So this was actually dinner quite a few nights ago, but I’m a wee bit behind in posting…
Jason and I love to cook (and even more, love to eat), so we thought it’d be fun to devote part of the blog to featuring some of our culinary efforts. And it might also help us remember which recipes worked and which not so much…
This particular night I had a craving for Korean food and a recent issue of Bon Appetit just happened to have a feature on Korean bbq. I wanted something a bit lighter, though, so found a few different recipes for duk gook (rice cake soup) and thought I’d give it a go along with BA’s recipes for Shrimp and Green Onion Pancakes (pan jeon) and a salad of Field Greens with Red Chili Dressing.
I had my first real introduction to Korean food after I moved to Chicago and subsequently introduced Jason to the beauty of grill-your-own-meat-at-the-table dining. Plus, any cuisine where it’s customary for the waitress to cover your table with platters of free “appetizers” (known as panchan) is right up my alley.
This was my first time making duk gook, and I was pleasantly surprised with the results. I ended up combining steps from a few different recipes I found online. While several called for either using or making beef broth as the base, I read that using dried anchovies is actually more authentic. Since I didn’t have the time to make my own beef broth nor track down dried anchovies, I ended up using some dashi no moto, which is pretty much the Japanese equivalent to bouillon cubes. The flavoring comes from bonito, skipjack tuna, which is smoked and dried.
Each box has several packets of dashi no moto. For this soup, I used about 1 1/4 packets, adjusting for taste.
Here’s roughly the recipe I followed:
~ 1 1/2 c frozen rice cakes
4 oz beef (in this case an inexpensive sirloin cut)
Soy sauce
Cornstarch
2 eggs
2 stalks green onions, thinly sliced
Salt and pepper
4 c water
1 1/4 packets dashi no moto
2 zucchini, sliced
Fish sauce (optional)
Leave the rice cakes in a bowl of room temperature water to loosen and defrost.
Thinly slice the beef and add a couple spoonfuls of soy sauce, about 1 tsp cornstarch, and salt and pepper. Let marinate while you finish prepping.
Scramble the eggs and add the green onions.
Put water in a deep pot and bring to boil. Add dashi no moto then the sliced beef. Boil for a couple minutes then add 1 tsp soy sauce, a few dashes of fish sauce, and salt and pepper as needed.
Drain rice cakes and add to soup. Cook until just tender then add the zucchini slices. Add the egg mixture to the soup, but do not stir. Cover the pot and let it boil for 1 minute, then it’s done!
And here is the finished product:
The pancakes also turned out quite well. I followed the BA recipe and just added some sliced red chili peppers in addition to the carrots, onions, and green onions. (Would highly recommend following the recipe’s 2 skillet process when making these…cast iron works great).
The fully assembled meal:
And there you have it. A simple, relatively quick Korean dinner for a weeknight.
P.S. For those interested in a good Korean BBQ restaurant in Chicago, we recommend San Soo Gab San, near Lincoln Square. Be prepared to come out stuffed and smelling like grilled meat (not an entirely bad thing IMHO)
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