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“Fast Korean meals?”

  • 5 posts
  • started 9 months ago by lilmomma

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  1. lilmomma chicago My profile page
    • Aggie
    • 2 posts
    • joined July 31, 2011

    I am a working mom and love to eat Korean food but cannot imagine trying to cook it when I get home. Its much easier for me to cook pastas or something "American" because I can whip it up with out a recipe. Korean food takes much longer or seems more difficult. How can I learn to make Korean food faster or easier so that I can eat it more often? I have to feed 4 people.

    • Posted 9 months ago
  2. powerplantop Louisiana My profile page I'm a fan!!
    • Yorizzang
    • 292 posts
    • joined June 9, 2009

    Think soups. Soups really are a big part of everyday Korean meals. Most Korean soups can be made quickly with minimal prep. http://www.maangchi.com/recipes/soups

    Others like Seolleongtang can be made in a big batch when you have time then frozen in small batches. Just reheat and serve.

    Rice make a big batch then as soon as it is ready freeze it in small batches.

    Rice, soup and two or three side dishes (you can buy them) and in a short time you have a meal.

    • Posted 9 months ago
  3. mokpochica Michigan My profile page I'm a fan!!
    • Yorizzang
    • 76 posts
    • joined January 26, 2009

    If you can make panchan-side dishes on the weekend and have rice on hand, then you just need to make soup. Someone posted in another thread about how they make soup and freeze it, which I think is a fantastic idea. I'm not such a great planner, so I make several of my soups with the "quick and dirty" method. I'm sure they are not as good as maangchi's more well thought out recipes, but they work in a pinch. Some of my stand-bys are sun tubu chigae (I use packaged beef broth and don't use bother with the beef). I also make a quick mi-yuk gook and twayn jang chigae. I can write up my quick and dirty recipes one of these days, but I bet you can come up with your own that work to your taste from maangchi's recipes. Another of maangchi's soups that cooks up fast is the beef/radish soup that is posted with her oi sobaegi recipe.

    • Posted 9 months ago
  4. holyfood chicago My profile page
    • Yorizzang
    • 13 posts
    • joined June 16, 2011

    i like to eat korean meals...its really sweet.

    • Posted 9 months ago
  5. PDKL45 Seoul My profile page
    • Aggie
    • 1 posts
    • joined August 26, 2011

    A lot of people here (Seoul) have a fridge full of tupperware containers full of banchan and then only cook rice and a single soup or other main dish. Both kimchi jigae and dwenjung jigae are quite quick to cook. My favorite is kimchi Jjim or Kimchi Bokkum, though, as both cook quite fast and the kimchi takes on a wonderfully deep flavor when cooked.

    • Posted 8 months ago
  6. Soju123 New York, NY My profile page I'm a fan!!
    • Yorizzang
    • 15 posts
    • joined March 9, 2011

    Prepping food in advance makes things easier, and the more you cook Korean food the faster you will become. While you’re finding your groove, I remember in one of Maangchi’s videos she showed a rectangular block of minced garlic she kept frozen in her fridge in plastic wrap, so whenever she needed to grab a tablespoon of garlic or something, she just had to tear off what she needed. Easier than having to peel garlic and chop it up every time you need it.

    Some fast recipes, besides soups, are bulgogi (you just need to marinate it for a while, but after that you cook it the way you would cook any beef on the stovetop or grill) and grilled beef or pork belly (no marinating required).

    The nice thing about Korean food is that a lot of the recipes call for the same ingredients. So while you’re prepping a green onion salad to go with your grilled pork belly, you can also mince a little bit to throw into a bowl with some egg and water to microwave into a steamed egg side dish. And kimchi and things like cucumber or broccoli pickles keep for weeks in the refrigerator so you don’t have to prep those sides every night; you can just pull it out whenever.

    Also, if you take a weekend or something to make black bean sauce or naengmyun broth, you can cook up some noodles when you get home on a weekday and have dinner ready in the same amount of time you would have pasta ready.

    Happy cooking!

    • Posted 8 months ago

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