Gaji namul is one of the basic Korean vegetable side dishes. I remember what my grandmother told my aunts about gaji namul. She said, “gaji namul should always be mixed with lots of crushed garlic and sesame oil to make it really delicious!” Since I heard it, I have always used garlic generously in my gaji namul.
Cut 3 medium sized Asian eggplants into 2 or 3 pieces. Then cut each piece in half lengthwise
Pour 2 cups of water into a steamer, and place the pieces of eggplant inside. Bring to a boil for 15 minutes over high heat.
Turn the heat off and move the cooked eggplant to a bowl. Set it aside to cool down.
After the eggplant has cooled, drain the liquid from the bottom of the bowl.
Tear each piece of eggplant lengthwise with your fingers, and put the strips into a large bowl.
Add these seasonings to the bowl: 2 cloves of minced garlic, 1 ts of hot pepper flakes, 1 chopped green onion, ½ tbs sesame seeds, 2½ tbs soy sauce, and ½ tbs sesame oil.
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.
Songpyeon is a Korean traditional rice cake to eat on Chuseok, which is celebration of the year’s good harvest. Traditionally it’s made with the rice of the first harvest of the year. Chuseok is August 15 by the lunar calendar, which is usually in the middle of September by the solar calendar. This year it’s September 14th.
Prepare a package of rice powder (2 lbs) usually sold frozen at a Korean grocery store. Just before using it, you must thaw it until the powder is at room temperature.
Put rice powder through a sifter to make the powder fine. Tip: If your rice powder is very fine, you can skip sifting. If your rice powder is coarse, you may have to grind it with a food processor or coffee grinder before sifting.
Prepare 3 stainless bowls and put 1 cup of finely sifted rice powder into the each bowl. (Bowl A, B, and C)
Boil 2 cups of water for your rice dough.
Bowl A (white songpyeon): add a pinch of salt and 3 tbs of boiling water and mix it with a wooden spoon. (it’ll be too hot if you use your hands at first) Knead the rice dough for about 5 minutes. Put the dough into a plastic bag and set it aside.
Bowl B (pink songpyeon): add a pinch of salt, a pinch of strawberry Jell-o powder, and 3 tbs of boiling water. Mix it with a wooden spoon and knead the rice dough for about 5 minutes. Put the dough into a plastic bag and set it aside.
Bowl C (green songpyeon): add a pinch of salt, 1 ts of ssookgaru (mugwort power) and 3.5 tbs boiling water. Mix it with a wooden spoon and knead the rice dough for about 5 minutes. Put the dough into a plastic bag and set it aside. Tip: You will need to add 3.5 tbs of water because of the 1 ts of ssookgaru.
Make the filling:
Roasted sesame seeds powder filling:
Grind ¼ cup of roasted sesame seeds using a coffee grinder for 15-20 seconds.
Transfer the ground sesame powder into a small bowl and mix it with ¼ cup of brown sugar and a pinch of salt. Tip: if you grind too long, the powder will become sticky from the oil in the seeds.
Mung bean powder filling:
Wash and drain ¼ cup of dried and skinned mung beans and put them in a pot with a thick bottom.
Add ¼ cup of water and a pinch of salt to the pot and simmer it for 30 minutes. Tip: Be sure not to burn it - simmer over the lowest heat.
Open the pot and use your wooden spoon to crush the beans into fine powder. Tip: if you make more than ¼ cup of mung bean powder, you may have to use your grinder or food processor to grind it finely.
Transfer the crushed mung bean powder into a small bowl or container and wait until it cools down.
Add ¼ cup of white sugar and mix it. That’s it!
Let’s make songpyeon now!
Break off a piece of rice dough about 1 inch in diameter and roll it between your palms to make a rice ball. Then press your thumb in the center of the ball to make it shaped like a cup.
Fill the cup with either sesame filling or mung bean filling using a small spoon, and seal it using your thumb and index fingers.
Place all the raw rice cakes (songpyeon) on a plate.
Wash your pine needles thoroughly with a little dish soap. Towel dry them.
Put some water (4 cups) into a steamer and boil it. When it starts boiling, place a damp cotton cloth on the bottom of the steamer tray.
Make a bed of pine needles on the wet cloth and put the raw songpyeon on top. Put more pine needles on top of the songpyeon, too. Tip: Pine needles stop the songpyeon from sticking together and give them a good flavor.
Steam it for 25 minutes over medium high heat.
Prepare some cold water in a large bowl, and drop in a little sesame oil.
Dump your steamed songpyeon into to the cold water and quickly remove pine needles. Take them out, put them on a plate to serve.
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!
Oi naengguk is another simple but popular Korean side dish, perfect for summer. I have made so many different kinds of naengguk (cold soup) using different vegetables, but this is my most favorite recipe. The seasoning in this recipe could be changed a little according to your taste, more sugar if you like it sweeter, or more chili peppers if you like it spicier.
Oi naengguk (오이 냉국)
Ingredients: Cucumber, garlic, green chili pepper, red hot chili pepper, green onion , 1½ tbs vinegar, 1 ts salt, 1 ts fish sauce, 1 ts sugar, 1½ cup of cold water (purified or boiled and cooled down), and 6 ice cubes.
Get a bowl ready, one that can hold more than 2 cups. One that is made of glass looks the best.
Put about 1¼ cups of cucumber, cut into thin strips (julienne style), into the bowl.
Mince one clove of garlic, chop up half a green onion, and cut up 1 or 2 ts worth of green chili pepper (depending on how hot you like it). Add them to the cucumber strips in the bowl.
Add 1 ts of salt, 1 ts of fish sauce, 1 ½ tbs of vinegar, 1 ts of sugar to the bowl and mix it well with a spoon.
Pour 1½ cup of cold water (purified or boiled and cooled down) to the bowl and mix it.
Add 6 ice cubes.
Cut some red hot chili pepper to garnish and sprinkle on the top of the soup.
Serve it with rice.
You can also make naengguk with miyuk (sea plant), or egg plant, instead of cucumber. Or you can make it with mi yuk (sea plant) together with cucumber, too. You can try some different combinations to see what you like the best.
My best friend’s mother–in-law had major surgery that caused her to stay at the hospital for months. When she got out of the hospital, my friend asked, “Mom, what do you feel like eating now that you can eat any food that you want? I would like to make your favorite food, something you couldn’t eat for months!”
The mother-in-law said, “I don’t have any food that I feel like at the moment except for oi naengguk”. My friend expected her mother–in-law to say that she wanted some expensive gourmet food, but all she wanted was simple “oi naengguk”!
After meeting my friend on the day, what do you think I did when I came back home? Haha, I made a huge bowl of oi naengguk and enjoyed it, thinking about the mother-in-law. Whenever I eat oi naengguk, it reminds me of my friend’s mother-in-law.
Yes, we don’t always have to have expensive luxurious gourmet food, sometimes very humble food makes our lives happy.
I heard that there is a huge Korean community in Flushing, so I went there the other day. It took about 40 minutes to ride the subway from Manhattan.
I was so excited about visiting there that my heart started beating before getting there even on the subway. Yes, it was surprising scene! I felt like walking around somewhere in Korea!
I bought some items that I can’t find easily in midtown Manhattan such as a long broom, cheap hangers, and I found them! Then of course I had to stop by the Korean grocery store, Han Arum mart.
I found a good bakery store “Koryudang” to order my favorite snack patbingsu (shaved ice with sweet red bean and fruits). Almost all of customers were Koreans. I used to make it for my children when they were young. When they came home from school in hot summer afternoon, I used to be waiting for them with ready made patbingsu. Once they came home, I gave it to them and they were of course happy. So when I order potbingsu for myself, I can’t help thinking about my children and feel a little strange.
On the way back home to take the subway, I saw a woman sitting on the sidewalk selling so many different kinds of Korean vegetables that she grew in her home: lettuce, green chili pepper, cucumber, minari, small, cute pumpkins (for doen jang jjigae), and sesame leaves! I asked, “How much is it for all the “kkaennip” ? She paused some seconds and seemed busy counting quietly. She said, “20 dollars”. I said, “How about 15 dollars? I will make kimchi with them”. She paused again and “sure!” :) I know I should be generous to the seller. How dare I could ask for discount! But, it’s my life time bargain habit that I learned from my own mother.
When I came home, I made sesame leaves jang ah jji instead of making kkaennip kimchi because making jang ah jji is easier than making kimchi.
For those who may be interested in learning how to make this jang ah jji, I am posting my recipe here with pictures.
1) Wash both sides of kkaennip thoroughly and drain them. Put them in a container or jar.
2) In a large skillet, add 5 cups of water, ¼ cup salt, 1 cup of sugar, 1 cup of soy sauce, and ½ cup of vinegar and boil it.
3) When the mixture of the liquid boils, pour it carefully, slowly, and evenly into the container where fresh kkaennip is placed.
4) Press it down with a spoon to help the sesame leaves get submerged. Then put something heavy on top to keep them down in the mixture
5) Close the lid of the container and let it sit for about 12 hours. (You can turn over to salt evenly)
6) Next day, when you open the lid, you will see lots of liquid came out from the leaves
7) Drain the salty juice into a pot and boil it for about 20 minutes. (Don’t boil the salted sesame leaves, leave them in the container without much liquid.
8) The amount of salty liquid will get less than before. Cool it down.
9) Switch the salted sesame leaves into a smaller container that fits them, then pour the cooled down salty juice over them.
That’s all!
Eat it with rice as part of your meal. First, get a spoonful of rice…
Then wrap a leaf around it and put it in your mouth!
Yeolmu mul kimchi is usually eaten in summer in Korea. Making Bibimbap with barley rice, doenjang jjigae, yeolmu kimchi, hot pepper paste and sesame oil is one of the most popular and delicious dinners in hot summer. My mouth is watering while writing this explanation!
Gamja jorim (potato side dish) used to be my regular lunch box menu. My mother sometimes added small dried anchovies and carrot, and sometimes she added ham cut into dice like potato. I used to make this all the time as my children’s lunch box side dish, too.
Ingredients:
2-3 medium sized potatoes, onion, 2 cloves garlic, soy sauce, 1 tbs corn syrup, 1 tbs sugar, half cup of water.
Peel the potatoes, wash, and cut them into 1 inch dice and make 2 cups.
Rinse the potato using colander in running water to remove starch.
Cut half onion into bite sized pieces.
Heat the pan and add 1-2 tbs olive oil and pour the potato into the pan.
Add 2 cloves of minced garlic and sauté it until the potato look a little translucent, then add the onion and keep stirring it.
Add half cup of water into the pan, 2 tbs – 2½ tbs soy sauce (depends on your taste), 1 tbs of sugar, 1 tbs of corn syrup and mix it and simmer it over medium heat for about 10 minutes until the liquid is evaporated.Tip: Keep checking and stirring not to burn it and to cook evenly, if it needs more water, add some.
When the potato is cooked, turn off the stove and add 1 tbs of sesame oil and sprinkle a pinch of sesame seeds.
Potato with mushroom
(”gamjachae bokkeum”)
This potato dish can be made only using potato. I found the taste turns out very good when white oyster mushroom is added. By using white oyster mushroom, this color of dish is still clean white. If you don’t have mushrooms, just use potato as it is.
Ingredients:
1 medium size of potatoes, 2 cloves garlic, 2 white oyster mushrooms, half onion, ½ ts to1 ts of salt, 1 to 2 tbs olive oil, 1 tbs sesame oil, 4 to 5 tbs of water.
Tip: If you only use potatoes, use 2 medium size potatoes and ½ cup of water.
Peel the potatoes and wash and cut them into julienne strips.
Wash the potato in running water using a colander to remove starch.
Cut the mushrooms into julienne strips.
Slice the onion and mince 2 cloves of garlic.
In a heated pan, add 2 tbs of olive oil and add the potato strips. Stir it with a wooden spoon for 1 minute.
Add 4-5 tbs water and lower the heat over lower heat to cook and stir it.
Cover the lid of the pan and simmer it for a few minutes.
Open the lid and add garlic and the mushroom strips and sauté until potato strips are fully cooked.
Add ½ ts to1 ts of salt (depends on your taste), 1 tbs of sesame oil and turn off the heat.
Here is the recipe for how to make red bean paste.
In a pot, place 1 cup of washed red beans and 4 cups of water and heat it over high heat for 10 minutes.
Lower the heat to low medium and simmer for 50 minutes.
Check if the beans are cooked fully. Remove extra water from the beans and crush them with a wooden spoon or use your food processor to grind it.
Add 1 cup of brown sugar, 1 ts of salt, 1 ts of cinnamon powder into the red bean paste and set it aside.
Put the red bean paste in a pot.
Pour some water (about 4- 5 cups) and 1 cup of sugar (depends on your taste) and boil it.
Mix one cup of sweet rice powder, a pinch of salt and 1 tbs of sugar in a bowl.
Add 1/2 cup-1 cup of hot water in “3″ and mix it with a spoon first and fold it by hand to make dough. (The amount of hot water varies depending on the dryness of sweet rice powder you use, so first use 1/2 cup of hot water to make your dough and put more hot water while kneading the dough)
Make small rice balls with the dough about 0.5 cm diameter.
When the red bean soup boils, add the rice balls and cook it.
Keep stirring the soup and it will get thicker.
Ladle the soup into a bowl and add a few pine nuts on top and sprinkle some cinnamon powder and serve it.
Rice cake is very familiar food for Koreans. Whenever special occasions come, the first thing my mother and grand mother planned was to make rice cake. However these days people are more likely buying rice cake rather than making their own. I am going to make gyung dan, rice cake balls and show you it can be a good gift.
In a pot, place 1 cup of washed red beans and 4 cups of water and heat it over high heat for 10 minutes.
Lower the heat to low medium and simmer for 50 minutes.
Check if the beans are cooked fully. Remove extra water from the beans and crush them with a wooden spoon.
Add 1 cup of brown sugar, 1 ts of salt, 1 ts of cinnamon powder into the red bean paste and set it aside.
Step 2:
Prepare 3 bowls where 3 different kinds of powder will be placed for the rice cake balls
Black sesame seeds:
Rinse and drain ½ cup of black sesame seeds in running water using a strainer.
Heat a pan over medium heat and pour in the sesame seeds.
Cook the sesame seeds by stirring with a wooden spoon.
The sesame seeds will pop, then lower the heat and keep stirring until they are crispy. (5- 10 minutes)
When the sesame seeds cool down, grind them with a coffee grinder.
Transfer the sesame seeds powder to a bowl and add 2 tbs sugar and a pinch of salt and mix it.
Put ½ cup of toasted soybean powder (kong gaa ru in Korean) in a bowl and add 2
tbs of sugar and a pinch of salt and mix it.
Put ½ cup of mugwort powder (ssook gaa ru in Korean) in a bowl and add 2
tbs of sugar and a pinch of salt and mix it
Step 3:
Make rice cake dough.
In a bowl, place 2 cups of sweet rice powder, 2 tbs of sugar, 1 ts of salt.
Pour 2/3 cup of hot water little by little while you are mixing it with a spoon
Mix the dough by hand. *tips: if you feel the dough is too wet, add some plain flour
Put the rice cake dough into a plastic bag and set it aside
Step 4: In a big pot, place a lot of water and boil it
Let’s make rice cake!
Take the rice cake dough out from the plastic bag and place it on the cutting board. Tip: To protect the dough from being stuck to the board, sprinkle some plain flour before placing the rich cake dough.
Divide the dough into 2 and roll each one to make cylinder shape and cut it into 18-20 pieces.
Roll each piece of rice dough with your hands and make a hole in the middle of the ball with your thumb. Then turn the ball into a cup.
Put the bean paste into the middle.
Close it tightly and place it on a plate. Tip: While you are making rice balls, the rest of dough may get dried, so cover them with wet cloth or paper towel.
Carefully put all the rice cake balls into boiling water. When the rice cake balls are cooked, they float. It will take about 3 -5 minutes until they float.
Prepare lots of cold water in a big bowl.
Put the cooked rice balls into cold water and drain them.
Roll the cooked rice balls in the 3 different colors of powder and transfer them to a plate.
"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
