  because the marinade is pretty much the same. You just don’t need any tenderizers because the fish is already very tender. It is also called 북어 양념구이 bugeo yangnyum gui because the marinade is called 양념 yangnyum in Korean. However, many people may be talking about the more spicy version that uses gochujang. If you like things spicy, you can just reduce the amount of soy sauce (by 1/2 to 1/3) and substitute gochujang for the reduced amount.

Ingredients

• 2 dried pollock (bugeo)
• soy sauce marinade (maybe more than you need)
  • 6 T soy sauce
  • 4 T mirin or rice wine
  • 4 T sugar
  • 2 T honey
  • 1 T sesame oil
  • 2 T minced garlic
  • 1 t ground black pepper
  • 1 T toasted sesame seeds
  • 3 T chopped green onion
• 2 – 3 cloves of thinly sliced garlic (optional)
• 2-3 T sesame oil for frying

1. Reconstitute the dried pollock by soaking in cold water for 10 minutes or so until it becomes soft and spongy.

dried pollock (bugeo) soaking in water

2. In the mean time, prepare the marinade by adding all the ingredients listed above. It is hard to measure the exact amount needed since the sizes of the fishes are all different. The amount I have here is a rough estimate and you should always use less to start and then add more after you taste it. As my mom always used to say – you can usually fix something that’s not salty enough but it’s much harder to fix something that’s already too salty. Too much salt is not good for you anyway…

marinade for bugeo gui

3. When the dried pollock has become soft and fully hydrated, take it out of the water and squeeze lightly to get rid of any excess water. Cut the pollock into 2 inch wide pieces. Spoon the sauce over each piece. I would spread about 1.5 to 2 tsp of the marinade for each piece measuring approx. 2 x 2 in. You can stack them as you go. Note the color below and you may have some sauce leftover if your pollock is smaller than what I have here (mine measured about 11 inches long). The best way is to cook a piece and taste it first and then adjust the amount.

marinated dried pollock (bugeo)

At this point, you can freeze some of the bugeo pieces for later. Whenever you need it, just take them out and pan fry them. The taste does not change at all. My MIL likes to make extra and keep them in the freezer for emergency banchan/side dish.

4. Heat a frying pan on medium high heat with 1 to 1 1/2 T of sesame oil.  Sesame oil has a low burning point so watch the pan carefully to prevent burning. You can also mix 1/2 sesame oil  and 1/2 canola oil to prevent burning.  When the pan is nice and hot, sear the bugeo pieces – 3-4 minutes on each side until they are nicely browned. Lower the temperature to medium to medium low if the pan starts to smoke too much. There is nothing to really cook, you can eat the dried pollock as it is so no need to worry about not cooking it thoroughly. Just try to get a nice sear on both sides to get those wonderful caramelized tastes of soy sauce and sweet sugar and honey.

pan searing soy sauce marinated dried pollock

5. Optionally, I fried some garlic slices in sesame oil in the same pan to add as a garnish on top of the fish. You can never go wrong with fried garlic!

That’s it! This is a pretty quick and easy dish to prepare. And it keeps well in room temperature for a day or so – which means it can be a delicious healthy lunchbox (doshirak)  side dish (banchan) for both adults and kids. You can also keep any leftovers in the refrigerator and eat it cold or reheat it in the pan.  Bugeo is low in fat, high in protein and high in essential amino acids so hopefully you can get some good quality bugeo in your neck of the woods. (I will be posting how to make bugeo gook next and will also discuss about how to buy good quality dried Pollock).

Pan Seared Dried Pollock (Korean Bugeo Gui)

Couple things..

- Dried pollock (bugeo) can be stored at room temperature for weeks but if you want to keep it fresher longer, store it in your freezer.

- Quick note about all the different names Koreans have for the same fish but for the different state it is in.

• 명태 (Myungtae) – is THE name for Alaska Pollock. They are caught in the North Pacific.
• 동태 (Dongtae) – frozen Alaska Pollock
• 생태 (Saengtae) – fresh Alaska Pollock
• 북어 (Bugeo) – fully dried Alaska Pollock
• 황태 (Hwangtae) – also dried Alaska Pollock but the process of drying involves freezing/drying in the cold winter months which produces a more intense flavor and dark yellow color
• 코다리 (Kodari) – semi-dried Alaska Pollock

Tuna Tataki Salad

This is not really a traditional Korean dish but this version definitely has a Korean twist to it and it’s so yummy and healthy that I thought I should post it. My sis #3 made this for me when I was visiting Korea in February and it was really really delicious. The wonderfully cooked tuna tataki (crispy on the outside and still very moist and soft on the inside) with the fresh greens, the crunchy roasted garlic and the creamy, zesty dressing all goes so fabulously together. The word “Tataki” is Japanese and it refers to the way of cooking fish or meat by briefly searing the outside on a hot flame and leaving the inside raw.

Although for a salad, the amount of work is a bit more than usual, I think it is totally worth it – especially if this is all you are making for dinner. We ate this as our only dish for dinner few days ago and it was really filling and satisfying. Not to mention how good it was for our body..

Servings: 4          Prep Time: 15          Cooking Time: 10               Difficulty: Medium

Ingredients

• 12 oz Ahi Tuna ( I bought mine at Costco) – divide into four 3 oz portions
• 8 oz mix of red leaf lettuce, baby spinach or other baby spring salad mix
• a bunch of daikon sprouts
• 1/2 onion sliced
• 6-8 garlic cloves (sliced thin)
• 3 T olive oil
• good quality sea salt
• roasted sesame seeds
• black pepper or Trader Joe’s Lemon Pepper (optional)

Dressing

• 4 T Mayonnaise
• 2 T Ponzu Sauce (Kikkoman)
• 1/2 tsp Wasabi (Japanese green mustard)
• 1 T + 1 tsp lemon juice

1. Make the dressing – mix the Mayo, ponzu sauce, wasabi and lemon juice. Ponzu sauce is soy sauce mixed with Yuzu and Citrus juices. If you don’t have Ponzu sauce (if you can, I recommend you buy some, you can use it for various dishes),  substitute 2 T of Ponzu sauce with (2 tsp my Apple Lemon soy sauce+ 1 tsp yuju juice) or (1 tsp soy sauce + 1 tsp mirin + 1 tsp yuzu juice)  or (1 tsp soy sauce + 1 tsp mirin + 1 tsp lime juice + 1/2 tsp sugar). Add more wasabi to taste.

Creamy Yuzu dressing

2.Prepare the greens- wash and dry 8 oz of baby spring mix. If you have lettuce, wash and tear them into bite size pieces. Peel the onion and cut it into thin slices. The red leaf lettuce is from my garden and then I added Ssukat (crown dasies) for additional flavor(this is optional).

lettuce and other greens

3.Time to season the fishies..My Tuna piece was quite big so I cut it into two. If you can, buy long narrow pieces.  Otherwise cut them so that they are close to a shape of a log.

Tuna – this piece is about 1/2 lb in weight

Tuna seasoned (Left with just lemon pepper and right with sesame seeds)

Tuna completely seasoned

Season the tuna by sprinkling some sea salt and TJ’s lemon pepper or just black pepper on all sides. Be careful not to salt too much – less is better than more. Finally coat the tuna with sesame seeds. Set aside.

4. Make the garlic chips – cut the garlic cloves into thin slices and fry them in 3 T of olive oil on medium high heat until they are brown and crisp. Watch closely because these little guys brown very quickly! Don’t leave the stove .. keep a close watch please.. and turn them as soon as they are brown on one side. I used chopsticks to turn them. If you are not an expert chopstick user this part may be a little challenging. Use little tongs or just stir often.

cut garlic into thin slices

Garlic crisps

5. Sear the tuna -Take the garlic out of the pan and there should be some oil leftover. Do not throw away this oil since it’s now wonderfully seasoned with garlic. Reheat this oil (add a bit more oil if there is not enough to coat the frying pan) on medium high and when the pan is nice and hot, start searing the Tuna- about 25 -30 seconds on each side.

Tuna searing in oil

Tuna seared on 3 sides – one more to go!

When the tuna is seared on all four sides, let it cool a bit while you get the greens ready for the salad. Do not leave it in the pan because the hot pan will continue to cook the tuna. When sliced, the tuna tataki should still be pink in the middle. I kind of prefer meats to be well done so I seared my tuna a bit longer but you can certainly sear it for a shorter time to leave the tuna more raw.

Tuna Tataki sliced

5. Slice the tuna and layer it on top of the greens like below.

tuna tataki on lettuce

6. Drizzle the dressing on top of the tuna and the greens. Add the daikon sprouts and the garlic chips. The amount shown in the picture is for 1 serving so dress it accordingly.

Tuna Tataki Salad

There! You are ready to enjoy this wonderful salad. The picture below shows how you can serve the salad in one large bowl to share. This is how my sister served it in her home-family style-which also works well. Enjoy!

I didn’t try it myself yet but as a variation, I think you can certainly substitute salmon instead of tuna. Try it if you feel making the tuna tataki is a bit too much work for you or if you don’t want to eat tuna raw. Season some salmon with salt and pepper, pan fry it and serve with the salad.

Soodubu Jjigae

Ten years ago, I would have never imagined that Soondubu Jjigae would become so popular with non-Koreans. I always thought that it was unfortunate how Tofu got such a bad wrap for being a healthy but bad tasting food. I wanted to tell those people that it’s because you just don’t know how to make good tofu and cook it in a tasty way. Anyway, I was so surprised to see Soondubu (Soft Tofu) Jjigae as the most requested dish from my readers in my recent survey of “What should I cook next?” And this wasn’t even in my list of choices! Well, I should have known…

Soondubu Jjigae is certainly one of my husband’s most favorite dishes. For several years after the first Tofu restaurant opened in our neighborhood, my husband could not go a week without having this Jjigae. Many times, when we were discussing where to go out to dinner, my daughter and I ended up arguing with my husband.. “NO!!! Not the tofu house again!!!”  Sometimes my husband would buy my daughter a Happy Meal to eat at the restaurant just so he could go to have his fix. The owner was always so understanding..  Over the years, as you can imagine, she has learned to enjoy it too – probably not as much as her dad..

If you have been to a Korean tofu restaurant, you probably have seen all the different variations of Soondubu Jjigae – plain or original (which is usually just tofu alone), beef, pork, seafood, combination of meat and Kimchi.. the list goes on and on.  But in order to really experience the authentic taste, you first need to find a recipe where just the tofu alone will taste good enough. Once you have the basic recipe figured out, then you can easily add any ingredients and they will naturally enhance the flavor even further. So here’s the plain Soodubu Jjigae recipe from my sister #3 . Thank you eoni!

Print Recipe

Ingredients for Yangnyum(양념)  Time: 7 min    Yields: 3 Tbs of sauce

• 2 T + 1 tsp of Korean red chili powder (고추가루 gochugaru)
• 1 T soy sauce
• 1 T minced garlic
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp oyster sauce (굴쏘스)
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 1 T mirin or sake
• 2 T vegetable oil
• pinch of black pepper

Yangnyum usually means “seasoning or spices” in Korean but it can also mean condiment or sauce. Sauce is probably the most accurate translation in this case. This yields about 3 T of hot sauce, enough to make 3-4 batches of Soondubu jjigae. You can keep any leftover sauce in the fridge for several weeks.

1. Mix all the dry and wet ingredients in a bowl except for the oil. The picture below shows the chili sauce after it’s all mixed together.

Gochu Yangnyum (Chili Sauce)

2. Heat the oil in a sauce pot on medium high heat. Add the gochu yangnyum (chili sauce) into the pot and stir regularly to prevent the mixture from burning. Stirring will also make sure the oil gets mixed in completely with the chili powder mix. Stir for 3 to 4 minutes until the sauce looks like below. Set aside.

Gochu Yangyum (Chili Sauce) frying in oil

Ingredients for Jjigae

• 1 pack (11 oz) of extra soft tofu (순두부 Soondubu)
• 1 T gochu yangnyum (prepared chili sauce above)
• 1/2 C water
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp guk kanjang (국간장 korean soy sauce for soup) – see K Ingredients
• 1/2 tsp minced saewoojeot (새우젓) – fermented shrimp
• 1 tsp fish sauce (멸치젓 myulchijeot) – fermented anchovy sauce
• 1 T chopped green onions
• 1 egg  (optional)

1. Open the soft tofu pack and add it to the clay pot (if you have one. if you don’t, you can use a small pot instead). Add enough water (about 1/2 C) to fully cover the tofu. Get a spoon and break up the tofu into smaller pieces.

Soondubu (Extra Soft Tofu) package

Oops.. the expiration date says April 1st…But since the package has not been opened, I decided to open it and taste it.  It was still good! So I just went ahead and used it. Nobody got sick so no worries… By the way, how can you tell if a tofu is still fresh enough to eat? First smell it, fresh tofu will almost smell like nothing but spoiled tofu will smell a little sour. Opened tofu packages spoil pretty quickly (within a few days) so use it up quickly and always smell and closely examine package tofu before you use it. Firm tofu that is packaged with water will turn yellow around the edges and also start to feel slimy if it has gone bad.

Tofu and water in clay pot

Tofu with chili sauce added

2. Stir 1 T of the gochu yangnyum (chili sauce) to the pot.  Add the additional salt, guk kanjang, saewoojeot and fish sauce to really complete the flavor. Start cooking the jjigae on medium high heat and once it starts to boil, turn heat to low.  Let it simmer for 7-10 minutes. Take it off the heat and bring it to the table. Add the green onions and crack one egg and drop it into the pot while it’s still bubbling. Depending on your personal taste, you can break up the egg to have it cooked completely or let the egg stay whole in the jjigae if you enjoy eating half boiled eggs. This is how my husband likes to eat his egg and it is certainly a treat to have when you are almost done eating the jjigae.

Soondubu Jjigae is now ready to eat!!

Variations

• kimchi flavor – add about 3-4 T of chopped kimchi with the tofu. Adjust the salt and soy sauce and other fish sauces since kimchi is quite salty. Here is a link to my Kimchi Soondubu Jjigae post.
• meat flavor – add about 3 T of sliced beef (stew meat) or sliced pork (shoulder) with the tofu. Cook a little bit longer to make sure all the meat is fully cooked.
• seafood flavor – add any combination of fresh shrimp, clams, fish egg or oysters with the tofu.
• mushroom flavor – add a handful of sliced shitake, white or oyster mushrooms
• combination – add any combination of the above ingredients and it will all taste good! Just remember to add the seasonings in incremental amounts to make sure it does not become too salty.

Also a great recipe for college students or singles to have because once you have the yangnyum made, the rest is so easy and quick that it would take no time and very few ingredients to make it.  So I hope you enjoy this wonderful gluten free, meatless, low fat, high protein dish that’s both delicious and filling. Also, please try the different variations and find your own favorite combination. Would love to hear what your favorites are!!!

For college students

Recently, when I visited my daughter at her school, I made a batch of the gochu yangnyum (3T) +  fish sauce(3 t)  + gook kanjang (2 T) + salt (1 1/2 t) and also bought her few packets of the soondubu. She was able to make the soondubu jjigae with just the yangnyum at her dorm and she said it came out great. I think she said she increased the amount of the yangnyum a bit since there was no other ingredients to add. So kids, the next time you visit home, make a batch of the yangnyum and bring it back with you to your dorm!

Maleun (Dried) Saewoo(Shrimp) Bokeum (Sauteed)

This is a dish I made kind of on the fly but my daughter loved it so much that I decided to make a recipe of it. Hopefully, she can make it on her own someday… This dried shrimp is great because it has a high calcium content due to the fact that you eat the shells as well. Some may worry that shrimp have high cholesterol but there are studies that shows shrimp raises the good cholesterol(HDL) even more- so it’s not bad at all. (Article on shrimp cholesterol)  So, I made a big batch and sent it back with her when she left for school. Being on your own, away from home, really makes it difficult to eat healthy and I hope my recipes can help our daughters/sons get into cooking for themselves as much as they can.

Another good thing about Korean side dishes (most of them anyway) is that you can make a large amount and eat it over time which means you end up saving time overall. So think about making it…

Difficulty: Easy   Prep time: 3 min   Cooking Time: 10-15 min    Servings:8

My Tips on Bokeum side dishes:

Sauteing or making 볶음 side dishes can be a bit tricky because it’s so easy to burn them. So keep stirring things around to prevent burning and also to ensure that they are cooked evenly. Don’t hesitate to lower the heat if you feel you are too overwhelmed! It usually works well to lower the heat before you add any sauce or sugar so always remember that. Then after the seasonings are all mixed in, you can raise the heat again and you are now ready to stir things around without burning it.

Also, having things a little browned and crispy always makes these dry sauteed dishes taste really good so remember to cook a little bit extra at the end. And as always – remember to taste in between seasonings!

Ingredients

• approx 5 oz (150 g) Dried Pink Shrimp [ approx 3 cups in volume]
• 2 T canola oil (vegetable oil)
• 4 T sugar
• 1 T rice syrup(조청 Jochung) or maple syrup

Sauce

1 T soy sauce (Jinkanjang) +  1 T sugar + 1 T cooking sake or mirin

Bag of Dried Shrimp (Maleun Saewoo)

Some dried shrimps have their heads attached which can be quite prickly. If that’s the case, you should sauté the shrimp first in a pan without oil for couple minutes, put it into a towel and then rub the shrimp in towel to brush off the prickly stuff.

The shrimp that I bought from my local market ( Samho 삼호 is the brand) have the heads removed which makes things easy. So try to buy the same kind if you can. Also taste the dried shrimp before you cook – they should taste good even at this stage. They should not be too dry or tasteless which means they are probably too old or of poor quality.

A closer look at dried shrimp – nice and pink and plump!

1. Make the sauce ahead in a separate bowl by adding and mixing 1 T each of soy sauce, sugar and sake (or mirin).
   

   sweet soy sauce mix

2. Heat 2 T of oil in a frying pan over med high heat.
3. When the oil is hot (when it flows around like water), add the shrimp to the pan and sauté for 3 min.
   

   Shrimp sauteed in oil

4. Lower heat to medium and sprinkle 3 T of sugar all around and sauté for another 3 min.
   

   sugar added

5. Lower heat to low and sprinkle the sauce (made in step 1) all around the shrimp so that it’s all nicely mixed. Continue mixing and sauteing for 3 more minutes.
6. Drizzle 1 T of rice syrup(조청) or maple syrup on the shrimp mixture. Turn heat up to medium and continue stirring and frying for 2 minutes or until they look nicely browned like the pic below:
   

   Shrimp with sauce added and cooked to perfection!

   Well, that’s it! You can save these in room temperature for a week or more and much longer in the fridge but won’t taste as good. This served as a great side dish for the lunch I made with Miyeok Gook.

Fresh rain on our cherry blossom tree

The rain had just stopped when I stepped out onto our driveway. I noticed the fresh rain drops dangling from the branches – like crystals from a chandelier.  And the air felt so clear, crisp and fresh..it felt so nice..

Anyway, so I thought about what would be good  for dinner today…Hmm.. I  didn’t feel like cooking a whole lot so something simple but good and yet healthy as we had a heavy meal yesterday.

So the decision was to have Kkongchi Jorim and Ssam-bap(꽁치조림과 쌈밥)!

Kkongchi Jorim

Ingredients for Pike Stew:

• 1  14 oz canned pike mackerel
• 1 C sliced Korean radish (Daikon is also OK)
• 2 green onions
• 1 fresh red or green pepper (optional)

Sauce

• 1 1/2 C water
• 3 T soy sauce
• 2 T rice wine (mirin)
• 1 t chili powder
• 1 t chopped fresh ginger or 1/2 t ginger powder
• 2 t sugar
• 1 T korean red chili paste (gochoojang고추장)
• black pepper

Cut up 1 C of radish

Put radish in the pot for Kkongchi Jorim

Mix all the ingredients for the sauce and set it aside:

Sauce for Kkongchi Jorim

Drain away the liquid from the Mackerel can and add the fishies to the pot:

Radish+mackerel+bit of liquid & pic of the mackerel can

Add 1/2 C water, sauce to the pot and start cooking at medium high heat.

Kkongchi Jorim with sauce and water added

Once it starts to boil, reduce the heat to simmer. In the meantime, cut up green onions and some red pepper and add to the pot.

Green onions and red pepper

Kkongchi Jorim is Boiling!

Simmer at low heat for 30-40 minutes until the sauce is reduced and looks like below:

Kkongchi Jorim is done!

Kkongchi Jorim (top left), Ssam (top right), Ssamjang (bottom right), Brown Rice(bottom left)

This makes a complete and very delicious, healthy dinner!

Korean Ssam Bahp

Here is a how you eat Ssam Bap.

Take a piece of lettuce, add a perilla leaf, a crown daisy, rice, flakes of the fish and a dollop of ssamjang. Then wrap it up and try to fit it into your mouth and enjoy all the different flavors burst inside your mouth!!

For Ssamjang recipe, read – Ssamjang, a veggie’s best friend. For tips on preparing the Ssam (Lettuce and other Korean veggies).

Happy eating!