Hobakjae jeon (Zucchini 전)

Since I started making jeon around 10 years ago now it would seem, I started with this basic method that used flour and water, then went on to something fancy with this method that used ice water and cake flour.  Since then I have gone to many different variations - mix of rice/corn/tapioca/potato flour with iced water, baking powder, with/without egg, etc. Nothing worked! Of course they recommend the pre-made Korean pancake mix, which I have no doubt will work. But I don't want to end up with yet another bag of something sitting in my pantry that I will only use once in a long while.

The key issues were:

1) The dough is too doughy and won't crisp up.

2) It is too oily and uses too much oil.

3) It falls apart.

Until I came across this receipe by my Korean Kitchen which uses only flour and get this - no liquid! Her method involves very lightly salting the veg so that the liquid comes out, and it's this liquid that's used to bind the ingredients. And then we have Marion's recipe that has all the works - baking powder, mix of flours and egg and only fries for 2 mins per side. Altho I haven't tried this exact receipe, I have tried enough variations to know this won't work. However, it gave me an idea.

I have watched many videos of roadside/market hawkers in Korea making 전 and I noticed one thing - they had just barely enough flour to stick everything together, or the batter was very liquidy. Many of them also seemed to only coat on egg (with their hands!) on the top side while the 전 was in the pan(!) rather than putting it in the batter. If they were making chive pancakes, they'd even arrange the chives on the pan directly to char, then pour on the liquid batter on top and let it flow in between the chives to adhere them. I tried this method and it did kinda work in terms of adhering the ingredients except my cakey batter was the issue. It made me think - in the past, it's the egg + flour that made the batter go cakey and not crispy. So egg was the issue. However when I omitted the egg, the thin batter wasn't enough to glue the bits together, so egg is the binder. Perhaps these 아줌마 were on to something. 

So this time I tried the Korean Kitchen recipe and as expected, it fell apart on my first try. There wasn't enough liquid released by the salted veg to bind the veg. However after I smeared on the egg on the top side but it still fell apart. So I put it into the batter and then this time it wasn't too eggy. Secondly, my first 전 fell apart and was super oily and stuck to the pan because of the wrong oil temp. But by my third and final 전 when my pan was correctly warmed up and it had developed a 'non-stick' quality, the oil was able to go under the pancake to prevent it from sticking rather than into the veg to make it oily (and yet still stick to the pan). 

So in short, it's ALL about proportions and controlling the temperature. Many recipes give you exact measurements, which are difficult because I don't want to end up with a quarter of a carrot or whatever left. So my top tips for a successful 전 are: 

1) cutting ingredients up as thinly/small as possible so that they can stick. Try to keep them the same shape eg all matchsticks or all round pieces. Using different shapes eg prawn bits with matchstick veg is a bad idea.

2) flour is of no consequence. 

3) Liquid is the enemy of binding. Egg is inevitable but you can't have TOO much egg otherwise it just becomes an omelette, which isn't crispy.

4) Utilise my inner 아줌마 that I now am and own it, and don't use exact proportions, but work with what I have on hand and my intuitive feel.

Ingredients (in the vein of Korean Kitchen)

Matchstick or long veg seem to work the best - 2 parts zucchini to 1 part carrot

3 tbsp seafood - she used rehydrated shrimp and then chopped finely for umami but recommended real prawns chopped chunkily, which I used.

¼ tsp salt

2 eggs

½C flour (not all may be used)

Method

1. Remove the skin of veg and chop all the veg finely into matchsticks.

2. Salt with the ¼ tsp salt, mix thoroughly and set aside for at least 20 minutes for the water to exude.

3. Add the flour - just enough such that all the veg is coated and the liquid exuded helps it to adhere to the veg and still has about 1 to 2 tbsp of dry flour leftover. Really 'knead' it into the veg so that the flour adheres to the individual veg pieces.

4. Crack in 1 egg and mix well so that the egg is properly mixed with the flour (again, the adhesion) rather than just egg sitting on top of the flour. The excess dry flour here sld be used up and there sld be minimal liquid batter visible. Crack open the 2nd egg and beat it but set aside. If there isn't enough liquid to bind the batter, add additional egg until it achieves the state described.

5. Warm up the pan. Once hot, add enough oil to cover about ¾ of the pan (not too much otherwise it splashes, which is dangerous! Allow the oil to smoke slightly (but not too much otherwise the oil is too hot). Add on a veg to test - if it sizzles, it's ready. 

6. Pour on 1 scoop of mixture then flatten, then the 2nd scoop next to it. Then with the spatula, work it to combine into 1 pancake and then shape it at the edges. This works better than pouring on a huge mound of 2 scoops then flattening, which has the effect of causing the veg to absorb the oil and then the pancake adheres to the pan. 

7. Once the pancake seems slightly set, work under the pancake to lift it so that it doesn't stick to the pan. Add more oil around the edges if necessary to achieve this (it sld sizzle, otherwise your pan is too cool). At this point, it sld slide easily around the pan.

8. When it can slide around, time to flip. Carefully flip with 2 spatula or if you're brave enough, flip in one go! (preferably pour away the excess oil first to prevent splatter, flip the return the oil to the pan) Continue rotating the pan and sliding the pancake, and adding more oil around the edges as required.

9. The whole process easily takes 20 minutes for a really crispy pancake. Patience is required - keep it on medium heat as high heat will scorch the pancake before it's ready and too low heat will either take forever, cause the oil the absorb into the jeon, or cause the pancake to stick to the pan. Then repeat until all the batter is used up.

10. Drain on a wire rack and serve ASAP as they go soggy really fast.

I have no pictures because it just tastes so good!

AF Goguma (Korean sweet potato)

From ItsHelenMelon.

1. Find small thin shaped potatoes, they are sweeter. Chop off both ends. Slit skin in the centre (optional) for easy removal later.

2. Top rack at 190 deg C for 30 mins.

3. Remove and put in ice bath for 2 minutes.

4. Increase temp to 220 deg C and put in for final 30 mins. Even without slitting the skin, it should peel right off.

Recipe feedback

It works! I followed exactly and it does work. The skin didn't slip off as quickly as I expected but otherwise it works well.

Kimchi pancake

I have tried so many kimichi pancakes and they always fail. Either too doughy (if using only all purpose flour) or they fall apart. After my thought, I think I finally realised it's because many of the recipes omit egg! Secondly, even if there is no egg (like you see real ahjumohni doing), they will put the veg on the pan, then pour on the flour batter, then flip and pour on the egg! The egg really is the glue! Finally, I see many non-Koreans put in the different veg (kimchi, scallions, etc) and then pour on dry flour, (egg), liquid, etc all separately. I tend to do that out of laziness but my pancake falls apart! I had a sudden epiphany that maybe I really need to be mixing everything together first and lightly whisking to activate the gluten in the flour, and the egg as the glue!

So here is a true Korean chef's recipe - Chris Cho's kimchi pancake. Not just a random non-Korean blogger or K-influencer whose mom/dad cooked.

Ingredients

1/2C flour

1/2C potato starch

1/3C water

1/3C kimchi juice

3-4 tsp garlic

3-4 tsp sesame oil

Salt and pepper to taste

1 egg

½ onion

2 scallion (lengthways)

2-3 C drained kimchi, chopped

1/2C pork, thinly slicked

Method

1. Mix all the ingredients except the egg and beat with a chopstick. Taste the batter to check seasoning. Adjust seasoning if required. Batter will be thick.

2. Add the egg and beat in.

3. Add all the ingredients in and mix the batter. 

4. Check the consistency (see the video) and adjust with more flour and potato starch if required. When using your finger to lift the batter out of the bowl, it sticks to the finger and barely falls off.

5. High heat, heat up pan till hot. Splash of oil. Pour on the batter and shape edges within first 30 seconds (otherwise it can't be re-shaped).

6. 2 minute high heat, flip and 2 more mins on high heat. Turn down heat to medium and flip for 2 minutes, then flip again for 2 minutes.

7. Along the way, press down with spatula to flatten out. Splash oil around the edges.

8. Invert out onto chopping board and chop up into squares.

Soya sauce Korean rice cakes

I have leftover Korean rice cakes and don't want to eat them as tteokbokki again. Inspired by the following, I decided to make the soya sauce version - Gungjang tteokbokki 궁중떡볶이 which is supposed to originated as royal court food.

Some recipes cook the garaetteok or tteokbokki tteok first and season with soya and oil before stir frying. Then like japchae where it's tossed like a salad, each veg and meat are cooked separately, everything goes into a bowl and tossed with the sauce. Other recipes just soak the garaetteok/tteokbokki tteok for 20 to 30 minutes in cold water, then stir fry with everything. Being lazy, I chose the later method.

Dry fried spicy version 

1. Beyond Kimchee Gireum Tteokbokki using only chilli flakes for spice.

2. Beyond Kimchi - uses onion, cabbage, chives, and gochugaru

Non-spicy

1. A Day in the Kitchen - uses beef, garlic, onion, carrot, cabbage

2. KimchiMari - uses beef, mushroom, onion, carrot. Garnish with honey in addition.

3. Korean Bapsang - uses beef, mushroom, zucchini, carrot

Ingredients for rice cakes

Rice cake sauce

500g rice cakes, cylindrical 가래떡

1 tbsp soya sauce

1 tbsp sesame seed oil

Method - cooking rice cakes

1. For dry and frozen rice cakes, soak in room temp water for 30 minutes then drain.

2. For fresh and frozen rice cakes, cook in boiling water until they float. Drain.

3. If cooking in water first, marinate with a bit of the rice cake sauce and sesame oil otherwise the rice cakes will stick together.

4. I decided to cook the rice cakes in the pan (see below).

Ingredients 

Marinade

300 beef, sliced into thin strips

3 tbsp soya sauce

1 tbsp mirin or cooking wine

1 tbsp sugar (if not using mirin)

1 tbsp sesame seed oil

½ grated Korean pear

1 tsp sesame seeds (garnish)

Dash of pepper

1 grated garlic clove

Handful of brown or oyster mushrooms (any type). 

Rehydrated shitake mushrooms in ⅓ C water (reserve the water)

1 carrot, sliced into matchsticks

1 to 2 zucchini, sliced

¼ napa cabbage, shredded

½ white onion, sliced

For garnish: spring onions, 1 tsp sesame seeds, pine nuts and more sesame seed oil

Method

1. Slice the drained beef into matchsticks. Marinade in 1 tbsp of sauce for minimum 20 minutes or best overnight.

2. Prepare the veg.

3. In a frying pan on medium heat, add oil and sear the beef until ¾ cook. Remove from heat. 

4. Add more oil and fry the vegetables in turn until cooked. Add 1 tbsp of the rice cake marinade and toss. Remove from heat.

5. Add the rice cakes and the mushroom water, and any leftover marinade sauce. Add just enough liquid to allow rice cakes be ¾ submerged so it can cook (if not previously cooked). Turn down heat and allow to cook uncovered for approximately 5 minutes or until the rice cakes are soft, turning the rice cakes occasionally. Most of the liquid should have evaporated.

6. Add back the veg, toss to combine. Add back the beef, toss to combine.

7. Garnish with a drizzle more of honey if desired, pine nuts, sesame seeds and spring onions.

Buchujeon (Garlic chives pancake)

I have tried various recipes for jeon but have never really succeeded in keeping the jeon crispy unless I used a lot of oil. For the first time ever, I have garlic chives. Based on Korean Bapseng, I added bacon. Although she uses ready made batter, she also suggests a batter with ice cold water.

Unfortunately was cooking indoors so couldn't crisp up the jeon. But the recipe works!

Ingredients

¾ C flour

2 tbsp corn starch

2 tbsp rice flour

½ tsp salt

1C icy cold water

¼ medium onion

1 tbsp light soya sauce

3 ounces garlic chives

½ tbsp gochujang (if not using bacon, use 1 tbsp for spicy finish)

4 slices of bacon, sliced

Dipping sauce

1 tbsp soya sauce

1 tsp vinegar

½ tsp sugar

pinch black pepper

Method

1. Prepare the chives by cutting into 2 inch long batons. Slice the onions.

2. Prepare the batter. It should be thin.

3. Add oil. Fry the veg until charred.

4. Pour on the batter. Make 1 big pancake or smaller ones. Add more oil to the sides if required. Press down to char. Flip and repeat 2 to 3 mins each side.

5. Serve immediately.

Easy kimchi tips

Since I've learnt how to make Maangchi's mak kimchi back in 2012, I've been using the same trusted recipe.

Recently however I've come across different Korean bloggers who all have their own take on easy kimchi and I've picked up a few tips. Korean bapsang comes to mind. This is her full pogi kimchi recipe.

Without going into the full recipe, here are some tips that I've learnt. Roughly 1 baechu cabbage will equate to about 3 medium storage ziploc bags of kimchi.

- remove the green leaves. Make a side dish by dweonjang banchan by Modern Pepper (된장 배추 반찬) with the leaves.

- always add 1 tbsp of sugar!

- use either pear or apple to make it slightly sweet, even just 1 is enough.

- MUST use fish sauce to help with the fermentation or soya sauce if lacking fish sauce. Also, fermented shrimp helps (chincalok!)

- Soaking for 6 hours in 1.5 C of salt to enough water to cover the kimchi is very important. I usually soak for only 3 to 4 hours but the additional 2 hours really made the stems of the cabbage bendable and the cabbage leaf became sweet!

- If sugar is added, it takes away the sting and spiciness of gochugaru. Usually I add about ½ C of gochugaru but this one can take about ¾ C

- Blending the pear or apple with the 8 cloves of garlic, thumb sized ginger, and 2 stalks of scallion makes a huge difference! The machiko paste is no longer needed.

- To wash out the mixing container used to mix the gochugaru with the spice sauce, use ½ C water and add pour that back into the bags of kimchi. That will help keep the kimchi under the braising liquid - UPDATE: This produces a very bland tasting kimchi in a few weeks so not recommended if keeping the kimchi rather than eating it fresh

- Must put the kimchi in plastic bags so it doesn't stain the plastic containers.

- Leave a slight air gap otherwise when it ferments and releases gas, it's going to over flow! Preferably, burp the bags!

- Leave to ferment for at least 2 days in winter (1 day in summer) before putting in the fridge. Once in the fridge, leave for another 2 weeks otherwise it tastes like rotten veg!

IP Korean Sauna eggs

Korean sauna eggs 찜질방 달걀 are different to Japanese onsen eggs because they are more like roasted eggs. There are several recipes on the web but I've adapted this from Amy+Jacky who did extensive testing, and the 'regular' recipe by Beyond Kimchee and SparklestoSprinkles who recommend the 2-2-2 recipe (2 tsp of salt, 2 cups of water, IP for 2 hours).

1. Eggs must be room temp.

2. Lay eggs on the bottom of the IP in a single layer. Trivet isn't required. Ensure eggs fit in a single layer, do not stack. (fits around 8 to 10 eggs)

3. Add 2 cups of water and 2 tsp of salt. (Amy+Jacky claim that salt doesn't make a difference although their own experiment shows that it improves the brown colour).

4. Seal the pot and cook on Manual at High Pressure for minimum of 2 hours. Ideal texture and taste will be 3 to 3.5 hours. At 3.5 hours, the egg yolk becomes like salted egg. Anything longer is a waste of time (see Amy+Jacky's experiment)

5. Use quick release. Transfer immediately to ice water and let it sit for about 5 to 10 minutes. 

6. Peel. This should be really easy! Serve hot or cold. If keeping in the fridge for more than a day, recommend to store in airtight container and do not peel the eggs.

IP Korean ginseng chicken

Love this chicken and so easy to make.

Sources: Burning Kitchen, Maangchi, and Korean Bapseng all have slightly different versions of making 삼계탕.

Ingredients

1 small whole chicken (under 2kg)

6 garlic cloves

3 to 4 red dates

2 stalks spring onion

3 slices ginger

3 tbsp glutinous rice, soaked for 1 hour and then drained

1 ginseng, preferably fresh

1 litre chicken stock (optional)

Salt and pepper to taste or dipping sauce

Method

1. Prepare the chicken but adding the ginseng and glutinous rice to the cavity. Use toothpicks to secure the cavity. Alternatively, tie the legs together across the cavity. Alternatively, cut a slit in the backslide and slip one drumstick into the slit across the cavity (see Bapseng video).

2. Any leftover glutinous rice and placed into a separate stock bag.

3. Place the chicken into the pot breast side down and the remaining ingredients to the pot. Pour the chicken stock in and top up with water if necessary until the chicken is ⅔ covered.

4. Seal the pot and bring to pressure, 40 mins with natural release. Alternatively, boil on the stove top for 40 to 60 minutes on medium heat or 4 hrs on bare simmer, turning halfway.

5. Serve with salt and pepper added to soup for taste. For the chicken meat, serve with salt and pepper or make the dipping sauce (see Maangchi).

Chocolate castella cake

Since this post that compares the different type of castella cakes, I have tried the standard recipe here. It came out mostly successful but the bottom was gummy. Y suggested that it was because my oil hadn't been heated up high enough, and I think it was because I didn't follow the steps correctly. 

I was making halfway when the electricity went out and so stalled after the flour had been beaten into the yolk. Luckily no ill effect.

That was a recipe for 7 eggs in a 8" square pan. I looked around and most other recipes were either 5 or 6 eggs in the same size and shape pan. I decided to adapt 3 recipes for this attempt, mostly based on how spongey the final product looked in the video. The methods were mostly the same except one added the egg yolks before milk, another added the milk before the yolks, and a third didn't even have any yolks. The baking temps and timings were mostly consistent at 150 deg C but I thought I'd increase by another 2 minutes given my experience with uncooked bottom the last time.

Sources: Laura's Kitchen, Apron, and Table Diary. This recipe largely follows the ingredients from Apron but the methods from Laura's Kitchen and Table Diary.

Ingredients (20cm or 8 inch square tin)

6 eggs, separated

70ml oil

28g cocoa powder

60g cake flour

90ml fresh milk, fridge cold

½ tsp vanilla

¼ tsp salt

75g sugar

splash of lemon juice

Method

1. Separate the eggs when cold. If possible, put the egg whites back into the fridge to chill.

2. Prepare the tin by lining outside with aluminium foil and the inside with parchment.

3. Bring the oil up to between 70 to 80 deg C. I found that heating it for about 1 minute on high already brought it up to 100 deg C (!) so heat on low fire for approx a minute and check with a thermometer. Don't guess cos you won't guess correctly!

4. Sift the flour, cocoa powder, and salt into the oil. Mix well with a spatula.

5. Add half of the cold mix and mix, follow by the other half. Ensure no lumps remain. The mixture may be claggy at this point, that's normal.

6. Add one egg yolk at a time and combine well. At the end of the all the yolks, the mixture should be silky smooth. Set aside.

7. At speed 2, beat the egg whites with lemon juice until foamy. Add the sugar in 3 batches and turn up to speed 4. Once all the sugar has been added, increase the speed to between 6 to 8. Just before it reaches soft peaks stage, turn down to speed and beat for 1 minute to remove the big air bubbles.

8. Add ⅓ of the meringue into the chocolate batter. You can be rather rough and not worry about the air as  the point at this stage is to lighten the chocolate batter and to mix it well. 

9. Add the next ⅓ of the meringue and use either a whisk or spatula to fold well, taking slightly more care not to knock out all the air.

10. Pour the batter back into the remaining ⅓ of meringue and this time, slowly but carefully fold until no more white streaks remain.

11. Pour into the prepared tin. Drop the tin onto the countertop from about 5 cm heigh to knock out the air bubbles.

12. Place the tin into a larger tin, and pour hot water into the larger tin. (I didn't bother with this step because I had put the larger tin and room temp water in the tin to pre-heat in the oven, and sat a rack on the larger tin. So when the oven was sufficiently hot, I put the smaller tin on top of the rack of the larger tin) Ensure that your foil is above the water line so that no water goes into the cake tin.

13. Bake at 150 deg C for 62 minutes. Remove from oven and de-pan. Remove the parchment. Allow to cool down before carving.

Recipe feedback: 

- I could do with another say 10g of sugar as it wasn't as sweet as I'd like, but this is a Korean recipe and maybe they're less into sweet stuff? Who knows. I chose this recipe because it had the lower amount of sugar compared to the rest so I should have expected this. But I can live without the additional sugar.

- The recipe is perfect! The additional 2 minutes just EXACTLY dried out the cake without making it dry.

Taiwanese Castella and Japanese Kasutera comparison recipes

I've learnt that there are two main styles of Castella, the original or Japanese Kastera カステラ, and the colonised adaptation which is Taiwanese Castella. Both are unique in their own way. Japanese Kasutera usually uses honey as the main flavour. The focus is on the moistness yet bounce achieved from bread flour through the use of an insulated or wooden container. It needs to rest overnight wrapped in plastic. Taiwanese Castella uses cake flour and focuses on bouncy sponginess. It is like making a chiffon and baked in a water bath. There is also a Korean version but it's mostly based off the Japanese version, so I'm going to ignore that. Tips and uniqueness of each recipe highlighted:

Japanese kastutera

1. Bake for Happy Kids (In her other recipes, she references recipes from Roti and Rice and Just One Cookbook)

- Loaf tin (20 by 10 cm); Lining tin with aluminium foil and parchment

- 3 eggs, separated

- Cook milk, oil, and honey before adding yolk and flour.

- Sugar at the bottom as optional

- All her attempts (adding extra yolk, omit oil, etc)

2. Just One Cookbook

- Possibly one of the original recipes

- 2 loaf tins (22 by 11cm), lined with parchment

- 6 eggs

- Beat eggs until ribbon stage and add flour

- Focuses on correct beating of eggs and variation of baking time to prevent cracks and sinking

3. Cooking with Dog

- Square tin (19 by 19cm). Very hard core, baked in a square cardboard box lined with alum foil and parchment, then sprinkle bottom with sugar

- 6 eggs

- Beat eggs and sugar in water bath until ribbon stage

4. Roti and Rice

- Loaf tin (19*9cm), lined with al foil and parchment

- 2 eggs, separated. Beat whites until meringue then add yolks and flour.

5. Not quite Nigella

- Loaf tin (26.5*7.5 cm), lined with parchment

- 3 eggs

- Whisk eggs and caster sugar on water bath

- Mixing meringue and flour layers well and quickly

- Most wrinkly looking cake

6. Taste Asian

- details differences between Taiwanese and Japanese version

- Lists common mistakes (use slow mixer speed for meringue, sifted flour for smooth batter, collapsed cake)

- Square (20 by 20 cm) tin, lined with corrugated cardboard with al foil or square tin with old newspapers.

- 7 eggs, separated

- Compares cakes that separate vs beat eggs together. Meringue method has finer texture and smoother.

- After separating eggs, beat whites on low speed on bain marie at 40 deg C until meringue forms. Add egg yolks manually, followed by honey and bread flour, and lastly, milk.

Taiwanese castella

Using butter

1. Emojoie Cuisine - Attempted here.

- Square tin (various sizes listed including 20cm), lined with non-stick parchment. Sounds super bouncy and moist

- 7 eggs separated for 20cm square tin 

- Melt butter and milk to 50 deg C, add flour and yolks

- Very detailed recipe: beat the meringe at the end with hand whisk to stabilise meringue. Use hand whisk to incorporate first followed by spatula for final blending

2. Princess Bamboo

- 6" tin

- Uses flour and corn starch

- Uses butter but doesn't state the temperature to heat to

3. Gracious Treatz (very similar to Emojoie)

- 7" square tin, lined with parchment

- 6 eggs, separated

- Melt butter and milk to add to dough and yolks

- Re-usable non-stick parchment means no wrinkles

Using oil

4. Laura Kitchen

- 8" square tin, lined with parchment

- 5 eggs, separated

- Warm oil to between 70 to 85 deg C. Add flour, milk, eggs.

- Looks like very soft sponge that leaves fingerprints.

5. Mrs P's Kitchen

- 8" square tin, lined with parchment

- 6 eggs, separated

- Warm oil to 65 deg C. Add flour, egg yolks, and milk.

- Looks like a standard sponge and not super fluffy or bouncy

6. Kat Kwa

- 8" square tin

- 7 eggs separated

- Warm oil for 1 minute to 60 deg C.  Add flour and cornstarch followed by milk.

- Looks like standard sponge and not super fluffy or bouncy

Korean chocolate castella

1. Apron Chocolate castella Attempted here.

- Loaf tin 29x7x10cm

- 6 eggs, separated

- Warm oil to between 60 to 70 deg C. Add flour, yolks, followed by milk. 

- Looks like standard sponge and not super fluffy or bouncy

2. Korean Table Diary choc castella

- 16.5x16.5cm square tin

- 5 eggs, separated

- Heat oil for 1 minute on low (no temp given). Add flour, milk, yolks.

- Looks like a very bouncy soft sponge.

Tteokbokki 떡볶이

Recipe from Maangchi, who else, the Korean queen! There was a sale on a large bag of garaetteok가래떡 so I thought why not, because the recipe is so easy. When we eat this at a Korean diner here, it easily costs upwards of $10. While the bag costs about $7 on sale, I could get two portions out of it so the cost price is effectively a third! This is Korean street food. I've not eaten this in Korea but I am sure Koreans in Oz probably cry when they see the prices of tteokbokki here, just like we similarly cry when we see the prices of prata here (about 10x)!

Ingredients
500 to 600g of garaetteok (if frozen, thaw fully before cooking)
⅓ C gochujang
1 tbsp gochugaru
1 tbsp sugar
2 spring onions, chopped
1 small packet of instant stock
2 cloves of garlic, smashed
4 C stock
Hard boiled eggs, shelled
Korean fish cakes (she used fish and cuttlefish balls)

Method
1. Start with the stock (either anchovy and/or kelp, or shitake soaking water). Boil as needed for 15 minutes. I supplemented with a packet of instant stock.
2. Meanwhile, prepare the hard boiled eggs.
3. Mix up the sauce ingredients: gochugaru, sugar, gochujang.
4. To the stock, remove the stock-making ingredients and add the garaetteok, spring onions, garlic, and sauce.
5. Boil for until the garaetteok has softened, approx 10 minutes. The sauce should be thick and shiny.
6. Add the fishcakes and hardboiled eggs if using. Boil for another 5 minutes.
7. Serve hot.

Chicken mu (radish pickle)

This pickle is traditionally eaten with Korean fried chicken. The first time I came across Maangchi's recipe, I had eaten the fried chicken but had never eaten the pickle that came with it. I later found out that the so-called Korean fried chicken that I had been eating was actually a Singaporean joint that was making Korean-style fried chicken. It wasn't Korean at all! Since then I've had chicken mu and I agree with Maangchi. It is delicious but oh so little and so expensive! As I had a bit of lingering daikon (can't find real mu or Korean radish here), I thought I'd give it a try.

Ingredients
1 pound radish, preferably Korean (choose something that is round and has a lot of green part, skin is shiny)
⅓ C sugar
⅓ C + 1 tbsp white vinegar
3/4C water
1 tbsp salt

Method
1. Chop the mu into 1cm cubes.
2. Mix the pickle ingredients until the sugar has dissolved.
3. Add the mu to the pickle ingredients and store in a clean sterilised container.
4. Leave to marinate for at least 12 hours.

Sik hye 식혜

Sources
1. https://mykoreankitchen.com/sikhye/ : Most comprehensive recipe, describes using the course malt barley, the powder, and the teabag
2. https://www.maangchi.com/recipe/sikhye: I mostly used this method but it also describes making it a slushie

Generally, the recipes are pretty aligned. The difference between these two and other recipes is whether they use the course malt barley or the powdered type. While Maangchi uses the powder, Korean Kitchen thinks that the powdered type doesn't help the rice grains to float to the surface. However, I used the powder and didn't have a problem so I think it's because Korean Kitchen left the powder in a cheesecloth.

Ingredients
1 cup malted barley
18 cups of water
1 cup of cooked rice (short grain or glutinous rice)
1 cup sugar
pine nuts and red dates for garnishing (optional)

Method
1. Add the water to the malted barley and stir well. Soak the malted barley 2 to 3 hours in a large bowl and let the sediment settle. The clear water should have separated to the top.
2. Meanwhile, cook the rice with slightly less water so that it's a bit undercooked.
3. Once the rice is cooked, carefully strain the malted barley water with the help of a cheesecloth, into the rice. The sediment should have settled at the bottom. Be careful not to stir up the sediment at the bottom.
4. With the sediment, pour in the remaining 4 cups of water and leave to steep.
5. Leave to ferment in the rice cooker using the Keep Warm function at between 55 to 60 deg C. After 4 hours, check to see if a dozen or so rice grains have floated to the top. If they have, sik hye is ready. It only took me 3 hours. If grains haven't, leave it to ferment for another hour.
6. Once the grains has floated, again carefully pour the malted barley water into the pot, once again, with the help of the cheesecloth. Throw away the sediment.
7. Bring the sik hye to a boil and add the 1 cup of sugar to dissolve. Skim off the foam and boil for 10 minutes.
8. Once finished boiling, leave to cool. Strain off the rice grains and wash it in cold water to wash off the starch. Keep the rice grains in a separate air tight container with some cold water. If the grains are left in the sik hye, the whole liquid turns grey.
10. Strain off the sik hye into a glass bottle.
11. Serve hot or chilled in a bowl, topped with red date and pine nuts if using, and about two tablespoons of rice grains.
12. Keep the rice grains and sik hye refrigerated for up to a week. Once it goes sour, it's time to throw it away.

Malted barley soaking

Floating rice grains!

Sik hye with rice grains and topped with red date

Recipe feedback
The grains delighted me because they felt so light on the tongue. I was expecting porridge-type of stodgey rice but the grains here were light and fluffy!

Kimchi pork bao

Since I tried this meat bao recipe over a year ago, I thought I'd try to use up my cake flour. When I found that my particular brand of cake flour could double up as bao flour, how excited and happy I was! The original recipe used plain flour, and came out a bit yellowish. Bao flour (HK flour to be exact) is supposed to be whiter. Aside from the filling, the difference between this recipe and the original one is that the baking powder is worked into the dough just before forming the buns. This makes sense as baking powder should be cooked as soon as possible, the longer it is left out (ie during the proofing time), it loses it efficacy.

Source for bao dough: http://www.malaysianchinesekitchen.com/char-siu-bao-steamed-barbecue-pork-buns/ Since this recipe is for char siu bao which tends to be sweetish, I've reduced the sugar. Also, compared to using normal flour, bao flour is supposed to make the bao spread out more so it's less upright and 'peaky' but flatter.

This recipe also has a lot longer proofing time (1 hour compared to 30 minutes total).

Ingredients
3.5 cups (450g) cake flour
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp yeast
1 1/4 cup (300ml)
40 deg C water
3 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tsp baking powder

Filling
250g pork 4 prawns, minced
5 water chestnuts, chopped finely
1.5 tbsp light soya sauce
1 tbsp cooking wine
Dash of pepper ½ cup kimchi + 1 tbsp kimchi juice

Method
1) Combine the flour, sugar, and salt. On the opposite side of the salt, add the yeast. Mix well.
2) Add the warm water and mix well with a wooden spatula until there are no dry pockets of flour. Add in the oil.
3) Oil your hands (I forgot to do this and it was a messy, sticky disaster). Remove from the bowl and knead until the dough is smooth and leaves the surface/bowl/your hands clean. I also alternated with slapping the dough on the surface. This whole process takes about 10 to 15 minutes until you reach the window pane stage.
4) Leave it in a oiled bowl, cover with cling film and a towel. Let it proof for 1 to 1.5 hours until it has doubled in size.
5) Take out the dough and sprinkle on the baking powder in batches. Work it in until the baking powder is finished. If the dough is too dry, wet your hands.
6) While the dough is proofing, prepare the filling. Combine all the filling ingredients together in the bowl and set aside.
7) Prepare the parchment, I simply cut squares of about 4".
8) Roll the dough into a cylinder and cut the dough into 12 discs.
9) Keep half of the dough covered and in the fridge so that the baking powder doesn't activate.
10 ) Flatten each disc into and roll out into 4" wide discs. I use an asian rolling pin for this and ensure that the sides are thinner than the middle.
11) Portion out the filling (a cookie scoop helps). In the centre of each disc, place the filling and crimp to seal. Place on the square of parchment. Again, I place the prepared buns covered into the fridge to prevent them from proofing too fast and at a different rate from the second batch.
12) While preparing the buns, bring a pot of water to a rolling ball.
13) Fill the steaming basket with 5 buns and ensure that they have enough space to spread out without sticking to each other. You would need to steam all the baos in batches. Steam for 10 to 12 minutes. Turn off the fire and rest for 5 minutes so that the shape stabilises. After 5 minutes, remove to a baking rack to cool so that it doesn't get a soggy bottom.
14) Best eaten hot. Uneaten bao should be refrigerated. They can also be wrapped in cling film and frozen. Reheat in the microwave steamer.

Recipe notes

1) The taste of baking powder is discernible but the sudden expansion gave the signature 'smile'. Great if this was a csb but unnecessary for other types of bao. 

2) The dough was very sticky and difficult to work with, and didn't hold its shape, as u can tell from the lack of folds.

3) The texture was not as fluffy as the csb in dim sum restaurants. Instead, it was chewy despite using cake flour. The original recipe still seemed better.

Might try this recipe next time for bao because it mixes cake and bread flour which might be easier to work with.

Haemul pajeon

I have repeatedly tried making pajeon and kimchi pajeon with normal flour but it always came out doughey. I read somewhere that the addition of cold water makes all the difference. I came across this recipe and thought it'd be worth a try and not to mention, the use of cake flour should reduce the doughey-ness.

From http://www.justonecookbook.com/korean-pancake/

Ingredients
10 scallions, cut in half
1 large egg, beaten
12 medium shrimps
1-2 tbsp oil for frying
1/2 C cake flour
1/2 C cold water (120ml)

Method
1) In a non stick pan, heat up the oil. Arrange the spring onions in a square. Intersperse with the prawns and fry for 3 minutes.
2) Using a zig zag motion, pour on the batter. Try to cover the prawns and as much spring onion as possible to 'stick' everything together. Pour the egg in between any 'holes'.
3) Fry for about 3 minutes until the sides crisp up, then flip.
4) Flatten down with the spatula. When the bottom is golden, flip again.
5) Serve with dipping sauce. (JOC uses gochugaru I prefer the recipe from Maangchi which I used previously that uses fresh cut chilli).

Recipe feedback: success! The dough was fluffy and crispy. But there was too much flour and insufficient water. *I've update the recipe. It was consumed so that I forgot to take photos. Next time then.

Pajeon dipping sauce

Tried the version from Maangchi but so far, the dough hasn't been right. Despite using a tonne of oil (ok I exaggerate) it wasn't crispy but too doughy. I have tried her haemul jeon and same problem. Possibly because it uses all purpose flour. Other recipes use cake flour, ice cold water, etc. The addition of the dwenjang was good though. But the dipping sauce was fantastic! So I will continue researching but note the dipping sauce recipe here.

Ingredients

2 tbsp soya sauce

1 tbsp vinegar 

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp toasted sesame seeds

1 chopped chilli

Dwaejigogi-bokkeum 돼지고기볶음

Recipe here: http://www.maangchi.com/recipe/dwaejigogibokkeum

I adapted but still a bit too salty. Goes well with rice and veg tho.

Ingredients

500g thinly sliced shabu shabu belly pork

1 tbsp gochujang

1 tsp gochugaru

1 tbsp light soya sauce

1 tbsp sesame seed oil

2 tsp sugar

1 tsp sesame seeds

1 tsp ginger minced

1 tsp garlic, minced

1 small onion, chopped

2 chopped chillis (deseed if preferred)

3 button mushroom slices (optional)

Method

1) Slice pork into bite sized pieces.

2) Marinate the pork for at least 30 minutes but an hour preferred.

3) In a pan, fry the aromatics till fragrant. Stir fry till ¾ cooked, then add the mushrooms. Continue frying till no red remains, about 2 minutes cooking time for the pork in total.

Vegetable salad banchan

Adapted from JOC http://www.justonecookbook.com/spicy-bean-sprout-salad/ and Maangchi 

http://www.maangchi.com/recipe/oi-muchim

I blanched beansprouts then used seed oil and soya sauce with gochugaru

The cucumber was salted then the water squeezed out, and sesame seed oil added. 

Alternatives include adding garlic, green spring onion, and sesame seeds. Best eated cold. Great stored for a few days which save dinnertime headaches!

Sundubu jigae

Adapted from here. Belly pork next time! 

http://www.maangchi.com/recipe/sundubu-jjigae

Ingredients

1 seaweed to make dashi

6 cleaned ikan billis (anchovies)

5 to 10 dried shitake mushrooms, soaked

Vegs (I used spinach and baby corn)

1 tbsp gochujang

1 tbsp duenjang

1 tbsp gochugaru

1 tbsp fish sauce or more to taste

1 tbsp sesame seed oil

1 box drained tofu

10 prawns

½ can of salmon, drained

Half onion, chopped

1 tbsp minced garlic

1 egg per serving

Potato noodles (*see below)

Luncheon meat (*this is actually from budae jigae but who cares)

Method

1) Make the stock with the seaweed and anchovies. I usually soak the seaweed in water overnight because it should not be boiled, otherwise it becomes bitter and slimey. Simmer for 20 minutes.

2) Meanwhile, slice up the mushroom and reserve the fluid.

3) Once the dashi is ready, add all the ingredients except the tofu. Bring to a boil for 10 minutes. Add the tofu and cover.

4) Serve on top of rice. I usually crack a raw egg on top of my rice and use the liquid to poach it first.

Japchae 잡채

I love this since I first tried it. The proper recipe is http://www.maangchi.com/recipe/japchae but this is my clear the pantry interpretation. Layered in a slow cooker inspired pen cai, it was all prep, chuck into pot, and pono slaving over a stove!

Ingredients

1 can young corn, drained

1 can straw mushroom, drain

1 handful black fungus, soaked then chopped

1 handful lilu bulbs, soaked

2 carrots, cut into matchstick

3 leaves cabbage, shredded

1 handful shitake mushrooms, soaked and reserve the soaking liquid

4 cups kombu stock

1 packet sweet potato noodles, soaked till soft

1 packet porkballs, quartered

1 packet hakka balls, quartered

1 tsp sesame seeds, toasted (optional)

Sauce

2 tbsp mirin

2 tbsp sake

2 tbsp oyster sauce

2 tbsp light soya sauce

1 tbsp garlic, minced

1 tbsp sesame seed oil

1 tsp sugar

Method

1) Place the carrots, pork balls and hakka balls, and cabbage at the bottom of the pot.

2) Pour in the kombu, together with the sauce and garlic. Add the reserved shitake soaking liquid.

3) Place the noodles on stage top.

4) Top up with the corn, straw mushrooms, and black fungus.

5) Cover the lid and set to high for 10 minutes. Check after 5 so as to ensure the noodles are cooked but not mushy.

6) Toss everything to mix well. Garnish with sesame seeds if using. Serve immediately.