May 1, 2024

At Home with GCH: Korean Dumplings (Mandu)

January 25, 2013 by

mandu fried

“Mandu” in Korean, “Gyoza” in Japanese, “pot stickers” or “wontons” at your favorite Chinese restaurant—whatever you call them, everyone loves dumplings!  You can buy them frozen in many Asian grocery stores, but why not make them at home?  It’s fun, and best of all, YOU have control over what does—or does not—go into your food.

You shouldn’t have any trouble tracking down the ingredients for this recipe.  Fresh ginger and wonton skins can be found at nearly all grocery stores.  If you can’t find ground pork, you could try ground turkey instead.  Napa cabbage works best in this recipe, but you can use regular green cabbage; just make sure you shred it finely.

Ready to make dumplings?  Let’s go!

Korean Dumplings  (Mandu)

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 pound ground pork
  • 1 large carrot, shredded or chopped in a food processor
  • about 1/2 cup cabbage, shredded
  • 4 green onions, minced
  • 2 tablespoons grated fresh ginger
  • 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
  • 1 tablespoon sesame oil
  • 2 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more for the cabbage
  • 1 package gyoza skins (mine had 25 skins in the package)

Directions:

  1. After you’ve shredded your veggies or chopped them in the food processor, sprinkle with a good teaspoon of salt, focusing on the cabbage. Let sit for 15 minutes or so, and then squeeze out the water. You can do this by hand, or put them in a strainer and press with your hands or the back of a spoon. You don’t want watery filling.
  2. Add pork and veggies to a mixing bowl. Then add the ginger, garlic, sesame oil, soy sauce and salt. Stir to combine or use your fingers to make sure everything is really well mixed.
  3. To fill dumplings, hold a gyoza skin in your left hand, and spoon a teaspoonful (don’t be tempted to over-fill!) of filling into the middle. Dip your finger into a bowl of water and wet one half of the edge of the skin, making a C. Fold the other half over and press to seal. I gave mine two little pleats, just to be pretty, but a straight fold is fine too.

 

mandu raw

To cook: you can add these to soup, or just boil them in chicken broth and add some green onions and a little soy sauce  or miso paste for a really fast dumpling soup. I like mine fried. Heat a tablespoon of sesame oil in a skillet and add your dumplings. Cook for 2 or 3 minutes on medium-low heat until they get golden and crispy (watch carefully, they burn quickly!). Flip the dumplings, add 3 tablespoons of water to the pan, and cover. This steams them and cooks the filling evenly. After 5 minutes, remove lid and cook until golden and crispy. Serve with a dipping sauce of 2 tablespoons soy sauce, 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar, 1 tablespoon sugar, and freshly ground black pepper.

 

Explore, experiment, enjoy! — Dana

Please visit me at Frugal Girlmet for more unique recipes!

If you would like to contact Dana in regards to this blog, please email her at Dana@girlfriendscoffeehour.com

 

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GCH: What’s on Your Plate? Japchae (Korean Noodle Salad)

January 3, 2013 by
Japchae – (Korean Noodle Salad) by Dana KimJapchae - Korean Noodle Salad

Happy New Year!  Do you have any fun New Year traditions?  I think it’s fascinating to learn about different cultures, and traditions and foods are a wonderful insight into other people’s way of life.  For instance, my Mom used to make a pork roast with sauerkraut and mashed potatoes on New Year’s Day, as it is the Pennsylvania Dutch “good luck” food for the new year.  I never knew why, but a little research uncovered this bit of trivia:  Pigs root forward, while chickens and turkeys scratch backwards, so eating pork is a symbol of positivity and looking forward to the good things in life.  We always spend New Year’s Day with my Korean in-laws, so I am learning about Korean “good luck” food too!

Like many other Asian cultures, Koreans eat long noodles for good luck to symbolize a long life.  And my favorite Korean noodle dish is Japchae!  Pronounced “Jop Cheh”, it translates to “a mixture of vegetables”, and along with the noodles and a sesame dressing, that’s about it.  My mother-in-law always makes it with a little bit of beef in it, and that makes it even more filling and delicious.

The two things you’ll need to buy at the Korean store are the noodles and the mushrooms.  The noodles are called “dangmyeon” and are clear noodles, made from sweet potato starch.  They’re very pretty, but don’t have a lot of taste on their own.  (If you can’t find them, I suppose you could try this with another noodle – I won’t tell on you!)  The mushrooms are dried shiitake mushrooms.  They can be pricy in American stores, but in Asian markets, they are easy to find and inexpensive.

Japchae is served warm or at room temperature.  I like the leftovers for breakfast – I just warm it up in the microwave for 30 seconds.  May these noodles bring long life and good luck to you and your family in the New Year!

Japchae

Ingredients:

  • 4 ounces beef, sliced as thin as possible into small bite-sized strips
  • 6 cloves garlic, minced
  • 10 dried shiitake mushrooms
  • 2 bunches spinach, tough stems trimmed and washed well
  • 2 large carrots, peeled
  • 1 small onion, sliced very thin
  • 1/2 package sweet potato noodles, about 6 oz.
  • 2 tablespoons sesame oil, maybe a little more
  • 2 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 1 tablespoon sesame seeds

Directions:

  1. Prepare meat:  Heat sauté pan and add a tablespoon of sesame oil.  Add meat and 3 cloves minced garlic and cook until done.  Remove from heat to a very large mixing bowl, and add 1 tablespoon soy sauce.  Set aside.
  2. Prepare mushrooms:  Place mushrooms in a bowl and cover with boiling water.  Place a plate on top to keep the heat in.  Let the mushrooms steep and rehydrate for about half an hour.  When they are rehydrated and soft, slice thinly.
  3. Prepare spinach:  Boil a large pot of water, and get an ice bath ready.  Blanch the spinach for about 15-20 seconds.  Remove spinach to ice bath, but keep the water boiling on the stove for the noodles.  When the spinach is cool, squeeze out the water, but don’t crush the spinach.  Add to the bowl with the meat and stir to combine.
  4. Prepare noodles:  Put the noodles into the boiling water you used to cook the spinach in, then turn off the heat.  Leave the noodles in the pot for ten minutes, then drain, and add to the meat and spinach.  Toss to combine.
  5. Prepare carrots, onions and mushrooms:  Peel carrots and cut into 2-inch lengths, then slice as thinly as possible into match sticks.  Heat sauté pan, add 1 tablespoon sesame oil, and cook sliced carrots, sliced onion, the mushrooms, and the remaining garlic until the onions are soft.  Remove from heat and dump it all in the bowl with the meat and noodles.
  6. Sprinkle with sugar and remaining soy sauce and toss again to combine.  Shake on some sesame seeds and taste.  You may need a bit more soy sauce or a little more sesame oil.  What you are looking for:  balanced umami perfection!

Explore, experiment, enjoy! — Dana

Find more recipes from Dana, Korean and otherwise, at Frugal Girlmet!

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GCH: What’s on Your Plate? – Slow Cooker Korean Pot Roast AND Korean Tacos

December 13, 2012 by

Korean Tacos

There is a dish I love, called galbi jjim (pronounced “gal-bee jeem”) that consists of short ribs braised in a salty-sweet broth.  I only made it once, though, because it takes several hours of hands-on cooking.  There had to be a better way, I thought.  When it comes to long, slow cooking, nothing beats the crock pot, so I started there.  I quickly realized, however, that a large part of the dish – namely the bone – wasn’t adding anything to the finished crock pot recipe, so I switched tactics again.  Voila!  Korean Pot Roast!

You can eat this right out of the crock pot, with rice, kimchee, and banchan.  But since you’re cooking a two- to three-pound roast, you will likely have leftovers.  Ready for something really wild?  Why not try Korean tacos!  Here in Los Angeles, they are quite the rage, with several of the city’s hippest restaurants and food trucks putting their own spin on this fusion of Mexican and Korean.  I make my tacos pretty basic, but feel free to get wild with them!  Below are recipes for both the pot roast and the tacos.  Make the pot roast first, then you can have tacos the next day.  You culinary globe-trotter, you!

Slow Cooker Korean Pot Roast

Ingredients:

  • 2 tablespoons sesame oil
  • 2- to 3-pound beef chuck roast
  • 1/2 red or white onion, sliced thinly
  • 10 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed with the back of your knife
  • 3 tablespoons brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup apple juice
  • 1/4 cup soy sauce

Directions:

  1. Set crock pot to HIGH.  Pour in the sesame oil and swirl around the pot to coat.  Add roast and push down to fit.  Cover the roast with onion slices and garlic cloves, then sprinkle with brown sugar.  Pour apple juice and soy sauce over roast.
  2. Cover and cook on HIGH for 6-8 hours, depending on the size of your roast.  When done, you should be able to pull it apart with a fork.  Serve with steamed rice, kimchee, and banchans or vegetables of your choice.

Korean Tacos

Ingredients:

  • Leftover Korean pot roast
  • Corn tortillas
  • Cilantro
  • Thinly sliced red or white onions
  • 1 quantity sauce from the Dubu Buchim recipe, or salsa of choice
  • Optional ingredients:  chopped cabbage or lettuce, avocado, a squeeze of lemon or lime juice

Directions:

  1. In the microwave, reheat the pot roast.  Make sure it is thoroughly heated.  When you have it very hot, drain away any juices, but keep the onions and garlic, if there are any.
  2. Wrap corn tortillas in a damp dish towel and place between two plates.  Microwave for 30 seconds.  This gets them hot and steamy!
  3. To assemble:  fill tortilla with beef, then spoon over some of the Dubu Buchim sauce (or even just a smear of gochujang!)  Sprinkle with lots of chopped cilantro and onions, and whatever other optional taco ingredients you choose.

Explore, experiment, enjoy!

— Dana

Find more recipes from Dana, Korean and otherwise, at Frugal Girlmet!

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GCH: What’s on Your Plate? Korean Banchans

December 6, 2012 by

Spinach Banchan

If you read my post last week for Dubu Buchim (Korean Pan-Fried Tofu), you’ll remember that a Korean meal has many components:  the rice, kimchee, main dish, and the banchans.  Banchans are little dishes, meant to be shared, and are usually vegetable-based.  Today I’ll show you how to make two very easy banchans:  spinach banchan and a cucumber salad.

For the spinach, you can buy whole spinach, which is the cheaper option, or a bag of washed and trimmed spinach salad – it will cost more than whole spinach, but the upside is that the roots and sand have been removed for you!  This spinach banchan is also a component in several other Korean dishes, including kimbap, japchae, and bibimbap.  (We’ll get to those later!)  For the cucumbers, you’ll want to look for small cucumbers, often called Persian cucumbers.  They have thin skin and very little seedy pulp in the middle.  You could also use a regular English cucumber, or a hothouse cucumber, but you may want to take off some of the skin if it’s waxed or feels tough to you.  Also, the cucumber banchan calls for a pinch of Korean dried peppers.  If you don’t have these in your pantry, you can use crushed red pepper (like the kind used in Italian cooking or on pizza) or even a little cayenne.  It won’t be the same, but you’ll get the idea!

Both of these banchans are best made fresh, and won’t last in the fridge more than two or three days.  Make a batch, cook some rice, and  practice your chopstick skills:  it’s dinner time!

Spinach Banchan

Ingredients:

  • 1 pound whole spinach, trimmed and cleaned, or 1 large bag prepared spinach salad (9 oz.)
  • 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
  • 1 teaspoon sesame oil
  • 1 teaspoon soy sauce
  • 1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds
  • 1 green onion, minced

Directions:

  1. Fill a large pot with water and bring to a boil.  Prepare an ice bath:  a very large bowl filled with ice and water.  When the water boils, add the spinach, and blanch for 15 seconds.  You want all of the spinach out of the boiling water within 30 seconds at the max, or it will be mushy.  Remove from the water and transfer to the ice bath.
  2. In a medium-sized bowl, mix together garlic, oil, soy sauce, sesame seeds, and green onion.  Squeeze the water from the spinach – be firm, but don’t pulverize it!  Add the spinach to the garlic mixture, and using your hands, massage the sauce into the spinach.  (Korean housewives go through more plastic gloves than the school lunch lady.  I just get in there and don’t worry about the gloves.)  Let the spinach marinate in the sauce for about 30 minutes at room temperature.  Taste for seasoning – you can add a tiny pinch of sea salt or more soy sauce if you like.

Cucumber Banchan

Cucumber Banchan

Ingredients:

  • 4 Persian cucumbers, or one large hothouse cucumber
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon sesame oil
  • 1 teaspoon rice vinegar
  • 1/4 teaspoon sugar
  • pinch hot pepper flakes
  • 1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds

Directions:

  1. Wash cucumbers, and if you’re not using Persian cucumbers, remove the peel.  Slice very thinly into coins and put in a sieve.  Sprinkle with the sea salt and let sit for 15 minutes.
  2. In another bowl, mix together oil, vinegar, sugar and pepper flakes.  Rinse the cucumber and squeeze out any extra water.  Add to the oil mixture and let marinate for 30 minutes before eating.  Sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Explore, experiment, enjoy! — Dana

Find more recipes from Dana, Korean and otherwise, at Frugal Girlmet!

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GCH: What’s on Your Plate? Dubu Buchim (Pan-Fried Tofu, Korean-style)

November 29, 2012 by

Okay ladies, are you ready to step outside the box?  Time to put on your Big Girl shoes, be brave, and try something new!  This is a recipe called Dubu Buchim (pronounced “Dooboo Boocheem”), which means pan-fried tofu in Korean.  It’s easy, it’s tasty, and it’s a perfect way to get your first taste of homemade Korean food.

If you read my previous post about stocking an International pantry, you may have already purchased a tub of gochujang.  That’s the red pepper paste used frequently in Korean cooking.  It’s hot, fruity, spicy, and complex.  You’ll need it for the sauce.  A little goes a long way if you are new to spicy foods, so when you make the sauce, start with only a teaspoon of gochujang.  Taste it and see if it needs more heat – you may like it so much you’ll want to add a lot more!

One of my favorite things about Korean dining is that, unlike a typical American meal of meat, vegetable and starch, Korean meals  have many components.  Steamed rice is always served, as is some kind of kimchee.  Then there is the protein – either meat, tofu, or fish.  And my favorite part is the banchan.  Banchan means simply “little dishes”, and these are small portions of vegetables and other side dishes meant to be shared: some pickled vegetables, some steamed, some in different sauces, little salads, kim (seaweed), noodles – the possibilities are endless!  Also, a soup is usually served, something light and brothy.  So instead of eating large portions of three things, you get to eat small portions of a dozen different things!

When you make this at home, don’t worry about making twelve different banchan.  Make some steamed rice, open that jar of kimchee you were brave enough to buy (and now try!), and serve with a spinach salad or steamed broccoli.  You’ll be so proud of yourself for trying something new, and may even find a new favorite cuisine!

Dubu Buchim

Ingredients:

  • 1 block firm or extra-firm tofu
  • 2 teaspoons sesame oil
  • kosher or sea salt for sprinkling
  • 1 heaping teaspoon gochujang
  • 2 tablespoons sesame oil
  • 1 clove garlic, finely minced
  • 2 green onions, minced
  • 1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
  • 1 teaspoon soy sauce
  • 1 teaspoon sugar

Directions:

  1. Drain the tofu, then squeeze it in between two plates to get out even more water.  Press firmly, but don’t crush the tofu.  Cut the tofu in half lengthwise, and then slice each half into eight equal squares so you have sixteen total.  In a large pan, heat 2 teaspoons of sesame oil and cook the tofu until golden-brown and crusty, about 7 minutes.  Flip and cook the other side until golden, about 5 minutes more.  You’ll probably need to do it in two batches.  Remove from heat to a plate lined with paper towels and sprinkle the tofu with salt.  You can be generous with the salt, since the tofu is very mild-tasting.
  2. While the tofu is cooking, make the sauce.  Simply mix the gochujang, oil, garlic, onions, sesame seeds, soy sauce, and sugar together.  The gochujang is kind of stiff, so you are really going to use some muscle to stir this stuff together.  You can do this next to the stove, since the gochujang gets a little smoother when it’s warm.  Now taste it – it should be balanced – not too spicy, not too salty.  You can add more oil or sugar if it’s too spicy.  To serve, spoon the sauce over the tofu.

Explore, experiment, enjoy! — Dana

Find more recipes from Dana, Korean and otherwise, at Frugal Girlmet!

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GCH: What’s on Your Plate? The International Pantry

November 15, 2012 by

Most of the recipes on GCH: What’s on Your Plate are for delicious dishes that may not even require a trip to the store to make tonight.  That might not be the case with my contributions!  If you’ve always wanted to try a Mexican, Korean, or Indian recipe but didn’t know where to start, I’m here with a primer for some basic things to stock in your pantry and refrigerator.

The Korean Kitchen

I am biased:  I love Korean food!  There aren’t any complicated techniques to master (I’m looking at you, French bistro cuisine!) and it relies mostly on fresh vegetables and a few simple condiments.  I highly encourage you to find an Asian or Korean grocery store and try some recipes out.  Here’s what to buy to get you started.

Sesame Oil:  This dark, nutty oil is a base flavor in most Korean recipes.  Any brand is fine, and your neighborhood Safeway or Kroeger may stock it in the Asian aisle.

Soy Sauce:  You probably already have this.  Kikkoman is definitely in your grocery store right now!

Rice Vinegar: A delightfully sweet-tart vinegar that is fresh-tasting and light.  I use it often in salad dressings.

Garlic:  In James Clavell’s classic samurai novel Shogun, the Japanese guards refer to Koreans as “the garlic-eaters”.  They meant it as an insult, which is incomprehensible to me!  Garlic is very healthy for you, and is found in many cuisines around the world.  I mean, imagine Italian food without garlic!  I buy it whole because it’s cheaper that way, but if you don’t want the trouble of mincing it to order, feel free to buy a jar of minced garlic to live in your fridge.

Green Onions:  You know, just your basic green onions.  And unless you’re making dessert, you can almost guarantee a Korean recipe will call for minced green onions.  Thankfully, if you buy them in an Asian grocery, they are going to be shockingly cheap to purchase.  In fact, every Asian grocery store I have been in has fresher vegetables at better prices than the American grocery store.

Ginger:  A common flavor agent in Korean food.  Buy a whole “hand” of ginger, or buy minced ginger to go in your fridge.  Be sure to buy regular minced ginger, and not the pickled kind they serve with sushi.

Doenjang:  Pronounced “den jong”, this is fermented bean paste.  It’s basically a stronger, chunkier version of Japanese miso paste.  This flavors many soups and stews, and lends a meaty, salty savor.  It can live happily in your refrigerator for a good year – after all, it’s already fermented!  When you buy it, read the ingredients – make sure there are no added flavors, like anchovies, and that you’re getting just plain doenjang.  Most brands feature helpful illustrations to help us non-Koreans out!

Gochujang: Pronounced just how it looks, “go chu jong”, this red paste looks scarier than it is.  If you like Sriracha hot sauce, you’ll love gochujang.  It is hot, fruity, sweet, and complex.  Koreans love this fiery paste and will sometimes serve a side dish of whole green onions to dip in gochujang.  That’s a little hardcore for me, but in smaller amounts, it is a tasty and welcome splash of spice.  And to make it easier, doenjang is always sold in a little tan tub, and gochujang is always sold right next to it, in a little red tub.  Don’t worry, you can’t confuse them.

Kimchi:  The iconic dish is the Korean version of sauerkraut – pickled cabbage that will cure any cold!  There are also radish and cucumber versions.  Pick up a jar and see if you like it.  I love it, and I love the huge dose of Vitamin C it gives me.  Koreans eat kimchi and rice with every meal.

Rice:  This is not the Uncle Ben’s variety.  You’ll need short-grain, Japanese-style rice.  Two popular brands are Calrose and Shirakiku.  And yes, it’s supposed to be sticky!

Everything else for your Korean recipes will be vegetables or some meat.  Common vegetables used are zucchini, spinach, carrots, mushrooms, eggplant, cabbage, onion, and bean sprouts.  These should all be purchased fresh, of course, and for the most part, once you have the basic condiments, you can go to the regular grocery store for the other things you need.

Indian Ingredients

Indian food is a delightful way to explore different flavors, textures, and techniques.  It’s also a wonderful choice for vegetarians, or people looking to cut down on meat, since recipes using beans and vegetables abound.  Here are some basics to get you going.

Curry:  As I mentioned last week, curry comes in powder, paste, and sauce form – but I would avoid the sauces, since they are diluted, and you can’t control the salt, heat, or viscosity of the finished product.  Instead, go to your regular grocery store, and look in the spice aisle.  Last time I was there, I counted six different curry powders!  They are all similar, in that they probably contain turmeric, mustard, coriander, and cumin.  But they diverge there, and each has other spices – ginger, cayenne, cinnamon, allspice – in a different balance of flavors.  I recommend that you buy two different brands.  Open them, smell them, and see which you like better.  I have three right now – one is sweeter, one is more bitter, and one is hotter.  I use them in combination, or pick which one goes better with the recipe – the sweeter one for squash or carrots,  the hotter one for meat.  As for pastes, these are more specific and uniform – one brand’s Madras curry paste will be very similar to another brand’s.  I like Madras, as it’s a very balanced mix of sweet, bitter, spicy and hot.  It’s another condiment that doesn’t take up a lot of space in the fridge, lasts forever, and adds a unique kick to everything it mixes with.

Whole spices:  I can’t recommend whole spices highly enough!  Now just to be clear, I’m not a zealot:  please buy ground cinnamon and not sweat and curse over trying to grind down a cinnamon stick for your next batch of snicker doodles!  But if you did a taste-test of prepackaged ground cumin versus whole cumin  toasted and ground at home, you’d go kick that name-brand jar right out of your spice cabinet!  I always have whole cumin, mustard, and coriander seeds on hand.  Believe it or not, Mexican and Indian cuisines share a lot of flavors:  garlic, cumin, onion, peppers, and cilantro, just to name a few.  The cumin will certainly not go to waste if you do any kind of “international” cooking.

Rice:  Sorry, you can’t use Japanese / Korean / Chinese rice in Indian cooking!  But Indian, Thai, and other south Asian cuisines use the same rice: either basmati or Jasmine rice, and you can find both in white and brown varieties.

Everything else in Indian food should be purchased fresh.  Tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, zucchini, spinach,lentils, chickpeas, and green beans are all common ingredients.  Indians also make great use of chicken, so if you cut out red meat from your diet, check the multitude of chicken presentations.
Sorry this was so long.  I just got excited sharing the little bit of knowledge I have of what some people may consider non-traditional cooking.  Now get out there, and be a culinary adventurer!
Explore, experiment, and enjoy! — Dana
For more, visit me at Frugal Girlmet!
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