NuM NuM

WINNER, WINNER, Soon Dubu dinner!!!!

Holy mole, this was actually pretty good if I do say so myself. I can't believe I actually made my first Korean meal today-without any mommy supervision. Sigh...such a disgrace I am. I've blogged about forty American recipes and finally made one from my motherland tonight. Well, at least now I can play catch up! :D

Although my mom is the best Korean cook I know, she never made us soon dubu while we were growing up. Therefore, I had to concede and search the Internet for a recipe. As you can imagine, there are a ton of different recipes for soon dubu with a ton of different variations. Some of the photos didn't look like the right consistency, some were too light in color and some just looked plain scary. Finally my search ended when I found this website. It helped that there was a video too.

After making the soon dubu, this recipe seems more of a method then anything. I found I had to adjust and eyeball the seasoning and amount of broth to the way I like it. Lobster can't handle spicy food...clearly he is not Korean...so I had to tone down the amount of red pepper used. I also increased the amount of fish sauce too. The fish sauce really seemed to help this jigae give it that "Korean" taste. This was my first time using fish sauce, I bought "Three Crabs Viet Huong" brand and it flavored the broth nicely. All in all, for my first time making soon dubu I would say it was a success.

Note: I didn't like the consistency of the soup so I thickened it with a bit of cornstarch. I put one tablespoon of cornstarch and added a little water to help dilute it, then added half a cup of water. I then added it to the soup one tablespoon at a time until it reached the right consistency, which took about four tablespoons. I probably could have done more but I was too chicken and thought it might thicken too much.

**After just eating this I noticed it starts to taste better the longer is sits b/c the flavors start to meld together. If you have time try to make it a few hours ahead.

Soon Dubu Jigae - 2 large servings
12 dried anchovies
1/3 cup of kelp, half onion, 5 cloves of garlic, 3 shiitake mushrooms
100 grams of beef, 1 cup of mixed seafood, 3 shrimp
2 green onions, 1 green chili pepper
2-5 tbs of hot pepper flakes
olive oil, sesame oil, 2 tubes of soon du bu
2 tbs of fish sauce, and 2 eggs

Prepare stock to make tasty Soon du bu:
Pour 5 cups of water into a pot and add 12 dried anchovies after removing intestine part. Add half onion, some dried kelp (about 1/3 cup), 3 dried shiitake mushrooms, 5 cloves of garlic and boil it over high heat.
Approximately 10 minutes later, lower the heat to low medium heat and boil it for another 20 minutes.

Set aside the stock and take out the mushrooms and chop them into small pieces.
Heat your earthen ware (or ceramic pot) on the stove and put 2 ts of olive oil.
Chop 100 grams of beef and put it into the pot and stir it.
Add the chopped shiitake mushroom and stir it.
Add 2 tbs – 5 tbs (1/4 cup) of hot pepper flakes and keep stirring for 1 minute.
*tip:
2 tbs—mild
3 tbs—medium
4 tbs—hot
5 tbs (1/4 cup)—suicidal hot ! : )
Pour 2 cups of the stock you made. It will be sizzling. Add 1 cup of mixed seafood and 3 shrimp.
Add 2 tbs of fish sauce.
Cut the 2 tubes of Soon du bu (soft Tofu) in half and squeeze it out into the pot and break the tofu with a spoon several times in the pot.
When it boils, add 2 chopped green onions and 1 green chili pepper.
Crack eggs and drizzle some sesame oil before serving.
**I did not use any seafood or egg and it was still nummm


Khong Na Mul (Korean bean sprouts side dish)

I used a 8 inch skillet and covered the entire bottom of the pan with bean sprouts. I then added about half a cup of water and sprinkled some salt. Make sure you are not completely submerging the bean sprouts in water, just a little water underneath them is good to help them steam. Let the water come to a boil then put a cover on it and let it steam for about 3 minutes. If the bean sprouts have a distinct "smell" still then they are not ready and need to cook some more. Check to see if the bean sprouts have turned opaque, if not then bring water back to boil and steam for another minute or so. Bean sprouts should still retain some crunch and not be mushy. Season with S&P, finely minced/grated garlic, korean hot red pepper and a dash of sesame oil. Sorry I can't give you exact measurements, but taste as you go. When adding the red pepper the bean sprouts should turn a nice light red hue. Enjoy!!!

**If you would like to make the recipe for the spinach, you can find the recipe here. I forgot to note in the recipe that I also added finely minced garlic too.