Thursday 22 February 2007

korean cooking adventure

yesterday i was a good girl. i went to school, i went to the gym, and i went grocery shopping. but what made me a super star was looking up recipes to cook before shopping and buying the right ingredients. i wanted to try to make some of my favourite korean dishes (the ones i couldn't stop thinking about after my good/bad post) so i got a recipe for pajeon, japchae, and dokbokki.


i had the dokbokki yesterday - they had a pre-packaged do-it-yourself kit at the store, so i got that... just to make sure i wouldn't be disappointed.

it's rice noodles in a spicy sauce with veggies. mine didn't look as good as the picture above, but i'm sure it tasted just as good. i was surprised that the packaged one turned out so well, and will certainly be buying it again.

pajeon is korean pancakes. 'pa' is green onion, and 'jeon' is pancake, so they're actually green onion pancakes. when i get this at restaurants i usually like it better with kimchi, but i'm actually fresh out and forgot to add it to my list... oops.

after making it today, i realized even more why i like it with kimchi, otherwise it doesn't really have much flavour. you're supposed to eat it with a sauce made with soy sauce and vinegar, but that didn't turn out, so the whole thing was a bust. they weren't very good... they'll be better next time 'cause i'll add some kimchi to it.

finally (after the pajeon fiasco i was still hungry) i made the japchae. i love this stuff! in restaurants and now at home too! it totally worked out!

it's made of sweet potato noodles called dang myun, marinated beef, carrots, egg, and onion. the sauce is made with soy sauce, garlic, green onion, and sugar. mmmm... noodle stir-fry!

i was so proud when i bought the beef yesterday too, since i had to do it at the counter and everything... the woman seemed confused that i didn't want pork, but i managed to get some really nice beef, which they even sliced into perfect strips for me!

like i said, it's always trial and error with the cooking korean, and today was no exception, but it just feels great when you succeed. you're all invited to dinner at mine...eventually!

1 Comment:

kim joo mee said...

haha, I was looking at the pictures and I though, damn, Liz really presents her food well before eating it!! Then I looked more closely at the dok bokki picture and saw the placemat and tomatoes and greenery and started laughing at myself.

:)