Category

Traditional Korean Recipes

Gluten FreeSaucesSoups, Stews, and Side DishesTraditional Korean Recipes

Kimchi Chigae Reigns Supreme.

Ok, so the other night, my boyfriend was out and it was just me for dinner.  Normally, on nights I don’t need to cook for anyone but me, I stick to something easy–like bread and almond butter (sadly, this is not an exaggeration).  But, there was a ripe old jar of kimchi calling my name just sitting in my fridge, so I decided it was a great opportunity to make some kimchi chigae.  My boyfriend–an Italian American–has been a real trooper about trying all the different veganized Korean foods I make, but the one thing that hasn’t quite enthralled him (yet) is kimchi [guys, no one is perfect stop judging him].

Kimchi chigae is basically like many other Korean recipes–it’s aimed at making sure nothing goes to waste.  Like bibimbap, it’s about taking what’s in your fridge that you would otherwise not serve at the table and putting them into a pot until they become delicious again.  The trick with any chigae (stew) is to make a kick ass broth.  Here, that starts with good kimchi [duh]. But I also add some red onions (which are healthier than the white variety), garlic, and shiitake mushrooms to do some of the legwork.  The final piece to the puzzle, though, is my mom’s Korean BBQ Marinade.  I use this delicious concoction to take basically every savory dish I make to that next level.

If you like spicy food, you will love love love this recipe. It’s easy, delicious, and healthy to boot!  You can find a step by step video demonstration of this recipe (along with a bunch of others) here.  

Kimchi Chigae.

...for that time you don't know what to do with all that left over kimchi that's too sour to eat...
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
4 people

Ingredients
  

Chigae

  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1/4 red onion diced
  • 6-7 shiitake mushrooms sliced
  • 2 cloves garlic minced
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 cup kimchi** overripe
  • 1 1/2 tbsp gochujang*
  • tbsp Omma's Korean BBQ Marinade see below
  • 1 cup water
  • 1/2 cup black beans
  • 3 oz. extra firm tofu sliced
  • green onions for garnish

Omma's Korean BBQ Marinade

  • 1/2 red onion
  • 6 cloves garlic
  • 1/2 cup soy sauce use Tamari sauce for GF version
  • 2 tbsp mirin
  • 1/2 Korean apple pear
  • 1/2 red bell pepper
  • 1 tsp black pepper
  • 2 tbsp maple syrup optional
  • 1 tbsp liquid smoke optional

Instructions
 

  • Blend all ingredients for Omma's Korean BBQ Marinade in blender, until smooth and slightly frothy. It will smell freaking delicious and you will want to use it in everything you cook.
  • In a medium size pot (I use the traditional Korean stone pot, but you can also use a dutch oven), over medium high heat, add 1 tbsp olive oil. Once the oil is nice and hot, add red onions and mushrooms. Cook until brown. Add garlic and salt and stir until garlic softens.
  • Add kimchi and some of the kimchi juice. Feel free to slice the kimchi into bite sized pieces if it doesn't come that way already. Make sure the kimchi is overripe--as in, not the kind that you want to eat raw. The kimchi should be a dull orange (as opposed to the beautiful bright orange you see when served at a meal) and smell like your brother's dirty socks. If you use underripe or even just ripe kimchi, the stew will not come out as good.
  • Add gochujang and Omma's Korean BBQ Marinade and stir until all the veggies are evenly coated. It should smell like heaven in your kitchen.
  • Add water and bring to a boil. Then add black beans, tofu, and a little green onion for garnish. Do not let your stew cook too long--the longer you cook, the soggier your kimchi becomes. You want your kimchi to retain a nice satisfying "crunch" even when the stew is done cooking.

Notes

  1.  You can get gluten free gochujang here.  If you have no probs with gluten, you can pick up a few other brands of gochujang that I really like here and here.
  2. If you don't have an awesome mom who makes you vegan kimchi (like my mom), you can buy vegan kimchi here.
Sign Up For a FREE Copy of Our E-Book! Sign Up Here!

4 comments
14 Facebook Twitter Google + Pinterest
DessertsTraditional Korean Recipes

Dduck, Dduck, Goo Rice Cake For New Year’s.

Cooking Time: 80 minutes
Recipe Difficulty: Very Easy
Servings Amount: 20

Recipe Lead: …for when you want to impress your Korean friends on the Lunar New Year…

Ingredients

Cake

  • 1 box (454 g) Mochino sweet white rice flour* (not to be confused with white rice flour)
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tbsp sesame oil
  • 3 cups non-dairy milk
  • 1 tbsp white wine vinegar
  • 1 tbsp mirin sake**
  • 1/2 cup raisins
  • 1/2 cup chopped pecans
  • 1/4 cup pine nuts
  • 1/2 cup chopped pistachios
  • 1/2 cup roasted chestnuts
  • 1 can sweet red bean paste^

Topping (optional)

  • 1 cup chopped pecans
  • 1/2 cup chopped pistachios
  • 1/4 cup raisins
  • 1 tbsp mirin sake
  • 1 tbsp maple syrup
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  1. Mix together non-dairy milk and white wine vinegar.  Set aside.
  2. Soak raisins in mirin soju.
  3. Place all dry ingredients in stand mixer bowl or large bowl and stir using paddle attachment (or wooden spoon).
  4. Add red bean paste.
  5. Add sesame oil and slowly incorporate vegan buttermilk (mixture created in step 1) until batter forms.
  6. Fold in remaining ingredients (nuts and raisins) with rubber spatula.
  7. Scoop into muffin tray or place in large cake rectangular cake pan (sprayed with cooking oil or lined with parchment paper).
  8. Optional topping: mix together all ingredients and gently spoon onto your batter.
  9. Bake at 350° F for 1 hour, until outside is golden brown and firm.

Your dduck will be crunchy on the outside and ooey-gooey on the inside.  

*You can pick up sweet white rice flour here.
**You can pick up mirin sake here.
^You can pick up sweet red bean paste here.

0 comment
1 Facebook Twitter Google + Pinterest
FoodLifeTraditional Korean Recipes

The Korean Vegan = Vegan Kimchi.

 

Can you recall your first day of kindergarten? To be honest, I’m not sure I can. I think I somehow mish-mashed a bunch of memories from that first year of school into what I now call my “first day.”  Here are the fragments that have stuck with me from that first day:

I didn’t speak English.  Everyone else did.

I had long black hair, black eyes, and yellow skin.  Very few others sported this ensemble.

I had to wear sok-neh-bok (Korean long underwear).  No one else’s grandmother appeared as concerned with the cold.

My grandmother packed for me kimbap and kimchi. Everyone else’s lunchbox contained ham sandwiches and potato chips.

I came home after that “first day” of kindergarten crying.  I hated my mother, my father, my grandmother, and everyone else who was “responsible” for making me so painfully different from everyone else, so Korean.  I fearlessly told my mother from that day forward,

“I am not Korean, Mommy.  I am American.”

Fast forward to my first day of college, at the University of Illinois in Urbana Champaign.  The first thing I hunted down was a decent Korean restaurant, to ensure that I would have sustenance for the next few years.  Thank goodness for Dorcas, the teensy-tiny family run Korean eatery on Green Street, that served unlimited quantities of kkong-namul-gook (bean sprout broth) through a water dispenser and made the best damn soon-doo-boo chigae of ever (…besides my mom’s, of course).  I could have stuck a chopstick in my “Korean-ness.”

Over the years, my palate continued to be my “tell.”  My favorite meal consisted of three things: rice, water, kimchi.  If I was feeling fancy, I’d have a few sheets of keem (roasted nori) to wrap around my rice.  And every time my mother saw me eating this way, she’d remark with a great deal of joy that, for some reason, continues to pierce my chest,

“You are definitely Korean.”

So, when I went vegan about a year ago, all I could think about was how my mother used to massage the great big heads of bright cabbage with handfuls of saewoojeot (fermented baby shrimp) on Kimchi Days…  and I wondered,

If I can’t eat kimchi anymore… am I still Korean?

As I’ve written about earlier, The Korean Vegan is, in large part, a project that aimed to prove to everyone and to me that I didn’t have to shed my identity together with meat.  Thus, figuring out a way to make vegan kimchi not just look like kimchi but taste like the kimchi I grew up eating was critical.

My favorite kimchi of all kimchi (there are many many different kinds of kimchi) is invariably chonggak kimchi, made with Korean baby radishes.  So, I knew when I decided to finally tackle kimchi, I would be making chonggak kimchi.  But first, I would have to figure out a way to mimic the fish sauce that was called for in every single recipe of chonggak kimchi I’ve ever seen.

Now, you might ask, “Why not just omit the fish sauce?  Surely, it can’t make that much difference!”  My mother took this approach when I first went vegan.  She spent hours making me a huge batch of regular kimchi without fish sauce.  She lugged it all the way to my house in a large kimchi jar to store in my new home.  We both agreed,

“This isn’t very good.”

I was thereafter pretty intimidated.  Despite receiving hundreds of requests from followers of the blog for my vegan kimchi recipe, I deflected.  I made vague assurances that one would be forthcoming, without any real plan in mind for how that would materialize.  But, after watching my mom and everyone else in my family chomp down on mouthwatering kimchi, and finding zero non-fish-sauce options at the Korean grocery store, I determined that the only way to address this gaping deficiency in my fridge was to make my own.

Starting with my own vegan fish sauce.

Google vegan fish sauce, and you’ll find plenty of recipes.  I’ve tried a bunch of them, but none of them provided the requisite tang for my kimchi–which is literally the only reason I would ever had any need for fish sauce.  So, after trying a few things here and there, I put together a bunch of flavors that I thought might work. After some trial and error, my Fishy Sauce was born.  I added it to my kimchi, and voila:

I had chonggak kimchi that tasted almost as good as I remembered it when I was busy trying to convince my mother that I was American.

Recipe for My Favorite Kimchi Of All Time.

 

6 comments
3 Facebook Twitter Google + Pinterest
Traditional Korean Recipes

My Favorite Kimchi Of All Time.

Cooking Time: 105 minutes
Recipe Difficulty: Intermediate
Servings Amount: 15

Recipe Lead: …for when you feel like wearing your mother’s kitchen gloves…

Ingredients

Fishy Sauce.

  • 6 cups water
  • 2 sheets dashima*
  • 1 cup clamshell mushrooms
  • 1 medium shallot
  • 6 cloves garlic
  • 1 tbsp black peppercorns
  • 1/4 cup soy sauce
  • 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
  • 2 tbsp mirin

Kimchi.

  • 2 lbs (5-6) Korean baby radishes`
  • 1/4 cup course sea salt
  • 1/8 cup sweet white rice flour^
  • 1 cup water
  • 2 tbsp sugar
  • 1/4 cup Korean pepper powder
  • 1/8 cup Fishy Sauce
  • 6 cloves garlic (minced)
  • 1/4 onion (julienned)
  • 1 cup garlic chives***
  • 2 stalks scallions (chopped)

Fish Sauce.

  1.  Place dashima, shallot, garlic (crushed), mushrooms and peppercorns in large pot and add water.
  2. Bring to boil and then simmer for at least one hour.
  3. Remove dashima, garlic, mushrooms, etc. and place liquid in medium saucepan.
  4. Add remaining ingredients and bring mixture to boil.  Let simmer until sauce becomes concentrated and viscous.
  5. Strain through mesh sieve into mason jar or other container.  Place in fridge or freezer and use as substitute for fish sauce.

Kimchi.

  1.  Peel and rinse baby radishes.  Cut radishes lengthwise, without removing the greens.
  2. Place radishes in a large bowl and add salt, ensuring that the radishes are evenly coated.
  3. Allow radishes to sit for 30 minutes.  Flip radishes and allow them to sit another 30 minutes.
  4. After about one hour, you will notice fluid at the bottom of your bowl and your radishes will be “bendy.”  Give them a thorough rinse to remove excess salt and dirt (from both the radishes and the leaves).
  5. In a small saucepan, dissolve rice flour into 1 cup of water over low heat.
  6. Once water begins to thicken, add 2 tbsp of sugar until sugar dissolves.  Remove from heat.
  7. Add minced garlic, Korean pepper powder, and Fishy sauce and stir, until you get a thick red paste.
  8. Add kimchi paste, scallions (chopped), onions (julienned), and Korean chives to radishes and, using your hands (gloved!), coat each radish.
  9. Place radishes and remaining kimchi paste into air tight container and store in fridge for several days (it can take 10-14 days) until “ripe.”

*Dashima is dried kelp.  You can get some here or at your local Asian grocery store.
**Do not confuse sweet white rice flour with rice flour.  You can get sweet white rice flour here.
***Korean chives are also referred to as garlic chives.  You can usually get them at your local grocery store.  If not, head over to your Asian grocery store.
^You can get Korean pepper powder here.
`Korean baby radishes look like this.

You may be able to get some at your local grocery store; otherwise, you’ll have to head over to your local Asian grocery store.

2 comments
9 Facebook Twitter Google + Pinterest
Traditional Korean Recipes

Another Kind of Sort Of Kimchi: The Pickled Perilla Leaf.

Cooking Time: 20 minutes
Recipe Difficulty: Very Easy
Servings Amount: 6

Recipe Lead: …for that time you bought this green leaf but had no idea what to do with it…

Ingredients
  • 1/4 cup soy sauce (to keep it GF)
  • 1.5 tbsp sugar
  • 2 tbsp Korean pepper powder*
  • 1/2 Fresno chili (sliced)
  • 2 scallions (chopped)
  • 2 cloves garlic (minced)
  • 1 tbsp sesame oil
  • 1 tbsp black sesame seeds
  • 20-30 fresh perilla leaves**
  1.  Mix all ingredients together to make brine/dressing.
  2. Place one perilla leaf in an airtight container (like a large mason jar or tupperware).  Spoon a little of the dressing onto the top of the leaf.  It does not need to be neat and it does not need to cover the entire leaf.
  3. Place a second leaf on top of the first one and repeat until all leaves are stacked and covered with dressing.
  4. Pour any remaining dressing over the top of the stack.
  5. Place in fridge for one day and enjoy with rice.

*You can buy Korean pepper powder here.
**This is what perilla leaves look like.  You can buy them at your local Asian grocery store.

0 comment
2 Facebook Twitter Google + Pinterest
Traditional Korean Recipes

Your Favorite Tofu Recipe EVAR.

Cooking Time: 30 minutes
Recipe Difficulty: Very Easy
Servings Amount: 4

Recipe Lead: …for when you don’t know what to do with that lonely box of tofu in your fridge…

Ingredients
  • 1 13 oz. box extra firm tofu (cut into 1/2-inch cubes)
  • 1 tbsp potato starch (can sub corn starch)
  • 3 tbsp sesame oil*
  • 4 cloves garlic (minced)
  • 2 tbsp maple syrup (corn syrup, if you dare…)
  • 1 tbsp Korean pepper powder**
  • 1 1/2 tbsp gochujang^
  • 1 tbsp Korean BBQ marinade
  • 1 handful dried chilis`
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 2 scallions (chopped)
  1.  Coat tofu with potato starch.
  2.  Cook tofu in sesame oil over medium-high heat until all sides are browned.  Remove from heat and set aside.
  3. In same pan, add 1 tbsp sesame oil and add garlic, maple syrup, Korean pepper powder, gochujang, dried chilis, Korean bbq marinade and stir.
  4. Add back the tofu, together with 1/2 cup of water.  Cook over low heat until sauce thickens (should take about a minute).
  5. Throw on some scallions as garnish and serve while warm.
  6. Repress the urge to send me a thank you card for this recipe.  Or don’t. 😉

**You can get Korean pepper powder here.
^You can get gluten-free and vegan gochujang here.
`You can get dried chilis here.

8 comments
32 Facebook Twitter Google + Pinterest
Traditional Korean Recipes

Kimchee For Noobs. Using Not Cabbage.

Cooking Time: 60 minutes
Recipe Difficulty: Very Easy
Servings Amount: 20

Recipe Lead: …for when you want to impress your friends with kimchee….

Ingredients
  • 2 large zucchini
  • 2-4 tbsp Korean salt* (you can also use sea salt or pink Himalayan salt, but use less salt)
  • 1/4 onion (sliced thin)
  • 1 clove garlic (minced)
  • 2 tbsp Korean pepper powder**
  • 2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
  • 1 tbsp mirin
  • 1 tbsp sesame oil
  • 1 tsp toasted sesame seeds
  1. Split each zucchini lengthwise first, and then chop each half into half moons.
  2. Place zucchini in a large bowl and add in salt.  Stir until all zucchini is well coated in salt.  Let sit for approximately 40 minutes until zucchini gets “bendy.”
  3. Rinse zucchini thoroughly under cold water to remove excess salt.  Squeeze dry with paper towel (zucchini should not be dripping water) and place back into large (dry) bowl.
  4. Add all remaining ingredients and stir until well coated.
  5. Place in jar for a few days OR eat right away.  Either way, it tastes so freaking good and you just made yourself some kimchee.  BAM.

You can watch me make this here.

*You can find Korean salt here.
**You can find Korean pepper powder here.

 

2 comments
7 Facebook Twitter Google + Pinterest
Traditional Korean Recipes

Tteokbokki (Spicy Korean Rice Cakes)

I grew up eating food that required large quantities of water to put out the fire in my mouth.  Tteokbokki–spicy Korean rice cakes–are right up there with chigae and kimchi as standard Korean comfort food.  This is the type of food you eat after working a 12 hour day with a bottle of makgeolli (Korean rice wine).  The rice cakes get tender and chewy, while the heat from the chili flakes keep you alert and thirsty.

Easy to make and delicious.

Make sure to have a gallon of water handy, though.

Cooking Time: 30 minutes
Recipe Difficulty: Very Easy
Servings Amount: 4

Recipe Lead: For mouthwatering fire. In your mouth.

Ingredients
  • 1/2 package fresh Korean rice cakes (cylindrical)*
  • 1 tbsp + 1 tsp sesame oil (plus more for drizzling)
  • 1/2 onion (thinly sliced)
  • 4 cloves garlic (minced)
  • 1 carrot (chopped into discs)
  • 4-5 florets of broccoli (chopped)
  • 1/2 zucchini or Korean squash (chopped)
  • 2-3 green onions (chopped)
  • 4-5 cup dried shiitake mushrooms (reconstituted and chopped)
  • 1 cup mushroom dashi (or vegetable broth)
  • salt and pepper
  • 1 1/2 tbsp Korean chili flakes**
  • 2 tbsp gochujang^
  • 2 tbsp + 1 tsp soy sauce
  • 2 1/2 tbsp maple syrup
  • 1 tbsp oil
  • 1 tsp toasted sesame seeds
  • Optional: cooked ramen noodles
  1.  Add 1 tbsp sesame oil, salt, and pepper to rice cakes and massage. Set aside while you prep your veggies.
  2. Add 1 tsp sesame oil, 1 tsp of soy sauce, and salt to mushrooms. Set aside.
  3. Prepare sauce by adding Korean 1 1/2 tbsp of Korean chili flakes, 1 1/2 tbsp of gochujang, 2 tbsp of soy sauce, and 2 1/2 tbsp of maple syrup.  Stir together.
  4. In a large pan, add 1 tbsp of oil over medium high heat. When hot, add marinated mushrooms, garlic, and onions and cook until onions are soft.
  5. Add broccoli, carrots, and zucchini and cook until veggies soften.
  6. Add rice cakes and sauce.  Stir until all veggies and rice cakes are evenly coated.
  7. Add mushroom dashi/veggie broth. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to allow sauce to simmer.  Stir with wooden spoon as sauce thickens.
  8. Optional: Before sauce thickens too much, add cooked ramen noodles.
  9. Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds and drizzle with a little more sesame oil before serving.

*You can buy rice cakes here.

**You can buy Korean chili powder here.

^You can buy my favorite vegan certified gluten free gochujang here.

5 comments
24 Facebook Twitter Google + Pinterest
Soups, Stews, and Side DishesTraditional Korean Recipes

One Box Of Soon Tofu Stew

One of my favorite Korean stews/soups/chigaes is indisputably soondooboo (or soon tofu) soup.  The silky texture of the tofu, together with its understated brine mix so well with Korean chili powder to create a tangy, spicy, soul-soothing, sinus-clearing concoction that will leave you satisfied and slightly sweaty.

Cooking Time: 40 minutes
Recipe Difficulty: Easy
Servings Amount: 2

Ingredients
  • 1-2 tbsp sesame oil
  • 1 tbsp Korean chili powder (you can find it on Amazon)
  • 3 cloves chopped garlic
  • 1/2 chopped onion
  • 5-6 chopped shiitake mushrooms
  • 1/4 cup sour kimchi (needs to be past the point of serving in its own)
  • 1/2 chopped zucchini
  • 1 tbsp salt
  • 1 tsp miso paste
  • 1 cup mushroom dashi* OR water
  • 1 16 oz. box silken tofu
  • 1/4 serrano chili, sliced thin
  1.  In a stone pot (or small soup pot), add 1-2 tbsp sesame oil over medium heat.  Add 1 tbsp of Korean chili powder and coat with oil over the heat.  Make sure not to burn the chili (keep the heat at medium and stir constantly).
  2. Add garlic and onions.  Keep stirring until onions are well coated.  Add mushrooms and do the same.  Then add kimchi and finally zucchini.
  3. Add miso paste and stir until all veggies are well coated.  Add generous amount of salt.
  4. Pour mushroom dashi* or water into pot (pour through sieve if you’re using mushroom dashi).  Add silken tofu.  Stir and bring to boil.  Then letter simmer for 10 minutes.
  5. Add chilis as garnish before serving with a lot of rice and a tall glass of water.

*You can make dashi by submerging a handful of mushrooms in 1 cup of cold filtered water for at least 4 hours.

0 comment
8 Facebook Twitter Google + Pinterest
Newer Posts
Older Posts