I spent a bit of time debating the title of this post. You see, to me, the image it evokes is immediately nostalgic and tasty, yet I can see how someone who is unfamiliar with this dish would read it and think “WTF?!” to themselves. I mean, even the more well known warm broth which is the winter sister to this still manages to get a hesitant reception when its placed in front of people who are yet to overcome the mental block of eating seaweed.
Having grown up with the stuff, I guess I can’t see what the hang-up is. Seaweed has many health benefits and is actually quite mild in flavour as far as vegetables go (not having grown up with rocket, the first time I tasted it I actually spat it out, though I love it now!), and people seem to have no problem chowing down on sushi, which is essentially a seaweed wrap! So, why the hang-up with seaweed broth?
Personally, I believe its in the presentation - sheets of nori may smell and taste like seaweed, but dried into sleek, shiny sheets of black, they appear inoffensive and are really only secondary to the vast array of fillings on offer therefore the taste is not distinguished or set apart. However, in a soup, the leaves of seaweed happily swimming in the clear broth may remind some people a bit too much of staring into the open ocean with a spoon…
Well, that’s purely speculation on my part - what do you think?
A word of warning about this particular dish - those who don’t like strong vinegar or seaweed flavours are advised to keep clear - this dish celebrates both these elements so if you’re sensitive to either (or both) flavours, this cold broth is likely to punch you out cold. However, if you’re like me and you loooooove sweet, vinegary things and love anything that comes from the ocean, then I’d advise that you make this as soon as the weather is warm enough to permit a cold soup. This is one of the most refreshing summer dishes I know of, and all the members of my family are happy to down a large bowlful for any meal during the hot & humid days of summer. While the seaweed and the vinegar provide the cooling elements of the dish, the chilli and the garlic arrive with flags waving as the aftertaste of this dish, balancing the cold with their heat and pungency.
As my mother puts it perfectly - this dish is all about a balancing act. It should leave you feeling refreshed but not cold, full but not heavy, fill your mouth with flavour but also help to ‘cleanse’ the palate. Now how many dishes do you know of that attempt (usually quite successfully) to do all that?
I’m not going to go as far as to say this miraculous-sounding cold broth is going to cure cancer, but if you’re looking for a different, refreshing dish to try in the heat of summer, then may I suggest you give this a shot? 
Miyeok Naeng-guk
(Cold Seaweed Broth)
Ingredients
3L cold water
3 tbsp salt
5 tbsp caster sugar
1 cup white/rice vinegar
8-10 cloves of garlic, crushed
1-2 tbsp gochugaru (Korean crushed red pepper)
450g miyeok (Korean dried soup seaweed)
1 pinch of salt
1 tbsp caster sugar
2 tbsp white/rice vinegar
1 medium sweet thin-skinned cucumber, julienned
Toasted sesame seeds, to serve
1. Bring 3L of water to a boil in a large pot, then turn off the heat and add the salt and sugar, stirring till completely dissolved. Add the vinegar, garlic and crushed red pepper to the pot and stir, then pour into a non-reactive container and transfer to your fridge and leave till completely cool.
2. While the seasoned water is cooling, put the seaweed in a large bowl and cover completely with cold water till submerged and leave for 5-15 minutes or till the seaweed is completely rehydrated. Strain out all the excess water, then put the strained seaweed in a bowl and add a pinch of salt, 1 tbsp caster sugar and 2 tbsp vinegar and massage well so that the seaweed is evenly seasoned. Put into an airtight container into the fridge.
3. Once the seasoned water has completely cooled, remove it from the fridge and add the seasoned seaweed to the pot. Give it a good stir and taste it - if it is too vinegary then add a little sugar to help lighten it, or if its not vinegary enough then add a little more vinegar (incidentally, this is meant to be somewhat vinegary as opposed to sweet or salty). Once you’ve achieved the flavour balance that seems OK to your tastebuds, stir in the julienned cucumber and store in the fridge to be enjoyed as you please!
Technorati Tags: sea mustard, seaweed, miyeok, summer soup, Korean cuisine, recipes, Asian cooking
Those of you who know the Chinese black bean noodle dish ‘Zhajiang mian’ ( 
) may look at this and think that it looks awfully familiar. And, in fact, you’d be right!
This, dear readers, is the Korean version of that well-known Chinese dish, with the almost exact name of ‘jja-jjang myun’ (
). While the two look quite similar, the ingredients and end flavours are somewhat different - but that tends to happen when one culture ‘adopts’ the dish of another and then recreates it to suite their own tastebuds!
The best way to describe this to the uninitiated is as the Korean equivalent of spaghetti bolognese. A thick, robust and flavoursome sauce with meat and veggies, carried by thick wheat noodles…its kinda similar, right? Well, that’s about as far as the similarities go, I’m afraid. This dish is pungent and salty, and one of the most common forms of ‘home-delivered fast food’ available in Korea. In fact, when you call to order a bowl of ‘jja-jjang myun’, not only will they deliver it piping hot to your front door, but it will also usually come with a few side dishes, all for a few dollars! And the added bonus? They even take the dishes away and clean them for you - no styrofoam or plastic to worry about, and you don’t even have to do the dishes!
Now, how’s that for value and service?
However, once you leave the homeland…well, its a little difficult to find this outside of a decent Korean restaurant, which means that the best option for anyone who is feeling just a little nostalgic for this dish is to just buckle down and make it themselves.
As for the problem of not having a recipe? There there, that’s what I’m here for, isn’t it? 
Now before we get to the recipe, I should probably warn you that this is something of an acquired taste - the sauce is quite strong and if you aren’t expecting the salty, garlicky assault then you’ll probably be in for a bit of a shock (especially if you’re expecting anything like a spag bol. Actually, that was probably a really bad reference…and I guess I could go back and delete it…but I won’t!). However, if you’re a lover of strong, savoury flavours, then this is a dish that you will most likely fall in love with!
Although over here in the Southern hemisphere, its a bit too hot these days to have such a hot, hearty, carb-loaded meal, those among you who are in the Northern end of the world and looking with foreboding towards the oncoming days of snow, sleet and blistering winds should bear this dish in mind. Winter is, as most will agree, the perfect time to indulge in a little carb-heavy naughtiness, and this dish may be a great addition to your repertoire, and a lovely change from all those thick vegetable soups and heavier European pasta dishes.
Oh, and a word of advice? If you do get around to serving this up, be sure to have a small pile of napkins on hand. Like a good spag bol, this sauce has a tendency to half-coat the eater’s face, so its probably not a bad way to allow your diners the chance to mop up the extras before they go out to brave the cold. Or, depending on just how much of a messy eater they were, they might even be able to use the napkin to save some sauce for later - hah!
Jja-jjang myun
(Wheat noodles in black bean sauce)
Ingredients (serves 6)
1/2 cup finely diced carrot
1/2 cup finely diced brown onion
1/2 cup finely diced cabbage
1/2 cup finely diced zucchini
1/2 cup finely diced potato
1 thin-skinned sweet cucumber, julienned (Lebanese cucumbers are my favourite!)
300g-400g lean pork, diced (we tend to use pork neck)
4-5 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 cup ‘jja jjang’ (Korean salty black bean paste - there is no substitute!)
1 cup water
1 tbsp corn or potato starch
Oil
Thick wheat noodles, such as udon noodles, to serve
1. Heat a little oil in a large pot over medium heat, then saute the pork with the garlic till cooked. Remove the pork, heat a little more oil in the pot then add the carrot and potato and saute till almost cooked. Add the remaining vegetables and the cooked pork to the pot and saute till cooked.
2. Add the ‘jja jjang’ (black bean sauce) to the pot and ‘cook’ it for about 3-5 minutes while constantly stirring, till it is quite fragrant and the veggies are evenly coated. Stir the corn/potato starch into the water, then pour this also into the pot and bring it to the boil while constantly stirring, then lower the heat to a simmer and leave for another 10-15mins, or till the sauce has nicely thickened up.
3. Bring a pot of water to a boil, then boil your noodles as per the packet instructions. Once done, drain them well and divide into bowls. Pour a generous helping of the sauce over the top, then garnish with the sliced cucumber and serve with some sort of sweet pickle - traditionally, this is served with sliced sweet pickled daikon as an accompaniment, but as I’m a kimchi addict, I’m usually more than happy with that!
4. Enjoy with much hearty slurping and sauce-flicking. Don’t be tempted to try and eat this in a dainty fashion - one of the marks of a well-enjoyed bowl of ‘jja jjang myun’ is to be seen with a sauce-covered smile, so just loosen your belt a notch and dig right in!
P.S. A final note - if you have sauce left over and no noodles, there’s an easy solution! Just serve it over rice for a just as delicious bowl of ‘jja jjang bap’! 
Technorati Tags: jja jjang myun, Korean cuisine, Chinese cuisine, cooking, food, recipes, Asian
“You know,” my mother mused aloud as she watched me frowning over a big metal bowl of dough, “most ‘ahjumas‘1 don’t even bother making this from scratch because the packet mix is so good…”
I grit my teeth. “Shut up, mom!”
Seemingly oblivious to my pained request that she stop rubbing it in, she continued with “I don’t even see why you’re bothering with all this anyway…and I’m telling you, that ‘bahnjook‘2 doesn’t look right at all…when the ‘ho-dduk ahjumas‘3 make it on the streets, the dough is so sticky that they have to dip their hands in oil to handle it…and yours isn’t sticky at all!”
Yes…this is almost an exact replica of my expression following my mother’s statement…
I made a face, closed my eyes and bellowed “PLEASE shut up, mother!”, to which she responded by turning on her heel and leaving the kitchen, all the while muttering under her breath about ungrateful daughters and how they didn’t deserve such helpful comments.
Welcome to an almost daily ritual in my/our kitchen.4
Though my mother had not made these since I was a little child, I could never forget the sugar rush that followed having one of these ho-dduk, a type of filled Korean pancake made with a yeast-risen dough, and filled usually with a brown sugar & nut filling which has a crisp and crunchy exterior and a billowy chewy interior, though we also favoured paht (sweetened red bean paste) and honey. Unlike anything else I’ve ever eaten, they are perhaps one of the most sinful street snacks offered in Korea, but their fried, sugar-filled doughy goodness is known by almost every citizen and visitor to the country’s shores. Those who know may fondly recall standing in front of the vendor’s street cart, blowing on their fingers which are frozen from the chilly air (as these are usually sold during the colder months) while watching a round of filled dough being fried up before their very eyes.
A few months ago, I’d gently probed my mother on the subject…whether she remembered making these from scratch for me and my siblings when we were wee’uns, in the hopes of coaxing a recipe for them deep from the recesses of her memory. Unfortunately, she couldn’t remember the recipe to save her life, but having reminded her that we had not seen this in our kitchen for many many years, she went out the next day and bought a packet mix that her friend recommended to her.
Uhh, thanks ma, but you know how I feel about packet mixes5…
Despite my misgivings about almost all the ingredients coming out of a box, I had to admit that they were pretty damn good…but alas, I just could not get over the fact that they were made with a mix and could not get into the devouring that the rest of my family apparently didn’t have any qualms with (they went through two boxes in two days!).
“Ma…is there anyway that you could get an actual recipe for these?”
“Why? What’s wrong with these packet ones? They’re so easy!”
“Come on ma…this is me we’re talking about here…ME! You know what I’m like!”
(After much rolling of eyes in my direction) “Ugh, fine, I’ll ask around and see if I can rustle one up!”
And wouldn’t you know it, my mother came through! A few weeks ago, she emerged from the living room whilst triumphantly wielding a piece of paper where she had taken down a recipe from a friend of hers which I hurrahed at, then promptly forgot all about. Yes, Ellie’s ridiculously forgetful memory strikes again. In fact, it was only on Sunday that I remembered that I had been wanting to try these, so I sat down and looked over my mother’s chicken scratch. I’d show you, except that it was so bad that I rewrote the recipe and tossed her note out!
So, Sunday night was spent mixing and kneading and shaping and frying till I had a small heap of reasonably OK little hodduk resting on a plate…and while hodduk are meant to be enjoyed fresh off the hotplate, I was presented with a bit of a problem. You see, even when they’re cold, these should retain some of their light chewiness, but this particular recipe resulted in little pancakes that could be used in a game of discus once they turned lukewarm.
Definitely not ideal.
So what could I do? Well, after my mother had confirmed with her friend that this was a fault with the recipe and not something that I had done wrong, I turned to the internet to look for alternative recipes. I found two which sounded alright, except for the distinct lack of glutinous rice flour. I’m sorry, but for something to qualify as ‘dduk’ (rice cake), it kinda sorta has to have rice powder in it…in my humble opinion anyway. Without it, its just plain old bread/cake. However, looking at these two recipes did give me some ideas as to how I could (quite vastly) alter my mother’s friends recipe into something that might perhaps be a lot more usable!
After checking and rechecking quantities, I finally gave the adapted recipe a try today, and I have to admit that these hodduk are almost as good cold as they are warm! I say almost, as nothing can compare with the sweet calorie-laden euphoria experienced with a fresh piping hot one, but its nice to know that you don’t *have* to eat ‘em all in one sitting and can space out the guilt-injections over a few days.
That’s if you can resist them, that is…
Ho-dduk
(Korean yeast-risen pancakes with sweet nut filling)
Ingredients (makes 15-20)
500g all-purpose flour
250g glutinous rice powder
1 1/2 tbsp active dry yeast
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp caster sugar
1 tbsp light flavoured oil (e.g. light olive oil)
1 tbsp white vinegar
1 1/2 cups warm water
3/4 cup warm milk
Filling6
1 cup tightly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup roasted peanuts or walnuts, crushed
1 - 1.5 tbsp ground cinnamon
1. Mix together the yeast, sugar, salt, oil and vinegar in 1/2 cup of warm water till all is dissolved, then set aside for 10 minutes so the yeast can come back to life. Meanwhile, sift together the flour and glutinous rice powder and set aside.
2. Once the yeast has activated, mix it together with the remaining 1 cup of warm water and 3/4 cup of warm milk, then pour in the flour and mix with a wooden spoon. Once the mixture begins to come together into a ball, lightly oil your benchtop and tip the dough out to knead it for 1-2 minutes. Lightly oil the inside of your bowl, then shape the dough into a ball and place it back inside the bowl. Cover with cling wrap and leave for 2-3hrs, or till doubled in size.
3. While the dough is resting, mix together the ingredients for the filling, taste it and alter it accordingly (if you want it a bit sweeter then add more sugar…or if you want more cinnamon, add more of that). Once the dough has doubled, lightly rub your hands with oil and pour a thin layer of oil on a tray and get ready to shape the pancakes.
4. Take a small handful of dough (about the size of a large chicken egg) and lightly & VERY GENTLY stretch it out into your hand till it is a small flat disc about 1.5cm thick. Add 1-2 tbsp of filling to the middle, then carefully pinch together the sides till it forms a small ball again. Gently roll it into a uniform ball shape, then place it on the tray and continue with the rest till you’ve used all the dough. Be wary to leave plenty of room between the balls as if they stick together, they are extremely difficult to separate.
5. Heat a heavy frying pan/cast iron skillet with some oil over low-medium heat, then once it is hot enough, add a few of the dough balls to the pan. Do not overcrowd as they are going to expand and be squished and will need room to do so, so I’d say no more than about 3 at a time for a regular size frying pan. Once the bottom is golden, carefully flip over and fry so that the dough begins to expand. Once the second side begins to go golden, gently squish the pancake flat with a spatula, being careful that the dough does not rip open anywhere, allowing the filling to spill out.
6. Once the flipped side is golden brown, remove to cool on a plate. Enjoy these while still warm, as when they’re cold they’re fairly tough and stodgy…though easily reheatable in a frying pan with no added oil should they need it Oh - and beware the hot, melted and dripping brown sugar filling - it is dangerous but delicious!
(Try not to microwave these, it dries them out and makes them not quite so toothsome!)
Technorati Tags: cooking, recipes, pancakes, griddle cakes, yeast, dough, Korean food, Asian cuisine
1 - This is a term used generally to refer to middle-aged married women, though it *can* be used in a somewhat derogatory manner, its general use is not
2 - The Korean word for dough/batter
3 - When the word ‘ahjuma’ is paired with a snackfood like this, it refers to the street vendors seen all over Korea, who are most usually middle-aged or older women.
4 - Please don’t take this as a bad thing, my mother and I have one of the best mother/daughter relationships that anyone could hope for, and these sort of daily teasing/banter is just all part of the fun and how we interact And I wouldn’t change a thing about it!
5 - Call me a snob if you wish, but anything that comes out of a box and involves the words ‘pour’, ‘mix’ or ‘bake’ does not constitute cooking. I’m sorry, but no. All those White Wings and Betty Crocker cookie and cake mixes, those atrocious dehydrated ‘mashed potatoes’ which go against all things GOOD about home-cooking, and those goddamned ‘bake at home’ bread rolls that the grocery stores are selling. NO NO NO and NO!
6 - Alternative fillings include plain honey (tasty, but super difficult!) or sweetened red bean paste which can be bought premade in a can in any Asian grocery store.
Though it’s true that I’ve blogged these Korean savoury seafood pancakes before, it was in the early days of this blog when I didn’t have much of an audience, so I thought I’d write a new entry giving them the glory that they well and truly deserve.
Now this dish is by far one of my all-time favourite snackfoods, with its fried frittery goodness which contains the mild oniony goodness of spring onions, the flavour of the sea all dipped into a simple soy & vinegar sauce to combat the oilyness, its a way of enjoying pancakes that I know not many people have had the luck to try!
Although they are pancakes in the literal sense, if you’re expecting anything remotely like the airy, fluffy breakfast pancakes or lace-thin crepes we’re used to in Western cuisine, you’re in for quite a surprise. No, these Korean delights are absolutely nothing like their Western counterparts - the batter is flat and doughy with not even the hint of aeration from any kind of rising agent. This is definitely not the kind of pancake you serve for breakfast. In fact, its far more common to see this served as a light meal or snack during the day, or even as an appetizer or ‘banchan‘ (side dish) during a full meal.
Whatever time of day it’s served doesn’t change the fact that these taste best immediately off the frying pan, when the dough is soft, the brown bits crunchy and the pancake is best able to absorb the dipping sauce to elevate the flavour just one more notch.
This is a quite a ‘common’ recipe, and very far from haute cuisine - its often served in snack food houses alongside ddukbokgi, where its used to mop up the leftover thick, sweet and spicy sauce leftover from the rice cakes, so I recommend serving the two dishes side by side if you’re up for it - together they make for a flavoursome and pretty quick meal…and though its not exactly the healthiest of dishes (mmm, carb city!), what’s wrong with a little indulgence every now and then?
Oh, and a word of warning - the dipping sauce is strong, so when you’re eating the pancake, only give the piece that you’re holding the briefest dip to about 1/3 or halfway…any more than that and you might be reeling! But if that happens, or you drop your piece IN the sauce (which, believe it or not, happens to the best of us), don’t worry too much - just fish it right out and dot the sauce-laden piece over the other pieces of the pancake. Its not exactly perfect table manners, but it’ll save you from having to toss the piece!
And besides - what’s a little sauce-sharing between friends, hey?
Hae-mul Pajeon
(Korean Seafood & Spring Onion pancakes)
Pancake ingredients
2 cups plain flour
1 1/2 - 2 cups water
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 large bunch of spring onions, washed and cut into thin 1.5 - 2 inch strips *
1/2 - 1 cup chopped baby shrimp **
1/2 - 1 cup finely chopped clams
1/2 - 1 cup finely chopped squid
Dipping sauce ingredients ***
4 tbsp white or rice vinegar
4 tbsp light soy sauce
1/4 tsp dried chilli flakes
1 tsp finely chopped spring onion
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp sesame oil
* You can replace the spring onion with garlic chives cut into the same length for a slightly different flavour, or use about 1 cup of julienned zucchini to for a much milder taste
** To make a vegetarian version, just remove the seafood and you will have plain ‘pajeon’
*** When it comes to making the sauce, if you can’t be bothered getting fancy, then just make a simplified version of equal parts light soy sauce and white/rice vinegar, its just as good and just as common in Korean households!
1. Mix together flour, water and egg bit by bit, making sure to beat out any lumps - this should be only a tiny bit thicker than thin pancake batter as you will still need the mixture to spread out on the frying pan, so add more water or flour accordingly.
2. Add the chopped spring onions and seafood to the batter, then mix thoroughly to incorporate all ingredients evenly.
3. Heat a frying pan and add some oil, when it’s nice and hot, ladle a big spoonful into the pan. You want this to be about 4-5mm thick, any thicker and it won’t cook through well. Fry until the batter is half-cooked (i.e. not liquid) on top and the bottom is nice and crisp and golden.
4. Carefully flip over and fry other side till golden, then remove from heat and drain on paper towels. Oil frying pan and repeat with remaining batter.
5. To serve, mix vinegar, soy sauce, chilli, spring onion, sugar, sesame oil and garlic and pour into a sauce bowl. Chop up the pancake into approx. 4cm x 4cm squares, then serve side by side with forks or chopsticks.
Technorati Tags: Korean food, recipes, savoury, pancakes, fritters, seafood, snacks, appetizers, Asian
As for this random, out of place picture? Well, this is the original photo from the first post I did on this particular dish.
I’m still using a point-and-shoot camera, but isn’t it amazing how much your work can change in 12 months? Well, that and learning how to use your camera, of course!
If you think you’d like to learn more about how to use your own point-and-shoot camera, you can do so from this series of posts that I’ve written on how to use digital compact cameras.
Oh, and I’ll be beginning my series of posts on digital photo editing in a fortnight, so don’t forget to come back then for that!
People who have tried this recipe:
- Indigo from Happy Love Strawberry
Off the topic of food for a moment, those of my readers who are based in Australia - not that its possible to forget that we have an election this weekend with all the bloody self-promoting advertising at the moment, but please don’t forget to get to your local voting centre to place your vote this Saturday.
We are voting on the future of this country, so make it an informed vote. You can visit this page of the Australian Electoral Commission website to find out about your candidates for the House of Representatives as well as how you should vote for members of the senate according to the preferences of the party you support!
As for me? Well, I won’t tell you how I’m going to vote…except to say that I am pro-choice, a supporter of gay rights, concerned with environmental issues and believe in a FIRM separation of church and state. That concludes this announcement, now back to your regular programming schedule…
EDIT: THANK YOU! HOWARD IS FINALLY OUT, COSTELLO GONE AND RUDD AND GILLARD IN! I had been making plans to immigrate to Canada should Howard win another term, so thank you for NOT voting Liberal. Now Mr Woofy and I don’t have to make plans to leave our cosy little nest
As the seats are still being tallied, anyone wanting to keep an eye on the count can do so via the Australian Electoral Commission Virtual Tally Room.
