The more important reason for me to like this fish is that it’s tasty!
What else? : ) Yes, it’s also cheap!

Click here to view the embedded video.

When I lived in Korea, I used to buy a huge box of mackerel and split it with my friends. It was usual for us to meet at the wholesale fish market early in the morning to shop for fish! : ) I don’t think I can do it now, but at the time it was a good way to save  money and get very fresh mackerels during mackerel season. Besides, meeting my best friends at the market was a lot of fun.

In this video I only have 1 fish, but if you have a large family, or all your family members love mackerel, prepare several fish following my directions in the video and then wrap each piece of godeungeo in saran wrap. Keep them in the freezer and you can enjoy them for a long time.

Ingredients:
1 mackerel (1¼ pound or about 600 grams), salt, vegetable oil, flour.

Directions:

1. Remove the guts from the fish – watch the video to see how.
2. Rinse the fish in cold water and drain.
3. Cut it in half crosswise.
4. Sprinkle 1½ tbs salt evenly on both sides of each piece of fish.
   *tip: The amount of salt depends on your taste
5. Keep it in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes before cooking.

   

   

Now you can either pan-fry or grill.

Pan-fried mackerel:
Total cooking time: 10-12 minutes

1. Coat both sides of fish with flour.
2. Heat up the pan and add 2 tbs vegetable oil.
3. Cook the fish for 3 minutes over medium high heat, until golden brown.

   

4. Turn it over with a spatula and cook for 7 minutes over low heat.
5. Turn it over and cook for 1-2 more minutes before transferring it to a plate.
6. Serve with rice

   

Grilling:
Total cooking time 17 minutes

1. Preheat the oven and set it broil.
2. Rub some vegetable oil on both sides of the fish.
3. Broil on the bottom rack of the oven for 10-12 minutes.
4. Turn it over and cook 4-5 more minutes, until golden brown.
5. Serve with rice

   
   

One of my friends Al is very funny.
I gave him my triangle kimbap (samgak kimbap) a while ago and asked if he had ever tasted it before.
He said, no. So I told him that he should be careful when he opens it and gave him instructions: “number 1 first peel it off, then number 2.. 3..”
He said, “thanks, no problem.”

Then a few days ago, I met him and asked, “how did you like  my samgak kimbap?”

“It was very easy to open it and it was very delicious!”

Easy? I think it would be difficult. So I asked him again: “The seaweed that looks like black paper is not soggy at all and crispy, right?”

And he said, “Seaweed? I thought it was wrapper so I threw it away!” LOL!  Al ate samgak bap instead of samgak kimbap! (samgak means triangle, bap is steamed rice, and kim is seaweed paper)

BTW, The recipe is here  http://www.maangchi.com/recipe/samgakkimbap.

The kimchijeon made with chopped kimchi is very easy and simple to make. You don’t need any special ingredients as long as you have some kimchi in your fridge. I usually make this style of kimchijeon at home.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The kimchijeon made with whole kimchi leaves is what I would call a kind of upgraded kimchijeon. ; )
Have you ever seen this kind of kimchijeon? My late grandmother used to make it for us. I thought this style of kimchijeon looked very special when I saw her cooking this pancake for the first time. I remember what I thought when I saw her making this pancake: “Hmm, grandma treats the kimchi leaf like a slice of fish? Interesting!” but I never told her what I thought. I just watched what she was doing.

I miss my grandmother now. She would be so proud of me if she knew I was posting her recipe here!

Which recipe would you like better? : )

In the video, I’m showing how to cut the big round chopped kimchi kimchijeon (12 inches wide because my frying pan is 12 inches wide) into bite sized pieces, but as I mentioned in the video, you could serve it right out of the pan without cutting. It’s usually served as family snack that way. Use your chopsticks to tear a piece of the kimchijeon from the plate. It may be difficult to do alone because the rest of the kimchijeon should remain on the plate for everyone else. So one of your family members should grab the pancake with her or his chopsticks so you can tear more easily. Helping each other is very important when you eat this way!
“Let me eat some, I need someone’s help! Grab the corner of this pancake for me, plz!”

If you cut it into bite sized pieces, it’s usually served as a side dish. It’s a popular side dish for lunch box, too.

Enjo~yee the recipe! : )

Kimchijeon made with chopped kimchi

Yield:
2 -4 servings

Ingredients:
Kimchi, onion, salt, sugar, flour, vegetable oil.

Directions:

1. In a bowl, place 1 cup of chopped kimchi, 3 tbs of kimchi juice, 2 tbs chopped onion, ½ ts salt, ½ ts sugar, ½ cup flour (all purpose flour), and ¼ cup of water and mix it well with a spoon.
   
2. Heat up a 12 inch non-stick pan over medium high heat and drizzle about 2 tbs grape seed oil.
3. Place the mixture of kimchi pancake batter on the pan and spread it thinly and evenly with a spoon.
4. Cook it for 1-1 ½ minutes until the bottom gets golden brown and crispy.
5. Turn it over with a spatula or flip it.
   
   
6. Lower the heat to medium and cook for another 1½ minutes.
7. Turn it over one more time and cook for 30 seconds before transfering it to a serving plate.
   *tip: Serve it right out of the pan or cool it down and cut it into bite size to serve.

Kimchi pancake made with whole kimchi leaves

Ingredients:
Kimchi, ground pork, tofu, onion chives (or green onions), onion, salt, black ground pepper, sesame oil, egg, flour, grape seed oil.

Directions:

Prepare kimchi

1. Prepare 6-7 kimchi leaves (6-7 inches long – 16 cm) and ½ cup flour in a plate.
   
2. Coat both sides of each kimchi leaf  in the flour by hand.

Make meat mixture

1. In a small bowl, add 2 tbs ground pork (or beef),  2 tbs tofu (after gently squeezing out excess water with a paper towel), 1 ts chopped onion chives (or green onion), 1 tbs chopped onion, a pinch of salt and black ground pepper, 1 ts of sesame oil, and mix the mixture well with a spoon.
2. Set aside.

Make the pancakes

1. Place 1 egg in a small bowl and add a pinch of salt. Beat it with a fork.
2. Add some of the meat-tofu mix on one side of a kimchi stem. Add some flour on top of the mixture.
3. Put some of the meat-tofu mix on the rest of kimchi leaves.
   
4. Heat up a non-stick pan and add some grape seed oil (or vegetable oil).
5. Coat each kimchi leaf with beaten egg mix and place on the heated pan.
   *tip: the meat mixture should be bottom of the pan
   
6. When the bottom of the kimchi pancake turns golden brown (1 or 1½ minutes), turn it over and cook another minute.
7. Turn it over one more time and cook another 30 seconds before transfering it to a serving plate.
   *tip: you can serve it as it is or cut it into bite size before serving

Click here to view the embedded video.

The first time I tried LA galbi was about 20 years ago when I visited my sister living in LA. She prepared LA galbi for me and my family. I enjoyed the galbi a lot even though I was a little surprised to see the short ribs cut thinly and across the bone.

Regular galbi in Korea is cut differently. It’s cut across and along the bone. Each piece that goes on the grill is one section of the rib, with one piece of bone in it. It’s a lot thicker. LA galbi is only cut across the bone, not along, so each piece on the grill is a longer, thinner strip, and includes 3 pieces of bone.

The marinade is exactly same as authentic Korean galbi.

At the time I never asked why it’s called LA galbi. I assumed it was because it’s popular among Korean immigrants in America.

But writing this recipe I researched the origin of the name, I couldn’t find the real answer anywhere. So I like to become a detective today, investigating LA galbi:

Theory #1:
LA galbi is cut laterally, so the name comes from the first 2 letters of the word “lateral.”

Theory #2:
Korean immigrants living in Los Angeles, California innovated this cut.

In my personal opinion, theory #2 seems more likely. If  #1 theory is true, where is the HO galbi (from the word horizontal)? : )

LA galbi had already existed before I tasted it 20 years ago, but I’ve never seen any other culture use this particular cut of short ribs for BBQ, only Koreans. If your culture also uses this cut, let me know in the comments. But as far as I know, it’s unique.

Last year I had a chance to go a BBQ picnic with about 20 Americans. I brought my marinated LA galbi to let them taste it. Surprisingly, none of them had seen or tasted LA galbi before. They loved my LA galbi and more than 1 year later they’re still talking about how good it was.

But if Koreans invented LA galbi, there must be someone or some group of chefs responsible, somewhere. If you’re the inventor, or know who he or she is, please contact me at maangchi@gmail.com. I want to interview you! You can share the history of LA galbi and the origin of the name, I’m very curious about it.

Serving: 4-6

Ingredients:
3.5 LB (1.5 kg) of LA style beef short ribs, soy sauce, water, honey, garlic, onion, ginger, pear, sesame oil, sesame seeds, black ground pepper, soybean paste, hot pepper paste, green onions, lettuce, perilla leaves, green chili pepper, cucumber, and carrot.

Directions:

1. Trim excess fat from the short ribs and rinse a couple times in cold water.
2. Soak the ribs in cold water for 10-20 minutes to remove the blood.
   

Make marinade:

1. In a large bowl, add 1/3 cup soy sauce, 1/3 cup water or cooking wine, and ¼ cup honey (or 1/3 cup brown sugar).
2. Blend 1 Korean pear (about 2 cups’ worth), 8 cloves of garlic, 1 medium onion, and 1 ts of chopped ginger until it turns into a white creamy liquid.
3. Add it to your soy sauce base.
   *tip: If you can’t find a Korean pear, use 2 ripe bosc pears. I sometimes use bosc pears and they work well.

   

4. Rinse the short ribs in fresh cold water a couple more times to remove any remaining bone fragments. Drain the water.
5. Add the ribs to the marinade and mix it well, by hand.
6. Keep it in the refrigerator for at least an hour. Overnight is better, but an hour is ok if you are short of time.
   

Make dipping sauce:

1. Mix these 2 tbs soy bean paste, 1 tbs of hot pepper paste, 1 stalk of chopped green onion, 1 clove of minced garlic, 1 ts honey, 1 ts of sesame oil, and 1 ts sesame seeds in a small bowl with a spoon.

Prepare vegetables:

1. Rinse and drain lettuce and perilla leaves. Put them on a plate or basket.
2. Cut a cucumber into strips 3 ½ inch to 4 inches in length and ½ inch thick (8-10 cm long x1 ½ cm thick),
3. Chop green chili peppers and slice a few cloves of raw garlic and put them next to green lettuce and perilla leaves.

Let’s cook and eat!

1. Grill, pan fry, or BBQ the ribs. The LA style cut is thin, so they’re cooked much faster than usual ribs. It takes only about 5 minutes!
2. When the both sides are cooked, put them on a serving plate.  Cut the meat part off the bone with scissors into bite sized pieces.
3. Wrap it in a lettuce leaf and a periilla leaf. Add dipping sauce, garlic, and a piece of green chili pepper to the pocket, wrap it up, and put it in your mouth.

You can serve this with rice and kimchi, too.

Enjoy the recipe!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Good quality dried Pollock is made when it’s dried  by the wind from the sea. When it’s totally dried, the fish turns very hard like a wooden stick. : )  When it’s  cooked, the fish meat has a unique taste which is not only chewy, but also soft at the same time! Delicious flavor and taste from the dried pollack meets sweet radish! What will happen? Delicious!

If you make this soup early in the morning for your husband or wife (^^) who are suffering from a severe hangover, you will get lots of credit from him or her.

“Hey, here is some soup for you!  Have some and be yourself again, for God’s sake!”

Some may ask: “Maangchi, I’m sober, can I still have this soup?” lol, of course!  You don’t have to have a hangover to eat this soup. I’m sure I will get emails about this unless I make it clear right now.

Another benefit of this soup is that you can fill your stomach with this and a little bit of rice and it will help you control your weight.

Ingredients (for 2 servings):

2 oz (60 grams) dried shredded Poll0ck, radish, garlic, fish sauce (or salt), water, green onion, sesame oil, egg, and water

Directions:

1. Take 2 oz (60 grams) of dried and shredded Pollock from a package and tear each strip into thin pieces by hand. They should be about 2 ½ inch long (6 cm).
   tip: 1 package of dried shredded pollock that I use in the video weighs 150 grams (about 5 oz), so you could make 5-6 servings with 1 package.
   
   
2. Peel a radish and slice it into small pieces (2 x 3 inch and 1/8 inch thick) to make 2 cups’ worth.
3. Slice 2 stalks of green onions. Mince 4 cloves of garlic. Beat 1 egg in a small bowl with a fork. Set them all aside.
4. Heat up a pot and add 1 tbs sesame oil.
5. Add the dried Pollock strips and the minced garlic to the pot and stir it for 30 seconds with a wooden spoon.
6. Add 7 cups of water and the radish.
7. Close the lid and boil for 20 minutes over high heat.
8. 20 minutes later, open the lid and add 2 tbs fish sauce.
9. Lower the heat to medium-low and simmer for 2-3 minutes.
10. Open the lid and pour the beaten egg into the boiling soup.
    *tip: Don’t stir the soup until the beaten egg is cooked and floating.
11. Turn the heat off and add the green onion.
12. Stir it with a ladle so the green onion is cooked a little by the boiling soup.

Serve with rice and  side dishes including kimchi.

Julgi (줄기)  is “stem” in Korean, so miyeok julgi bokkeum means “sautéed sea plant stems.” Many people like the texture of the miyeok stems because they are chewy and a little crunchy. This side dish is one of the most popular Korean doshirak side dishes.

You can get this main ingredient “miyeok julgi” at a Korean grocery store. It’s usually sold in a package preserved with lots of sea salt.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Ingredients:
Miyeok stems (1 pound package), onion, garlic, mulyeot (or sugar, honey), soy sauce, onion, sesame oil, roasted sesame seeds, and artificial crabmeat (optional).

Directions:

1. Open a package of miyeok julgi (1 pound) with scissors. Rinse it in cold water a couple of  times until all the salt is gone. Soak it in cold water for 10 minutes.
2. Boil about 8 cups of water in a pot.
3. Drain the miyeok julgi and put them into a pot of boiling water.
4. Blanch them for 20 seconds.
5. Rinse in cold water, strain, cut them into bite size pieces, and set aside.
6. Mince 2 cloves of garlic and slice half of a medium-sized onion. Set them aside.
7. Split 3 sticks of crabmeat lengthwise into threads with your fingers. Cut them into bite size pieces and set aside.
   *tip: sometimes, if some miyeok julgi is not shredded thinly,  split thinly with your fingers
8. Heat up a pan over medium high heat. Add some vegetable oil.
9. Add the minced garlic and sliced onion. Stir it with a wooden spoon for 10 seconds, and then add miyeok julgi.
10. Keep stirring for about 3 minutes.
11. Add 1 tbs soy sauce, 2 ts mulyeot, and the crabmeat threads. Sautée another minute.
12. Turn the heat off and add 2 ts of sesame oil.

Transfer to a serving plate and sprinkle some sesame seeds on top.

1. What is your name and where do you live?
   Natalie and I live in Elko, NV

   

2. What do you do and how many family members do you have?
   I used to be a school teacher but I quit to be a stay-at-home mom.  My husband and I have one daughter and she is 2 1/2.
3. How often do you cook Korean food following my recipes?
   2-5 times a month

vegetable pancake

4. What are your favorite Korean dishes? Choose 3, please!
   Shikhye, Bibimbap, Ddukbokkie
   

bibimbap

ddukbokkie (spicy rice cake)

5. What’s your best Korean dish, the one that everybody compliments you on when you make it?
   Kimchi jjigae (kimchi stew)

1. What is your name and where do you live?
My name is Kate and I live in Seattle, Washington.

2. What do you do and how many family members do you have ?
I work as a veterinary assistant for an oncology practice and I live with my boyfriend, Chris.

3. How often do you cook Korean food following my recipes?
I cook Korean food around two times a week often following your recipes.

4. What are your favorite Korean dishes? Choose 3, please!
My favorite Korean dishes are bulgolgi, kimchi chigae, and dolsot bibimbap.

kimchi

bibimbap

soondubujjigae (spicy soft tofu stew)

5. What’s your best Korean dish, the one that everybody compliments you on when you make it?
My panfried, braised tofu (Dubu ganjang jorim) is a big hit, as is my ddukbokkie with our friends.

Kongbiji is soy pulp. When tofu or soy milk is made, soaked soy beans are pureed and then filtered through a sack. The soy pulp left in the sack after being squeezed it looks like a lump of mozzarella!

I use pureed soy beans for this stew instead of soy pulp.

If I’m asked which dish was the most delicious food that my grand mother made, I will say, “kongbiji jjigae!”
I was fascinated with her kongbiji jjigae when I saw and tasted it for the first time in my life!

She bought a lump of kongbiji at a local tofu factory in her town. I used to follow her when she went shopping for soy pulp. When she made this stew for breakfast on a freezing cold day in the winter, it was always in the center of the table.

Whenever  she was ready to serve a meal, she said, “Open the table!” She had several different sizes of tables, stored between the rice chest and the wall. My uncles took out the largest circular wooden table. The table legs were folded, so several tables could be placed in the small gap.

One of my uncles unfolded the legs of the table, another cleaned the table with wet cloth. My uncles set spoons, chopsticks, and side dishes on the table. Then my grand mother scooped rice from her huge iron pot into small individual bowls. My uncles and I used to help her put the bowls on the table. Then the last dish was this sizzling stew! She always brought it at the last minute, so all family members could enjoy it hot, as long as possible.

When I tasted her kongbiji jjigae for the first time, I could not believe  such a delicious dish existed in the world! : )

Click here to view the embedded video.

Yield:
4  servings

Cooking time:
40 minutes

Ingredients:
soy beans, pork, kimchi, green onions, garlic, red chili pepper, green chili pepper, fish sauce, sesame oil, dried shiitake mushrooms, dried anchovies, dried kelp

Directions:

1. Soak ½ cup dried soy beans in cold water overnight (at least 12 hours).
   
2. Rinse and drain the soaked soy beans.  (They will expand to more than 1 cup)
3. Make stock:
   In a thick bottomed pot, add 4 cups water, 8 large dried anchovies (after removing the guts), and 4×5 inch pieces of dried kelp. Bring to a boil for 20 minutes over medium high heat.
4. Take the mushrooms out of the stock and chop them into small pieces. Set aside
5. Blend 1 cup of soaked soybeans with 1 cup of water until it turns creamy.
6. Chop about 4 oz  pork and set aside
7. Chop 1 cup of kimchi
8. Place a heavy bottomed pot (7-8 cups) on the stove and heat it up.
   *tip: It’s usually cooked in either a stone bowl or an earthenware bowl
9. When the stone pot has heated up, drizzle ½ – 1 tbs sesame oil and add 2 cloves of minced garlic. Stir for 10 seconds.
10. Add chopped pork, mushrooms, kimchi, and keep stirring for a few more minutes.
11. Add 2 cups of stock and close the lid.
12. Bring to a boil over medium heat for about 2 minutes.
    *tip: the stew will boil over easily, so watch out! If it boils over, lower the heat!
13. Pour the creamy soybeans into the the pot and lower the heat.
    *tip: do not stir the stew until the soy bean liquid is cooked (about 1 minute)
14. Let it cook with the lid open for about 2 minutes.
15. When it boils over, stir and turn the stew over with a spoon carefully (You will see some bubbles popping up).
16. Add 1 tbs fish sauce (or salt) and stir it with a spoon.
    *tip: You could use saewoojeot (fermented salty shrimp)
17. Add some chopped red chili pepper, green chili pepper, and green onion to the top of the boiling stew before serving

Serve with rice, kimchi, and more side dishes.

Enjoy the recipe!