Is Korean the new Chinese and French macarons the new cupcake?

If so, then I have been loving those two for a long time now. Still haven't attempted to make my own macarons yet though. Yahoo Shine predicts food trends for 2011. Just look at how colorful both dishes are, especially the Korean bibimbap dish. They say if you want to be healthier, then eat the rainbow. I have eaten this dish before and it is very fulfilling. Ummm, I think I want to go try this Korean restaurant in town tomorrow. There aren't many (if any at all) good Korean restaurants in the Twin Cities, but I'll give this one a try anyway. It takes a long time for me to make this dish.

Korean Short Ribs (kabi)

This uses the same marinade as the recipe for bulgogi. I was trying to be a little more adventurous by trying a different marinade recipe. Should've just stuck to what I know is good. I tried a different recipe today and the meat turned out too salty. It was still yummy, but too salty. I would've liked it to be sweeter. Part of the reason is probably because I also tried out a new soy sauce instead of my usual lower sodium soy sauce and the recipe called for less sugar than one I used earlier. Also, I bought the kimchi from a non-Korean grocery store, and it did not taste as good as the one I previously bought. The kimchi was also too salty. All in all, the meat and kimchi were too salty, so they did not complement each other as they were supposed too. I would make this again, except I would just use the recipe I made in my earlier post for bulgogi.

Here is a good post on how the flaken-ribs should look like when you look for it at the store, but I do not recommend the recipe. It turned out too salty for my taste. It didn't even have ginger or regular onions so I added them on my own. I wanted to add more sugar too, but wanted to "trust" the original recipe. I think it's time I trust my own cooking instincts. I'm getting better at cooking now, so why not?? :P If I did, I wouldn't have thrown up when trying this other recipe I found a while back when it called for one or two tablespoons of shrimp paste. Gross. I mean, the only time I use shrimp paste is in my papaya salad and I only use a little, itty bit of it. Again, I should've known and trusted myself! I guess I thought the thought of using that much shrimp paste would've been okay since that is how curry paste is made, but this one wasn't a curry dish. The picture looked so good too. Oh well, this blog is a food adventure-blog after all. No (more) regrets! :P

Ingredients:
4 lbs flaken-style beef short ribs (I found mine at Dragon Star oriental store)

Marinade:
1/2 cup soy sauce
1 Korean pear or Asian pear, grated with juices
2 tablespoons finely chopped garlic
1/2 small white onion, grated or sliced
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
1 tablespoon honey
2 tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted
2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 green onions, thinly sliced
1 (20-ounce) bottle lemon-lime soda, optional (recommended: Sprite or 7-Up)

Method:
1. Mix all marinade ingredients together in a large bowl. Add meat to the bowl and mix well. Transfer the marinated meat to a Ziploc bag and marinate overnight. Make sure to let out all the air from the bag.
2. Grill meat on grill for about 4 minutes, or if using oven, set to BROIL at 500 degrees and broil each side for about 4 minutes or until slightly charred. It should not take very long to cook these since they are cut thin.
3. Serve with rice and kimchi. This would also go well with sides of veggies. Yum!

Korean Glass Noodles (Jap Chae)

Went to the Asian store and saw these noodles. I don't think I've ever had them before. Maybe I did and just don't remember. They taste familiar anyway. Anyway, I didn't have a recipe for this, so I was just going to cook it my way or imitate what was on the picture. Fortunately, I had a lot of the ingredients on hand already. I like meat, so I added meat. Most of the recipes I found didn't include meat, so it's up to you. I just used ground turkey and that tasted fine. I think just about any meat would do.

Recipe adapted from Food Network:

Ingredients:
1 package of Korean Glass Noodles (or potato noodles)
1 cup dried wood ear mushrooms
1 lb of ground turkey (or meat of choice)
4 eggs, 2 tsp of vegetable oil
3 tablespoons sesame oil
1 small onion, julienned
2 carrots, julienned
3 scallions, cut into 1-inch lengths
2 cloves minced garlic
1 teaspoon sugar
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds

Method:
1. Boil the noodles according to package directions or until soft. Drain and then rinse with cold water. When the noodles are cold to touch, cut the noodles in half with kitchen shears. Leave the noodles drained while prepping other ingredients.
2. Soak the dried mushrooms in hot water for about 20 minutes. The mushrooms will expand. After soaking, drain them thoroughly. Cut into long strips and set aside.
3. Set a large frying pan on medium high heat and add ground turkey. Cook turkey until done, about 15 mins. Transfer the meat onto a plate and set aside.
4. Make omelette. Crack the eggs into a bowl and whisk a little. Heat a separate small frying pan on medium high heat. Add about 2 teaspoons of oil to the pan. Once pan is hot, add eggs and let it form into an omelette. Cook for about 1-2 mins and flip over to the other side. Cook the other side for another 1 min or until done. Transfer the omelette to a plate or cutting board. Slice the omelette into long strips and set aside.
3. Using the same large frying pan that was used for the turkey, add 2 tablespoons of sesame oil to the pan. Add the onion, carrots, scallions, mushrooms, garlic, sugar, salt and pepper. Let cook for a few minutes, stirring, until the vegetables are cooked, but still a little crisp. Transfer the vegetables to a bowl.
4. To the same pan add 1 more tablespoon sesame oil. Add the noodles, meat, salt and pepper. Let cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring. Add to the vegetables with 2 tablespoons of soy sauce. Stir fry for about 30 seconds. Toss in the egg strips and stir. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and then transfer to a serving dish.

Bibimbap and Bulgogi

Origally posted 06/21/09 from my other blog:

So last week I found a good recipe for bulgogi and bibimbap, both are Korean dishes. We had the opportunity to try Korean food a couple of years ago when this small restaurant called Korean House was still open in the Cedar/Riverside neighborhood in Minneapolis. It since closed down and I haven't been able to find another Korean restaurant that made the two dishes good. I tried this recipe last week and I must say it turned out really good! I was so impressed and happy that I decided to take pictures of it this time. Last week I made the bulgogi with sirloin steak instead and this week I tried it with rib-eye meat. I couldn't really taste the difference. Maybe the rib-eye is just slightly more tender because it's fattier, but since rib- eye is more expensive I think I will just go with sirloin again next time. Also last time I went by what the recipe said. It said to add ground red pepper and the Sprite or 7-up. Last time the red pepper made the dish too hot and all the bulgogi I've tried was not hot, more sweet, so this time I omitted the red pepper completely and it tasted more authentic to me. This time I forgot to add the Sprite or 7-up and I thought that would ruin the taste, but it didn't. It tasted just fine. Actually, I think the Sprite diluted the marinade a little bit. I also used light soy sauce instead both times, so I'm not even going to try the regular soy sauce since it might make it too salty. I also bought a store version of the bulgogi sauce. I did marinade some meat in it, but haven't bothered cooking it to see how it tasted like. When I opened the bottle, it just stank and didn't come close to the home made version. Also, I tried making some short grain rice to make this more authentic and it did not turn out lol. Too wet and sticky. That was my first attempt so I'll need to do a little more research and experiment.

For the veggies in the bibimbap dish, I chose carrots, daikon, spinach, zucchini and bean sprouts.



Here's a picture of all the stuff I made, including the bulgogi meat and the gochujang sauce. I need coordinated plates lol. Oh, and the table in the background I've had for over 10 years now since college. :D



Ok, here's the recipe from Food Network.

Ingredients
Steamed white rice
Bulgogi, recipe follows
1 carrot, julienned
Cooked bean sprouts, sauteed in a little sesame oil or peanut oil and seasoned with salt
Cooked spinach, sauteed in a little sesame or peanut oil and seasoned with salt
4 shiitake mushrooms, thinly sliced and sauteed in peanut oil and seasoned with salt
1 egg, cooked over easy
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
1 tablespoon dark sesame oil
Soy sauce, to taste
Gochuchang Paste, recipe follows

Directions


*Cook's Note: This can be done in a regular bowl or a hot stone bowl. If it's in a hot stone bowl, the rice becomes crunchy because it's still cooking.



Put cooked rice in large slightly shallow bowl. Place bulgogi (with juices from cooked meat) and veggies on top of rice but place separately so you can see each ingredient beautifully placed on rice. Put egg on top. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and drizzle with sesame oil and soy sauce.



When ready to eat, mix all ingredients together with some gochuchang paste, to taste. The bibimpap should be moist and not dry. Add more sesame oil and gochuchang paste, to taste.


Bulgogi:

1 pound rib-eye



Marinade:

1/2 cup soy sauce

1 Korean pear or Asian pear, grated with juices

2 tablespoons finely chopped garlic

1/2 small white onion, grated or sliced

1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger

2 tablespoons light brown sugar

1 tablespoon honey

2 tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted

2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil

1 tablespoon ground red pepper

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

2 green onions, thinly sliced

1 (20-ounce) bottle lemon-lime soda, optional (recommended: Sprite or 7-Up)


Place rib-eye in freezer for about 30 minutes so that it is easier to thinly slice. When partially frozen, remove from freezer and thinly slice. Set aside.



Whisk together all the marinade ingredients in a large baking dish. Add the thinly sliced beef and turn to coat. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or overnight; it is best if marinated overnight.



Heat grill to high. Remove beef from marinade and grill for 1 to 2 minutes per side. Remove from heat and set aside until ready to compile Bibimbap


Gochuchang Paste (seasoned red pepper paste):

4 tablespoons gochuchang (available at Korean grocers)

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon sesame seeds

2 teaspoons sesame oil


Combine all ingredients in a small bowl. Mix well.