Home-cooked Korean food

After our Korean friend EY treated us to a fabulous home-cooked dinner one day, I was so impressed that I went to the Korean supermarket the next morning to get the essential ingredients, namely chilli paste, mirin and vinegar.

The recipes arrived just as quickly via email and there's no turning back now. My first attempt at making the seaweed appetiser wasn't too successful because I used too much vinegar of the wrong kind (apple vinegar).

Seaweed appetiser made by EY.

China garlic stem seasoned in chilli paste by EY.

EY's version of Dakbokkeumtang.

What impressed me most about EY's recipes is the ease of cooking. There is no frying involved. For the chicken stew, just toss everything in a pot and simmer for an hour or so. EY used Le Creuset French Oven to do the job. I simply used a WMF heavy based pot which can tolerate long hours of cooking. The chicken pieces turned out succulent and the root vegetables were so full of flavour. It is a really healthy yet delicious dish.

The best thing was, my kitchen was clean and oil-free.

My version of chicken stew.

When I first ate the garlic stems at her house, I was blown away by the lovely taste of such a humble dish. When you blanch the stems in salt water, they become crunchy and sweet. After tossing them in the chilli paste mixture, they become even tastier.

Messy but tasty.

EY's recipes came at the right time, just when I have run out of ideas of what to cook for dinner. I've reproduced them here so you can make your own Korean dishes at home too.

Recipes

1. seasoned seaweed with cucumber

-Vinegar 3 Tbs

-Sugar 1.5 Tbs

-Salt 0.3 Tbs

-Spring onion (chopped) 1Tbs

-Red chili 1 ea

** after soaking the seaweed in water, you can also blanch in boiling water to have softer seaweed.

2. China garlic stem

-Chili paste 2Tbs

-Soy sauce 1Tbs

-Corn Syrup 1Tbs

-Sugar 0.5 Tbs

-Garlic(chopped) 0.5 Tbs

-Sesame oil 0.5 Tbs

-Sesame seed 0.5 Tbs

** cut into 4~5cm length for the stem and blanch about 1~2 mins in salt water and drain the water, cool down before you mix with seasoning.

3. Chiken stew/Braised Chicken ( Dakbokkeumtang in Korean)
-chicken pieces, skin removed

-chili paste 3Tbs

-Chili powder 3 Tbs

-Soy sauce 5Tbs

-Mirin 2Tbs

-Syrup 1Tbs

-Sugar 1Tbs

-Garlic (chopped) 1Tbs

-Ginger powder 0.3 Tbs

-Sesame oil 1Tbs

-Salt

**marinate chicken with salt,ground pepper, rice wine (or mirin) and 1 hour later add water and boil first & add seasoning & vege (potato or carrot, onion, chilli etc )and simmer until cooked. The above ingredients are for 1 chicken but you can also adjust the taste by adding more chili powder or more salt etc.