Dakgalbi (Spicy stir-fried chicken with vegetables)

Hello! I hope your week has been wonderful. I've had so much going on lately. I am working a lot, learning Korean and keeping up with all the holiday and social events going on. Before I had moved to Koreatown most of my spare time had been spent cooking. Now my time is spent eating, going out with friends and learning Korean. I thought I would be doing much more cooking. Instead I am eating and enjoying all the wonderful Korean food around me. I hope that as I take in more delicious flavors it will pave the way for much more delicious cooking.

I have always loved food. It was always a sense of comfort for me. Every since I discovered Korean food it has become so much more to me. It still a source of comfort but it has also become a source of enjoyment. With Korean food it becomes a social occasion. I am so used to eating alone. Especially since moving out of my parents house. Even though I had roommates most of my food was prepared and enjoyed only by me. Now I have friends that enjoy going out to eat. We talk and enjoy delicious food together and I find that this has a great effect on my mood. I feel happier and more fulfilled getting to share these moments with such wonderful people and enjoying just amazing food.
Recently me and a couple friends went to this restaurant called Mapo Galbi. It was a small restaurant but comfortable and parking was pretty easy to find. I love when places have good parking, especially in LA. This was my first time eating dakgalbi. I hadn't even heard of this dish before going there. As with many Korean restaurants the food is cooked in front of you. I love that! I enjoying seeing all aspects of a meal being prepared. It starts off with marinated chicken, tteok and I believe a type of potato.

They allow this to cook for awhile before adding some cabbage and a spicy sauce.

Then they add some perilla leaf and cook it some more.

 

Everything continues to cook until all the vegetables and chicken are done.

The whole dish was amazing. It is very flavorful. I love how the chicken, tteok, perilla leafs and sauce all come together to give this dish amazing flavor and texture. Then afterward they make rice with the left overs.

I really enjoy how nothing is ever wasted. All of it can be used to make this really delicious food. Thank you so much for taking the time to read this post. I enjoy getting to share these experiences with you. I hope to have more consistent posts for you soon. Have a wonderful week!

XOXO,

Rachel 

Chijeu-buldak (Fire Chicken with Cheese)

I will admit that this is my absolute favorite recipe so far! I think the cheese maybe the reason why. Cheese is one of my favorite ingredients and I happen to think it makes everything taste better. That must be the American inside me talking. I also really enjoy sauces, but I get that from my dad. He puts some sort of sauce on everything. Not having access to certain sauces, like ranch dressing, was the hardest part of living in England for me. I probably failed to mention this but I lived in England for year during college. It was the most amazing experience and I highly recommend studying abroad to everyone! If I was still in college now I would definitely study abroad in South Korea. I think living their would be so much fun! I'm slightly jealous that they can get food delivered 24/7 in Seoul. Come one California, we need to step up our food game!
This week my playlist will be all about EXO. This is in large part due to the fact that I spent most of yesterday at their concert in Los Angeles. It was so much fun and I will write a post for you about it later this week. I'm going to share with you 3 songs. These songs don't have music videos but the live performances are some of my favorites. The first song is Transformer. This song has a really great beat and is more focused on the rapping as opposed to singing in most of their songs. It has a more hip hop vibe and I love it. The next song is Playboy. This is one of their sexier songs. I think it's their dance moves to this that makes it my favorite and the leather pants don't hurt either. Check them out for yourself and let me know what you think. The last song is Heart Attack. This is one of my all time favorite songs from them. It is so fun, I love the beat and I really enjoy the style in which they perform it. It's a music video within a concert. Check it out here.
Now it's on to the recipe. If you like chicken, cheese and spicy things, then this my friends is the recipe for you! I got this recipe from Maangchi.

Ingredients:

2 pounds of chicken breast, cut into 3/4 or 1 inch cubes

1/2 cup hot pepper flakes (I used 1/4 to make it less spicy)

2 to 3 tablespoons gochujang (hot pepper paste)

1 tablespoon soy sauce

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/3 cup rice syrup (or corn syrup, sugar, honey)

6 large garlic cloves, minced

2 teaspoons ginger, minced

1 pound mozzarella cheese, cut into small pieces

1 cup of sliced rice cake

1 green onion, chopped

1/4 cup water

Step 1.

Combine hot pepper flakes, gochujang, soy sauce, 2 tablespoons vegetable oil, black pepper, rice syrup, garlic and ginger together in a bowl. 

Step 2.

Add the chicken and mix well. 

Step 3.

In a skillet heat up 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil. Add the rice cakes and fry them for a few minutes. Turning occasionally (I find that tongs are the easiest way to do this) cooking until they are crispy and light golden brown. 

Step 4.

Place the chicken into a heavy pan, preferably cast iron. (I used a regular frying pan) Use the water to rinse the bowl and get any remaining sauce into the pan. Cover and cook over medium heat for 10 minutes. If you used a regular frying pan like me it will take about 7 to 8 minutes. 

Step 5.

Uncover and stir the chicken with a wooden spoon. Add the rice cakes to the top of the chicken. Turn the heat to low. Cover and cook the chicken and rice cakes for another 10 minutes or until the chick is fully cooked. If you are using cheese turn on the oven broiler to pre-heat while the chicken cooks. (I was overly excited and forgot to get photo evidence of these steps)

Step 6.

If you used a cast iron skillet you can place the cheese directly on top of the chicken and place in the oven. Since my pan has a plastic handle I transferred my chicken to an oven safe dish and covered with the pieces of mozzarella. 

Step 7.

Place the chicken in the oven and let cook until the cheese is melted and bubbly.

Step 8.

Remove and sprinkle with green onion. Then it's ready to serve.

I ate this with rice and it was amazing. I think the cheese and rice cakes add nice flavor and texture to the dish. I'm so glad I didn't put a 1/2 cup of red pepper flakes because then it would have been too hot for me. This was just the right amount of spice for me. I also shared this dish with a few friends and they loved it. I think this may be my biggest culinary success yet! Thank you Maangchi for the recipe. 

I hope you all enjoyed this weeks adventure. Keep your eyes peeled for my EXO post later this week. Do you have any recipes you think I should try? Let me know in the comments below. Have a great week!

XOXO,

Rachel 

Samgyetang (Ginseng Chicken Soup)

This week I decided to make Samgyetang. In Korea this is considered a summer dish. They are of the mindset that you eat this hot soup to help beat the heat of summer. Sounds like an interesting concept. I personally think this is a great dish for winter. Right now everyone is getting sick and this soup sounds like a delicious way to help boost the immune system. I really enjoy cooking food that not only tastes good but that also nourish our bodies. Both chicken soup and ginseng have wonderful healing properties. Ginseng can help boost your energy and your immune system.

This week my playlist is more mellow. EXO released a special winter album on December 10th titled Sing For You. I have really been enjoying it. Normally I prefer EXO's more upbeat songs like Call Me Baby and Love Me Right but I like these new mellow songs.  Sing For You is a beautiful emotional ballad. The music video for the song takes the viewer through a couple different emotions. The video starts off with happier scenes but takes a sad turn before returning to happier scenes. The concept is interesting but somewhat confusing. The melody of the song connects well with the visuals but I'm not sure how the lyrics connect. All of EXO's music videos only contain the members. I think it would benefit them to start including women in some of the videos. I believe this would help them to better convey the messages of their songs, especially considering women are a main theme within the lyrics. The other songs on the album are more upbeat than Sing For You but are still mellow except for the bonus track Lightsaber. Of the songs on the album I think Unfair and Girl x Friend are my favorites. I love the stories they tell. I also noticed that Xiumin is more vocally present in the new songs. He's a talented singer and I'm glad he is getting more opportunities to sing.

With this recipe there wasn't as much prep time needed as with my previous recipes. The rice needs to soak for an hour but beyond that everything is ready to go.

Ingredients:

1 cornish hen (about 1.5 pounds)

1 fresh ginseng root (can be found at many Korean markets)

3 tablespoons sweet rice, soaked for 1 hour

5-6 plump garlic cloves

1 thin ginger slice (about 1 inch)

2 to 3 jujubes (dried red dates, can be found at many Korean markets)

1 scallion white part

5-6 cups of water

2 scallions, chopped, to garnish

Salt and pepper to taste

Step 1. Clean the cornish hen. Do not cut off the neck and/or tail, if they are still attached. They will be needed to keep the rice inside the hen. Use a paper towel to clean the inside the cavity to remove any blood.

Step 2. Stuff the hen with a couple garlic cloves and the sweet rice. Make sure to leave about 1/4 of the cavity free for the rice to expand.

Step 3. Tightly close the cavity with a toothpick or small skewer. Then cross the legs and tie together with kitchen twine. ( I missed the leg crossing step when making this dish, oopsie)

Step 4. Place the chicken in a medium pot and add the water. Because my pot was on the bigger side I needed about 8 cups to completely cover the chicken. Then add the garlic, ginseng, ginger, jujubes and the scallion white part. If the chicken came with a neck that had been cut off, add it in with the other ingredients. Bring everything to a boil over medium heat. Skim off any foam on top. Cover, and boil for 20 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium low and boil for 20-30 more minutes. 

Step 5. Remove any visible fat and serve hot. Chopped scallions, salt and pepper added as desired. 

I hope you enjoyed this weeks adventure! This is another amazing recipe from the Korean Bapsang. Check out her version here. I really enjoyed making this recipe. I loved working with new ingredients like jujubes, ginseng and cornish hen. The finished product turned out wonderful! After adding a little salt, pepper and scallions, it was a delicious and healthy. I hope you all have a great week!

Xoxo,
Rachel