Lunch Box (Dosirak)

I found these old school stainless steel lunchboxes a couple years ago at a garage sale and couldn't resist. Brings back memories of Korea, picnics, Mom. All that good stuff.

Here we recreated a version that they have at Kanghodong Baekjeong in LA. (Their rib eye is to die for by the way). They have the shaken lunchbox on the menu and it seemed so easy and fun to make we decided to give it a try. The banchan can change depending on what you have in your fridge but I would always use kimchi, fried egg, and the seaweed.

Ingredients:

- 1 bowl cooked rice

- Banchan 1: 

- Banchan 2:

- Banchan 3:

- 1 fried egg, sunny side up

- Some crushed seasoned seaweed

Banchan 1: Lotus Root

Banchan 2: Stir Fried Anchovy

Banchan 3: Fried Kimchi. It's super easy. Just heat a spoon of oil in a pan. Add a 1/2 cup of chopped kimchi and 1/2 t sugar. Fry until the oil in pan is bright orange and kimchi is soft, around 5 min.

When you have all your banchan ready you can start assembling the lunchbox. First put the rice in the lunchbox.

Then arrange the different banch on top of the rice along with the crushed seaweed.

We used the second lunchbox for dessert. Fresh cherries!

I would love to have this in my bag for lunch everyday.

Shake it up like they make you do at Konghodong. Or just mix it around with your chopsticks and voila you have a lovely lunch. Oh and the bohjagi can double as a table cloth.

 

Lotus Root (Yeongun Bokkum)

Lotus root is one of those exotic things you find on your table at Korean or Japanese restaurants, but it's actually a common side dish great for lunchboxes or everyday meals. I love the cuteness of the shape and it's delicious as well.

You can buy the actual root which is brown and around the size of your fore arm or you can just buy the pre sliced version packed in water. The actual fresh root is more crisp and fresh while the pre sliced version will soak up the brown of the soy sauce better so it will be prettier. It depends on your preference. We opted for the crisp texture of fresh lotus root.

Ingredients:
- 6 inches of lotus root sliced into 1/4" rounds
- 2 T rice vinegar
- 3 T soy sauce
- 2 cups and 1/2 cup water
- 2 T honey
- 1 T sugar
- 2 T rice wine
- 1 TSesame seeds
- Vegetable oil

1. Put the lotus root slices in bowl with 2 cups water and the vinegar. This helps brighten up the color. Let sit for 15 minutes.

2. In a smaller bowl, mix up the soy sauce, water, sugar and honey.

3.  Drain the lotus root slices.

4. Heat a pan on medium and add some cooking oil. Add the lotus root and fry until slightly golden.

5. Add the soy sauce mixture. Reduce heat to low and let it simmer while continuously stirring the lotus root and making sure all the slices are evenly covered. When the lotus root slices have absorbed most of the sauce and are sticky.

6. Sprinkle with some sesame seeds and you're done.

Stay tuned for the next post, which will be a lunchbox using this lotus root dish.