Food: Korean and Kim Chee Pancake

Hello! I still haven't really had the time to figure out the workings of tabs on Blogger, so I apologize in advance to people that will/have clicked on the "Food" tab.

But I am not going to let that stop me from posting any of my adventures in trying out and/or making of Korean cuisine. Including my first introduction to Korean food, kim chee.

I first tried out kim chee when I was about 14 years old. It was the vinegary bottled stuff that you find in the regular supermarkets. Pale cabbage cause it was sitting in the vinegary mixture for so long, faintly spicy. Not bad, but not great either.

I was later introduced to the fresher, crispier, spicier version and the much more fermented version in my college years while eating out late with friends after many study sessions. These, I absolutely came to love! There's something about biting into the saltiness and spiciness of the cabbage that woke my senses (and cleared my nostrils) and made my mouth water. Truly heaven.

Kim Chee Pancake aka Kim Chee Jeon

On one of my traipses through town, I discovered a Korean bar/restaurant that, from what I was told, served up tasty Korean dishes and flavored soju. A friend had just gotten married so while we were spending time with the bridal party, we decided to go to this restaurant. Here they served the yummiest watermelon soju and...something called "kim chee pancakes" or "kim chee jeon"! Fresh kim chee, in my favorite breakfast food, what's not to love?

Let me just say that korean pancake versus a regular buttermilk or batter pancake is way different.

Korean pancakes are:
- savory
- incorporate a meat, seafood or vegetable
- involves no butter
- no milk
- crispier
- served as an appetizer (or what we would call a "pupu" in Hawaii)

It was absolutely delicious! I wanted to know how to make it, it was just that good.

Now I've seen these pancakes cooked different ways. An ahjumma ("Aunty" or "lady" in Korean) had shown me how to cook her green onion pancake in a little nook in one of the Korean markets I frequent. It involved flour, green onion, sesame oil and egg. Very easy.

But I wanted spicy pancakes, I wanted the kim chee pancake that I had that one time! I was on a mission to find the recipe, and lo and behold, one of my favorite bloggers, Maangchi, had a very easy recipe. All it took was kim chee, a bit of kim chee juice, flour, oil for frying, chopped onion, salt and sugar.

In the fry pan with a little too much oil. Crispy!

My first attempt was a bit oily, probably because of all the oil I used, but the second attempt was much better. I was ecstatic! It tasted just like the kim chee pancake I had! I was so happy, I ate more than half of the pancakes alone, all by myself. Yup, I was a little piggy! But I was a happy piggy!

I also had a bit of pancake mix on hand, so I used that instead of the flour. I didn't add any other seasoning since it was already pre-seasoned. It was just as delicious! But I noticed that it made the pancakes a little bit fluffier and crispier.

If you ever want to try making your own, I highly recommend it. I had to pay $10 for just a little dish that I had to share. Make your own, make it the way you want it, and you can decide if you want to share it! =) The recipe is in the link above. And if you want to check out more Korean recipes, I highly suggest Maangchi's site.

Update: Working on a few things...

Hello hello! Just wanted to give you all a quick update on a some of the things I am working on.

1) Romantic and the Idol Season 2 Episode 4
I am finding bits and pieces of the show every day, so I'm trying to watch them and piece them together at the same time. From what I've seen so far, it looks exciting! I'll have a review up by the weekend for sure!

2) Health, Beauty and Fashion
I am going to venture into this unknown territory to me. I figure, if I am going to blog about K-Pop, K-Dramas and Korean culture, I might as well figure out what's so hot about these trends or products that come from Korea and how they are faring in American culture (to start). I went into my first Korean cosmetics store this past weekend and it was very interesting. (in a good way of course) Wanted to share my thoughts on that and on some of the products I'm trying.

3) Food
Yes, I have a tab that says "food" on my blog. It's always been my intent to somehow migrate all my relative posts there, but until I figure out how, it'll be blank. Sorry! It's trial and error for me. But there are more posts coming about food for all of you that are interested.

4) Music
I'll be giving my take on some of my favorite artists' new albums or singles that had just come out.

So stay tuned! I haven't gone away, I'm still here! =)

Samgyetang- Korean Chicken with Ginseng Soup

Recently, Siwon of Super Junior tweeted a pic of samgyetang soup. Samgyetang is a Korean chicken and rice soup with ginseng, jujubes, and garlic. Lots of garlic.

I remember a friend of mine raving about the samgyetang she had in Busan when she had visited earlier this year. It also happens to be a favorite dish of one of my favorite idols, Hong Ki of FT Island.

The picture that Siwon tweeted along with the description from my friend had me looking up the recipe.

Photo Courtesy of Choi Siwon's Twitter

Now, I love to cook. And I like to cook as authentically as possible. If there's any inkling that a recipe may be otherwise, I move on. Lucky for me, there's YouTube. I happened to see this Korean ahjumma demonstrating dukkbokki in one video and found she had one for samgyetang. Hallelujah! Can't go wrong. It's simple with only a few ingredients. The only thing that kinda makes me squeamish is the whole ginseng root. But apparently to all Koreans, it's a necessity and it's good for you. Otherwise it would just be chicken soup.

Now that the weather is colder, I'm going to be making this. And hopefully post a review on this, unless I eat it too fast. I hear you're supposed to eat this in the summer, but I would love this to warm me up on a cold winter day.

Here's the video, you can also find it on Maangchi's page. (Of course I don't take credit nor own the video and any pictures on this post.) Check out the other recipes too on http://www.maangchi.com. Then come back to see a review, or let me know how yours turned out. Enjoy!

Ssam (쌈) or wraps

Ssam literally means "wrap" or "to wrap". They can be made out of anything you can imagine- lettuce, cabbage, seasoned meats, thin rice sheets. Think of Mexican tacos but Korean-style.

Ssam are normally eaten with a variety of stuffings. Some like to eat it with rice or bap(밮?), with meat, chicken or pork and topped with go chu jang sauce (a spicy pepper paste), garlic, onions, kim chee and/or maybe an assortment of veggies. Then, everything is wrapped up in the wrapper of your choice. (Take a look at the photo for an example. I don't own it by the way. I wouldn't think about taking a photo of something this yummy. It'll be gone in seconds. Credit goes to the owner.)

The tricky part is trying to shove it all in your mouth. If you've ever seen Korean dramas or Nichkhun in Mnet Scandal, you'll see how hard it is. If you're not careful, you can easily spill it all over yourself. And if you have a cute dress on, you do not want spicy pepper paste on it. It's best to eat with friends you are comfortable with as they won't mind if you look like a piggy.

If you do happen to eat on a date, it is customary (I believe) to accept a ssam that is wrapped for you. If you can not eat it all in one bite, please do cover your mouth and face away from your date.

I personally only eat it with family. I usually prepare mine using lettuce (Sang chu ssam (상 추 쌈) = lettuce wrap) with thin slices of beef that has been topped with go chu jang or dipped in a sauce made with peanut oil, salt and pepper. If I'm especially hungry, I put in some rice. Either way it's healthy and really delicious! It's perfect for hot summer days. I highly recommend using ice cold red leaf lettuce or romaine lettuce.

Hungry for some right now!