NuM NuM

So before I head off to get hitched I have been learning how to cook every week with my mom. I'm Korean so she has been teaching me her authentic Korean dishes she learned from her mom. Everyone in her family is a great cook so even when I go to my hal muh ni's (grandmother) house halfway across the world in Korea, it tastes just like my mom's cooking since she learned from the master herself. I've seen on other blogs people using different ingredients that aren't used in a traditional Korean dish. Not to worry, here you'll find truly authentic Korean dishes straight from my mom's kitchen...who is the best cook EVERRRR!!!

She even makes her own kim-chee...who still makes their own kim chee now-a-days?! I remember a story she told me about when we used to live in Virginia, she would dig in the snow and plant a bottle of kim-chee in it. Very clever that woman is, making her own kim-chee fridgey in the snow. My fondest memories are waking up to the sounds of pots and pans clanging in the kitchen which meant my mom was slaving away in the kitchen. She worked a full time job but we always had a home cooked meal every night while we were growing up and NEVER had take out...that would be sacrilegious for Chin suk.

Although my mom is the best cook, the only problem is that anytime she makes anything, she cooks for a village even if there's only two of us. She also eyeballs EVERYTHING, so these measurements are not exact, but good enough. This recipe is my mom's yummy meh oohn tang which is basically spicy rock cod fish soup with lots of hearty veggies. It takes less then an hour to prepare, it's great any time of year and healthy too.

Oh, FYI, we had to look up the english translation for the herb my mom used for this soup. Apparently, chrysanthemum according to my mom helps the soup smell not so fishy from the cod. Interesting I thought, I had never known...just a little bit of trivia for ya.

Since I keep forgetting to take pictures of my food, I copied the photo from this blog.

매운탕 (Meh Oohn Tang) - 10 servings

2 lbs rock cod (can use mixture of 은대구 and 대구) cut into 6-8 oz pieces
1/2 cup of 고추장 (Korean red pepper paste)
1 head of garlic
2 medium size of 무 (Korean radish)
1 large onion
2 medium size 호박 (zucchini)
1 jalapeno pepper
16 oz soft tofu
5 thick scallions
2 packs enoki mushroom
1 bunch of 쑥갓 (chrysanthemum)
S&P and Korean red pepper flakes for seasoning

In large pot put 6 cups of water and red pepper paste in pot over high heat
Cut radish into one inch thick pieces and two inches long and put in water as well
Put cover on and cook until radish is half way cooked
In the mean time get two large bowls to prep remaining ingredients in
Cut 호박 (zucchini) into same size as 무 (radish) and put in a bowl
Then cut onion in half crosswise then across into three slices
Cut jalapeno into slices
Mince one head of garlic and put garlic and all above ingredients in same bowl
Chop up remaining ingredients as follows and put in second bowl
Then cut scallion, cut white parts down the middle and then slice into one inch pieces
Then take one bunch of 쑥갓 (chrysanthemum) and cut off ends and pull out any old brown pieces
Cut tofu in half lengthwise then four slices across
Cut bottom ends off mushroom and separate and rinse under water
After radish is half cooked put fish in pot
After fish is half cooked put in ho bahk, onion, jalapeno, and garlic...you can add more water if it doesn't seem like there's enough. You want water to cover just above vegetables.
After zucchini and onion are half cooked and water comes back up to a boil then put in remaining ingredients and cover and wait for it to come back up to a boil
Then season with salt, one pack of dah shi dah and if needed add more Korean red pepper flakes
In the end make sure that radish is cooked all the way through