Korean Rice Cake, Tteokbokki (辣炒年糕: 떡볶이)

I've stopped cooking for quite a while due to certain circumstances, but I can't wait to cook up a storm when I shift to a new house next year.

I still had to clear my fridge of any remaining foodstuff though, and the boy got to eat spicy Korean rice cakes with fishcake and cabbage last week!

It's too spicy for him as usual, but I just love a guy who appreciates what I do for him :)

Recipe here.

Making Doenjjang Jiggae (Korean Soybean Paste Soup) Workshop

So I attended yet another Korean cooking class this week, and this time, we made yummy Doenjjang Jiggae. This is my first time making it, or even eating it, and I almost mistook it for Kimchi Jiggae at first glance.

For the soup base, you would need a huge handful of anchovies and some dried kelp.


A large tablespoon of Korean chilli paste and Korean soybean paste, and a tablespoon of chopped garlic, or to taste. Some prefer a more spicy and salty soup.


When the soup starts to boil, add in your potato squares (you can quarter them if you like, but you need to let them cook for a longer time till they're soft), chopped onions, and clams. When they're halfway done, add in the chopped zucchini pieces.


When the potatoes are almost done, add in the tofu (the harder variety so they won't fall apart that easily when cooking), prawns, mushrooms, red and green chillies, and finally the spring onions. Cook for a further 3-4 minutes.



And you're done!


Here's the receipe from Nicky Kim. She conducts private classes too, or you could gather some of your friends for a group lesson. Happy cooking!

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Haemul Pajeon-Making Workshop (Seafood Korean Pancake)

We learnt how to make Haemul Pajeon (seafood spring onion pancake) that day, although you could make about almost any type of pancake you dream of. I'm thinking of kimchi pajeon next!

Here are the ingredients you'd need for haemul pajeon - a lot of spring onions, chopped into thirds, some freshly shelled prawns and sliced cuttlefish. You could add or substitute with clams, oysters and the like. It would be better to lightly marinate the seafood to bring out the flavour of the pajeon, as the pancake batter does not have any salt in it.



The batter is simply made from two cups plain flour, two cups water and two eggs. Experiment until you get a consistency that is thick but still runny.


Heat some oil in a frying pan. Line the bottom third of the spring onions in a row. Put the middle portion of the spring onions on top of those, and the top portion of the onions on top of the middle portion.


Arrange the seafood on top of the onions, then pour the batter across, first horizontally, then vertically. Cover the entire area to enable the ingredients to stick together once cooked.


When the batter starts to set, flip the pancake over in one swift motion, taking care not to break it. Pour the batter over the same way. Once the bottom is browned, flip the pancake over and brown the other side.


Ready to serve with or without dipping sauce made from soya sauce, finely chopped garlic and spring onions and chilli flakes. Sesame oil optional.

Making Korean Bibimbap Workshop

I attended the Bibimbap-making workshop the previous week. I have not tasted bibimbap before this, since I've always seen it served with a raw egg and I do not eat raw food. The instructor, Nicky Kim, has her own private cooking school and if you do have an interest in Korean cooking, I'd say she is a rather good teacher.

These are the ingredients needed to make Bibimbap for one:

* 1 cup cooked rice
* 50g bean sprouts
* handful of pea sprouts (dou miao)
* 4 shitake mushrooms, sliced
* 1/3 carrot (30g), finely sliced
* 1 egg
* a bit of salt
* cooking oil

for the chilli sauce:

* 1 tbsp Korean chilli paste
* 1/2 clove minced garlic
* a pinch of sugar
* 1/4 tsp water
* 1/4 tsp cooking wine (optional)
* a few drops of sesame oil
* a pinch of sesame seeds

Method:

1. Mix ingredients for chilli sauce and set aside.

2. Heat some cooking oil and saute the bean sprouts with salt till softened.

3. Repeat step 2 for the shitake mushrooms and pea sprouts.

4. Cook the egg sunny side up.


Serving:

Dish the cooked rice into a bowl. Arrange the carrots, bean sprouts, mushrooms and pea sprouts in a circle on top of the rice. Place the egg in the middle, on top of the vegetables. Serve with chilli sauce which is to be mixed well with the rice before eating.

As we were rushed for time, I did not bother to arrange the vegetables in a neat circle.

Mixed and ready to eat. The chilli sauce wasn't as spicy as I would have liked, but the bibimbap was nicely sweet and savoury!

Korean Food - Tteokbokki (떡볶이) Making Workshop (辣炒年糕作坊)

Making sweet and spicy Tekobokki is a no-brainer. Anyone can do it, really.

Ingredients:
Korean Rice Cakes
Korean Fishcake
Cabbage
Onion
Garlic
Koran Chilli Paste
Chilli Flakes
Soya Sauce
Sugar

Korean Rice Cakes can be gotten from the frozen section of any Seoul Mart. The one I used came in the packaging as shown below. These are already pre-cooked.

Whilst at Seoul Mart, you could also get some Korean fishcake. These look like flattened pieces of tau pok. The rest of the ingredients can easily be found at any regular supermarket.

1) Pour the rice cakes into a bowl of water to defrost them.

2) Fill a saucepan with 500ml of water. Turn on the heat. Add in a tablespoon each of the paste, chilli flakes, soya sauce and sugar. Mix well. If you'd like it to be extra spicy, you can add more chilli flakes.

3) Add the defrosted rice cakes, fishcake, chopped cabbage, sliced onions and chopped garlic.

4) Keep stirring until the sauce thickens to a sticky paste, the cabbage is cooked, and the rice cakes are springy, not hard.

And you're done!

You can keep it in a container in the fridge to be eaten on it's own or fry with meat or seafood.