Will's Korean Journey: Korean Cooking.

For those of you that are regular readers of my blog you know that I often times talk about Korean Food. I talk about the good, the bad, the weird, and the ugly side of Korean cooking. Yet, rarely have I ever provided insight into how these dishes were made. To answer you quite simply, the reason for that was I had no clue how most of these were made. If I had an idea of how something was made, I had no idea where to buy the ingredients or what to call them. Well, today that may have just all changed.

I was looking around for Doen Jang Chigae recipies because I'm going to try making it soon. Along the way I found this website. This webstie:

http://www.maangchi.com/recipes

gives you not only a demonstration of how to make it, but it also gives you the ingredients you're going to need, in ENGLISH. For those of you that don't live with an Asian market anywhere nearby you are basically SOL. Yet, for those of you who are lucky enough to have an Asian market nearby, you should be able to find all of the ingredients you need. For those of you who want to try making some Korean dishes at home may I suggest you try the following recipies.

Rice mixed with meat, vegetables, an egg, and chili pepper paste

비빔밥
Bibimbap

This is a simple peasants dish of vegetables and rice. It is simple, filling, and great. Don't worry, you don't have to use the egg.

Bean paste, tofu, and vegetable stew, and a mixed green salad

된장찌개, 겉절이
Doenjang chigae, gutjulee
Doen Jang Chigae is one of my favorite soups here in Korea. Just to warn you though, if you do not appreciate the finer types of fermentation like good smelly cheese, don't try this stuff. It's awesome, but the neighbors might be wondering what died under your house.