This week our Korean food fan is Monica Santiago from Carmel, Indiana. The first Korean food she ever tasted was grilled pork belly (aka samgyeopsal-gui) at a Korean restaurant in her area. She loved it along with the many side dishes (banchan) that the restaurant served with it. She’s been a big fan of Korean food ever since and now she makes Korean food at home on a regular basis. All the dishes she made look delicious!

Nice meeting you, Monica!
Monica Santiago

Monica says her boyfriend also loves Korean food.

What is your name and where do you live?
My name is Monica Santiago and I live in Carmel, Indiana

Tell me about the first time you ever tasted Korean food. Where were you, and what did you eat?
The first time I had Korean food was at this restaurant called Mama’s Korean restaurant here in Indiana. The dish that I had was samgyeopsal gui with a lot of banchan and from that moment on I fell in love with Korean food.

How often do you cook Korean food?
What do I say? Hmm… I think we eat Korean food twice a week! Or if I don’t cook a Korean dish for the week I make sure we have some banchan in our fridge. I always follow your recipes every time I cook.

What are your 3 favorite Korean dishes?
My favorite Korean dishes are ojinggeo bokkeum, maeuntang, and dwaeji bulgogi!

What’s your best Korean dish, the one that everybody compliments you on?
Everytime I make dwaeji bulgogi with ssamjang I always get praised! I give my boyfriend and my family a choice of eating it with rice, wrapping it in lettuce leaves or put it on their tacos!

Today I got a little creative and made 3 different kinds of hoddeok. I made one with brown sugar, cinnamon and sesame seeds, a cheese hotteok and my invention, beef bulgogi hoddeok! So good

I got a little creative and made 3 different kinds of hotteok. I made one with brown sugar, cinnamon and sesame seeds, a cheese hotteok and my invention, beef bulgogi hoddeok! So good!

My favorite banchan, gaji namul

My favorite banchan, gaji namul

This one I got creative! It's a beef burger with a Korean twist! The beef patty had doenjang, and gochujang. For the sauce I mixed mayo and kimchi juice and I also made gochujang ketchup

This one I got creative! It’s a beef burger with a Korean twist! The beef patty had doenjang, and gochujang. For the sauce I mixed mayo and kimchi juice and I also made gochujang ketchup!

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