Korean recipes:

Spicy stuffed cucumber (oisobagi), radish soup with beef, and barley rice

Cucumber kimchi is made by turning a cucumber into a pocket and stuffing it with vegetables and kimchi paste. It’s delicious, and goes well with radish soup. I’ll show you how to make both of them for one perfect, well-balanced, low-calorie meal.

Ingredients:

  1. Wash cucumbers and cut them in half.  Make pockets out of cross slits. Don’t cut them all the way through. Put them in a big bowl
  2. Sprinkle a half cup of salt onto the cucumber pieces, mix them carefully, and wait for 30 minutes
  3. In a big bowl, place a quarter cup of fish sauce, a half cup of hot pepper flakes, 2 cloves of minced garlic and 1 tbs of sugar, and mix them with a spoon.
  4. Chop Asian chives 1 inch (about 2 cm) in length (2 cups) and cut 3 green onions diagonally as the same size as the chives, shred some carrot (1/4 cup) , slice the onion (1/4 cup) thinly and place all this into the mixture of the seasoning paste. Mix it up with a spoon.
  5. Wash the cucumbers and drain them. Stuff the seasoning paste into the slotted cucumber and put each cucumber into an airtight container. You can wear rubber gloves while stuffing, if you want to protect your hands.
  6. Right after making it, you can eat it. But keep the leftover kimchii in the refrigerator.

oisobagi1

Radish soup with beef (for 2-3 servings)
Ingredients:

  • 150 grams of beef brisket
  • 2½ cups of sliced Korean radish
  • 3 green onions
  • 4 cloves of minced garlic
  • ½ cup of fish sauce
  • 6 cups of water
  1. Prepare a pot and pour 6 cups of water
  2. Cut radish into diagonally and thinly (about 2½ cups) and put it into the pot and cook it over medium high heat
  3. Chop beef brisket (150 grams) into small chunks and mince 3 or 4 cloves of garlic
  4. When the soup starts boiling about 10 minutes after, add the chunks of beef and garlic and boil it about 15 minutes more over medium heat.
  5. Skim the bubbles or stuff off the surface and add some fish sauce(depending on your taste) and put chopped green onions and cook 5 or 10minutes more over medium heat

Barley rice
Ingredients:
1 cup of uncooked rice, 1 cup of barley and 2½ cup of water.

  1. Rinse the mixture of rice and barley in a pot.
  2. Put 2½ cup of water and cover the lid of the pot.
  3. Heat it over high heat until it boils, and stir it with a spoon a few times.
  4. Simmer about 20 minutes over low heat

114 Comments:

  1. Kathleen Korea
    joined March 3, 2009

    is it possible to substitute jajang for the fish sauce?
    I dont have enough money to buy the fish sauce, nor do I use it enough.

    Posted March 3, 2010 at 6:53 am | #
    • Maangchi New York City
      joined August 6, 2008

      no, no jjajang sauce in this recipe!
      Jjajang (black bean paste):
      http://www.maangchi.com/ingredients/black-bean-paste

      Posted March 3, 2010 at 8:19 am | #
      • Kathleen Korea
        joined March 3, 2009

        sorry… i mean soy sauce.. I must have forgotten the name of soy sauce…

        Posted March 8, 2010 at 2:18 am | #
        • Maangchi New York City
          joined August 6, 2008

          yeah, to make jjajangmyeon, you will need jjajang instead of soy sauce.

          Posted March 8, 2010 at 7:04 am | #
          • Kathleen Korea
            joined March 3, 2009

            …lol I don’t want to make jjajangmyeon. I want to make raddish soup. I can easily buy jjajangmyeon at the store… Sorry about the confusion. ^^;;;;;

            Posted March 12, 2010 at 12:57 am | #
  2. Yukihana

    Annyeonghihaseyo Maangchi-sshi,

    I luv Korean food n Kpop! I made this n it turned out extremely well!(if I may say so myself!! :P)This is definitely a keeper for me. Thanks!! I wonder if you can teach how to make the sweet rice in pumpkin please??(I saw it in Family Outing)Thank you :)

    Posted January 9, 2010 at 2:30 pm | #
  3. kulyia

    yum i like this one too. it had a Very fresh super crunchy taste to it. deliciousss.

    Posted January 7, 2010 at 3:03 am | #
  4. Yukihana

    Hi Maangchi,
    Luv ur site!! I hav tried a lot of the recipes that u’ve posted n have been very successful!! I made the oisobagi n it’s one of my fav! I’ve seen on Family Outing(I’m a Kdrama/Kvariety addict!:p)n they were making some sticky rice then steaming it in a hollowed out pumpkin. I was wondering if u can kindly let me know it’s Korean name or post the recipe here pls? Thks so much! Merry Christmas n Happy New Yr!

    Posted December 23, 2009 at 1:59 am | #
  5. Renee

    I love your website! Thank You Maangchi, your food tastes great!!!

    Posted November 19, 2009 at 10:27 pm | #
  6. Cornelia

    Hey Maangchi,

    I’m going to prepare cabbage kimchi. Can I use the porridge for the cabbage kimchi vor cucumber kimchi, too?
    Or is it too different?
    Have you ever tried?

    Greetings from Germany,

    Cornelia

    Posted November 14, 2009 at 4:40 pm | #
    • Cornelia

      Ok, sry, I have found the answer -.-

      Posted November 15, 2009 at 10:12 am | #
  7. Abigail

    what i do have are leeks and green onions, can i put the leeks instead? will it make a difference in taste?

    Posted November 9, 2009 at 10:41 am | #
    • Maangchi New York City
      joined August 6, 2008

      You can use green onions instead of Asian chives. It’s still delicious!

      Posted November 9, 2009 at 4:25 pm | #
  8. Abigail

    maangchi,
    i can’t find any chives, do i need to put it in? if so, what are other alternatives…?

    Posted November 9, 2009 at 10:40 am | #
  9. Wow this is great. I love all kinds of kimchi.
    I was just wondering if I need to stuff the cucumber or if I can just slice the cucumber into bite sized pieces and mix it with the kimchi sauce. Would slicing the cucumbers first make a difference?

    Posted November 6, 2009 at 10:56 pm | #
  10. Jasmine

    hi maangchi! love ur recipes so much and i tried making these just now and after stuffing it, i put it straight to the fridge( in airtight container), about 5 hours later, i noticed there’s some juices coming out and i got rid of that right away (tasted it and it was salty)..is that normal? just curious.. anyway, thanks so much for you super great recipes..!! keep ‘em coming..=DD

    Posted October 4, 2009 at 7:21 am | #
    • Maangchi New York City
      joined August 6, 2008

      Yes, it’s very normal. Don’t worry much about the liquid. When you salt your cucumber, the salt draws out water from the cucumber. When I make my oisobagi, I eat it in a few days. I don’t like to wait until it’s fermented.

      Posted October 5, 2009 at 6:43 pm | #
  11. Hend

    Hi Maangchi ,
    thank you for your great work and the time you spent to post those videos, regarding this recipe of the stuffed cucumber can I use soy sauce instead of fish sauce?

    Posted October 2, 2009 at 12:20 am | #
    • Maangchi New York City
      joined August 6, 2008

      hmm, I never use soy sauce in oisobagi because it will darken my oisobagi, but as long as you don’t use fish sauce, why not?

      Posted October 2, 2009 at 9:03 am | #
  12. Trang

    I had cucumber kimchi at a restaurant and it was delicious. But their’s was sliced cucumber, not stuffed like what your recipe has. Do you know how to make it like that?

    Posted August 13, 2009 at 8:44 pm | #
  13. Matt

    Im was going to go out to dinner, change of plans!

    Posted August 10, 2009 at 2:50 pm | #
  14. Josh

    Hi. how long can you keep the oisobagi in the refrigerator? I made a lot and want to eat it all before it goes bad.

    Posted July 31, 2009 at 7:08 pm | #
    • Maangchi New York City
      joined August 6, 2008

      I usually finish eating in a week. It doesn’t go bad but will be fermented. For some reason, oisobagi is more delicious when it’s fresh.

      Posted July 31, 2009 at 7:58 pm | #
  15. rv65

    I didn’t add quite as much salt to my oi sobagi but I added the recommended amount of 3 crabs fish sauce. It turned out great and it’s pretty spicy. Now I feel accomplished.

    Posted July 31, 2009 at 6:00 pm | #
    • Maangchi New York City
      joined August 6, 2008

      cool! 3 crabs fish sauce is delicious.

      Posted July 31, 2009 at 7:59 pm | #
      • rv65

        Mine isn’t salty which is good. I just didn’t salt the cucumbers with 1/2 cup of salt. I don’t know the exact amount but it worked. I’ve been eating it and it’s definitely spicy. That hot pepper powder I found at the store is very hot indeed.

        Posted August 1, 2009 at 2:28 pm | #
  16. Amber

    Hello Maangchi,

    I made oisobagi! It was so delicious. Tonight I am going to make radish soup with beef tonight. Next week I am going to make kimchi. I just want to say thank you for this wonderful site!

    Posted July 30, 2009 at 10:10 am | #
    • Maangchi New York City
      joined August 6, 2008

      Radish soup with beef is not only easy to make but also very delicious! Send me some photos to share your food photos with other readers!

      Posted July 31, 2009 at 8:01 pm | #
  17. rv65

    Oi sobagi looks delicious. I’ll make it the next time I go to Zion Market.

    Posted July 26, 2009 at 2:11 am | #
  18. sammie

    i was wondring the cucumber soup that you make is like the one my mom makes but sometimes she put noodles in hers and i remember they were white, can you tell me what the noodles are called? i think they are japanese noodles.

    Posted July 4, 2009 at 6:36 pm | #
    • Maangchi New York City
      joined August 6, 2008

      oh, that must be “kongguksu”! (cold soy milk noodle soup)
      The recipe will be posted very soon! It’s perfect dish for hot summer!

      Posted July 5, 2009 at 8:19 am | #
  19. Pam

    Hi,
    I have follow your recipe, it is so easy, quick, and taste really good. I love it and will do again next time for my family.
    Thanks for great recipe ;)

    Posted June 23, 2009 at 3:46 am | #
  20. Joolsey

    Hi Maangchi,

    I made oisobagi with a different recipe and it is SO SALTY to the point of being bitter! Do you have any advice on how to lower the saltiness so that my batch will be edible? Thanks,

    Julia

    Posted June 17, 2009 at 9:14 am | #
    • Maangchi New York City
      joined August 6, 2008

      Julia,
      For salty oisobagi,I don’t have much advice.

      Posted June 17, 2009 at 10:06 am | #
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