My Own Kimchi

I have attended one simple Kimchi making session during one of my guided tour in Korea. Due to time constraint, the Kimchi making process was simplified. The White cabbage has been dehydrated and the Kimchi paste was prepared in advance. We only spread the Kimchi paste on the white cabbage. Finally, I decided to try the whole Kimchi making process myself and I have spent 7 hours doing so. No wonder the Koreans always prepare Kimchi in bulk as the whole process is too time consuming.

Ingredients needed:
1) 1 White Chinese cabbage (Baechu) 2) 1 radish (mowoo) 3) coarse salt
Paste Ingredients:
1) Red chilli powder 2)Radish 3) Spring Onion 4) Garlic 5) Ginger 6) Onions 7) Glutinous Rice flour 8) Sugar 9)Red carrot (optional)
Cut the White Chinese cabbage in half and cut cubes for radish (leave 1/3 radish for kimchi paste use). Seperate the cabbages and radish.
Sprinkle salt on each layers / leaves of white cabbage and the radish cubes. Leave the cabbage in container and radish in bowl. Let them 'dehydrate' for 4 hours. During these 4-5 hours, turn the cabbages and radish so that they are salted evenly.
Spices Paste:
Shred radish/red carrot and cut spring Onions (approx 2 inches in length).
Grind Garlic (abt 1 big clove), 3-4 slices of Ginger, 1/4 Small Onion together.
Kimchi Paste:
Prepare 1 cup of water with 1 tablespoon of Glutinous rice. Put the Glutinous rice flour and water in low fire and stir till the mixture is sticky. When the mixture turns transparent and bubbles starts to form, add 1 tablespoon of sugar to the mixture and mixture is ready.
Put mixture in mixing bowl, add half cup of chilli powder, spices paste, Shreded Radish/Spring Onions and mix everything evenly.
After the cabbages and radish have finished the 'dehydration' process, wash the cabbages and radish thoroughly to remove the salt. Your white cabbages and radish should be softer now.
Wear gloves (as your skin may be sensitive to the red chilli powder) and apply the Kimchi paste on each layers of the leaves of the white cabbages. You will then mix the remaining Kimchi paste with the radish. Place the marinated cabbages in plastic bag ang put in air tight containers. Do likewise for Radish Kimchi. Store the containers in Fridge. I prefer to eat the Kimchi after few days as there will be more Kimchi sauce and is much tastier.
(Note: You can also substitute the glutinous paste with warm water ie. stir the chilli power in warm water and sugar until it become paste form. You can then add the spices paste and shreded radish etc. But I prefer the taste of the Glutinous rice paste)

My Korean cooking - Ddukbokki (rice cake)

Ddukbokki means rice cake and they usually comes in 2 common shapes. The tube like shape is used to cook the spicy rice cake while the flat slice shape is used to cook rice cake soup. It is quite common to see a Dduk jib (Rice cake house) in Korea. These shop specialise in fresh rice cake.
I ate my first Ddukbokki in one of the restaurant in Chinatown and fell in love with this dish. In fact, I should say I ate Rabokki and not Ddukbokki. Rabokki comes with dry Ramen and rice cake in spicy sauce.
I use to have difficulties finding the tube shape rice cake in Singapore few years back. Now it is more popular and can be found in most Korean Supermart.

Ingredients needed:
1)Korean rice cake (tube shape)2)Anchovies(Ikan Billis) 3)1 Shitake Mushroom (optional) 4) Red Chilli powder 5)Hot pepper paste 6) Sugar
For 1 person portion, you need approx 8 tubes of rice cakes.
Cut rice cake into half and shredded the mushroom. Boil Anchovies in water (approx 2.5 bowl of water) to form soup base.
Sieve the Anchovies from the soup. Bring the soup to boil, add 1 teaspoon of Hot pepper paste and red chilli powder. You may add more if you prefer more spicy taste. Add half teaspoon of sugar to taste. Place the rice cake and mushrooms in the soup. Usually the soup should be able to cover all rice cakes. Keep stirring rice cake in medium/low fire (if not, rice cake will stick to pan).
The hot and spicy rice cake is ready to serve once the soup texture has thicken/sticky (approx 10 mins) and rice cake has soften.

My Korean cooking - jjajangmyeon

Korean Actor Jang Dong Gun loves jjajangmyeon. This make me curious what is so great about this black colour noodles. After having my first jjajangmyeon in Korea, I also fell in love with it. However, it is very rare to find Korean restaurant selling this noodles in Singapore. So I decided to cook the noodles so that I can eat as and when I like it. I manage to find substitute for the noodles which has similar noodle texture.

Ingredients needed :
1) No frill brand speghetti 2) zuchhini 3)potatoes 4)Onion 5) Pork 6) Cucumber
Other Ingredients :
1) Black Bean Paste 2) Sugar 3) Sesame oil 4) Corn flour
For serving of 6 pax, use half packet of speghetti, half potato, half onion, 1/3 of zuchhini and half bowl of pork.
Boil the speghetti for 10 mins (boil the noodles for extra 2 mins as instructed on the packaging so the noodles texture will be softer).
Diced all ingredient no. 2-5. Best measurement, just ensure all ingredients are of same portion. Fry pork and potato with some sesame oil for approx 5-10mins. Add in onion and zuchhini and fry for another 5 mins. Do no remove the ingredients in pan, add in 2 table spoons of black bean paste and fry all ingredients. Add water till all ingredients are covered under water. Simmer in low fire for appox 15-20 mins. Add in half teaspoon of sugar. Add in corn flour (mixed with water) till the mixture is thicken. Pour the mixture on the noodles. Put some shredded cucumber so that noodles will taste better.

My Korean cooking - Kimchi soup

One of my favourite soup is Kimchi jjigae (soup). I love it especially when the Kimchi is sour.
Ingredients needed :
1) Kimchi 2) Chilli powder 3) Enoki, Clams (in Singapore, we call it "lala") or tuna, silken tofu, pork
Other Ingredients :
1) Chopped Garlic 2)Spring Onions 3)Red pepper sauce 4) Sugar
Fry the chopped garlic with kimchi and pork (add in some sesame oil). When the kimchi is soft, pour 1 and half cup of water. Add 1 teaspoon of redpepper sauce and chilli powder to soup. Add Sprint onions, tofu and clams and let soup to boil for 10 to 15 mins in low fire. Lastly add in Enoki and half a teaspoon of sugar to taste. The soup is ready to serve after 5 mins.

My Korean cooking - Bimbibap

The first Korean dish which I try to cook is Bimbibap. Bimbibap is quite common in Singapore as it is easily available in most food court. It is healthy as most ingredients in Bimbibap are vegetables.

My style of Bimbibap
Ingredients needed :
1) Cooked rice 2) Spinach 3) Bean Sprouts 4) Mushrooms 5) Red carrot 6) Chicken or pork or beef 7) Egg
Other Ingredients :
1) Sesame oil 2) Garlic (chopped) 3) Red pepper paste for Bimbibap
Cut Spinach, mushrooms and carrot into approx 2 inches long. For more healthy choice, seperately boil ingredients no. 2 to 5 in water with small pinch of salt. Season the vegetables with seseme oil when cooked.
Season the chicken with sesame oil. Fry the chicken with chopped garlic and some red pepper paste (optional).
Arrange all vegetables neatly on top of the cooked rice with the sunshine egg on top. Bimbibap is ready to serve with Red pepper paste.

Korean Food

Korean food is one of my favourite food. Of course, when I am in Korean, I will not miss the opportunity to try various types of Korean food.

I like to patronise the 'roadside' stalls because of the atmosphere which it is nowadays rare in Singapore. The stall owners are usually very friendly but you should be careful of dishonest owner as I have once witnessed. One stall owner at Namdaemun has charged a Japanese couple for more that 70,000 won (which is approx more than Sin$100) for a meal at roadside stalls. You should reject any food (which you did not order) delivered to you. Do not assume that these dishes are free of charge. However, this should not dampened your mood for having delicious meal at these stalls. You should ask the price before you place order.

One of the restaurant which I will never miss is the Ginseng chicken soup resturant at Myeondong. The price is reasonable (appox 8,000 won) per serving. The name of restaurant is Baek-Je Samgyetang （百濟篸雞湯 Address:50-11 Myungdong 2ga, Jungu, Seoul) You can alight at Eujiro (il) ga Station Line 2 Exit 5 (near Utoo Zone. The shop is in a small alley, once you see the restaurant name, proceed to 2nd level

Jjimjilbang (Korean public bath & dry spa)

This is a unique place to visit and it is a must to try. To me, Jjimjilbang is 'multipurpose' place. It is where you can eat, sleep, bath and enjoy spa. It is quite common for Korean family to visit Jjimjilbang. I went to one of the Jjimjilbang, Silloam which was recommended by staff at Tourist Information. According to him, Silloam is quite popular among the locals. To get to Silloam, alight at Seoul Station Line 1. You should be able to see Silloam behind Lotte supermart near Seoul Station.

The cost is affordable in Silloam. I spent less than 9,000 won for approx 5 hours. The charge is based on how long you are staying in the jjimjilbang. If you are sleeping overnight, cost will be more. After making payment at the counter, you are given 1 set of T-shirt, short and 2 towels. Male & Female customer have to enter at different entrance. Upon entering, you have to store your shoe in their shoe locker with given key. Once you have stored you shoe, you have to exchange your shoe locker key with another clothes cabinet key. You will change into their given T-shirt and short (You should bath first before you change into their clothes but we are not aware of it at that time). Keep one towel for bath later. Remember to bring additional set of under garment if you are visiting the Jimjilbang.
Once changed, you may proceed to another entrance where you can go into the unisex/public area. I am quite amazed that there are 6 levels in Silloam. The basement is the bathing area, 1st level is the locker room, then you will have sauna rooms, TV watching area, game room, massage room, fitness room, mini cafetaria, mini shops, sleeping room etc... Of course not to worry, there is lift inside the building where you can travel without 'exercising' too much to get up and down of the building.
There are many rooms with different types of saunas. They have jade room, yellow mud room, salt room, oxygen room, charcoal room, ice room (less than zero degree celsius) etc. They even provide wooden pillow so that you can lie down comfortably in the sauna room to enjoy the heat.
After saunas, you can proceed to basement for public bath. There are even few saunas at the bathing area. You can also choose water in jade, charcoal etc..and even get staff to rub your body for you.
I am sure you will leave the place clean, refreshed and relaxed.