Korean Kitchen class #1 Life

Saturday morning, I loaded my rice cooker, cooler-ful of vegetables and sauces in my car trunk. When I arrived at Castro valley Adult school, well equipped culinary classroom was waiting for me. Room 9 has 3 stoves, 3 double sinks and spacious counter tops. Big shelf was filled with pots, pans, cutting boards and different sizes of mixing bowls. I was happy to have these big recycle bins in the room so we can throw all the food scraps.



5 people came in with enthusiasm and soon we all started to make bibimbap, egg soup and stir fried fishcake. Korean cooking needs lot lots of prepping such as washing, cutting, blanching, mixing sauces and more washing (mixing bowls and other utensils). Everybody in my class were willing to cut many different vegetables, to cook everything separately (even though we mix everything right before we eat bibimbap!).

I bought some basic ingredients for my students so they can have ideas what to buy when they go to the Korean grocery stores in the future.


Here are Shirley and Apple's bibimbap.


After we finish cooking 3 dishes, we sat and ate all the food we made. I tried my best to prepare for the cooking part but didn't think about much of sharing Korean culture. As Shirley requested, I will need to think about sharing my own culture in California. I am very fortunate to have a chance to meet wonderful people and share many things of my Korean culture. Life is good!

Here are recipes of my Korean Kitchen class #1 for those of you want to try at home.

Bibimbap and Egg soup

(3-4 serving)

Ingredients

Cooked rice - 4 cups

Bean sprouts -1/2 bag

Zucchini

Carrot

Shitake mushroom - 4 stems

Mung bean sprouts - 1/2 bag

Spinach-1 bunch

Meat (beef, pork, chicken or tofu)- ½ LB

Egg - 4

Gochujang (hot pepper paste), honey, Mirin (sweet cooking wine), soy sauce, roasted sesame seeds, sesame oil, black pepper, chopped green onion, crushed garlic, and vegetable oil

Dried anchovy

 

Bibimbap

1. Rinse rice in cold water twice and then cook.

2. Rinse bean sprouts and boil for 10 min. with 1 tsp salt and a cup of water. Rinse twice in cold water and squeeze the water out of them. Season with crushed garlic, a pinch of salt, roasted sesame seeds, sesame oil and black pepper.

3. Julienne zucchini into 2” and sauté until it turns soft and translucent.

4. Julienne carrot into 2” and sauté 2-3 min. until it turns soft.

5. Cut off stems of shitake mushrooms and thinly slice them. Add 1 tsp soy sauce, 1 tsp sugar, and 1 tsp sesame oil. Sauté 1-2 min.

6. Rinse Mung bean sprout and boil 7 min. with 1tsp salt and 2 cups of water. Rinse twice in cold water and squeeze water out. Season with crushed garlic, a pinch of salt, roasted sesame seeds, sesame oil and black pepper.

7. Rinse spinach and blanch for 1 min. Rinse twice in cold water and squeeze water out. Cut into 2” length and season with crushed garlic, a pinch of salt, roasted sesame seeds, sesame oil, black pepper and chopped green onion.

8. Season thin sliced meat (1/2 lb) with crushed garlic, 2 tsp sugar, 2 tsp soy sauce, sesame seeds, 1 tsp sesame oil

9. Fry eggs with your choice - I like sunny side up.

10. Mix 2 Tbs gochujang, 1 tsp sugar, 1 Tbs honey, 1 Tbs Mirin, 1 Tbs sesame oil.

11. Put rice in the bowl and add all the vegetables and meat and put sunny side up egg in the middle.

12. Serve with mixed sauce and egg soup.

13. Mix and enjoy!

 

Egg soup

1. Boil 2 cups of water with dried anchovy.

2. Add 1tsp of Mirin.

3. Mix 2 eggs and thin sliced green onions together in a bowl.

4. When water boils, add in egg mixture and turn off the heat.

5. Season with salt and pepper.

6. Add a few drops of sesame oil.

 

Banchan #1-stir-fried fish cake

1 pack of fish cake, 3 crushed garlic, ½ bite size cut onion, 1 sliced green onion, 1 tsp gochujang, 1 tsp honey (or corn syrup), 2 tsp water, 1tsp vegetable oil, 2 tsp sesame oil, ½ tsp roasted sesame seeds

1. Cut fish cake into bite sizes.

2. Rinse fish cake with hot water to remove oil.

3. Pour oil into the medium hot pan.

4. Add crushed garlic, cut onion and cook for 2-3 min until garlic turns light brown.

5. Add fish cake and mixed sauce (gochijang, honey and water) and cook until sauce mixes well with all the ingredients.

6. Turn the heat off and add chopped green onion, sesame oil and sesame seeds.



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