Category Archives: Eating

Sep9

Melroooose in Korea!

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So, today I found one of the products that many South Africans abroad miss… Melrose!  And where did I find this little tub of goodness?  Ladies and Gentlemen, the thing that Mom always seemed to remember can now be found in………………… your kitchen!

A few weeks ago, I found this recipe by fellow Saffa, Ilze Louw Schlebusch, on the South Africans in South Korea Facebook page.   I didn’t think anything could taste remotely like Melrose, so BF and I tried it today.

This is like cooking for dummies.   Easiest recipe and instructions ever!  You only need 3 things – margarine, milk and those individually wrapped cheese slices that you can find en every single Korean supermarket. (Hey, even Family Mart sells them!)

We halved the recipe because apparently “it makes a lot”.  Super glad we did because now I have a HUGE tub of cheese spread in my fridge!  It really does make a lot!  BF and I will be sharing this giant tub, so you can make a full recipe if you want to share between a bunch of friends.  This is half a recipe:

  • 500g cheese slices  (I used Velveeta, because it actually tastes a bit more like the real deal, but BF reckons it’s a bit rich.  I think we’ll use the more “normal” cheddar cheese slices next time.  Velveeta is incredibly soft and creamy.)
  • 250g margarine
  • 1 cup milk

Melt the margarine and the cheese in a pot.  Then add the milk and whisk until smooth.  As soon as it’s nice and creamy, pour the very runny cheese spread into a container and put it the fridge to cool.

Finished.  For real.

I was soooo surprised when it set in the fridge and the “runny cheese spread” turned out to be soooo delicious!   Sure, it doesn’t taste exactly like Melrose, but to me it actually tastes a bit better.  It’s not as super sweet as Melrose!

I think this will be my new homesickness cure from now on!   A biiiig special thanks to Ilze for the recipe!  You made my week!

xx

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Sep9

Keep rollin’ rollin’ rollin’!

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I’ve been here for almost 3 years, loved making sushi back in South Africa, but never really made Kimbap before.  Until today.

Feeling up to the challenge, Boyfriend and I made our way to the local E-Mart and bought our goodies!  We spotted a nice “kimbap set”, but the Jamie Oliver and Nigella in us decided against it.  We can do it ourselves!

So on our shopping list we had:

  • Roasted Laver (seaweed sheets)  - we took the one with the Kimbap picture on it… can’t go wrong there..
  • 1 can of tuna
  • mayo
  • carrots
  • ham – also had a kimbap picture on it and it was called “kimbap ham”. (Pre cut for your convenience!)
  • Pickled radish that also had some other long rooty brown stuff in (I forgot the name haha! But it was a twin pack and also had kimbap pic on! Seriously shopping for Kimbap ingredients is super easy with the pictures!)
  • Ottogi instant rice bowls
  • eggs

After microwaving our instant rice bowls and making a quick omelet and leaving them to cool, we started making our Kimbap!  We covered our rolling mat in cling wrap, which kept it pretty clean.   First, we obviously spooned some rice on the seaweed sheets.   Keep at least 2cm “rice-free” on both sides, for rolling.   We added our ingredients all down the middle and started rolling it.  It was much easier than expected!

I remember the first time I made sushi with my dad for a family gathering.  We spent *hours* perfecting our rolls.   Pretty sure now that rolling sushi / kimbap is like riding a bike!

After success with our first roll we added all kinds of things to the Kimbap.  I saw a standard Kimbap roll with cheese in a Kimbap Nara before so we tried doing that too – odd, but not at all bad!

If you like Kimbap, definitely try making your own!  It’s a lot of fun and overall, it’s pretty cheap.

Rolling our first kimbap!

End product !

 

Jul18

Sambok Deowi – The three dog days

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It’s summer in Korea and with that comes the heat, humidity and grumpiness.  I love summer but this isn’t it.  This is hell. This Capetonian is NOT used to humidity! :)

Today we had the first Boknal Day, also known as dog days.  Boknal is the three hottest days of summer.  It is calculated according to the Lunar calender.  This year, the first boknal day, known as “Cho bok” is today – July 18th.  This marks the start of the hottest period.   The second boknal day, “Jung bok” is on July 28th and marks the middle. “Mal bok”, the third and final dog day is on August 7th and represents the end of the terrible heat.

The secret to beating Korean summer?  Food.  Koreans eat cold dishes and healthy foods that are known for restorative powers.  Some Koreans also believe in “Yi Yeol Chi Yeol”  (beat heat with heat) and eat a range of hot soups or stews that are uber healthy.  In the past, Boshintang (dog stew) was a popular dish served on these three days, but these days most Koreans prefer the chicken soup (Three yay’s to chicken soup!  Chicken Soup *yay!* Chicken Soup *yay!* Chicken Soup *yay!*) So here ye’ go!  What to eat to beat the heat:

Samgyetang (Chicken ginseng soup)

Samgyetang is one of my favorite Korean soups.    A chicken is stuffed with rice, garlic, ginger, licorice root and a few yummy herbs.  It is then boiled to make a hearty and nutritious broth.   When you have a cold, this is also the “I-miss-my-mommy-meal” to have.

Jjimdak 

In this yummy summer dish, chicken is mixed with spicy peppers, mushrooms and other vegetables and stewed in a sweet but spicy soy sauce broth.  It is often served with dongchimi (radish kimchi) because it neutralizes some of the spiciness of the dish.

Jangeo-gui

Jangeo-gui is broiled eel.  It is often seasoned with salt or  hot pepper paste, sugar, soybean sauce, minced garlic, ginger, or  sesame oil.

Naengmyeon

I love it.  Boyfriend hates it.  This is cold noodles.  Literally.   Naengmyeon is made with buckwheat noodles.  There are two different types of Naengmyeon.  Mul Naengmyeon served with an ice cold broth (think ice cubes or crushed ice in your soupy noodle dish) or Bibim Naengmyeon, which is topped with spicy gochujang (hot pepper paste).  Both are usually served with a boiled egg, cucumber, and pear slices.   I love the cold, vinegary taste.

Bingsu

Korean desert.  Personally I do *not* like this one… :/   This dessert is made with shaved ice, fruit, rice cakes, sweetened milk, and syrup.  Sounds good?  Yeah. Then they add red beans.  Meh.  Apparently there are also other flavors, like coffee (instead of the beans) and fruit.  I’d much rather just have a scoop of Baskin Robbins and use the ice in a nice Mojito..  :)

Anyways, eat these dishes to survive this terrible heat!  Another popular one is watermelon!  Expensive but oh so delish!  We actually had watermelon as well as samgyetang for lunch at school today!  Happy Cho bok!  And since it’s not actually hot today.. at all.. May the other two be as cool as today!

xx

Jun16

$5 lunch-ee!!

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Boyfriend and I have been living quite cheaply the last few weeks.  We have our Thailand trip in a few weeks and we’re soooo excited!  Saving every last won to make sure we can do whatever we want when we’re there!

We have been eating a LOT of ramen (instant noodles) and it’s actually been really fun!  We get to try out all different kinds of flavors and styles.  We have added mandu (dumplings) a few times, some meat another time… fun stuff! :P

This afternoon we felt like something other than noodles!  We found some awesome marinated meaty-stuff on a stick at the local supermarket for 1,500won each.  A few weeks ago we discovered a new “restaurant” in Gumi, called “Kong’s Riceball” (*giggles*).  Since the slogan reads : “Get some FUN – Fast Unique Nutritious” we decided to try it out.

Kong’s Riceballs in Okgye-dong, Gumi.

I think the rice balls are similar to the triangle kimbaps, it’s literally a stuffed rice ball rolled in shredded dried seaweed.  They have a variety of flavours – all pretty Korean-ish.  Boyfriend settled on the “Hot chilli pork” rice ball and I had the “beef salad” rice ball.  Most of the rice balls were 2,300won(about $2), with the exception of the fried kimchi one (1,500) and a few others were 2,000won.

All kinds of plastic rice ball goodness – they were much smaller in size though.. I’m guessing that’s what the post-it says…

The rice balls are quite small but coupled with two of the meaty sticks, we were both pretty stuffed.  I quite liked it! The beef salad one was, well… beef & broccoli… but it was very tasty.  Boyfriend’s hot chilli pork was most definitely hot and spicy, but also delicious!

If you see a Kong’s rice ball anywhere, be sure to try it out.  It’s small enough to be a snack when you’re on the go too.

Lunch! Meat-on-a-stick & rice balls.

Look at our balls!
Left: Hot chilli pork rice ball.
Right: Beef “salad” rice ball.

May31

The 100 Foods you gotta try in Korea!

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I found this AWESOME list on ZenKimchi today!  And I’m pretty excited!  I’m keen to try as many as possible.. apparently not everything on here is super duper tasty, but it’s “necessary to get a deeper perception of Korean cuisine.”  I have had some of these before (the bold ones ;)  ) but I’d love to have a pic of each one so I will just have to have some of them again!  So even if they are bold now, I’ll post pics of the ones I have and what I thought about it…   Woot woot!!  Thanks very much Zenkimchi for making this list!  It will take me a loong time to have all of these so I will be updating it regularly!  I hope Boyfriend is ready for this! ;)

1. Myeolchi Bokkeum (Stir-fried Anchovies)

2. Samgyetang (Ginseng Chicken Soup)

3. Bulgogi (Grilled Marinated Beef)

4. BulDalk (Burn-your-pants-off Spicy Grilled Chicken)  - Boyfriend actually made this one night for a surprise anniversary dinner… delicious!

5. DalkBal (Spicy Chicken Feet)

6. Korean Fried Chicken

This was the first item I tried… not because it was, well, fried chicken (!yum!), but my friend, Katy, and I went jogging and decided to go for chicken afterwards. (Don’t judge!)  I absolutely love Korean fried chicken.  We ordered fried chicken tenders and had some yummy honey mustard sauce for dipping.  (I think we had three mustard refills!)  It’s not half as greasy as South African fried chicken!  (The biggest difference would be between South African and Korean KFC.. not greasy at ALL compared to South African KFC!)  I think we paid about 16,000 won for this.. which was pricey compared to other places.  Katy and I shared though, so it was 8,000 each and we were stuuuuffed.  So well worth it!

7. Dalk Galbi (Stir-fried Marinated Chicken and Veggies)

8. San Nakji, chopped (Semi-live Baby Octopus)

9. San Nakji, whole (Live Octopus)

10. Sundubu Jjigae (Soft Tofu Stew)

11. Juk (Rice Porridge)

12. Galbi (Grilled Short Ribs)

13. Galbitang (Short Rib Soup)

14. Shinseollo (Fancy Hot Pot)

15. Gobchang Gui (Grilled Beef Intestines)

16. Seng Gan (Raw Beef Liver) – I’ve had raw goat liver once…. :P

17. Galbi Jjim (Stewed Ribs)

18. Bossam (Steamed Marinated Pork with Lettuce Wraps)

19. Japchae (Clear Noodles Stir-fried with Pork and Vegetables)

20. Jaeyuk Bokkeum (Spicy Stir-fried Pork)

21. Kimchi Jjim (Braised Kimchi with Tofu)

22. Ddong Jip (Chicken Gizzards)

23. Odeng/Eomuk (Street-side Fish Noodles)

24. Hoddeok (Stuffed Street-side Pastries)

25. GeiJang (Raw Fermented Crabs)

26. Hongeo (Fermented Skate)

27. Gochujang Samgyeopsal (Grilled Pork Belly Smothered in Red Pepper Paste)

28. Lotteria’s Shrimp Burger

29. Sae-u Kang (Shrimp Flavored “Fries”)

30. Doenjang Jjigae (Fermented Bean Paste Stew)

31. Cheonggukjang (Stinky Fermented Bean Paste Stew)

32. Boshintang (Dog Soup)  —- I will NOT be trying this one… sorry folks… my dad was a Labrador breeder… I know it’s not the same thing, but I just can’t do it… BUT if you want to know what it’s like, check out my friend’s blog post about her experience!  Click here!

33. Seonji Haejangguk (Hangover Stew with Clotted Cow Blood)

34. Deokbokki (Chewy Rice Cakes in Spicy Sauce)

35. YukHui (Korea’s Steak Tartare)

36. MiyeokGuk (Seaweed Soup)

37. Mae-eunTang (Spicy Fish Soup) –I think I have this at school often lol!

38. Nakji Bokkeum (Stir-fried Baby Octopus)

39. Mareun Ojingeo (Dried Cuttlefish)

40. Beondaeggi (Silkworm Larvae) --disgusting. period.

41. Golbaenggi (Sea Snails)

42. Jangeo Gui (Grilled Eel)

43. Jaratang (Turtle Soup)  — not sure about this one either….. don’t think I wanna … :(

44. Bog-eo (Blowfish)

45. Sae-u Sogeum Gui (Salt Grilled Shrimp)

46. Deodeok Root

47. Bindae Ddeok (Mung Bean Pancake)

48. Pajeon (Green Onion Pancake)

49. Bibimbap (Mixed Rice and Vegetables)

50. Boribap (Mixed Barley Rice and Vegetables)

51. Jjim Dalk (Braised Chicken)

52. Patbingsu (Shaved Ice and Red Bean Treat)

53. Dotorimok (Acorn Jelly)

54. Naengmyeon (Chilled Noodles)

55. Makkoli/Dongdongju (Rice Beer)

56. Bokbunja (Raspberry Wine)

57. Soju (Rice Whiskey)

58. Andong Soju (Strong Rice Whiskey from the Andong Region)

59. Jogae Gui (Grilled Shellfish)

60. Haepari (Jellyfish)

61. Gyeran Jjim (Steamed Egg)

62. Corn Ice Cream

63. Dolsot Bibimbap (Mixed Rice and Vegetables in a Sizzling Stone Pot)

64. Mandu (Stuffed Dumplings)

I absolutely LOVE Mandu.. 

65. Ddeokguk (Chewy Rice Cake Soup)

66. Songpyeon (Stuffed Chewy Rice Cakes)

67. Hot Bar (Fried Fish Batter Street Food)

68. Shikhye (Sweet Rice Punch)

69. Any product with Green Tea in it

70. Gujeolpan (Nine-sectioned Dish)

71. Yogurt Soju Cocktail

72. Baechu Kimchi (Cabbage Kimchi)
Haha!  I eat this every single day at school!  It was slightly weird to get used to in the beginning, but it definitely grows on you.  Now I really like it.  If you’re not good with spicy food, be sure to eat a small piece with a spoonful of rice… it helps!

73. Any Kimchi that’s over 3 years old

74. Baek Kimchi (White Cabbage Kimchi)

75. Shake-’em-up Dosirak

76. Mul Kimchi (Water Kimchi)

77. Oi Sobagi (Stuffed Cucumber Kimchi)

78. Ggakdugi (Cubed Radish Kimchi)

79. Sae-u Jeot (Salted Tiny Shrimp)

80. Myeongran Jeot (Salted Pollack Roe)

81. Changran Jeot (Salted Pollack Guts)  - whaaaaat?!

82. Ssamjang (Mixed Soybean and Pepper Paste)

83. Kalguksu (Hand-cut Noodle Soup) 

Aah I like this one too! :)  The noodles are delicious!  The broth is slightly creamy and reminded me of chicken noodle soup (without the chicken flavour).  It also has some seaweed, sliced zucchini, omelet, onions, green onions and a few slices of chilli.  It’s not spicy, but can be a  bit peppery.  We’re used to the taste of gochukaroo (red pepper flakes) in everything so at one stage we added our gochukaroo/soy-dip (we got this for the mandu) to it.  Like-uh!

84. Ramyeon (Ramen Noodles) in a Tin Pot  – I’ve had this but not in a tin pot…

85. Entire Hui Meal (Korean style Sashimi)

86. Gimbap (Seaweed Rice Rolls)

I’ve had so many rolls of gimbap before it’s not even funny.  Seriously this is the cheapest, easiest snack when you’re on the move.  Love.  You can get cheap ones at the convenience store, but my favourite ones are the fresh kimbap shop ones.  They have all kinds of kimbap rolls to choose from – plain, bulgogi (marinated meat), cheese, donkassu (pork cutlet), kimchi etc.  but my all time favourite is the Chamchi kimbap (참치 김밥 / Tuna)… aaah!  It’s like taking a sushi roll, leaving out the raw fishy smelly stuff (I looove sushi btw!) and replacing it with radish, sesame leaves, ham, omelet, tuna and mayo!  De-li-cious.

87. Jokbal (Pigs Feet)

88. Sundae (Blood and Noodle Sausage)

89. Yeot (Traditional Korean Candy)

90. Naengi (Shepherd’s Purse)

91. Kimchi Jjigae (Kimchi Stew)

92. Budae Jjigae (“Army Base” Stew, traditionally including hot dogs and Spam)

93. Agu Jjim (Stewed Monkfish)

94. Haemultang (Seafood Soup)

95. Nurungji (Hot Water Mixed with Rice Scrapings in a Stone Pot)  – Haha!! Boyfriend, do you remember this?!!

96. Sujebi (Rustic Dumpling Soup)

97. Janchi Guksu (Thin Noodles in a Seaweed Broth with Condiments)

98. BungeoBbang (Goldfish-shaped Stuffed Pastry)

99. Raw Ginseng or anything with Ginseng in it

100. MulHui (Chilled Sashimi Soup)

Nov16

Say Kimchi! :)

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From my old blog, posted December 18, 2010:

Okay, so as promised, I’ll write something about *kimchi*.   It’s like sushi. Either you love it – or you hate it, except it’s not sushi.  It’s cabbage – spicy, rotten cabbage.

Well, that’s not entirely true. Kimchi is an extremely healthy traditional fermented Korean side-dish.  Different vegetables can be used to make kimchi, like green onion, radish and cucumber, but the most common kimchi is made with napa cabbage.  It is rich in Vitamins A, B1 and B2, calcium and iron.  It also contains a lot of fibre and is low in calories.  The key ingredients in most varieties of kimchi (besides the vegetables) are red pepper flakes, salt and garlic. It can also be used in a variety of main dishes like soups and rice dishes.

The cabbage, spices and brine ferments in traditional jars – often seen outside homes.  Kimchi refrigerators are also used as a more modern way to make kimchi.

My all-time favourite kimchi is cucumber kimchi.   It is not as fermented as the cabbage kimchi, but it is awesome!  I am tempted to try and make it this weekend as it’s really easy and I don’t need a kimchi pot!!  We often get this at school too which is where I fell in love with it!  Cucumbers, green onion, onion, garlic, red pepper paste and vinegar – yummy!  It’s similar to pickles and only needs to “rest” for a day or two.   This cucumber kimchi photo is from a website – not mine! I googled “how to make cucumber kimchi” and found a website called Dr.Ben Kim.  So this is his kimchi :)

**Did you know:  The average Korean eats (cabbage) kimchi 3-5 times a day.  This adds up to millions of tons of kimchi consumed by South Koreans every year.  In 2010, due to early and heavy rains, as well as some typhoons, crops were destroyed which resulted in a Kimchi crisis.  Korea imported some Chinese cabbage for some relief.  Farmers sold their cabbages for 7 times the normal price.  South Korean media called it a Kimchi Chaos, as Koreans could not go without their Kimchi. **

Nov1

Braai Republic… The Republic of Happy

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We had another awesome time in Seoul this weekend!  Monday is SUCH a drag!  Like my friend, Mike, says:  ”The suckyness of the Monday is directly proportional to the legendaryness of the weekend.”  And it was, indeed, legendary.

Escaping my little city (I’m sure Durbanville is bigger!) and living the Big City Life in Seoul for a weekend is always fun!  Subways, finding food that you’ll NEVER find in your little Si (city)… aaah and the shopping… glorious hours of shopping!

The highlight of my weekend, however, was on Sunday.  We made our way to Itaewon to do some last minute shopping (at all the big-sizuh shops, because almost every South African is a giant monster with huge feet….).  And then we went to one of the most awesome places for a homesick Saffa to get cured.  Braai Republic.

Braai Republic is a new South African restaurant & pub in Itaewon. I got excited before I even entered the place!  The wooden stairs excited me! :)  We were greeted in *Afrikaans* yaaay and the warm SA welcome was felt instantly.

You can't compete with this, Starbucks!

We had the brunch, which included, eggs, bacon, toast, baked beans, a banger, hashbrown and coffee.  It really felt like I was back in SA.  The coffee reminded me of Mugg & Bean (yay for coffee that doesn’t come in a plastic stick!!) and the Ceres guava juice completed this total foodgasm.  Seriously, I wanted to cry.  We finished off brunch with Amarula Cheesecake!  These puppies are baked by Vanita Swart (Remember the Spaza Shop??) Deliiiiicious!!!

I loved the vibe at Braai Republic.  Even though it was noonish and we were one of 2 groups in the restaurant, the vibe was awesome -Afrikaans, lots of jokes between patrons and staff, American guy being introduced to “Broffie”.. overall happiness!

Nothing wrong with drinking REAL brandy, before REAL coffee.. Ne, Napolianna?

The Braai Republic menu includes some awesome boerewors dishes (pap en wors – yeaaah!) and they often advertise some special dishes like potjie!!  The new “Garage Pie Wednesday Nights” also promises to be something spectacular – Pie and Beer for 8,000won.

They are currently working on getting some HUNTERS for us hungry Saffas!  We’re hoping to see them late November or early December – as Chris says “If the Somalian Pirates leave the boat alone.”

You can find brunch at a lot of places in Seoul, but the atmosphere and friendliness and true SA spirit is something you’ll be assured of when going to Braai Republic.  (Don’t forget to buy some freshly sliced biltong on your way out!)

***No, I have not been paid to write this… I just freaking loved this place so much and I want to go back!***

To get to Braai Republic, head down to Itaewon (Line 6 on the subway).  Take exit 4 and walk down towards McDonalds.  Before you get to McDs, turn left at the Corner Bag shop.  Go straight and pass the coffee shop on the right.  You’ll see the Braai Republic sign on your left.