Simple Korean Breakfast

I woke up to 43 degrees this morning which is unusually cold for Texas in early October. I'm not a huge breakfast person and I don't really like to eat Korean food for breakfast because it makes me feel too full. But this morning, I craved Korean food. Not the kind with strong flavors so appetizing that makes me overeat but instead, I craved simple flavors and clean taste of Korean food. And since I had made some "banchan" (side dish) and kimchi last week, all I really needed was a piping hot bowl of rice cooked from "dduk bae gi" (small stone pot). Rice cooked in a "dduk bae gi" tastes much better than rice cooked in a rice cooker because it's more moist and it stays warm for a longer period of time.

I had made soy sauce boiled eggs and fish cake medallions in soy sauce last week and kimchi.  I also had a quarter package of tofu left so I crushed it with my hands and warmed it up in a little bit of fish broth. This is a simple way to cook and a good way to taste natural flavors of tofu. It would have been better if I had silken tofu (or fresh, handmade tofu yum!) but it was still very good especially with small amount of dressing made with soy sauce, garlic, green onion, pepper, and sesame oil.  

"Buhsut-dupbap" (Mushroom over Rice)

"Busut" means mushroom and "dupbap" means having something over bowl of rice. Some of other popular "dupbaps" are "hwe dupbap" (sashimi over rice) and "bulgogi dupbap" (you get the idea).
Eating dupabap style is convenient with minimum dirty dishes!  

I love mushrooms because they are low in calories yet filling and flavorful. Here I used shitake and enoki mushrooms but you can add more varieties like button and portobello mushrooms. However I strongly suggest not omitting shitake mushrooms because it has strong flavor essential for this recipe.
You can easily turn this recipe into vegetarian or vegan by skipping the pork and adding tofu instead.


Ingredients- Make 2 dupbaps

- 2x2 dried kelp (dasima)
- 1/2 of yellow or white onion sliced
- 1 bag of enoki mushrooms
- 6 dried shitake mushrooms
- 1/2 cup of julienned carrot
- 1 stalk of green onion chopped
- 1/2 green pepper or one jalapeno julienned (choose a mild jalapeno!)
- 4 oz of pork loin bias-sliced
- 3 tablespoons of soysauce
- 1 tablespoon of minced garlic
- 1/2 teaspoon of minced ginger
- 2 teaspoons of sesame oil
- 2 teaspoons of vegetable oil
- black pepper
- salt
- 2 tablespoons of cornstarch dissolved with 1/4c of water
- 2 BOWLS OF RICE

How to-

1. This will serve as broth: bring 2 1/2 cups water with dried shitake mushrooms and kelp to boil. Turn the heat down to medium-low then turn off the heat after 5 minutes. Let it stand until the mushrooms are soft. Once the mushrooms are soft, slice and leave them to the side.

2. Season pork with 1 teaspoon of garlic, 1/2 teaspoon of ginger, and 1 tablespoon of soysauce.

3. Add vegetable oil into a pan and heat it over high. Sauteed the pork and when it's almost cooked through, add vegetables and shitake mushrooms and sauteed until onions turn soft.

4. Add enoki mushrooms, 2 teaspoons of minced garlic, 2 tablespoons of soy sauce, and one cup of broth from #1 and bring it to boil. Add dissolved cornstarch and turn the heat down to medium-low.
The consistency should be similar to Mushroom Chicken from Panda Express perhaps with little bit more juice. Add more broth or starch to reach the desired consistency, season with salt and black pepper, and finish it off with sesame oil.

5. Serve over rice, dupbap style!  

Korean "Dduk Galbi"

"Dduk Galbi" and Korean Kimchi Stew for dinner last night

"Dduk" means rice cake and "galbi" literally means "ribs" in Korean but most people think of Korean marinated ribs when they hear the word. "Dduk galbi" is finely chopped rib meat marinated with sweetened soy sauce then shaped to look like a piece of rectangular rice cake. According to my research, "dduk galbi" was first created so that the king could enjoy the taste of galbi without holding ribs with his fingers to bite off the meat. 

I first made this with sliced ribeye couple months back but this time I added a few slices of "sam-gyup-sal" (pork belly), a secret ingredient revealed by a famous dduk galbi restaurant owner from a Korean TV show I watched last weekend. The addition of pork made it super moist and more flavorful. 

Ingredients-

- 2 lbs of sliced ribeye

- 4-5 slices of "sam-gyup-sal" or pork belly

- 6 tablespoons of soysauce

- 2 tablespoons of minced garlic

- 1 teaspoon of minced ginger

- 3 tablespoons of finely chopped green onion

- 3/4 cup of finely chopped onion (use food processor!) 

- 1 tablespoon of salt

- dashes of black pepper

- 1 tablespoon of sesame oil

- 1 egg

- 3 tablespoons of "mae-sil-chung"

 * "mae-sil-chung" is syrup made with plums. You can get a jar of this from big Korean supermarkets such as H Mart. It adds flavor and acts as a natural sweetener in many Korean recipes and you can also make tea with it *

- 2 tablespoons of sugar

* If you don't have "mae-sil-chung", use 2 tablespoons of honey and 3 tablespoons of sugar

How-to-

1. The hardest part: chop sliced ribeye and "sam-gyup-sal" by hand because using ground meat or grinding the meat will make it crumbly and we want the texture to be chewy somewhat like real galbi.

2. Combine meat, salt, black pepper, and ginger in a mixing bowl. Knead the meat for a couple minutes.

3. Add soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, garlic, "mae-sil-chung" or honey, egg, onion, and chopped green onion to #2 and mix.

4. Shape the mixture by hands or use a cookie pan as I did. Place a sheet of wax paper on a rectangular cookie pan, spread the mixture, and cut into even pieces (I got 12 pieces). Freeze it for a short time in order to keep the shape. 

5. Combine 2 tablespoons of soy sauce, 1 tablespoon of water, 2 teaspoons of sugar, 1 teaspoon of sesame oil in a small bowl. Set a side.(For 5 pieces of "dduk galbi")

6. For the best result, cook it over the grill. Otherwise: Heat the pan over high heat and add some oil. Place 5 pieces of "dduk galbi" and flip them over after 30 seconds. Turn down the heat to medium low, cover if you can so that the meat will cook through. When they are completely cooked, add #5 to the pan and turn the heat up to medium high. When #5 is reduced to almost none, turn the heat off!