Korean Home Cooking Culinary Class

Our menu this evening, home style Korean Food

Another fun class at Whole's Food Culinary Class in Manhattan, New York. I love Korean food, but I tend to go out for Korean food and not make it myself. So what better way to learn then to take a cooking class and learn to make some dishes. This class was taught by Shin Kim. It was fun to hear the background of what home style Korean food is. She taught us basic, yet everyday items. To learn more about Shin Kim, you can go to her website at www.shinshine.com.

Chef Shin Kim

Tonight's menu included Subak Saengchae, Ggwari Gochu Jjim, Gyeran Dubu Jjim, and Bibim Guksu. All the recipes below were created by Shin Kim. My two favorite dishes of the evening were the Egg and Tofu Custard and the Spicy Noodle Salad.

Slicing the white rind of watermelon

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Salting of the watermelon rind until the rind is limp and has sweat

Subak Saengchae - Watermelon Rind Salad

Watermelon Rind S

Ingredients:

2 c. Watermelon rind (only white part from a small watermelon), cut to thin strips

1 Tbs Coarse sea salt

1 Tbs Korean red pepper paste (gochujang)

1 stalk Scallion, trimmed and thinly sliced

1 clove Garlic, peeled and grated

2 tsp Rice vinegar

1 tsp Toasted Sesame Seeds, crushed

Directions:

1. Sprinkle sea salt over julienned watermelon and mix well. Let it rest for 5 to 10 minutes, just until the watermelon starts to soften and sweat.

2. In the meantime, mix red pepper paste, scallion, garlic, rice vinegar, and toasted sesame seeds together.

3. Wash off salt from watermelon rind in cold water and gently squeeze to remove excess water.

4. Mix in the seasoning. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. Serve with rice or mix with other salad ingredients.

Red Pepper flakes (go chu ga ru)

Ggwari Gochu Jjim - Steamed Shishito Peppers

Ingredients:

1 lb. Shishito peppers

2 Tbs Mochiko (sweet rice flour) or all-purpose flour

Seasoning

1 Tbs Soy sauce
1 Tbs Toasted Sesame oil
2 tsp Red Pepper flakes (go chu ga ru)
2 tsp Toasted Sesame Seeds
1 stalk Scallion, trimmed and chopped fine

1-2 clove Garlic, peeled and grated

Directions:

1. Cut off the top of shishito peppers and discard. Wash and drain peppers, but do not dry. Poke each pepper with a fork or make a small slit with a knife so that peppers cook faster and steam goes out easier.
2. Toast peppers in sweet rice flour to coat them with a thin layer of flour.
3. Fill a pot with water that comes up to about half of the leg of a steamer basket. Place a steamer basket inside the pot. Make sure water doesn't touch the bottom of the steam basket.
4. Place the peppers in the steamer basket, cover and turn the heat onto medium high. Once water comes to a boil and rice flour is cooked and peppers is translucent with no white spot. About 10 minutes.
5. While the peppers are steaming, mix all the seasoning ingredients and set aside.
6. When the steamed peppers are done, place them in a bowl with tongs and separate the peppers gently. Carefully mix in the seasoning with tongs. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.
7. Serve warm or cold. Store in an airtight container in refrigerator.

Soft tofu for the custard

Chef Kim adding the egg mixture into the sauce pan

Gyeran Dubu Jjim - Simple Egg and Tofu Custard

Egg and Tofu Custard

Ingredients:

1 c. Lukewarm water

2 Dried shitake mushroom
1 packet Extra soft tofu (sun du bu)
2 Eggs

1 stalk Scallion, trimmed and thinly sliced
1 tsp Toasted Sesame Seeds
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp fish sauce
8 Shrimp, cleaned and cut into small pieces

Directions:

1. Soak dried shitake mushrooms in lukewarm water until soft. Squeeze excess water from softened mushroom and cut to small dice. Reserve mushroom pieces and soaking water separately.
2. Blend together extra soft tofu and eggs at low speed until completely blended to a creamy mixture. In a bowl, combine the tofu and egg mixture, shitake mushroom, scallion, sesame seeds, salt, and fish sauce.
3. Add shrimp into egg-tofu mixture.
4. In a sauce pan, bring the mushroom-soaking water to a simmer over low heat.
5. Turn off heat. Carefully pour in egg mixture and stir to combine. Cover and cook over low heat until the mixture is set. Desire texture is a soft custard consistency where it jiggles and is not runny. About 15-20 minutes.

Bibim Guksu - Spicy Chilled Noodle Salad

Spicy Chilled Noodle Salad and Steamed Shishito Peppers

Ingredients:
4 bundles Dried buckwheat noodles
2 Tbs Toasted sesame oil

Vegetables
1/4 head cabbage, thinly sliced
1 red bell pepper, julienned
1 carrot, julienned
1-2 Persian cucumber, thinly sliced

Sauce
1-2 Tbs Gochujang
2 Tbs Fresh-squeezed lemon juice
1 Tbs Soy sauce
1 Tbs Honey

Directions:
1. Cook buckwheat noodles in boiling water until soft and chewy, about 10 minutes. Rinse in cold water to stop the cooking and drain. Mix in sesame oil.
2. Make the sauce by mixing gochujang, lemon juice, soy sauce, and honey.
3. In a serving bowl, add noodle and vegetables. Add sauce and toss the noodles and vegetables.