Traditional Korean Recipes

Spicy & Crunchy Garlic Tofu (Kkanpoong Tofu)

Why Did I Veganize This Dish?

I came up with this Spicy & Crunchy Garlic Tofu recipe because it needed to happen. Like, there was a gaping maw in the universe that could only be filled once this recipe was created.

Ok, putting to one side my illusions of grandeur, let’s just say that this recipe was borne out nostalgia. Growing up, my family and I would go to this Korean-Chinese restaurant in K-Town called Great Seas. Great Seas was absolutely famous for its chicken wings, or Kkanpoongi. Their walls were covered in photos of happy dinners who set and broke the “how many wings can you eat in one sitting” challenge, and it was no secret why. Their sauce was so good, it was jarred, labeled, and sold by the gallon. My family would go to Great Seas for all sorts of special occasions—birthdays, graduations, the day after a juice fast. When I went vegan, I knew I would basically never be able to eat anything at Great Seas again, so I set out to veganize it. And boy, was I ELATED with the results!

Put simply, this is literally the BEST EVER tofu recipe I’ve ever made and I’m pretty sure it’ll be the same for you!

My Tricks For Making This Recipe.

Make sure to press your extra firm tofu to remove excess liquid. This will ensure your tofu chunks are nice and crunchy.
Use potato starch in lieu of corn starch or flour to not only keep this dish gluten free, but to make your tofu extra crispy.
Use my favorite gluten free soy sauce in order to keep this entire recipe gluten free!
Use vegetable oil in lieu of extra virgin olive oil in order to ratchet up the heat.
Make sure not to allow the crunchy tofu bites to sit in the sauce too long before serving—the longer they sit in the sauce, the softer they will become.
Serve with rice and water—this dish is SPICY!!

Other dishes to try:

Spicy & Crunchy Garlic Tofu (Kkanpoong Tofu)

5 from 2 votes

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Ingredients

1 16 ounce block extra firm tofu pressed and chopped into 1/2 inch bite sized chunks
1 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons potato starch plus 1 extra teaspoon
7 cloves garlic minced
1/4 red onion diced
2 Korean green chilis, sliced can sub seeded jalapenos
2 whole scallions white parts chopped, green parts sliced on a bias
1 Tablespoon gochagaru
1-1 1/2 Tablespoon soy sauce
1 Tablespoon white wine vinegar
2 Tablespoons maple syrup
1/2 Tablespoon mirin can leave out if you don't have any
4+1 Tablespoons vegetable oil
1/8 cup dried red chilis can leave out if you don't have any
1/2 Tablespoon sesame oil
1 Tablespoon toasted sesame seeds

Instructions

To a large bowl, add a pinch of salt and 2 tablespoons of potato starch to tofu chunks. Gently toss the tofu to make sure they are all evenly coated. Set aside.
Prep your vegetables by mincing the garlic, dicing the onion, slicing the Korean chilis, and chopping up the scallions.
Prepare the sauce by mixing together gochugaru, soy sauce, white wine vinegar, maple syrup, mirin, and 1 teaspoon of potato starch. Set aside.
To a very large non-stick pan, add 4 tablespoons of vegetable oil over high heat. When oil is very hot, add coated tofu chunks in one layer,making sure they are not touching each other. If they touch, they will stick to one another.
Cook the tofu and flip them one by one, until they are brown on all sides (approximately 7 minutes). Remove the tofu chunks from the pan and set them aside on a cooling rack to drain the excess oil. Repeat with the remaining tofu.
When all of the tofu has been fried, in the same pan, add 1 tablespoon of oil. Then add the garlic, onions, chilis, and scallions and saute the vegetables until the garlic starts to brown.
Reduce the heat to medium-high and add the sauce, stirring it with a wooden spoon until it reduces down into a thick sauce (approximately 30 seconds). Turn off the heat.
Gently add back the fried tofu and stir everything together, so that the tofu chunks are evenly coated in your sauce.
Garnish the tofu with ½ tablespoon of sesame oil and 1 tablespoon of toasted sesame seeds. Serve immediately.

6 comments

Pasta and Noodles Traditional Korean Recipes

Rabokki

Rabokki Is My Most Popular Recipe.

Hands down, Rabboki is the most popular recipe I’ve ever shared on my Instagram. I dunno—something about the spicy chewy rice cakes combined with ramen noodles make people go crazy for this dish! Someone once told me that they were at a Korean grocery store when they spotted a woman who looked a little lost. She went up to her and asked if she could help her find something, and the woman held up her phone and said, “Where can I find this?” It was a picture of my tteokbokki dish!!

I know what you’re thinking: “I thought we were making rabokki. What’s tteokbokki?”

Tteokbokki + Ramen = Rabokki.

Tteokbokki is a popular Korean streetfood, made out of chewy rice cakes (naturally gluten free) and a fiery red sauce. The word “tteok” means “rice cakes” and “bokki” refers to “bokkeum,” which means “stir fried.” “Rabokki” is what happens when you mix tteokbokki with ramen noodles. So, if you like tteokbokki (which most people do) and you like ramen noodles (I mean…who doesn’t like ramen noodles?), you will LOVE Rabokki.

This Dish Is SPICY!!

Be prepared, however, for some heat. This dish is not for the faint of heart. There are entire TV shows in Korea devoted to seeing how people react to the spiciest tteokbokki in Korea. How does it get so spicy, you ask? Gochugaru, which is Korean pepper powder or Korean chili flakes. Gochugaru (literally translated “chili powder”) is derived from Korean chilis. How does gochugaru relate to the popular “gochujang”? Gochujang, which translates into “chili sauce” is also derived from the same Korean chili; however, it’s “saucified,” if you will, by adding sweeteners, brown rice flour or wheat, and fermented bean paste (doenjang). Both gochujang and gochugaru will play a role in this recipe.

What do the rice cakes taste like? Some people liken them to gluten free gnocchi, only chewier. There is a definite bite to tteokbokki, not just because of the heat. Adding ramen noodles simply add another component to have fun digging around for in the pan. Before going vegan, one of my favorite Korean bars used to make rabokki with rice cakes, ramen noodles, tempura sweet potatoes, and deep fried dumplings! The idea is, you can pretty much add whatever you like to this dish, as long as you make enough sauce to coat it all in glorious fiery heat.

A Few Tips To Make The BEST Rabokki EVER.

If you can, look for the fresh made tteok in the Korean grocery store. They are usually delivered fresh that morning, so if you get there before the afternoon, there should be plenty left for you. Just ASK!
If you can only find frozen ones (that’s all right!), pop.em in the microwave for about a minute, until they are just starting to soften.
Marinate ricecakes in a little sesame oil to get them nice and soft.
Use dried shitake mushrooms in lieu of fresh ones—they pack way more favor and you just need to add a cup of filtered water to reconstitute them. Then, you can save the water and use it as a broth!

Check it out on YouTube

Other recipes to try

Rabokki

“Rabokki”is what happens when you mix tteokbokki with ramen noodles. So, if you like tteokbokki (which most people do) and you like ramen noodles(I mean…who doesn’t like ramen noodles?), you will LOVE Rabokki.

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Ingredients

8-10 ounces tube shaped rice cakes frozen, but fresh is better
2-3 Tablespoons sesame oil
1/4 red onion sliced
1/2 cup shiitake mushrooms dried
1 carrot thinly sliced
1/2 cup broccoli
3-4 cloves garlic minced
1/2 Korean squash, chopped can sub zucchini
1 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon Korean chili flakes "gochugaru"
1 Tablespoon soy sauce
2 Tablespoons gochujang
1 Tablespoon maple syrup
1-2 cups water or mushroom dashi
1 green onion sliced

Instructions

Marinate rice cakes in 1 tbsp of sesame oil, a pinch of salt, and pepper.
Marinate mushrooms with 1 tsp of sesame oil, 1 tsp of soy sauce, and a pinch of salt.
Make sauce in advance by mixing together 1 tbsp gochugaru, 2 tbsp gochujang, 1 tbsp soy sauce, and 1 tbsp maple syrup.
Add 1 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil over medium high heat in a non-stickpan.
Add onions and mushrooms and cook until they start to brown. Add garlic.
Add all remaining veggies and cook until they just start to get soft. Season with salt.
Add rice cakes and sauce. Stir together until all veggies and rice cakes are evenly coated with sauce. Add 1 cup of mushroom broth (or water). Cook on low heat until sauce becomes thick and rice cakes are soft.
While rice cakes are cooking, cook ramen noodles according to packageinstructions—al dente (i.e., don’t cook them all the way). Add almost cooked rice noodles to rice cakes and incorporate into sauce. Garnish with sliced green onions. Enjoy!

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Soups, Stews, and Side Dishes Traditional Korean Recipes

Omma’s Gamja Jorim (Braised Potatoes)

Why This Gamja Jorim Recipe Is Different.

I love braised tomatoes and my mom knows it, which is why she makes me Gamja Jorim almost every time I come over to her house. There are lots of braised potato recipes out there (including this one!), but this particular recipe for Gamja Jorim is—wait for it—simplified! I’ve reduced this recipe down to just a handful or ingredients, so that it’s too easy to make, while maintaining that explosion of flavor that makes Gamja Jorim so popular.

What Does “Gamja Jorim” Mean?

What is Gamja Jorim, you ask? “Gamja” means potato and “jorim” means braised. The potatoes are braised in a mouthwatering broth over a period of time, until they are almost break apart tender. If you love potatoes, you will love this dish, not only because it tastes amazing, but because it takes so little effort to prepare.

How To Eat Gamja Jorim.

My mom made this for us the other day when we came over for Father’s Day lunch. My husband could not stop raving about the potatoes and luckily, there was plenty for us to take home and eat again for dinner. We threw them into a bowl of rice, together with some sautéed greens, sprouts, zucchini, and mushrooms, and we had ourselves a perfect bibimbap. Of course, they are also good all by themselves.

Tips For Making The BEST Gamja Jorim Ever:

Cut the potatoes into bite sized pieces—if they are too large, they will take too long to cook.
Make sure to get some color on your potatoes before adding any liquid.
If you can’t find Korean chilis, use green bell peppers or jalapenos (if you can take the heat!). DO add some kind of peppers, though.
After adding the braising liquid, cover the potatoes—the steam will help them cook faster.
Remove the lid for the last 5 minutes of cooking (when your potatoes are just about done), so they don’t turn mushy.

Other recipes to try:

Omma’s Gamja Jorim (Braised Potatoes)

If you love potatoes, you will love this dish, not only because it tastes amazing, but because it takes so little effort to prepare.

5 from 1 vote

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Ingredients

1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
3 large potatoes chopped into bite size pieces
3-4 cloves garlic minced
1/2 red onion chopped
3 Korean chili peppers can sub green peppers or jalapenos
1 1/2 Tablespoons soy sauce use GF to make the recipe GF
1 1/2 Tablespoons maple syrup
1 cup water
salt
pepper
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds

Instructions

In a large pan over medium high heat, add 1 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil. When the oil is hot and shimmery, add 3 potatoes chopped into bite sized pieces
Allow the potatoes to cook in the pan for about 4 minutes, until they start to get browned. Then, add 3-4 cloves of minced garlic, 1/2 chopped red onion, and 3 sliced Korean chili peppers. Season with salt and pepper.
Continue to cook the veggies in the pan until onions start to grow translucent (~3 minutes). Add 1 ½ tbsp soy sauce and 1 ½ tbsp maple syrup. Stir until veggies are evenly coated.
Add 1 cup of water and bring to a boil. Then, cover the pan with a lid and reduce the heat to medium low. Cook for approximately 12 minutes, removing the lid every once in awhile to baste the potatoes with the braising liquid.
When potatoes are almost done cooking, remove the lid altogether and continue “basting” until liquid is reduced and thick and potatoes are tender.
Drizzle potatoes with 1 tsp of sesame oil and add 1 tsp of toasted sesame seeds, just before serving.

4 comments

Soups, Stews, and Side Dishes Traditional Korean Recipes

Kimchi Soondooboo Chigae

What Happens When You Run Out of Firm Tofu?

So, I came up with this Kimchi Soondoboo Chigae recipe a couple weeks ago because my kimchi was lookin’ beautifully sour and I could not find any firm tofu in my house. All I had was 4 boxes of silken tofu. So, I decided to just go with it, and ended up with a mashup that made my Korean vegan tastebuds really really happy. I’m pretty sure you’ll be happy with it too.

I Went to College and Totally Missed My Parents Way More Than I Thought. Did You?

One of the reasons I love soondooboo chigae so much is because it sort of confirms to me two important things: I’m Korean AND I lost none of my heritage when I went vegan. So, why does it remind me of my Korean-ness so much? When I left for college, it was the first time in my life that I was separated from my family for any length of time. This was very hard for me. I hadn’t realized, until then, just how close I was to my mom and dad. In all the hoopla and excitement of moving away to live with my BFF from high school (who was going to be my roommate), I didn’t once think about whether it would be hard for me to live without my mom’s silvery voice and cool hands, or my father’s gruff silence and breaking smiles. Suffice it to say, within about 1.5 weeks, I was pining for the smells of my family’s kitchen, the soulfulness of gochugaru as compared to the sterility of dorm food.

Thank God for that One Korean Restaurant on Campus that Made Me Love Korean Food.

There was one restaurant on campus that reminded me of home—Dorcas. Dorcas served homemade Korean cuisine right out of a kitchen about the size of my dormroom. While it always took forever to get your food, the small individual sized stone pots brimmed with fiery red chigaes to staunch almost—almost—all the loneliness that separation entails. My first visit to Dorcas, I ordered soondooboo chigae because it was the only thing on the menu that I recognized as something I knew I liked to eat. Yes, after 18 years of eating Korean food, I had taken my grandmother’s and mother’s so for granted, I never bothered to learn what any of their dishes were called.

Soon, I became a regular at Dorcas. I saved all my change over the week in a small plastic cup that sat wedged into the corner of my desk and on Fridays or Saturdays, I would head over there with my friends, church group, or my boyfriend and order Soondooboo Chigae. When I eventually graduated, my girlfriends bought me a traditional Korean stone pot so that I could never be without Soondooboo Chigae, even if I had to say goodbye to Dorcas.

Veganizing Soondooboo Chigae Proved that I Didn’t Have to Stop Being Korean When I Went Vegan.

So, sure enough, the first dish I ever asked my mom to teach me was Soondooboo Chigae. And consequently, the first Korean dish I ever veganized was Soondooboo Chigae. I’ve made this recipe so many times, showed my Instagram followers how to make it, and even posted a recipe here on my blog years ago. The truth is, the more times I make this dish, the more in love I fall with it.

My Tricks For the Perfect Kimchi Soondooboo Chigae

Now, adding kimchi to it was not a big thing. Many Korean tofu house will have Kimchi Soondooboo Chigae. But, I do have a few tricks up my sleeve to make this stew absolutely outstanding:

Roast the gochugaru carefully for depth and smokiness
Deglaze the pan with soup soy sauce for extra flavor
Add gochujang to the kimchi for a little more heat and a hint of sweetness
Don’t skimp on the tofu brine as it adds dimension to your broth
Add potatoes to naturally thicken your stew
Don’t overcook your stew to maintain crunch kimchi

So, the next time you’re in the mood to try some authentic Korean food that also happens to be vegan, try out this Kimchi Soondooboo Chigae. You will LOVE IT!!

Other recipes to try:

Kimchi Soondooboo Chigae

Next time you’rein the mood to try some authentic Korean food that also happens to be vegan, try out this Kimchi Soondooboo Chigae. You will LOVE IT!!

Print Recipe

Ingredients

1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/2 Tablespoon sesame oil
1 1/2 Tablespoons gochugaru (Korean pepper powder)
1/2 red onion diced
4-5 cloves garlic minced
1/4 Korean zucchini or regular zucchini, diced
1 small potato small died
1 cup Napa cabbage kimchi vegan
salt
1 Tablespoon gochujang
1 Tablespoon soy sauce or light soy sauce
2 cups vegetable broth or water
1 box silken tofu
2-4 scallions chopped

Instructions

Over medium high heat, add both 1 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil and ½tbsp of sesame oil to a medium sized pot (enough to serve 2 people).When oils are hot, add 1 ½ tbsp of gochugaru and stir with a wooden spoon until the flakes start to foam. DO NOT ALLOW FLAKES TO GET DARK AND BURN.
Add diced onions, minced garlic, diced zucchini, and diced potatoes. Stir until they are all evenly coated with chili oil. Next, add 1 cup of kimchi, including any kimchi juice.
Add gochujang and deglaze the pan with soup soy sauce. Again, stir until all the vegetables are evenly coated.
Next, add vegetable stock. Gently spoon in the silken (“soon”) tofu, including any brine. Break up the tofu using your spoon.
Bring the stew to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Cook until potatoes are tender.
Right before serving, add chopped scallions as garnish. Serve with rice.

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Mains Traditional Korean Recipes

Vegan Kimchi Fried Rice

So, this Vegan Kimchi Fried Rice is the culmination of having lots of odds and ends (like one single solitary kale leaf) in my fridge and not enough energy in my body to come up with anything else for dinner. I remember, when I went paleo for a little bit (it was a very bad decision, guys, don’t recommend it), my meals consisted of a daily dump (wow, bad imagery, but so appropriate) of random meats into a big pan, together with whatever veggies I had on hand. While it didn’t always taste that great and left my stomach feeling even worse, it was easy and somewhat thoughtless. Funny enough, I think some of the most popular Korean recipes are those that were derived by people who simply didn’t know how to, or didn’t have adequate brain power, to cook.

You see, every Korean kitchen will have rice and kimchi. Start with those two things, and you’re like 90% there. Then just add in oil and every vegetable known to man in your fridge, and you’re done. Basically, that’s how I came up with this Vegan Kimchi Fried Rice.

Where’s the egg? Well, go ahead and add your favorite egg replacer in there, but honestly, I made this Vegan Kimchi Fried Rice last night with like 50 ppl on Chibo, and none of them missed the egg. My husband—who gobbled up about 80% of it before I could get in a spoonful—certainly didn’t miss no eggs. So, do yourself a favor. Make this Vegan Kimchi Fried Rice and find out what all the fuss is about!

Vegan Kimchi Fried Rice

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3 People

Ingredients

2 + 1 tbsps vegetable oil
3 cups day old/cooled rice
1/4 medium onion (diced)
3 cloves garlic (thinly sliced)
1 cup kimchi (chopped)
1 whole carrot (diced)
1/2 head broccoli (chopped)
3-4 shiitake mushrooms (chopped)
1 small Yukon gold potato (diced)
2 Leaves kale (julienned)
Salt & pepper
2 tbsp gochujang*
1 tsp maple syrup
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 green onion chopped
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp sesame seeds
optional garnish: roasted nori strips

Instructions

Begin preparing kimchi fried rice by mixing sauce—2 tbsp gochujang, 1 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tsp maple syrup.
Add 2 tbsp vegetable oil to a very large pan over highest heat setting.
When oil begins to shimmer, add 1 cups of day old or cooled rice. Do not crowd the pan. Season with salt and pepper.
Fry rice in oil until it starts to toast and remove and set aside. Repeat with remaining rice.
Add 1 tbsp of oil. Sautee all veggies, including kimchi. Season with a little salt.
When veggies start to brown, add sauce and stir until all veggies are coated.
Add back fried rice and mix until fully incorporated. Turn off the heat and add 1 tsp sesame oil for shine.
Sprinkle with sesame seeds and roasted nori.
Snip a little green onion over the top of both the kimchi fried rice.

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Gluten Free Traditional Korean Recipes

Savory Pancakes – Gluten Free!

While at a food styling and food photography workshop with one of my favorite foodbloggers, Timothy Pakron, The Mississippi Vegan, we decided to make and shoot these beautiful kimchi pancakes, using Timothy’s homemade kimchi, the dragon carrots from his garden, and garlic scapes we picked up from the Jackson, Mississippi Farmer’s Market that morning. For the pancake, I modified my gluten-free recipe for chocolate chip pancakes and it turned out just perfect. Enjoy!

GF Kimchi Pancakes

This is a tweak from my prior recipe for gluten free pancakes. By adding a little kimchi juice and chunks of overripe kimchi to the batter, you guarantee a kimchi explosion with every bite!

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8 pancakes

Ingredients

Pancakes

1 tbsp white wine vinegar
3/4 cup non-dairy milk
1/2 cup blanched almond flour (almond meal will result in less fluffy pancake)
1/2 cup sweet white rice flour (do not replace with regular white rice flour)
2 tbsp cornmeal
1/4 cup potato starch
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 tbsp onion powder
2 scallion whites chopped
2 scallion greens (julienned)
1 Korean green chili (sliced)
3 cloves garlic (sliced and minced)
1 cup kale (cut into ribbons)
1/2 cup overripe kimchi (plus more for topping)
1 tsp kimchi juice

Dressing

1/4 cup soy sauce (tamari is a GF soy sauce)
1 tsp maple syrup
1 tsp rice wine vinegar
1 tbsp mirin
1 tbsp sesame seeds
1/2 jalapeno or Fresno chili pepper (seeded and thinly sliced)
1 tbsp garlic (minced)
1 tbsp Korean pepper powder (optional)

Instructions

Stir white wine vinegar into non-dairy milk and set aside. In a large bowl, mix together all dry ingredients with whisk or fork.
Add minced garlic (1/2 of your garlic should be minced and the other half should be thinly sliced, which you will save for "toppings"), the chopped scallion whites, 1/2 of the Korean green chili, and the kale to the dry ingredients.
Add 1/2 cup of overripe kimchi, as well as 1 to 2 teaspoons of kimchi juice. Using a pair of kitchen shears, snip up the kimchi into bite sized pieces (you can also chop the kimch in advance, but it always makes a mess).
Add in non-dairy milk mixture and whisk until the dry ingredients are fully incorporated. The batter will be very thick (almost like cake batter), but if it's too thick to work with, add 1 tablespoon of non-dairy milk at a time until it gets to a workable consistency.
Add a little oil to a skillet (I used a cast iron skillet) to medium high heat. When the pan is hot, add some scallion greens, sliced garlic, and/or kimchi directly to the pan. Then, pour small ladleful (about 3 tablespoons) of batter.
Lower the heat to medium-low and cook for about 1 1/2 to 2 minutes before flipping. Cook until both sides are evenly browned and serve with the dressing (which you make just by mixing all the ingredients together).

2 comments

Gluten Free Sauces Soups, Stews, and Side Dishes Traditional 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...

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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

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.
If you don't have an awesome mom who makes you vegan kimchi (like my mom), you can buy vegan kimchi here.

4 comments

Desserts Traditional 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

Mix together non-dairy milk and white wine vinegar. Set aside.
Soak raisins in mirin soju.
Place all dry ingredients in stand mixer bowl or large bowl and stir using paddle attachment (or wooden spoon).
Add red bean paste.
Add sesame oil and slowly incorporate vegan buttermilk (mixture created in step 1) until batter forms.
Fold in remaining ingredients (nuts and raisins) with rubber spatula.
Scoop into muffin tray or place in large cake rectangular cake pan (sprayed with cooking oil or lined with parchment paper).
Optional topping: mix together all ingredients and gently spoon onto your batter.
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.

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Food Life Traditional 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.

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