Hello all! I hope you are having a wonderful week. I know my week has been pretty good. My new roommate has arrived from South Korea. I'm looking forward to getting to know her and to have someone new to taste my cooking. As you know I recently made kimchi. Well, what goes better with kimchi than bo-ssam! Bo-ssam is such an amazing dish. I remember the first time I tried it, I was amazed. It was so full of flavor and just melted in my mouth. So good! The flavorful pork belly combined with the slight spice of the sauce and tangy flavor of the cabbage leaves is the perfect combination. It easily become one of my new favorite dishes and now I can make it myself.
This recipe came from maangchi. I love all of her recipes and videos. She makes cooking fun. I love how much she enjoys making this recipes and sharing them with others. Cooking is such a wonderful activity and I would love to make delicious food all the time. Beyond making the food, sharing it with friends and family and having them enjoy the food that I've prepared is always a joy. I think food is something that can bring people together and I think that is why I enjoy it so much.
You can find the recipe that I used here.
Ingredients:
For cabbage
- 1 pound napa cabbage leaves, washed and drained
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup white vinegar
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 3/4 cup water
For pork
-3 pounds pork belly rinsed and drained
- 1 large onion, cut into quarters or sliced
- 2 tablespoons ginger, sliced thinly
- 12 garlic cloves
- 2 tablespoons Korean Fermented soybean paste (doenjang)
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon instant hazelnut-flavored coffee
- 10 cups of water
For oyster radish salad
- 1 pound Korean radish, peeled and washed
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 2 tablespoons fish sauce
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 green onion, chopped
- 8 ounces frozen shucked oysters, thawed out in the fridge for an hour
- 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons hot pepper flakes
- 1 tablespoon sesame seeds
For shrimp sauce
- 1 tablespoon saeujeot (fermented salted shrimp)
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon hot pepper flakes
- 1 green onion, chopped
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 2 tablespoon water
- a pinch of sesame seeds
For Cabbage
Step 1.
Combine sugar, vinegar, salt and water in a large bowl. Mix well until it turns into a clear pickle brine.
Step 2.
Add the cabbage and mix well by hand.
Step 3.
Let it sit for 15 minutes, then mix well and turn it over so the leaves pickle evenly. Repeat this every 10 to 15 minutes for 1-2 hours, until the cabbage leaves get soft and withered.
Step 4.
Squeeze out the excess water and refrigerate until ready to serve.
For Pork
Step 1.
Add the pork, onion, garlic, soy bean paste, brown sugar, hazelnut coffee powder, and the water to a large pot. Cover and cook for 1 hour over medium high heat.
Step 2.
When it boils vigorously, turn the pork over with a wooden spoon or tongs.
Step 3.
After 1 hour of boiling, turn down the heat to low and cook for another 15 minutes.
Step 4.
Take out he cooked pork and let it cool down until ready to serve.
For spicy oyster radish salad
Step 1.
Cut the radish into matchsticks and put them in a bowl. Mix with the salt and let it sit for 10 minutes.
Step 2.
Squeeze out the excess water and put it back into a bowl.
Step 3.
Take the the oysters out of the fridge and wash and drain.
Step 4.
Create a seasoning mixture by combing hot pepper flakes, fish sauce, sugar, garlic and green onion in a bow. Mix well with a wooden spoon.
Step 5.
Add the seasoning mixture to the radish and mix well by hand. Add the oyster and mix it in gently. Add the sesame seeds.
For shrimp sauce
Step 1.
Combine the fermented salted shrimp, sugar, hot pepper flakes, green onion, garlic and water in a small bowl. Mix it well with a spoon. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.
To serve,
Step 1.
Slice the pork into 1/8 inch thick pieces. Put them on a large platter.
Step 2.
Add the cabbage, spicy oyster radish salad, and shrimp sauce side by side nicely. Sprint with sesame seeds and serve.
*Korean people often serve with Korean booze: soju, makgeolli or even beer.
How to eat
-Take a pickled cabbage leaf, add a piece of pork on top of it, add some of the oyster radish salad and some of the shrimp sauce. Make sure it is small enough to fit in your mouth all at once. Wrap the leaf into a small pouch and eat it whole.
Well there you have it, bo-ssam! It does take a few hours to make but it is so delicious. This is a great meal to enjoy with friends. I hope you enjoyed this recipe. I'll see you soon for my next dish.
XOXO,
Rachel
Hello! Long time no see. Things have been so busy. I have a lot of projects going on at work, my roommates just moved to Iowa and I'm getting into the groove with one of my new roommates while waiting for the other one to arrive from Korea. But with all that going on I have had the opportunity to cook some new dishes. Both of the dishes I have made recently are considered more difficult dishes to make. I am really proud of how both of them turned out. So lets talk about the first dish that I made, kimchi.
I love making Korean food but I was always intimidated by kimchi. I wasn't intimidated by the amount of work that goes into making it but the fermentation process. In order to make kimchi you need to ferment it and considering I have never done this, and I was always told leaving food out overnight is very bad, I was a little nervous. But when I read on Maangchi's recipe that if you can make this kind of kimchi well, then you can consider yourself good at Korean cooking I was determined to make it. I felt that if I didn't make kimchi then my Korean cooking skills would never be complete.
That being said, I really enjoyed making kimchi. It is a long process but I loved every minute of it. From buying the ingredients, to salting the cabbage leaves, to spreading the mixture on the leaves, it was fantastic. That's why I enjoy cooking so much. There is so much care put into making each dish. When I hear my roommate talk about her mothers cooking and how she worked very hard to make really delicious and nutritious food for them, it makes me want to strive for that with my cooking. It's seeing the enjoyment when people taste the food I've prepared that makes it all worth while.
Now onto the recipe! This one came from Maangchi and can be found here. You will need a couple very large bowls for the cabbage and some large containers with lids for the Kimchi. They have special plastic and glass containers made for Kimchi at Korean grocery stores. You will also need a large strainer.
Ingredients:
For salting cabbage:
-6 pounds napa cabbage (3-4 medium size heads of napa cabbage)
-1/2 cup Kosher salt.
Porridge:
-2 cups water
-2 tablespoons sweet rice flour (glutinous rice flour)
-2 tablespoons turbinado sugar (brown or white sugar)
Vegetables:
-2 cups radish matchsticks
-1 cup carrot matchsticks
-7 to 8 green onions, chopped
-1 cup chopped Asian chives (buchu), optional (substitute with 3 green onions, chopped)
-1 cup water dropwort (minari), optional
Seasonings and spices:
-1/2 cup garlic cloves (24 garlic cloves), minced
-2 teaspoons ginger, minced
-1 medium onion, minced
-1/2 cup fish sauce
-1/4 cup fermented alter shrimp with salty brine, chopped
-2 cups hot pepper flakes (gochugaru)
Prepare and salt the cabbage.
1. It the cabbage core sticks out too much, trim it down.
2. To cut the cable in half cut a short slit in the base of the cabbage, enough to be able to grip each half, then gently pull the halves apart until the cabbage is split.
3. Cut a slit through the core of each half, about 2 inches above the stem. You want the leaves to be loose but still attached to the core. (Don't pull apart, leave them with just the slit)
4. Dunk the cabbage halves in a large basin of water to get them wet. Don't worry about rinsing or cleaning just yet. Then sprinkle the salt between each leaf. Make sure the get the whole leaf, paying extra attention (more salt) to the stems, where the leaves are thicker.
5. Let the cabbage rest for 2 hours, turning it over every 30 minutes, so that they get well salted. You can also ladle some of the salty water from the bottom of the basin over top of the cabbage when you turn it.
6. After 2 hours, wash the cabbage halves under cold running water. Make sure to wash them well to remove the salt and any dirt. As you wash, use the slits to split the halves into quarts. Cut off the cores, and put them in a strainer over your sink so they can drain.
Making the kimchi mixture.
*While the cabbage is salting, make the porridge as it will need time to cool.
1.Combine the water and the sweet rice flour in a small pot.
Mix well with a wooden spoon and then let it cook over medium heat until it starts to bubble. (about 9 minutes) Then add the sugar and cook from 1 more minute, stirring. Remove from heat and let it cool completely.
2. Cut up all of your vegetables except the onion, garlic and ginger.
3. In a blender or food processor add the onion, garlic and ginger and blend until everything is a minced texture.
4. Combine the cool porridge, the garlic, ginger and onion mixture, fish sauce in a large bowl. Scoop the salted strip out of the jar (brine and all) and squeeze out the brine into the mixture you just made. Then cut up the shrimp finely and then add them to the mixture. Add in the hot pepper flakes, if you want less spicy kimchi then only use around 1 cup. I like mine spicy so I used 2 cups. Mix well, until it becomes a paste.
5. Add in the radish, carrot, green onion, Asian chives and water dropwort. Mix well. The radish has a lot of water so the mixture will become thinner.
Making Kimchi
1. Take each cabbage quarter and spread the mixture between all of the leaves.
2. When each cabbage quarter is well coated, wrap it around itself into a spall packet and put it in your container.
3. Make sure the container is well back and press the kimchi down before sealing the container.
*You can eat the kimchi now or let it ferment.
Fermenting the kimchi.
1. Leave the kimchi out at room temperature for a day or two depending on the temperature and humidity of the room. The warmer and more humid it is, the faster the kimchi will ferment. Once it starts to ferment it will smell and taste sour, and pressing on the top of the kimchi with a spoon will release bubbles from beneath.
2. Once it starts to ferment, store it in the refrigerator and use as needed. This will slow down the fermentation process, which will make the kimchi more and more sour as time goes on.
Well there you have it, kimchi! I am so excited to be able to make my own kimchi. I love fresh, spicy, well ripened kimchi. Making it was a huge accomplishment for me and I think it went really well. Next recipe will be bo-ssam. Bo-ssam. Kimchi and Bo-ssam are two dishes that go really well together. When my roommates family gets together to make kimchi, they also make bo-ssam to enjoy after. Stay tuned for my next post where I'll show you how I made it.
XOXO,
Rachel
