Seafood Kalgooksoo

From top to bottom: I used clams, shrimp, dried anchovies and dashima to make the broth.

First start off by boiling your noodles about HALFway done in a pot.

Rinse the noodles in cold water and let drain on the side.

Meanwhile defrost about three shrimps and six clams.

In about 7 cups of water, I added the anchovy and dashida packet. I probably used about 10 big anchovies and a 2 inch think piece of dashima (dried sea kelp).

While everything is boiling, get your kalgooksoo sauce ready. Click here to get the recipe.

I then transferred the broth to a larger pot and strained it through this. I wanted to make sure none of that white foamy stuff went into the broth.

Throw the seafood in.

Then the noodles.

Top it off with some veggies such as: mushrooms, squash, red peppers, and green onions.

Let everything come to a boil until the noodles fully cook and you're ready to serve!

Add some kalgooksoo sauce to your liking and dig in!

Posted by Meet Me Under the City Lights at 6:05 PM 0 comments

Labels: Korean Recipes, Soups

Rice Cake & Dumpling Soup

First off defrost some mandoo (dumplings). This mandoo was homemade by my husband's aunt. According to the MR, her family is known for their wonderfully delicious mandoos. He was right! They are absolutely divine. I wish I could make mandoo like this. I've made mandoo at home numerous times, but I can't quite seem to get the flavor of the older generations.

Defrost some dduk (rice cakes) and let it drain out as well. This is about half a bag. This recipe won't have EXACT measurements, so please don't kill me.

This time I used flank meat. This is the meat you would use to make yook gae jang. I've already boiled the meat once and thrown out all the guck (give me a better word!). I then added more water to make some beef broth.

Meanwhile start getting your veggies ready. I julienned carrots and squash (about a cup each). Slice up 1/2 onion very thinly and slice 1 large mushroom thinly as well.

Let the beef broth boil for about 30 minutes or so.

No *real* measurements here. I added about 1/2 TB of sesame oil, 3 TB of gook ganjang, and 1/2 TB of minced garlic. Turn up the heat...

And then dump in all the veggies and stir away!

Meanwhile, remove the meat from the broth and rinse it under cool water (so you don't burn your fingers like I did) and start ripping the meat off. It should be very easy to pull apart. This is exactly what you would do to make yook gae jang.

You want to achieve this. You can place this on top like a garnish when you're done with the dduk gook.

When your vegetables start looking like this...

Add ALL the beef broth.

No, I do not know how many cups of water I used. =/ I use this Le Creuset pot (yes, it's worth the $$$) when I cook and I just eyeball it. I add just enough water so that everything won't boil over. So...4 quarts? I added MORE water after I took this picture. There wasn't enough beef broth.

Go ahead and add some green onions and since I'm lazy, I threw all the meat in there as well! Continue to let everything boil.

Add your dduk and mandoo...

And just as it starts boiling, SERVE IT! My dduk and mandoo was completely defrosted overnight so there was no need to cook it.

I then served the MR's egg-less version. My husband absolutely LOATHES eggs.

After I was sure that the MR was satisfied with his portion, I went and cracked an egg directly into the soup and let it boil some more.

This is the egg version that Munchkin and I enjoyed. =)

Posted by Meet Me Under the City Lights at 5:47 PM 0 comments

Labels: Korean Recipes, Soups

Pork Bone & Potato Soup (Gamjatang)

Makes: 3-4 servings

Ingredients:

• 1.4 kg Pork spine or neck bone
• (You need to pick the right one. The bone I bought had hardly any meat.)
• 5 medium potatoes
• 1 fistful Crown daisy leaves (ssukgat)
• 1 fistful Mung bean sprouts (sukju)
• 12 perilla leaves (so called sesame leaf, ggannip)
• 6 Chinese cabbage leaves (Baechunip)
• 2 green chilies
• 22 cups of water total
• Vegetables & spice to get rid of pork smell:
• 1/2 stalk of green onion (just use the white part for this recipe)
• 1 medium onion (peeled)
• 5 cloves of garlic (peeled)
• 1 thumb size piece of ginger (peeled)
• 10 whole black pepper seeds (un-grounded)
• Sauce (Mix these well in a bowl):
• 3 tbsp Chili powder (Gochutgaru)
• 1 ½ tbsp Minced garlic
• 1 tsp Ginger powder
• 2 tbsp Refined rice wine
• 1 tbsp Anchovy sauce
• 1 tbsp Water
• Other condiments:
• 1/8 tsp Salt
• 2 tbsp Soybean paste (Doenjang)
• 4 tsp Ground sesame
• 3 sprinkles Pepper

Directions:

1. Soak the bones in cold water for 2 hours (to get rid of blood). Drain away the water.
2. Put the bones into a big pot and add 7 cups of fresh water, then boil it for 5 minutes.
3. Drain the water (throw it away) and add 7 cups of fresh water – again. Add all of the ingredients from the “vegetables & spice to get rid of pork smell” section. Simmer it on medium to low heat for 2 hours. When the water seems to get reduced you need to refill the water to maintain 5 cups of expected broth (I ended up adding an extra 8 cups of water – 1 every 15 minutes.)

While You Are Waiting:

• Rinse the crown daisy leaves, cut off the thick stems.
• Rinse the mung bean sprouts.
• Rinse the perilla leaves and thin slice them.
• Rinse the green chilies, take out the seeds, and thin slice them diagonally.
• Clean the potatoes. Boil them in a pot until 90% of them are cooked. Drain the water and cool them down. Peel the skin off.
• Rinse the cabbage leaves. Boil some water for 1 minute and add the salt. Parboil the cabbage. Drain the water. If the leaves are big, you can tear them up length ways.

Directions (after the two hours of simmering):

1. Sieve the broth into a separate pot. Then put the bones back into this broth but throw away the boiled vegetables.
2. Add the peeled potatoes, soybean paste, and the sauce (that you previously made) into the the pot.
3. Boil it until the potatoes cook completely.
4. Add the crown daisy leaves, mung bean sprouts, perilla leaves, green chilies, and cabbage leaves on top.
5. Add the ground sesame and pepper sprinkles.
6. You can start eating when the vegetables are cooked.
7. Enjoy your meal. (You can adjust the taste with some salt if it is necessary, but I didn’t add any.)

Word of Advise:

Posted by Meet Me Under the City Lights at 6:00 PM 0 comments

Labels: Korean Recipes, Soups