Tangsuyuk is a Chinese dish which is very popular in Korea.
When I was young, this dish was always my number one choice at a Chinese restaurant. When I passed my middle school exam, my father took me and all my family members and some of his friends to celebrate it. He asked, “What would you like to eat, my smart girl? I would buy whatever you want!” I answered before he finished his sentence, “Tangsuyuk! And jjajangmyeon!” It’s very crispy fried meat in a jelly sauce and colorful vegetables, overflowing a huge plate.
I sometimes order Tangsuyuk at either a Korean restaurant or Chinese restaurant. It’s known as “sweet and sour pork” (or beef), but my satisfaction with the dish always is different.
There are 2 important factors to make this dish stand out: the crispiness of the meat and the taste of the sauce. I’m releasing a few priceless tips to all of you now!
4-6 servings Ingredients:
600 grams (1.3 Lb) of beef, starch powder (2 cups and 2 tbs), vegetable oil, egg, Turbinado sugar 1 cup (brown or white sugar is ok too), salt, ground black pepper, 3 tbs vinegar, apple, pineapple, 5-7 wood ear mushrooms, onion, cucumber, carrot, and water
Soak ¼ cup of dried wood ear mushrooms in warm water (about 5-7 mushrooms) for a few hours.
To make the coating batter, mix 2 cups of starch powder (either corn starch or potato starch) with water (about 3 cups) and let it sit for a few hours until the starch sinks in the bowl. Then remove the water by pouring it into the sink. *tip: after draining the water, the starch will be solid and stiff.
Cut beef into thin strips (5 cm long, 1 cm thick, 1 cm wide) and put it in a bowl.
Add ½ ts salt and ½ ts ground black pepper to the beef and mix it well with your hand. Set it aside.
Add the beef strips to the starch, and 1 egg white (or yolk) and mix it well with your hand.
Heat vegetable oil in your wok and fry the beef strips for about 5 minutes until they look golden brown and crispy. It’s very important to coat the beef strips with as much starch batter as you can. Try to use all of it. Then put the fried crispy beef strips into a strainer. *tip: the beef strips should feel crispy through your tongs as you handle them
Next, let’s make delicious sauce!
Slice ¼ medium size onion.
Slice 1 or 2 apples (you can replace apples with plums).
Slice carrot and cucumber thinly (several slices are needed).
Drain the soaked wood ear mushrooms and cut them into bite sized bits.
Cut some pineapple into chunks.
Put 1/2 tbs of vegetable oil on a heated pan. Add the sliced onion and stir it up.
Add wood ear mushrooms, sliced carrot to the pan. Stir it for 1 minute.
Pour 2 cups of water into the pan and boil it.
When the sauce boils, add 1 ts salt, 1 ts soy sauce, 1 cup brown sugar and stir it well.
Add 3-4 tbs vinegar and water starch (mixture of 2 tbs starch and 2 tbs water).
Add pineapple chunks and sliced cucumber to the pan.
Your sauce will look like light jelly but it will also be sizzling. Be sure to put a few drops of sesame oil in at the last minute!
Now you made your fried beef strips and sauce! If you’re waiting for your family or guests, just take a break and do the next steps just before serving.
Ok, it’s time for you to serve it now?
Reheat the oil and fry the beef strips again, until each strip becomes very crispy.
Put the fried beef on a large platter
Reheat the sauce for a minute and pour it on top of the beef strips.
Serve it hot with dipping sauce (mix 2 tbs soy sauce and 1 tbs vinegar)
Here I’m introducing you to a Korean Chinese dish, jjampong. This noodle soup is one of the most popular dishes requested by my Youtube subscribers and blog readers.
Whenever I pronounce “jjamppong,” I think it sounds funny! “JJAM PONG!” : )
You need so many different ingredients to make good “jjamppong” as you will see in this video. It contains all the nutrients we need, so I can say a bowl of jjamppong is a wholesome, nourishing, and well balanced meal. You can skip some ingredients or replace some ingredients with ones more easily available to you.
I prepared 2 versions of jjamppong recipe here: spicy jjamppong and non-spicy jjamppong.
Pour 7 cups of water into a pot. Add 10 large dried anchovies (after removing heads and guts), a handful of dried kelp, half a medium sized onion, and 3 dried shiitake mushrooms.
Boil it for 10 minutes over high heat. Then lower the heat to low-medium and boil for 30 minutes more. Then set it aside
Second step:
make mixture of hot pepper flakes and vegetable oil
In a small bowl, mix 1½ tbs of hot pepper flakes and 1 tbs of vegetable oil.
*tip: The reason we make this mixture is to prevent the hot pepper flakes from floating in the soup when it boils. You can add or decrease the amount of hot pepper flakes and vegetable oil according to your taste.
Third step:
prepare seafood and meat
Cut squid in half lengthwise and then cut shallow the inside part of squid in a grid pattern.
Shell 3 large shrimp and 4 mussels per serving.
Cut ¼ cup of pork into thin strips.
Fourth step:
prepare vegetables
Slice some carrot, cabbage, napa cabbage, onion, and white mushrooms into bite sized pieces.
Cut leeks and green onions into about 7 cm in length. Add some bamboo shoots.
*tip: 3-4 cups worth of vegetables are used per serving.
Fifth step:
cook noodles
Boil water in a large pot and add the noodles. Cook for a few minutes, then drain and rinse in cold water.
*tip: When you cook the noodles, take a sample to see if it’s cooked fully or not. The noodles should be soft and chewy.
Now ready to cook!
In a heated pan, drop 1 tbs of vegetable oil, 2 cloves of garlic, and 1 ts of minced ginger and stir it until its color starts to change to golden brown.
Put pork strips into the pan and stir fry it for 2 minutes.
Put in vegetables (cabbage, napa cabbage, carrot , sliced onion, green onion, leeks, white mushrooms, and a few pieces of bamboo shoots) and stir for 3-5 minutes.
Lower the heat and put the mixture of hot pepper flakes and vegetable oil into the pot. Stir it.
Put in seafood (squid, shrimp, and mussels) and keep stirring.
Pour 5-6 cups of stock into the pan and boil it for about 5 minutes.
Skim off the foam from the top with a spoon.
Add 1 tbs of fish sauce, 1 tbs of oyster sauce, and a pinch of ground black pepper.
Ready to serve!
Put some noodles in a large serving bowl and pour the soup and cooked ingredients on top of the noodles.
Serve it hot.
Enjoy!
Non-spicy jjamppong
Ingredients
A can of non-sodium chicken broth, ¼ cup of pork (cut into thin strips), 3 large shrimp, 4 mussels, squid (¼ cup), garlic, ginger, vegetable oil, oyster sauce, fish sauce, ground black pepper, onion, carrot, green onions, leeks, white mushrooms, bamboo shoots, noodles, and Asian chives.
First step:
prepare seafood and meat
Prepare seafood by cutting squid into bite sized pieces, shelling 3 large shrimp, and washing 4 mussels.
Cut pork into thin strips (¼ cup worth).
Second step:
prepare vegetables
Cut some carrot, cabbage, napa cabbage, onion, and white mushrooms into bite sized pieces.
Cut leeks, green onions, and Asian chives into pieces about 7 cm long.
*tip: use 3-4 cups of vegetables per serving
Ready to cook?
Drop 1½ tbs of vegetable oil and 2 cloves of chopped garlic and 1 ts of minced ginger into a heated pan. Stir it until it starts to go golden brown.
Put pork strips into the pan and stir fry it for 2 minutes
Put vegetables (cabbage, napa cabbage, a few sliced carrot, onion, green onions, and leeks, white mushrooms, and bamboo shoots) into the pan and stir them for 3-5 minutes.
Put seafood into the pan and stir it for 1 minute.
Pour a can of chicken broth into the pan and 2 cans of water from the can (that’s a total of 5-6 cups of liquid).
Skim off the foam from the top with a spoon.
Add 1 tbs of fish sauce and 1 tbs of oyster sauce.
Put noodles into the boiling soup and cook for a few minutes until the noodles are cooked but still soft.
Turn off the heat and add some Asian chives (1/4 cup) and a pinch of ground black pepper.
Transfer it into a large serving bowl and serve it hot.
Many people think the Korean word hobak (호박) means pumpkin, but it actually means squash. A pumpkin is really a kind of squash. So in Korea, we make this recipe with pumpkins. But here in the West I can’t easily find the kind of pumpkin Koreans use for hobakjuk. So I learned to make it out of butternut squash, which is available everywhere here.
The recipe for Hobakjuk needs only a few ingredients. But making the small rice cake balls takes some time. I recommend you make the rice cake balls with your family members or friends together. Whenever I make this porridge, I remember my grandmother and my family members. We all made the rice cake balls together. I miss them and all of us who had a great time while making the rice cake balls!
Wash the exterior of the butternut squashes in cold water.
Cut the squash in half lengthwise and remove the seeds and stringy stuff with a spoon.
Place the butternut squash in a large pot. Pour 3 cups of water over them and bring to a boil over medium high heat for 30 minutes, until the contents become soft.
Turn off the heat and let it cool down.
When it’s cooled down, scrape the cooked insides out with a spoon.
Place 3 cups of the cooked squash insides into a large pot and add 4 or 5 cups of water and boil
Make rice cake balls:
Boil some water.
Make rice cake dough by mixing 2 cups of sweet rice flour, ¼ ts salt, and ¾ cup of hot water. Mix it up with a wooden spoon at first, and then knead it for a few minutes with your hand after it cools down.
Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and set it aside for about 20-30 minutes.
Put about 3 tbs of sweet rice flour into a large bowl (this will prevent the rice cake balls from sticking together).
Take a bit of dough and roll a rice cake ball (the size should be a little larger than soy bean). Put it into the bowl with the sweet rice flour. *tip: to prevent the dough from getting dried out, always wrap the dough in plastic wrap while you are making the rice cake balls
Let’s make porridge!
When the mixture of squash and water starts boiling, add the rice cake balls to the pot. Stir it with a wooden spoon and cook it for a few more minutes. *tip: when it’s cooked, all the rice cake balls will be floating on the surface of the porridge.
Turn off the heat and add 1 ts salt and ¼ cup of sugar and stir it for a few seconds before serving.
Soak 2 shiitake mushrooms in warm water for 3-4 hours and cut them into bite size in length.
Soak 4-5 clams in cold salty water (2 cups of cold water +1 tbs salt) for at least 3-4 hours and wash them and set them aside.
Cut radish thinly into about 3×4 cm size, 0.2-0.3 cm in thickness.
Place the sliced radish (about 1 cup), the pieces of mushroom, and some kelp in a pot.
Pour 6-7 cups of water into the pot and boil it over high heat for 20 minutes.
Make maeuntang sauce:
Place 7 cloves galic, ½ medium size onion, ½ tbs ginger, 2 tbs cooking wine (or soju), 2 tbs hot pepper flakes, 1 tbs hot pepper paste, 2 tbs fish sauce in the food processor and grind it for about 1 minute.
Set it aside.
Prepare fish:
Put a red snapper on a cutting board and clean out guts, remove scales and fins. Wash it in cold water, cut it into chunks, and set it aside. *tip: to save time, you can ask your fishmonger to do this for you
Prepare 4 large shrimp: remove the heads and intestines, wash them, and set aside.
Prepare vegetables:
Clean ssukgat (edible chrysanthemum) and cut it into 7 cm long pieces.
Clean minari (water dropwort) and cut it into 7 cm long pieces.
Cut out the bottom part of enoki mushrooms and wash and split them.
Slice some green onions, 1 green chili pepper, 1 red chili pepper,
After boiling stock for 20 minutes, open the lid of the pot and take out kelp.
Place chunks of the fish, shrimp, clams in the boiling stock.
Add the maeuntang hot sauce and boil it all over medium heat for 30 minutes. *tip: It might boil over from time to time. Open the lid and remove the floating foam from the top and then close the lid halfway
Add ½ ts of salt, enoki mushrooms, minari (water dropwort) and ssukgat (garland chrysanthemum), green chili pepper, red chili pepper, and boil a few more minutes before serving.
Your maeuntang is done!
Serving:
Put some fish soup in a bowl for each person and provide each person with a bowl to collect fish bones and serve with rice and other side dishes.
Soak 5 shiitake mushrooms in warm water for about 4-6 hours.
Soak short ribs in cold water in a large bowl for at least 30 minutes and change the water a few times.
Boil water in a large pot. Put in the short ribs. Boil for 5-10 minutes.
Take out the ribs from the boiling water and wash them with cold water to remove unnecessary fat or floating bubbles.
Throw away the boiling water and clean the pot.
Place the clean beef short ribs in the pot.
Prepare a bowl to make seasoned water by mixing 2 cups of water, 4 tbs soy sauce, 8 cloves of minced garlic), ½ sliced onion, 1 tbs rice wine, and 1 tbs brown sugar.
Add it to the short ribs in the pot.
Boil it over medium heat for 20 minutes.
While it boils, you can prepare the other ingredients:
Cut carrot and radish into 5 cm-size cubes and round the edges to make several balls (the size of the balls should be like ping pong balls )
Cut the soaked shiitake mushrooms into bite size. *tip: You can add several skinned chestnuts and gingko nuts
Open the lid of the pot and add all ingredients (carrot, radish, shiitake mushrooms) to the pot. Let it simmer for about 1 hour over low heat. *tip: Stir the ribs and other ingredients with a wooden spoon from time to time. Pour the liquid from the bottom of the pot over top of the meat
Open the lid and check if the meat is cooked fully. Use your chopstick to poke the meat. When it is smoothly going through the meat, the meat is tender enough.
Add 2 tbs of moolyeot (corn syrup), 1 tbs sesame oil, ½ ts black pepper, and heat it up over high heat. Mix it well until liquid evaporates
Hwedupbap is one of my favorite dishes. I looove raw fish (sashimi in Japanese)!
One order of “hwedupbap” with tofu bean paste soup will be a reasonable meal because it consists of a balanced ratio of all nutrients! However, if you can’t eat raw fish, I recommend the vegetarian version of this dish using tofu.
What if you don’t have tofu? :) Oh, well! Then skip it. Mix rice and assorted fresh vegetables with my secret hot spicy sauce! One thing you can’t skip is lots of sesame oil!
Naengmyeon (“cold noodles”) is made from buckwheat and a very popular dish in Korea all year round but especially in summertime. I’m going to introduce you to 2 kinds of naengmyeon: mul naengmyeon and bibim naengmyeon, both using yeolmu mul kimchi using a recipe from my previous video.
Mul naengmyeon is soup based noodles which is served with cold icy broth.
Bibim naengmyeon is served with hot and spicy sauce and not much soup.
Naengmyeon is my favorite food. I enjoy the texture of noodles while chewing it. After eating icy cold noodles in the hot summer day, you will feel your body temperature cools down.
Mustard powder:
Mix 2 tbs of mustard powder and 1 tbs water and put it on warm place to ferment it.
(I place it on the top of boiling stock)
Cucumber:
Slice a quarter of cucumber thinly and sprinkle a pinch of salt, 1 ts of sugar, 1 ts of
vinegar, and a pinch of hot pepper flakes and mix it and set it aside
Bosc pear:
Slice a half pear thinly and soak it in water and add 1 ts sugar to protect it from
changing color
Egg:
Hardboil an egg, cut it in half, and set it aside
3. Make hot and spicy sauce for bibim naengmyeon, by grinding these ingredients:
A half of peeled bosc pear, a quarter of onion (about 3 tbs), 1 ts garlic, 1 ts of ginger, ½ cup of corn syrup, 4 tbs hot pepper flakes, 3 tbs hot pepper paste, ¼ cup of apple vinegar, 1 tbs sesame seeds, 3 green onions, 1 tbs soy sauce
Place the ground sauce into a container and add 1 tbs sesame oil and 1 ts of fermented mustard and mix it.
4. Make naengmyeon broth by mixing 1 cup of Yeolmu kimchi juice and 2 cups of stock.( you can add some vinegar or salt and sugar)
5. Boil the noodles:
Put noodles into boiling water in a big pot (2/3 of the pot is filled with water). The direction of cooking noodles is on the back of the noodle package and it usually takes 3-4 minutes to boil after putting the noodles into the boiling water. You can take some sample to check if the noodles are cooked enough or not.
When the noodles are cooked, move the pot into a kitchen sink and pour cold water and remove some water and pour cold water again. This process helps the noodles get chewier.
Place the noodles into a basket or colander and keep rinsing and draining the noodles until all starch from the noodles are removed.
6. Serve it cold cold!
For mul naengmyeon:
Put some noodles into a serving bowl and fill the broth until the noodles are submerged.
Add crushed ice and place toppings: yeolmu kimchi, a few pieces of pear and cucumber, and a half side of boiled egg on top.
Add 1 ts of mustard
For bibimnaengmyeon:
Put some noodles into a serving bowl.
Add a half cup of icy broth
Place some hot and spicy sauce, yeolmu kimchi, a few pieces of pear and cucumber and a half side of boiled egg on top.
Place 1 cup of ground pork and 2 cups of ground beef into a big bowl.
Add 1 ts of salt, 1 tbs of sesame oil, ½ ts of ground pepper and mix it by hand and push the mixture of meat on the side of the bowl.
Wash asian chives (bu chu), dry well with paper towel or cotton cloth and then chop them to make 2 cups. Add 1 tbs of oil and mix it up. Place it in the big bowl next to the ground meat. tip: oil will coat vegetables so that liquid would not come out from it
Chop 4-5 soaked shiitake mushrooms and half an onion and put it into a small bowl.
Add 1 ts of soy sauce, 1 ts of sugar, and 2 ts of sesame oil the small bowl in the last step. Mix it by hand and then transfer it to the big bowl.
Squeeze half a package of tofu using cotton cloth or paper towel and put it into a small bowl. Then add a pinch of salt, 1 ts of sesame oil and mix it and put it next to chopped chives.
In the big bowl, add 3 cloves of minced garlic and mix all ingredients by hand.
Make Mandu:
For fried mandu:
Place one mandu skin on your left hand and put some filling mixture on the center of the skin.
On the half of the edge of the skin, put a little cold water with your fingertips.
Fold skin in half over filling and press edges together to make ripple shape.
Place some vegetable oil on heated pan and add mandu.
Lower the heat over low medium and cover the lid of the pan to cook.
A few minutes later, open the lid and turn over each mandu. Place 2-3 tbs of water and cover the lid. Cook a few minutes more over low heat.
When the mandu is golden brown, transfer it to a plate.
Serve hot with dipping sauce (equal parts vinegar and soy sauce).
For mandu soup:
In a pot, place 6 cups of water, 8 dried anchovies, the leftover shiitake mushroom stems, left over onion and boil it all over medium heat for 20-30 minutes. If water evaporates, you can add more water.
When the stock is well made, remove the anchovies and onion.
Add 1 ts of fish sauce, 2 cloves of minced garlic and your mandu and cover the lid. (you can add more salt if you want)
When mandu cooks properly, it floats to the surface.
Add 1 beaten egg, 2 sliced green onions: Done!
Serve hot with a bowl of kimchi. (ground pepper is optional)
I made bulgogi and kimchi stir fried rice (Kimchi bokkeumbap) tonight.
Bulgogi recipe:
Slice 1 pound of beef thinly
Mix these ingredients to make marinade sauce:
3 tbs of soy sauce, 3 tbs of water, 2 tbs of sugar, 1 tbs of honey, 1tbs of sesame oil, 1tbs of toasted sesame seeds, 2 chopped green onions, 3 cloves minced garlic, 1 ts of black pepper
Marinate for at least 2 hours and keep it in the refrigerator.
Cook it on a pan or a grill, and transfer to a plate or a cast iron plate to serve.
Sprinkle chopped green onion and toasted sesame seeds
Lettuce, carrot strips, and dipping sauce called ssam Jaang. Ssam jaang recipe is under my grilled beef cooking video recipe. Wrap a piece of bulgogi in lettuce and a little bit of ssam jaang and eat. You can dip carrot or cucumber strips into the ssam jaang.
Kimchi bok keum bap I made this kimchi stir fried rice using left over bulgogi juice in my pan. After transferring bulgogi to my cast iron plate, the bulgogi juice was still left on the pan.
On a heated pan with a little bit of bulgogi juice (no matter even if you don’t have bulgogi juice), put chopped kimchi (1 cup) and stir it and cook about 3 minutes.
Add 1 tbs of hot pepper paste in the kimchi in the pan and 2 bowls of rice and stir it with a spoon
Cook rice. You can use a rice cooker or a stainless pot.
Next, you need to prepare a large platter to put all your ingredients on. Rinse your bean sprouts 3 times and put them in a pot with a cup of water. Add 1 ts of salt and cook for 20 minutes. Drain water and mix it with 1 clove of minced garlic, sesame oil and a pinch of salt. Put it on the platter.
Put your spinach in a pot of boiling water and stir it for a minute. Then rinse it in cold water a few times and squeeze it lightly. Mix it with a pinch of salt, 1 ts of soy sauce, 1 clove of minced garlic and sesame oil. Put it on the platter
Cut 2 small size zucchinis into thin strips, sprinkle them with a pinch of salt, and then mix them together. A few minutes later, sauté them in a pan over high heat. When it’s cooked, it will look a little translucent. Put it on the platter.
You can buy soaked and cooked “kosari” at a Korean grocery store. Prepare about 2 or 3 cups of kosari for this 4 servings of bibimbap. Cut it into pieces 5-7 cm long and sauté in a heated pan with 1 ts of vegetable oil. Stir and add 1 tbs of soy sauce, 1/2 tbs of sugar, and cook them for 1-2 minutes. Add sesame oil. Put it on the platter.
Slice shitake mushrooms thinly and sauté with 1 ts of vegetable oil. Add 2 ts of soy sauce and 1 or 2 ts of sugar and stir it for 2 minutes. Add some sesame oil, and put it on the platter.
On a heated pan, put some oil and 200 grams of ground beef and stir it. Add 4 cloves of minced garlic, 1 tbs of soy sauce, 1/2 tbs of sugar, a little grounded black pepper, and sesame oil.
Put it on the platter.
Cut a carrot into strips, sauté it for 30 seconds and put it on the platter.
prepare eggs with sunny side up.
Put your rice In a big bowl, and attractively display all your vegetables and meat t. Place the sunny side up egg on the center.
Serve it with sesame oil and hot pepper paste.
Lastly, mix it up and eat!
*For those who can’t tolerate spicy sauce. : )
Green onion sauce:
Chop 4 green onions and put them in a small bowl. Pour half cup of soy sauce in there, and add 1 tbs of sesame seeds, 2 ts of sugar, 1 tbs of sesame oil and mix it up.
Egg soup:
Put a can of chicken broth in a pot, as well as 2 cans of water using the can from the chicken broth. Boil it.
Beat 2 eggs with a fork and pour it into the boiling stock while stirring slowly. Put some salt in it if you want.
Chop 2 green onions
Serve your soup in a small bowl and sprinkle some chopped green onion over the top.
"Thank you so much for your advice Maangchi :D"
- Debbie in Kimchi and Kaktugi December 27, 2008
"oh its my plesure actually you are the only one which i have to thank that you show so much nice vds and with details thnks so much and wish you a very very very Happy..."
- Nishu in Black bean paste December 27, 2008
"Debbie, You can skip oysters, but if you don’t add rice flour porridge to your kimchi paste, the paste will be too thick. Then it will be difficult for you to..."
- Maangchi in Kimchi and Kaktugi December 27, 2008
"Nishu, oh, thank you very much. I am going to post the information on the forum then. Thanks a lot."
- Maangchi in Black bean paste December 27, 2008
"lilian Ph, oh, I’m sorry to hear that! Next time, use more water and cook longer. Don’t give up! : )"
- Maangchi in Rice cake (gyungdan) December 27, 2008
"pimky, mostly it’s used in side dishes such as seaplant salads, radish salads…"
- Maangchi in Apple vinegar December 27, 2008
"Hello! Maangchi, I am from Singapore, thank you so much for sharing your Korean recipes… I love love Korean food. I just have a question, I make my kimchi..."
- Debbie in Kimchi and Kaktugi December 27, 2008
"hey maangchi i am not able to send information there so i m sending here adress of korean store in New Delhi ,India {A-Mart korean grocery store} A-1 Mahipalpur..."
- Nishu in Black bean paste December 27, 2008
"i tried making it before but at the end the dough is un-cook in the middle. and it turn out hard"
- lilian Ph. in Rice cake (gyungdan) December 26, 2008
"i want to know what is the use of vinegar in korean food? for example in salad, rice???"
- pimky in Apple vinegar December 26, 2008
