Pork Kimchi Jjigae 돼지고기 김치찌개 Dweji Gogi Kimchi Jjigae

It has been a LONG time since I have last blogged here. At least I think that it has been a while. A lot has been happening lately, I'm going to graduate in a week and in a month I have my uni entrance exams. Life is getting hectic but fum fun right now so I'm sorry for not posting in a while.

To make up for the lack of posts recently I will post a recipe today and tomorrow. So today I'm going yo start off with a simple but amazing Korean dish called Pork Kimchi Jjigae 돼지고기 김치찌개 (Dweji Gogi Kimchi Jjigae), you much remember the tuna one that I talked about before and even before that the one with tofu. Well if you don't...go and check them out.

Pork kimchi jjiage is the most popular kind of kimchi soup in Korea. The well-fermented kimchi, tender pork, and savory broth taste very delicious together, and is perfect for eating with rice as the temperature continues to drop as Autumn moves into winter.

Because I have posted about kimchi jjigae before, I will move on to the recipe.

Ingredients
2 Generous Cups Well Fermented Kimchi
2 Cups Water
½ Pack Tofu
¼ Cup Kimchi Broth
½ Cup Green Onions
⅛ Cup Red Hot Pepper (Optional)
1 Tbsp Hot Pepper Powder
½ Tbsp Sesame Oil
½ Tbsp Cooking Oil
1 tsp Garlic, Minced
¼ tsp Salt
1 Cup Pork
1 tsp Garlic, Minced
1 tsp Cooking Wine (Optional)
2 Pinches Salt
2 Pinches Black Pepper

Method
1. Chop 1 cup of pork it into bite-sized pieces.
2. Combine all the ingredients for the pork together - minced garlic, cooking wine, salt and black pepper. Marinate for about 10 minutes while you are preparing the other ingredients.
3. Obtain about 2 cups of well-fermented kimchi and chop it into 1cm pieces. It is important to use good kimchi for delicious kimchi soup.
4. Slice ½ pack of tofu into 1cm slices. Cut ½ cup worth of green onions into 1cm lengths. Cut ⅛ cup worth of red hot pepper thinly. If you do not want very spicy soup, skip the hot peppers.
5. Obtain ¼ cup of kimchi broth. Kimchi broth is the liquid from your jar of kimchi. If you do not have enough kimchi juice, add more kimchi, hot pepper powder, and water for this recipe.
6. Fry the marinated pork with ½ Tbsp of sesame oil in a heated pan on medium-high for about 3 minutes.
7. About 3 minutes later, the pork will lose its pink color. Then add the chopped kimchi, 1 Tbsp of hot pepper powder, and ½ Tbsp of cooking oil. Fry for another 3 minutes on medium-high.
8. Add 2 cups of water and ¼ cup of kimchi broth. Once it starts to boil, add 1 tsp of minced garlic and ¼ tsp of salt. Depending on the saltiness of your kimchi, adjust the salt amount for this recipe. Cook covered for about 10 minutes on medium-high.
9. Place the sliced tofu on top of the kimchi and cook covered for another 5 minutes. Occasionally pour some of the soup over the tofu so that the tofu will be flavored.
10. Add the chopped green onions and hot peppers. Cook covered for 2 minutes and then turn off the heat.

And there you have it, a delicious savory pork kimchi jjigae to serve with your rice.





I hope that you liked that recipe, because I absolutely do. It is perfect for the weather now which is not too cold but not too hot.

This will be all from me today, but like I said before I will be posting another recipe tomorrow. Look forward to it. And until next time, stay warm, healthy and happy.

Mandu 만두

Kekeke, as I said yesterday here is another blog post today. I'm relishing the amount of free time I have at the moment after exams. Anyways...I've been thinking about what to blog about today and I figured that it was about time that I had introduced a staple in Korean Cuisine. Mandus (만두) , if you like or enjoy Chinese food then you are likely to have encountered the Chinese equivalent of this before, dumplings.

Now for a bit of a history lesson: Mandu (만두) are believed to have been first brought to Korea by Mongolians in the 14th century during the Goryeo Dynasty. The state religion of Goryeo was Buddhism, which discouraged consumption of meat. Mongolian invasion of Goryeo relaxed the religious prohibition against consuming meat, and mandu was among the newly imported Mongolian dishes that included meat.

Another possibility is that mandu (만두) came to Korea at a much earlier period from the Middle East through the Silk Road. Historians point out many cuisines based on wheat, such as dumplings and noodles originated from Mesopotamia and gradually spread from there. It also spread east along the Silk Road, leaving many versions of mandu throughout Central and East Asia.

But it doesn't really matter how you look at the history, all you need to know is that these things are delicious. They can be eaten a number of different ways, they can be boiled, steamed or fried. They are really versatile and the fillings are up to you, there are probably 100 different ways to eat them. This is also a popular street food that is eaten by Koreans in winter.

I'm going to show you how to make a simple mandu with a pork and beef filling. The recipe is a bit long and it is split into parts, but I'm going to tell you a short cut at the end of it. OK? Let's go

Ingredients:

1 cup of ground pork
2 cups of ground beef
2 cups of chopped boo chu (Asian chives)
4-5 soaked Shiitake mushrooms
half onion
half package of tofu
3 cloves of minced garlic
salt
sugar
sesame oil
vegetable oil
fish sauce
egg
green onion
mandu skins (60 discs) <-- dumpling skins from the Asian grocer will go

Make filling:

1. Place 1 cup of ground pork and 2 cups of ground beef into a big bowl.
2. 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.
3. 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
4. Chop 4-5 soaked shiitake mushrooms and half an onion and put it into a small bowl.
5. 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.
6. 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.
7. In the big bowl, add 3 cloves of minced garlic and mix all ingredients by hand.

Make Mandu:

1. Place one mandu skin on your left hand and put some filling mixture on the center of the skin.
2. On the half of the edge of the skin, put a little cold water with your fingertips.
3. Fold skin in half over filling and press edges together to make ripple shape.


To Fry
1. Place some vegetable oil on heated pan and add mandu.
2. Lower the heat over low medium and cover the lid of the pan to cook.
3. 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.
4. When the mandu is golden brown, transfer it to a plate.
5. Serve hot with dipping sauce (equal parts vinegar and soy sauce).

To Steam

1. Place the mandu in the freezer to harden for an hour or so.

2. Just place a steamer or metal colander over a boiling pot of water.

3. When water starts to boil, place frozen mandu like so. Don't overlap them. They'll stick to each other.

4. Cook about 5-8minutes or until the wrapper has turned a more transparent colour. Tip: If you are unsure you can check the inside and see if the meat is cooked.

5. Serve with soy sauce.

To Boil

1. Bring to the boil a pot of water, enough for the number of mandus you are cooking

2. Carefully place the mandu's in so that you do not scold yourself

3. Cook till the mandu's rise to the surface of the water.

4. Scoop out and serve with soy sauce.

And there you have it, three different ways to eat the same thing. As I had said before to make the dish is actually a bit tedious and long. The cheats way is that you can always go and but frozen mandu from the grocer and just cook them yourself, but isn't it nicer too eat food that you have made by hand?

Anyways, maybe spend this week making a supply of mandu and I'll be back with another recipe next week ^^