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.

 

Bean sprout Bap (Kongnamul Bap)

This is a dish that many people are probably not familiar with. It's rice cooked with bean sprouts and topped with a sauce. Very simple and very healthy. I remember my mom cooking it for us when we were bored with regular rice. Could be good for pregnant ladies who don't have much of an appetite, as Jeana also really liked this one. The key is in the tangy spicy sweet sauce mixed with the fragrant veggies.

Ingredients for 2:
1 1/4 cup rice
1 piece of dried kelp
2 1/2 cup water
2 handfuls of bean sprouts
1 small bunch of rucambole (can be found in produce section of Korean market. Pronounced 'dallae' in Korean. Can be substituted with chinese leeks or other green sprouts)

Sauce:
2 T red chili powder
6 T soy sauce
2 T chopped green onion
1/2 T minced garlic
1 T Korean cooking syrup (or agave syrup)
1 T sesame seeds
1 T sesame oil
1/2 chopped green chili (optional)

1. Put the water, rice and kelp in a bowl and let it sit for at least 1/2 hour.

2. Drain the rice and save the water it was sitting in. Put the rice in a sauce pan on medium heat. Add 1 1/4 cup of the water you saved.

3. Add the bean sprouts and put the top on. Bring to a boil.

4. Flip the rice over before it has a chance to stick to the bottom. Lower heat and put the top back on. Simmer on low for 10-12 minutes or until the rice is done. The water should be all evaporated and the rice cooked through.

5. Mix all the sauce ingredients in a bowl.

6. Place rice in the bottom of a bowl and top with the rucambole and sauce. Enjoy with some kimchi, of course.

Bibimbap

If you are Korean you may have some fond memories of getting hungry in the middle of the night and mixing up a bowl of rice with whatever banchan(side dishes) you can find sitting in the fridge. This is what bibimbap is essentially. Just mix rice, side dishes, some red pepper paste, sesame oil, an egg and you're done. It's one of the most popular dishes in Korea and also why we love to fly Korean Air. (They serve bibimbap and it beats any other kind of airplane food hands down.)

Here we will be making a typical version from scratch. But again, there are no rules. You can change what goes in it.

Ingredients:
1 carrot sliced into match sticks
1/2 large zucchini sliced in to matchsticks
1 handful of shittake mushrooms sliced
1/2 bunch spinach
1/3 daikon sliced into matchsticks
2 oz of thinly sliced brisket (rib eye is also good. buy the meat that is sliced for shabu shabu. If you don't have an Asian market you can slice it thinly yourself by freezing the meat for 30 minutes)
Minced garlic
1 T soy sauce
1 t rice wine
Salt
Pepper
Sesame oil
Seasame seeds
Cooking oil
2 bowls cooked rice
2 eggs sunny side up

Sauce:
3 T red pepper paste
1 t plum extract
1 t sesame oil
1 t sesame seeds
1 T Korean cooking syrup (oligodang)
1 t vinegar (we used apple cider vinegar)

1. Slice the meet into small pieces.  In a bowl add the meat, 1 T soy sauce, 1 t minced garlic, 1/2 t sugar, 1t rice wine, 1/2 t sesame oil, 1/2 sesame seeds, salt and pepper. Mix and let marinate. 

2. Bring a pot of water to boil. Add the daikon and boil for 5 minutes until slightly tender. Take them out and drain under cold water. Set aside. In the same pot of water add the spinach and blanche for 1-2 minutes. Drain under cold water and set aside.

3. In a bowl, add the spinach, 1/2 t minced garlic, 1/4 t salt, 1/2 t sesame oil and mix well. 

4. Heat up a frying pan and add the daikon matchsticks along with 1/2 t minced garlic, salt and pepper. Fry until tender and transluscent. Set aside.

5. In the same pan add some oil, mushrooms, sesame seeds, salt and pepper. Fry for a few minutes until soft. Set aside.

6. In the same pan add the zucchini with salt and pepper. Fry for a few minutes until soft. Set aside.

7. In the same pan add some more oil (if necessary), the carrots, salt and pepper. Fry until soft. Set aside.

8. Finally, add the marinated meat and fry until cooked through.

Here is a picture of all the toppings we just made. Kind of reminds us of japchae toppings.

9. In a small bowl, add all the sauce ingredients and mix well.

To serve, put rice in a large bowl and arrange the toppings. Add the egg and sauce. You can also add crushed seasoned seaweed for garnish.  This took us over an hour to make but if you have Korean leftovers in the fridge it might only take you 10 minutes.
Enjoy!

Spicy Octopus Over Rice (Nakji Dup Bap)

Sorry for the lack of posts last month! Lots of traveling and procrastinating. But we're back. When we made this dish we were going through a heat wave in LA, but now with the freezing temperatures it's the perfect cozy dish guaranteed to warm you up. Remember our trip to Nakzi Village? It was our inspiration but we made it to go over rice. Instead of rice you can also cook some 'somyun' noodles to go on the side. Either way it's so good.

Ingredients for 3 servings:
- 3-4 octopi(nakji) preferably fresh. Can be found in Korean or other Asian markets.
- 1/2 bag of been sprouts
- 1/2 onion
- 1/2 carrot
- 1 small zucchini
- Green onions
- 1/2 green chili
- 3 bowls of cooked rice
- Crushed seasoned seaweed and toasted sesame seeds for garnish

For the sauce:
- 4 T red chili paste
- 4 T red chili powder (adjust this if you don't like it too spicy)
- 1 1/2 T soy sauce
- 2 1/2 T rice wine
- 2 1/2 T Korean cooking syrup (you can substitute with agave)
- 1 T minced garlic
- 1/2 T plum extract
- 1 T sugar
- 1 1/2 T sesame oil
- 1 T toasted sesame seeds

Part 1. Prepping the octopus

1. Cut the heads off of the octopi. Make sure you don't cut through the head as the ink will go everywhere.

2. Put the legs in a strainer with a spoon of flour and a spoon of course salt. Rub it in well with your hands.

3. Rinse well in running water.

3. Dip the octopus into boiling water for 3 seconds each.

4. Slice into bite size pieces.

5. Mix all the sauce ingredients together. Add to the octopus.

6. Mix well and set aside while you prep the other stuff.

7. Blanche the bean sprouts in boiling water for about 1- 2 minutes.

8. Rinse and drain. Season with a little bit of sesame oil and salt.

9. Slice the rest of the veggies. You can use any kind of vegetable you like. Cabbage and bell peppers are also good options.

10. Put some oil in a heavy bottomed pan heated to medium. Add onions, carrots and zucchini. cook until softened.

11. Then add the green onions and green pepper. Cook for 1-2 minutes.

12. Add the sauce and octopus.

13. Stir around and cook for another couple minutes until the octopus is just cooked through. You don't want to over cook the octopus as it will get rubbery.

14. Put the rice into bowls and top it with some bean sprouts and octopus. Garnish with seaweed and sesame seeds.

Myulchi Rice Balls

So if you have a stash of the myulchi in the fridge it will take you less than five minutes to make these rice balls.

Ingredients:
- 1 bowl of rice, room temperature
- 1/3 cup of myulchi
- 1 package of roasted sesame seaweed

1. In a larger bowl, mix up the rice and myulchi.

2. Make little balls out of the rice mixture using your hands. You may have to press firmly to make it stay in shape.

3. Crush the seaweed and put in a plate. Roll the balls around in the seaweed until they are sufficiently covered. Again, you may have to press a bit firmly to make the seaweed stick.

And enjoy! Great way to eat leftovers.

Kimchi Fried Rice (Kimchi Bokkumbap)

This is one of our favorite ways to use old kimchi that's been sitting in the fridge for a while. It's so easy and comforting.

The key is to use kimchi that is a little old because it is more tangy and tastes better when fried. Also important is using rice that is a day old because it has less moisture and gets crispy at the bottom of the pan. If you don't have rice that's a day old, just make rice as usual but use a little less water and stick it in the freezer for 5 minutes to cool.


Also Our favorite brand of Kimchi is "Chongga". We've tried all kinds of brands but this one is by far the best.  The one on the right is regular fresh kimchi which needs at least 10 days to be ready for Kimchi Fried Rice. The one on the left is old fermented Kimchi so it's already ready. This is about $7.99 at a Korean Market.

Ingredients for 4 servings:
4 cups old kimchi, cut into bite size pieces
4 bowls of one day old rice (cold)
2 T cooking oil
1 T butter
1 T red pepper paste (gochujang, sold in Korean markets) - if you don't have it, you can skip it.
1 T sesame oil
Pepper to taste

Garnish:
4 eggs
Sesame seasoned seaweed, crushed (sold in the Asian section of most supermarkets)
Chopped green onions

1.Heat a frying pan on medium and add cooking oil. Then add the kimchi and fry for a few minutes until it is heated through.

2. Add butter and red pepper paste

3. Add the rice. Use a spatula to break it up and mix it around so all the rice is evenly coated in the kimchi and paste.

4. Add sesame oil.

5. Spread the rice evenly on the pan and let it sit for a couple minutes so the bottom turns a little crispy and brown.

6. While the rice is browning, fry up the eggs in a separate pan. We like sunny side up because it looks the nicest. But remember to cover the pan with a lid so the top side cooks and is not too runny.

7. Mix the rice again using the spatula and then put in serving bowls. Top each bowl with a fried egg, crushed seaweed, and a sprinkling of the green onion.

*Variations with more protein: Fry some chopped ham in the pan before adding the kimchi. Or add canned tuna(drained) with the kimchi.