A traditional Korean meal has a lot of side dishes. Some appear at the table all year round like kimchee, spicy fermented cabbage, while others are more seasonal. I love the site of a Korean dinner table because it is always crowded with so many plates of food. It looks like a mini food festival.
August 21 2009 | Asian and Korean and Recipe and Side Dish and Thoughts and Vegetarian | 7 Comments »
In general, I don’t cook Korean very often. I have a tendency to be drawn towards rustic Italian dishes or interesting ingredients like quinoa and wheat berry. These foods feel more exotic to me so many times I skip the Korean and cook up something I’ve never eaten before. I don’t think that’s a bad thing, but I do think it’s a bit sad that I barely know how to cook what I call my comfort food.
To redeem myself a little bit, there is one Korean dish I know well and have almost mastered. It is a browned tofu in a spicy soy sauce. In Korean it’s called tubu chorim, 두부조림, which roughly translates to tofu boiled in sauce. It’s very easy and fast. It does require a couple of Asian condiments like soy sauce and sesame oil, but if you don’t have those in your pantry I highly encourage you to get them. Soy sauce is well known, but sesame oil may not be. It is a vegetable oil made from sesame seeds that is intensely fragrant and used in many Asian dishes.
August 06 2009 | Asian and Korean and Recipe and Thoughts and Vegetarian | 3 Comments »