K-Recipe 3rd Menu

           Hello, K-BAP followers. It has been like a month after the last K-Recipe. I’m so sorry for late post of Korean food recipe. In fact, I didn’t even think about posting recipe on this K-BAP blog because it is a little harder than writing K-BAP stories. However, I took many pictures of me making Korean food. I can surely tell you that the first and second recipes were just foretastes. From this week, the real recipe for real Korean food would be posted. The third menu of K-Recipe is ‘Kimchi Jjigae with Ham’.

           You might wonder what ‘Jjigae’ means. In plain language, ‘Jjigae’ is one of the kinds of ‘Guk’. I’ll explain about later in K-BAP story. To return, this menu is one of the most popular dishes in Korea. Even, I have learned how to make this when I was 7. Almost all of Koreans are love this food. Okay then, let’s begin to cook.

Kimchi Jjigae with Ham (Spam) – Serving 4 to 5 people.

Total time: 40 minutes = Prep 15 minutes + Cook 25 minutes.

Ingredients: Kimchi / 3 Pieces of Garlic / Half of Onion / 1 Chili Pepper

                    Sesame Oil / 1 Can of Ham (Spam) / 1 Table spoon of Sugar

                    Black Pepper / Vegetable Oil

                    1 full bowl of Rice Water – The rice water used to wash rice

Cook Utensils: 1 Table Spoon / Medium sized Pot / Knife

Directions

1.     Preparation.

1)    Smash & Crush garlics with your knife. 2) Slice half of onion.

           3) Chop 1 to 2 of chili pepper diagonally 4) Slice 1 can of Ham (Spam).

5) Chop some Kimchi (however you want) roughly.

6) Prepare rice water. *click it, then you would know the other efficacy of it

2. Cooking.

1) Pour 3 to 4 table spoons of vegetable oil into medium sized pot.

(If you have one, pour 1 spoon of sesame oil)

2) Put sliced onion and black pepper into the pot and stir-fry it.

(Use moderate fire power of stove.)

3) When onion is properly stir-fried, mix it with chopped Kimchi, garlic, and ham.

(Now you can use stronger fire power.)

4) While stir-frying the mixed ingredients, put 1 table spoon of sugar in it.

(Sugar will weaken the tangy taste of Kimchi for this dish.)

5) Pour 1 full bowl of rice water before the mixed ingredients to be burnt.

(Burnt ingredients make this dish bitter. Watch well!)

6) Put chopped chili pepper on the surface of Kimchi Jjigae.

7) Cover the pot with proper lid and let it be properly boiled for at least 20 minutes.

8) Enjoy your Kimchi Jjigae with a bowl of 'Bap'!

Thank you.

K-BAP the Seventh

          Hello, K-BAP followers. How have you been? It is already the last week of September in 2016. It’s been a week from the last K-BAP Story post about ‘Doen-Jang’. I am sorry. I was a little busy to study for my university exams last week, so I could not post anything. From now on, I’ll post 2 to 3 posts every week. Finally for this week’s K-BAP story, I’m going to give you the third post of Korean traditional sauces series. I don’t know whether you like the series or not, but I’ll do my best because the sauces are the most fundamental things in Korean food culture.

            Like the other foods of many countries, Korean foods also need many kinds of sauces. As a third post of sauce series, K-Bap the Seventh is about one of the most important sauces, ‘Gan-Jang’. Probably, ‘Gan-Jang’ would be the most familiar to U.S. people among Korean sauces. The name of ‘Gan-Jang’ is spelled phonetically. Practically in United States, this sauce is called ‘Soy sauce’. I’m sure that you have already seen this sauce before. It is being used in many Chinese and Japanese restaurants. Therefore, you can think that ‘Soy-sauce’ is Japanese or Chinese traditional sauce. However, ‘Soy-sauce’ is derived from original Korean sauce, ‘Gan-Jang’. Even, ‘Gan-jang’ was listed one of the gift items for royal wedding in Korean traditional history book, ‘Samguk-Sagi’. Based on this publication, it is being known that ‘Gan-Jang’ has been used from 6^th Century.

           Although the smell and appearance of those two sauces are similar with each other, there are clear differences between them. The easiest difference to be found is the taste of those sauces. Soy sauce is sweet while ‘Gan-Jang’ is more salty than Soy sauce. It is true that soy sauce is being used for more foods than ‘Gan-Jang’ because the taste of soy sauce is less stimulating. However, if you try foods seasoned by ‘Gan-Jang’, you might think it is better than general soy sauces. The essential difference between those sauces is the main ingredient of those. The main ingredient of soy sauce is the dough made of flour and bean powder. On the other hand, fermented bean is the main ingredient of ‘Gan-Jang’. You are familiar with the ingredient of ‘Gan-Jang’, right? Yes, it is also the main ingredient of ‘Doen-Jang’. In the process of making ‘Doen-Jang’, salty and black liquid is naturally formed. That salty liquid is ‘Gan-Jang’.

           Until now, I’ve posted stories of the most basic sauces of Korean food through 3 posts of K-BAP story. I hope that those stories about ‘Gochu-Jang’, ‘Doen-Jang’, and ‘Gan-Jang’ can help you to be more familiar with Korean food culture. Thus, for the future K-BAP stories, intensive course of Korean sauce would be posted. Thank you

- S.Choi -

Multimedia Post - Opinion

           Hello, K-BAP followers. It’s good to see you again. As you already know, this K-BAP blog is dealing with the stories and recipes of Korean food. However, for this one, I decided to post about my opinion on a topic as a part of course assignment. The chosen topic is of firearms regulating in United States. I know that this topic is not suitable for the main purpose of this blog, but I’m happy to assert my opinion through this post.

           If you are not living in the forest without any connection from the society, you probably have seen the news about shooting incidents that occurs almost every day. There are so many incidents occurred in United States that can be the evidence of necessity of gun regulating. About a week ago, there was police shooting in Charlotte, North Carolina that killed a man named Keith Lamont Scott. There was a mass shooting incident at night club in Orlando, Florida that killed and injured more than 100 people in last June. Although there are so many factors to be considered for proper analysis of those shooting incidents, one thing is clear. Indiscreet use of firearms is causing those kinds of tragedies.

           U.S. civilians’ right to bear and use firearms has been guaranteed by the Second Amendment of U.S. Constitution. Thus, keeping and using guns has been granted naturally. People are using firearms as one of means for their self-defense, entertainment, and even employment. In other words, firearm and U.S. society are inextricably linked to each other. Therefore, I think getting rid of the firearms from U.S. society would be harder than anything. However, in order to prevent the tragic incidents that caused by firearms, we have to do something. In my opinion, legal restriction of firearms should be reinforced. Although there are some legal measurements that control the firearms enforced in most of states, antisocial shootings are still occurring. It can be interpreted that present laws are not enough to control the firearms to prevent shooting incidents. Therefore, stricter laws should be established.

           I’m not judging the necessity and danger of firearm using in United States as a foreigner. However, preventing antisocial affairs that caused by firearms is the ultimate object for social development. It is clear that stronger legal restriction can lead less possibility of those tragic incidents.

K-BAP the Sixth

           Hello, My K-BAP followers. I think some of you might read the post about first ranking post of this K-Bap Blog. Do you think it was great information enough for you to find the places to buy Korean foods? If you have other specific questions about the shopping place for Korean food, leave your question in Q&A Page. It is already the sixth post of K-BAP story. K-BAP the Sixth would deal with the continuing series of Korean traditional sauce. The fourth K-BAP story was about Gochu-jang, which posted as the first one of traditional sauce series. Today’s target sauce is ‘Doen-jang’.

           At first, let’s see how this Korean sauce is literally made from. As I explained in the fourth story, Korean word ‘Jang’ usually refers to thick sauce. If you find any sauce’s name ends with ‘Jang’, it would be probably Korean sauce. Thus, if you wonder what the Korean sauce’s kind is, you should focus on the first syllable of it. In the case of ‘Doen-jang’, the first syllable is from the adjective means stiff. In other word, ‘Doen-Jang’ is traditional thick paste sauce. In Korean alphabet, ‘Doen-Jang’ is ‘된-장’. Remember what this sauce’s name looks like in Korean alphabet, and use it whenever you are trying to find it in Korean market.

           Secondly, let’s talk about how it looks like. Click this hyperlink ‘Doen-Jang’. That is how this sauce looks like. Yes, I know. It can be looked a little dirty. However, it is not the photo of “that” thing you are thinking now. Frankly, when ‘Doen-Jang’ is in its original state without any cooking procedure, it smells bad, especially for the people who have never tried to smell it. But, if you cook some kinds of Korean foods with this smelly paste sauce, those would become very delightful foods.

           Finally, let me tell you what exactly ‘Doen-Jang’ is. 된-장 is Korean fermented soybean paste sauce. I think some of you might already saw the Japanese ‘miso’ soup. The ‘miso’ is also fermented soybean sauce, but it was originally derived from Korea. Usually, Koreans use this sauce to cook ‘DoenJang-Jjigae’, which is a kind of ‘Gook’ made of ‘Doen-Jang’ and other vegetables. Sometimes, it is being used as dipping sauce for fresh vegetables or cooked meat. Although its smell is bad, it can be used to lose the odor of other foods like fish soup and meat soup.

           I can tell with confidence that ‘Doen-Jang’ is the most important sauce in Korean food culture. The delicious smell of ‘DoenJang-Jjigae’ makes Korean people to remind the memory of their mother's dishes. Despite it looks and smells bad, ‘Doen-Jang’ has meaning of home for Koreans. Thank you.

- S.Choi -

K-BAP the Fifth - Top 5 places where you can get Korean food ingredients located near Troy, AL.

           Hello, K-BAP followers, this is S.Choi again. For the 5^th K-BAP Story, I decided to post the first ranking post. I have posted some stories and recipes about Korean foods. However, I didn’t tell where you can buy those foods and ingredients. Thus, I chose top 5 places to buy Korean foods and ingredients. The list is ordered by the accessibility from worst to best.

1.     H Mart. (Nearest: 6335 GA-85, Riverdale, GA 30274.)

H Mart has chosen as the worst shopping places to buy Korean foods. The H Mart is a Korean shopping center brand locates in some states of U.S. You can get anything you want from here. Unfortunately, H Mart is the only shopping place you can’t find in Alabama among top 5 places. The nearest store of H Mart is in Riverdale, Georgia. However, if you enter the H Mart’sonline market, you can get H mart’s items through delivery.

2.     Seoul Market. (1841 Eastern Blvd, Montgomery, AL 36117.)

Seoul Market is placed second in the list. Fortunately, it is located in Montgomery, Alabama. Actually, Seoul Market is my most favorite market in the list. It is not a big super market, but you can get most of your needed ingredients from here. I usually buy rice, ramen, and kimchi in Seoul Market. Enter this Google Map, and you would easily find where it is.

3.     Capitol Farmers Market. (Capital Plaza Shopping Center, 2256 E South Blvd, Montgomery, AL 36116)

This place is not only a market for just Korean food, but also an oriental food market. Because it is an oriental food market, you could find Korean ingredients and other Asian countries’ foods also. Actually, I don’t know about this shopping center more than these facts. So, if you wonder more about this place, please go and let me know.

4.     Wal-Mart.

Some of you have already seen that there are some Korean foods and ingredients in Asian food section of all Wal-Mart. Yes. There are some Korean foods including ramen and kimchi in Wal-Mart. Wal-Mart is the easiest off-line market place to go for purchasing Korean foods. As a spoiler of future post, the reviews of Wal-Mart’s Korean foods will be uploaded.

5.     Amazon.com.

This well-known online shopping site got the best accessibility to buy Korean foods. After I searched about Korean foods on Amazon, I was so surprised by the variety and amounts of Korean foods it sells. You can get anything about Korean food from here with the least effort. If you enter this Amazon website, you would find whatever you want to order.

           It is difficult to find Korean food markets and restaurants in United States. However, as the followers of this K-BAP blog, just try to find those places near you are living. The desire for Korean foods would not be satisfied just through reading these posts. Try to buy and cook ingredients and foods, and you will be captured by the fascination of Korean foods. Thank you

- S.Choi -

K-RECIPE 2nd Menu

           Hello K-BAP followers, it’s S.Choi again. In the first K-RECIPE, the Korean spicy sauce for fired chicken was treated. In fact, I chose that recipe because that is one of the easiest recipes for Korean foods. I know that the first recipe could be useless for someone who really wanted the recipes of original Korean dishes. So, I finally decided to post a real and the most important food in Korean food culture. Yes, that’s right. As some of you are expecting, the 2^nd menu for K-RECIPE is ‘BAP’.

          Traditionally, Koreans had used iron pot for cooking ‘bap’. However, as time goes by, people started to think that using iron pot is too heavy to use it in every meal. So, the heavy iron pot has been developed to a high pressure rice cooker. If you use the high pressure rice cooker, it would be easier to make ‘bap’. But, buying that nice Korean rice cooker in U.S. is a somewhat waste of money; the cheapest one is being sold at its price of $ 370. Therefore, I am going to post the recipe of ‘bap’ using Japanese cheap rice cooker that is being sold in Wal-mart at its price of $ 120.

BAP (Serving 4 people)

Total time: 1 hr 20 minutes = Prep 45 minutes + Cook 35 minutes.

Ingredients: 2 cups of rice / Drinkable water

Cook Utensil: Cup / Japanese rice cooker

Directions

1)    Take 2 cups of rice out of the bag.

-         Usual mug cup would be perfect. If you have small cup from the rice cooker, you can use it. (The amount of rice should be kept)

2)    Put 2 cups of rice into the pot of the rice cooker.

-         You can pull the pot out of the rice cooker easily.

3)    Wash the rice in the pot only with water.

-        Rice is covered with its own powder. You should

      wash them if you want better tasting ‘Bap’.

-        Rice should be washed with hand, as you do the

      hand  laundry.

4)    Drain the milky water and repeat process 3 again.

5)    Put your hand on the flattened surface of rice. 

-      If your hand is bigger than the pot, you can bend

     your fingers a little.

-      Your palm should be placed right on the surface of  rice.

6)    Pour some clean water until it covers all of your fingers.

-      This is the most important process. If you don’t pour

   proper water, it will ruin the taste and texture of ‘Bap’.

7)    Put the pot into cooker

8)    Let the rice to be fully soaked.

9)    Push the Cook button.

-         It will take about 35 to 40 minutes.

10)             Enjoy your Korean ‘Bap’.

K-RECIPE 1st Menu

           Hello, K-BAP blog followers. It is great to see you again. It has been more than three weeks after this K-BAP blog started to post about Korean foods. In the introduction of this blog, I told you that I am going to post stories and recipes of Korean foods and ingredients. But, up to this time, I have posted just about the stories not recipes. Therefore, I eventually decided to post the first recipe of Korean food. Actually, this post would not handle the recipe of a dish. The first menu of K-Recipe is sauce. 

           Let’s think about the proper menu for pairing with any kind of beer. If you are not adult, think about proper menu for coke. I’m thinking of steak, pizza and other menus for paring with beer or coke. Some of you might choose fried chicken to pair with beer. That’s right. The menu for this post is Korean sauce for fried chicken. In Korea, people usually eat fried chicken with beer. Even, there is a newly coined word “Chi-Maek” means chicken with beer. If you go to Korean chicken restaurant, you would find two menus of chicken for sure. Original fried chicken and spicy seasoned chicken are those menus. Following recipe is sauce for that spicy seasoned chicken.

Spicy seasoned Chicken Sauce

Total time: less than 10 minutes = Prep 7 minutes + Cook 3 minutes

Ingredients: 1 table spoon of Gochu-jang / 1 table spoon of crushed garlic /

               2 table spoon of Ketchup / 1 table spoon of sugar /

               1 table spoon of soy sauce / 2 table spoon of water

               3 table spoon of honey or starch syrup

               Your favorite brand’s fried chicken

Cook Utensils: 1 table spoon / small pot / knife

Directions

1)    Smash garlic with side of knife.

2)    Crush smashed garlic with knife.

* Watch how you use your knife.

3)  Pour 3 table spoon of honey or starch syrup into the pot.

4)    Put the crushed garlic on starch syrup.

* If you don’t like smell of garlic, you can put less as much of garlic as you want

5)    Spoon the Gochu-jang into the pot once.

6)    Pour 1 table spoon of soy sauce.

* If you don’t have any kind of soy sauce, you can use Worcestershire sauce, instead.

7)    Spoon sugar on mixed sauces once.

* If you want sweeter taste, you can put more than 1 spoon of sugar

8)    Put 2 table spoon of ketchup into pot

9)    Pour some water into pot.

* You can pour water as much as you want. But more water means you should simmer more.

10)    Simmer the sauce with med heat

11)    Stir the mix of all ingredients until the sauce has been thickened enough.

12)    Put the sauce into refrigerator for chilling.

13)    Enjoy your chicken with the sauce

* You can use sauce as a dip or pour it on your chicken.

Today's sink

K-BAP the Fourth

           Hello, my K-BAP followers. It’s good to see you again. Thank you so much for your continuous following. I know you have waited for this time for every week. This is the fourth story about K-BAP. In the last K-BAP post, the story about specific explanations of the regional difference of Korean foods was treated. Even this fourth K-BAP post has no relationship with the third one, I strongly recommend you to read the last K-BAP story. The 4^th K-BAP story is about Korean paste sauce, Gochu-jang.

           If you have ever tried spicy Korean foods, you have already tried the Gochu-jang. Gochu-jang is one of the typical Korean sauces. This sauce is being used to cook most of spicy Korean foods. I do use this sauce when I cook some spicy Korean foods. Therefore, this sauce would be listed a lot as one of the ingredient for future K-recipe posts. As stated above, there are some typical Korean sauces including Gochu-jang, Doen-jang, Gan-jang and other sauces. Because of the geographical distance, some of them are also being used in other East Asian countries like China and Japan. However, different from other sauces, Gochu-jang is very unique sauce. It can be found only in Korean food culture. Now, you might wonder what Gochu-jang is. In literal explanation, ‘gochu’ is Korean word for red pepper and ‘jang’ refers to paste sauce. Namely, Gochu-jang is Korean spicy paste made from red pepper, malt powder, glutinous rice, fermented soybean, salt and sugar. I know how to make Gyeong-sang province(if you click this, you can see what this province is) version of this sauce. However, getting those ingredients and cooking utensils is very hard in this country. Thus, I would not post recipe for Gochu-jang. If you really want to see how it is made, follow this hyperlink. You can see the original process to make it.

           There is a Korean proverb saying “If you try Gochu-jang of any family, you can find out how the dishes of that house tastes like”. As the proverb says, Gochu-jang means a lot in Korea. Thus, trying Gochu-jang means that you already tried Korean culture a lot. I strongly recommend you to buy one from on-line shop like Amazon or from the nearest Korean food shop. If you have Gochu-jang, you can cook more than 100 kinds of Korean dishes without other typical sauces. Thank you!!

- S.Choi -