Register

Korean Food

Chill out and chat with the foodie community or swap top tips.
NOTE: THE CURRENT CHATTERBOX IS IN THIS FORUM
Posts: 62
Joined: Sat Apr 28, 2012 5:16 pm
Location: Greater Manchester

Re: Korean Food

Postby smitch » Fri Sep 01, 2017 9:58 am

Gillthepainter wrote:Re firm or not firm silken tofu, I have a sneaky feeling one of them isn't vegan.
Let me see if I can refresh the memory banks? Something in the back of my mind .......


I know nothing about Korean, but those pancakes really do look particularly good.


As far as I know they're both vegan, silken tofu is often used in desserts and quiches. I'm really not keen on the texture of silken in savoury food so always use the other type. I like Tofu King firm tofu from the Chinese supermarket.

User avatar
Posts: 4139
Joined: Fri Apr 27, 2012 2:02 pm
Location: Stoke Newington, London

Re: Korean Food

Postby Stokey Sue » Fri Sep 01, 2017 10:43 am

I've put a detailed answer on the food scare thread

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=2896&p=52416#p52416

It seems it is vegan

User avatar
Posts: 4139
Joined: Fri Apr 27, 2012 2:02 pm
Location: Stoke Newington, London

Re: Korean Food

Postby Stokey Sue » Fri Sep 01, 2017 7:33 pm

Went to Bang Bang Oriental in Colindale for lunch

Was a nice outing, will definitely go again
I had Korean Dolsot Bibimbap (topped rice with marinated pork, served in a very hot stoneware bowl). Really good, I had some tempura too, and have leftovers for later. In fact my only criticism of BB Oriental would be that some of the stalls could do more small plates, many are sized for sharing round a group which requires a level of coordination. It's also noisy due to pop music

DSC_0164.JPG
Dolsot Bibimbap
DSC_0164.JPG (109.94 KiB) Viewed 6329 times

DSC_0174.JPG
Tempura
DSC_0174.JPG (87.51 KiB) Viewed 6329 times

DSC_0172.JPG
Food Hall
DSC_0172.JPG (114.16 KiB) Viewed 6329 times

User avatar
Posts: 4357
Joined: Thu Apr 26, 2012 5:58 pm
Location: Clayton-le-Woods

Re: Korean Food

Postby Renée » Fri Sep 01, 2017 10:45 pm

The food looks lovely, Sue and very nicely presented, but would be better, I'm sure, without the pop music!

Site Admin
User avatar
Posts: 4191
Joined: Mon Apr 23, 2012 1:56 pm
Location: Bushey

Re: Korean Food

Postby Sakkarin » Sun Sep 03, 2017 10:37 am

I had some pork mince to use up, so with that BB Oriental bibimbap pic fresh in my mind, I went for some "Korean-style" meatballs, and my cheat bibimbap base (i.e. all the veg prepared in one pot).

Gorgeous. In fact for my money the pork meatballs (I baked them) were tastier than the beef strips used in the original recipe.

Even with the cheat, it's still relatively time consuming preparing all the veg, as to create the right size julienne I did it by hand. Veg were bean sprouts, carrot, mushroom, courgette, white radish, cucumber, spring onions and rocket.

P.S. For me it's the sauce that makes it, the egg yolk, pork, rice and chilli sauce all work wonderfully together.

Chilli sauce recipe:
1 large dollop Gochugang
1 squirt Corn Syrup
1 splash Soy Sauce
1 glug Sesame Oil
1 smidgin water
S+P

Image

User avatar
Posts: 4139
Joined: Fri Apr 27, 2012 2:02 pm
Location: Stoke Newington, London

Re: Korean Food

Postby Stokey Sue » Sun Sep 03, 2017 1:06 pm

Agree about it all working together
I had about 5 different veg and a small portion of pork bulgogi on the rice, and a big bowl of sauce to spoon on, I finally feel I've had the full experience, unlike that dull bowl in Soho

The bulgogi was sliced very finely, so it mixed in to the shredded veg

As mine was dolsot it had nice crispy bits of toasted rice at the bottom of the bowl, very good but very hot, burned my mouth a little, picking it up with chopsticks didn't appreciate the temperature until too late :o

Site Admin
User avatar
Posts: 4191
Joined: Mon Apr 23, 2012 1:56 pm
Location: Bushey

Re: Korean Food

Postby Sakkarin » Sun Sep 03, 2017 1:30 pm

Stokey Sue wrote:I finally feel I've had the full experience, unlike that dull bowl in Soho


Hallelujah!

Reminds me of a trip to the Vietnamese restaurant in Camden, when they served me Banh Xeo without any herbs. The whole point of the dish to me is the way the herbs and dressing combine with the crispy pancake/fillings. I had to ask for the herbs, and although an enormous plateful appeared, for me the damage had been done.

If they usually serve it plain, then a lot of people out there will have missed the point.

Site Admin
User avatar
Posts: 4191
Joined: Mon Apr 23, 2012 1:56 pm
Location: Bushey

Re: Korean Food

Postby Sakkarin » Sun Sep 03, 2017 3:35 pm

I thought I'd do a Google to find out more about "Dried Fern Fronds", a Korean ingredient I've not yet tracked down, and came across this page, which Google Translate livens up no end...

Apparently it makes puffiness easier by making urine visible.

https://translate.google.co.uk/translat ... rev=search

User avatar
Posts: 916
Joined: Wed Apr 25, 2012 12:33 pm

Re: Korean Food

Postby Pampy » Sun Sep 03, 2017 3:48 pm

That's hilarious! I like the "chopped wave" in the ingredients list!
It's a bit scary though - it can cause bladder cancer so it's boiled for 30 mins, which removes 90% of the carcinogenic component - but you're still left with 10%!

Site Admin
User avatar
Posts: 4191
Joined: Mon Apr 23, 2012 1:56 pm
Location: Bushey

Re: Korean Food

Postby Sakkarin » Sun Sep 03, 2017 4:08 pm

A bit like the "5 second" rule!

User avatar
Posts: 4139
Joined: Fri Apr 27, 2012 2:02 pm
Location: Stoke Newington, London

Re: Korean Food

Postby Stokey Sue » Sun Sep 03, 2017 4:32 pm

Yes , that's a bit boggling once translated

I come from near the New Forest, where there's a strong local tradition of eating the new shoots of bracken in Spring time (I expect they did it round Epping too)

Here's an article about it, he boils the fiddleheads then sautes in butter, and goes into the risks

https://honest-food.net/bracken-fern-edible/

Site Admin
User avatar
Posts: 4191
Joined: Mon Apr 23, 2012 1:56 pm
Location: Bushey

Re: Korean Food

Postby Sakkarin » Sun Sep 03, 2017 5:16 pm

if you eat raw bracken fiddleheads in the woods you will probably ingest ptaquiloside


and if you do it deliberately and die, is that ptaquilosideicide?

Site Admin
User avatar
Posts: 4191
Joined: Mon Apr 23, 2012 1:56 pm
Location: Bushey

Re: Korean Food

Postby Sakkarin » Wed Sep 06, 2017 6:35 pm

Oh dear, I realised that the Golders Green branch of Seoul Plazea was only a mile or so further than Wing Yip, so I made a special trip. And now I've spent far too much :-(

There's still a few things I've not managed to track down, but there's a fair few goodies to be going on with here.

Clockwise from the top left:
Soy bean sprouts 1.19 (different from normal mung)
Sweet rice powder 3.09 for kimchi
Korean curry powder 1.29
Chun Jang black bean paste 89p
Korean rice (made in USA) 4.39
Korean soy 500ml 1.59
Soju 4.99 (but then as a drink it is 17.5% proof)
Korean Fish Sauce 1 ltr 2.99
Korean soup soy 1 ltr 2.59
Jar fermented shrimps £3.59 (I nearly didn't bother, but thought for the sake of sticking to Sunflower's recipe I'd get them for my next batch of kimchi. The assistant said "oh are you making kimchi?" when she saw the jar.)
Asian pear juice 99p They hadn't got Asian pear, but the girl said this juice was what they sub for marinating. Submarination?
Perilla leaves at last 92p
Korean looong spring onion 69p


They had Red Dates, but at £14.50 a pack I gave it a miss. I think the small dried chinese ones I already had are basically the same, although much smaller. Proper mirin was also off my budget, although they had the imitation stuff at a quarter of the price.

Still to track down:
Dried Fern/bracken/kosari 말린 고사리
Jjajangmyun fresh noodles
Ginseng, even though probably out of my budget.


I'm pleased to say that I've used all the ingredients from my last Korean trip in the dishes I've made so far. Some of these latest items are primarily for testing (the various sauces and the curry powder), and fortunately most of the products will store well. I'm hoping the shrimp will freeze (SUNFLOWER!?! HELP!).

Image

Site Admin
User avatar
Posts: 4191
Joined: Mon Apr 23, 2012 1:56 pm
Location: Bushey

Re: Korean Food

Postby Sakkarin » Wed Sep 06, 2017 6:50 pm

SOY SAUCE TEST

The yardstick was Lee Kum Kee light soy, which is one of my favourite, you can get it in Tesco.

Compared to that, Kikkoman is a deeper yeasty taste, slightly thicker and not quite as salty.

So onto the Korean ones.

Korean "Soy for Soup" is slightly lighter than the Lee KK, which makes it taste saltier, although I'd say it's probably about the same. I'd say interchangeable.

The surprise is the Korean "standard" soy. This is not very salty at all, and is actually fairly sweet. None of the others are really a substitute unless you omit some other salt in the recipe and maybe add a bit of sweetener. EDIT: It is just a hint of sweetness, not the overly treacly sugary blackness of Kicap Manis.

FISH SAUCE TEST:

Tested against Squid Brand fish sauce, which is a bit acrid for me (has a pic of squid rather than fish on the bottle), and Suree Fish sauce which is slightly lighter than Squid Brand. Both my bottles of Thai fish sauce are quite old, so may have grown stronger with age, I seem to remeber the Suree tasting quite good when it was new..

The Korean fish sauce is the lightest, and I would use it in preference to the other two in any recipe. As a sub I'd say just use very slightly less.

Vietnamese Fish Sauce from what I remember is stronger than the Thai, but tastier, because it hasn't the acridness of the Squid Brand sauce. They're all salty..

User avatar
Posts: 4357
Joined: Thu Apr 26, 2012 5:58 pm
Location: Clayton-le-Woods

Re: Korean Food

Postby Renée » Wed Sep 06, 2017 7:47 pm

Wow! What a great haul and the prices are good, too, but they do add up!

Fiddleheads are very popular in America, but I didn't realise that they were gathered over here at certain times of the year.

Your Korean style meatballs do look good with the sauce!

Site Admin
User avatar
Posts: 4191
Joined: Mon Apr 23, 2012 1:56 pm
Location: Bushey

Re: Korean Food

Postby Sakkarin » Wed Sep 06, 2017 8:05 pm

So good I had them again the following day, with a slightly different presentation. There are two different sets of veg, the long fried veg on right of the rice and the quick fried on the left.

And I've also made loads of "Dok Galbi" meals too - today it will be with perilla leaves at last.

Image

User avatar
Posts: 4357
Joined: Thu Apr 26, 2012 5:58 pm
Location: Clayton-le-Woods

Re: Korean Food

Postby Renée » Wed Sep 06, 2017 9:06 pm

That looks fabulous! You should open a restaurant, but you probably wouldn't want all the stress! :clap :clap

Site Admin
User avatar
Posts: 4191
Joined: Mon Apr 23, 2012 1:56 pm
Location: Bushey

Re: Korean Food

Postby Sakkarin » Wed Sep 06, 2017 9:09 pm

And I could never decide what to specialise in! Maybe a different country every day oif the week. If it was Korean, I thought I could call it "Special K" but I think that's already been taken....

User avatar
Posts: 916
Joined: Wed Apr 25, 2012 12:33 pm

Re: Korean Food

Postby Pampy » Thu Sep 07, 2017 1:14 am

Kikkoman soy sauce is Japanese. Have just found this, which may be of interest. http://www.seriouseats.com/2011/03/do-y ... ences.html

Posts: 1266
Joined: Thu May 03, 2012 10:35 am

Re: Korean Food

Postby Lusciouslush » Thu Sep 07, 2017 9:37 am

No need to freeze shrimp paste Saks - it really does keep for ever - but make sure you put it in a sealed container - because of the pong! ( It makes excellent fried rice)

I am well-overdue for a trip to Wing Yip (Croydon) - I'll try some of your list!
I've never come out of there without spending the national debt. but it's always a good stock-up & much cheaper than the local Thai shop :thumbsup ( who buy from there!)

PreviousNext

Return to Food Chat & Chatterbox

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 23 guests