Vegetarian & food

Baek-kimchi literally translates as “white kimchi” in English, because it’s not made with hot pepper flakes, which makes it whitish. It’s not spicy at all, but that doesn’t mean it’s bland! As you see in the video, it’s made with precious ingredients like chestnuts, jujubes, pine nuts, and a whole range of vegetables. It has a lot of fresh flavors, is incredibly refreshing, and is beautiful to look at!

This is a vegetarian recipe because unlike some other kimchi recipes I didn’t use fish sauce. But one variation would be to replace the 1 teaspoon of salt with 1 to 2 teaspoons of salted fermented shrimp.

It’s a great kimchi to make for special occasions.
“Oh, check this out, everybody! I made white kimchi!”
They will be impressed!

This is a good recipe for anyone who can’t take spicy food, and also for spicy food lovers who are looking for a change of pace. I usually love freshly made kimchi, but when it comes to baek-kimchi, I always wait until it ferments before I start eating it, which usually takes 1 to 3 days. It becomes a little fizzy, sweet, sour, and nutty – it’s a totally unique taste!

So many of my readers have requested this recipe over years. One of them, Kerry in Minnesota, requested it in 2009 and said:

“Despite being Korean, my stomach can’t handle spicy foods, but I would love to make kimchi. I don’t know if just cutting the amount of hot pepper flakes would make a much milder kimchi, but I would like to try making the white kind, which I hear isn’t spicy at all. Do you have any good white kimchi recipes, Maangchi-ssi?”

She added “ssi” at the end of my name to show me respect, Korean style!

Ok Kerry, here’s the recipe! Thanks for waiting!

Ingredients

• 1 large napa cabbage (3 pounds’ worth)
• ⅓ cup, 1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons salt
• ½ pound Korean radish (or daikon) cut into matchsticks
• ¼ cup carrot, cut into matchsticks
• ¾ cup buchu (Asian chives), cut into 1 inch pieces
• 3 jujubes, seeded, cut into thin strips
• 2 fresh chestnuts, peeled and cut into thin strips
• 2 tablespoons pine nuts
• ½ of red bell pepper (⅓ cup’s worth), cored, seeded, and cut into thin strips
• 1 medium Korean pear (2 cups’s worth), peeled and cored
• 4 garlic cloves
• ½ cup onion
• 1 teaspoon ginger

Directions

Salt the cabbage:

1. Cut the cabbage in half, then cut a slit through the core 2 inches above the stem, so the leaves are loosened but still attached.
2. Rinse the halves under running water, or soak them in a basin for a few seconds until all the leaves are wet.
3. Put the halves in a large basin and sprinkle ⅓ cup of salt evenly between the leaves. Let them sit for  1½ to 2 hours, turning them over every 20 minutes.
4. Rinse the cabbage under cold running water a couple of times to get rid of any dirt or salt. Split each half under the running water, to divide the cabbage into quarters. Cut out the remainder of the core. Drain and set aside.

Make the vegetable fillings:

1. Combine radish, carrot, jujubes, chives, chestnuts, and red bell pepper in a bowl. Set aside.

Make seasoning mix for brine:

1. Blend pear, garlic, onion, and ginger in a food processor until creamy. Set aside.

Make brine:

1. Mix 4 cups of water and 2 tablespoons + 2 teaspoons of salt in a bowl with a wooden spoon. Stir it well until the salt is thoroughly dissolved.
2. Put the blended seasoning mix into a cotton pouch, or wrap it a couple times in cheesecloth, and put it into the bowl of brine. Press it down with a spoon so the delicious blended flavors seep through. Squeeze it a bit and stir the brine for a while. Remove the pouch.

Make kimchi:

1. Spread the vegetable fillings between each leaf of the cabbage. Fold the stuffed cabbage quarters over and put them into a container, glass jar, or Korean earthenware pot.
2. Pour the brine over the kimchi so it’s submerged.
3. Cover and let sit at room temperature until it starts fermenting, which should be between 1½ to 3 days depending on how warm your room is. A warmer room will ferment faster. Just keep an eye on the kimchi and taste it now and then: when the brine turns sour, it’s fermenting.
4. Move it to the fridge, which will slow down the fermentation process. It will keep for about 1 month. Serve cold.

Kongguksu is a popular summer dish made with soybean broth and noodles. I’m very excited to introduce this easy recipe to all of you!

I visited my friend recently and she gave me some of her homemade soy milk. It was more than delicious! I couldn’t help asking for her secret recipe. She usually doesn’t use noodles and drinks this every morning for breakfast for years and years. I found her recipe was much simpler than mine! The secret ingredient that makes this so delicious is the mixed nuts. When all the ingredients for the broth are ground finely, it will look like foamy white milk. Here’s the recipe!

Ingredients (2 servings)

• 1 cup of dried soybeans, soaked in cold water overnight
• 2 tbs mixed nuts
• 1 teaspoons of toasted sesame seeds
• ½ pound (8 ounces: 226 grams) of somyeon (thin noodles)
• 2 ts salt
• water and ice cubes
• ½ cup cucumber strips and tomato for garnish

Directions

1. Drain the soybeans you soaked overnight and put them in a pot with 2 cups of water.
2. Bring to a boil over medium high heat for 15 minutes. If it boils over, keep the lid off.
3. Rinse the cooked soybeans in cold water. Drain and put into a large bowl.
4. Scrub them with your hands to remove the skins. Then fill the bowl with cold water and the skins will float to the top. Tilt the bowl and pour out the skins and water, leaving the beans behind.
5. Scrub the soybeans some more. Add more water, drain, and remove the skins several times until all the skins are removed.
6. Put 1 cup of the cleaned soybeans into your blender, and put the rest into the freezer for future use. Add the mixed nuts, roasted sesame seeds, salt, and 2½ cups of cold purified water to the blender and blend for 2 minutes until everything is creamy. Put it into the fridge.
7. Boil water in a large pot and add the noodles. Stir with a wooden spoon. Close the lid and cook for a few minutes. The noodles will float when they’re done.
8. Take a sample noodle and taste it. When you don’t feel anything hard inside when you chew it, they’re done.
9. Rinse and drain the noodles in cold water a couple of times.
10. Put some noodles into a serving bowl and pour the soybean broth over them. Garnish with tomato and cucumber strips, and add some ice cubes if you want.

1 cup of dried soybeans will swell to about 2¼ cups when they’re soaked for 12 hours, and this will make enough broth for 2 servings. 1 cup of soybeans could make 5-6 servings’ worth of broth.

Enjoy my recipe!

Hello everybody!
Today’s recipe is doraji-muchim. Doraji (known as “bellflower,” “balloon flower,” or platycodon in English) is grown wild in the mountains and fields of Korea. The root of the bellflower looks similar to ginseng root and tastes bitter with strong ginseng-like smell. It’s not only used to make delicious side dishes but it’s also used in Korean traditional medicine and home remedies.

You can make this dish with either fresh or dried doraji root. If you get fresh doraji, you’ll have to peel it and split it lengthwise into bite sized strips. Then soak the strips in salty water for a couple of hours, drain the water, rub them by hand, and rinse in cold water. Repeat this until they aren’t so bitter anymore. Taste a small sample of the root to test.

Dried doraji sold in a package is more convenient for making doraji side dishes because all you need to do is to soak the roots in water and rub them with a little salt to remove the bitterness. Then you can make delicious side dishes by mixing them with seasoning sauce, stir-frying, or making pancakes with them.

The most common side dish made with bellflower roots is doraji-muchim, so let’s start with this recipe. I’ll post more in the future. If you want to add cucumber, slice it and mix with some salt in a small bowl. Then squeeze out the excess water from the cucumber with a cheesecloth and mix with the bellflower root and the seasoning sauce.

Enjoy the recipe!

Ingredients (4 servings)

• 3 ounces of dried bellflower roots (about 85 grams)
• ¼ cup hot pepper paste
• 3 Tablespoons of hot pepper flakes
• 1 Tablespoon of soy sauce
• 2 Tablespoons of rice syrup or corn syrup
• 1 Tablespoon of sugar
• ½ teaspoon of salt
• 3 Tablespoons of white or apple vinegar
• 2 stalks of green onions, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 teaspoon of sesame seeds
• 2 teaspoons of sesame oil

Directions

1. Soak dried bellflower roots in cold water overnight (for 8 to 12 hours) until the roots are soft.
   
   
   
   
2. Drain and scrub with about 1 Tablespoon of coarse salt to remove the bitterness. Rinse and drain.
3. Combine the hot pepper paste, hot pepper flakes, soy sauce, rice syrup, sugar, salt, vinegar, garlic, green onion, and sesame oil in a mixing bowl.
   
4. Add the dried bellflower roots to the paste and mix it all together by hand.
   
   
5. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and transfer it to a serving plate. Serve with rice, and the leftovers can be stored in the fridge for 3-4 weeks.
   
   

I’m introducing another easy recipe to you: yubuchobap, made with seasoned fried tofu and rice. It originated from Japan, but it’s very popular lunch box and picnic food in Korea. You can make it very easily at home because these days ready-made kits of ingredients for yubuchobap are sold at Korean and Japanese grocery stores. You may find them in Asian grocery stores, too.

The yubuchobap kit comes with 3 items: seasoned fried tofu, a vinegar-based sauce packet, and a packet of dried ingredients (carrots, sesame seeds, seaweed, etc). Even if you’re too busy to add more ingredients to your rice, you still can make delicious yubuchobap using only the kit. Just mix your freshly made warm rice with the vinegar-based sauce and dried ingredients, and fill each yubu pocket with the seasoned rice!

But I’ll show you how to make more delicious yubuchobap by adding fresh ingredients. I’m also going to show you an idea for a Halloween-themed yubuchobap. Spooky eyes made with white rice! How does it sound to you? It already sounds creepy! : )

If you don’t know how to make rice in a pot, the recipe is posted here.

Enjoy this recipe and don’t forget to make creepy eyes for fun. Let me know if you scare your friends with it.

Yubuchobap

Yield: 2 servings

Ingredients

2 cups of cooked rice (made with 1 cup of short grain rice), yubuchobap kit, cucumber, carrot, salt, yellow pickled radish, vegetable oil, and canned black olives (for spooky eyes).

Directions

1. Chop cucumber and carrot into small pieces, about ⅓ cup worth. Put it into a bowl.
2. Add a pinch of salt and mix well. Squeeze out any excess water 10 minutes later.
3. In a heated pan, add a drop of vegetable oil and saute the squeezed vegetables for 20 seconds.
4. Chop yellow pickled radish into small pieces, about 2 tbs worth.
5. Make 2 cups of rice and put it into a large bowl.
6. Add the vinegar-based sauce to the warm rice. Mix it well with a wooden spoon.
   *tip: I suggest not pouring all the sauce from the packet into the rice. Add it little by little until you reach your preferred taste.  

   

7. Add the prepared vegetables and chopped yellow pickled radish to the rice. Mix it well and cool it down.
8. Open the package of yubu and squeeze it slightly to drain out the extra sauce.
9. Open up each yubu to make a pouch.
10. Take about 2-3 tbs of rice and make oval-looking rice balls.
11. Fill each tofu pocket with a rice ball.
12. Dip the top of the pocket with the exposed rice into the mix of dried ingredients. Put each pocket on to a serving plate one by one.

To make creepy eyes!

1. Fill each pouch of yubu with white rice mixed with vinegar-based sauce. Form into an eye shape.
2. Cut a black olive in half crosswise.
3. Insert the half dome of the olive into the center of the yubuchobap
4. Adjust the shape to make it look like eye!
   
   
   

You could use this as appetizer, too!

Today let’s make squash rice cake (Hobaktteok), using a small ceramic bowl or cup. I’m so excited to release this recipe because with it you can easily make fluffy rice cake and sweet squash filling. Ramekins work well, but you could try any other kind of similar-sized, heat-resistant bowl or cup, too. The nice thing about ramekins is that the final result looks pretty on the table.

I like the contrast between the clean, white rice cake and the sweet, tangy, lemon-flavored, gooey, golden squash filling. Add more filling if you want. I use squash but you could use kabocha, too.

Serve one small bowl per person as a light dessert or snack. It’s fun to scoop and eat, and the perfect size for one person.

Enjoy the recipe, and let me know if you make it at home!

Ingredients

• ½ cup cooked butternut squash
• ¼ cup honey
• 2 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon
• 2 cups rice flour (frozen rice flour sold at a Korean grocery store or make your own)
• lemon zest from 1 lemon
• 1 tablespoon water
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons sugar

Directions

1. Run the zester across the lemon in long threads. Set aside.

Make squash filling

1. Wash 1 small butternut squash and cut it in half lengthwise. Remove the seeds and stringy stuff. Cut the halves crosswise and put them in a heavy pot. Add 1 cup of water to the bottom of the pot.
2. Cover and cook for 30 to 35 minutes over medium low heat, until the squash turns soft and tender. Remove from the heat and let cool.
3. Scoop out the flesh with a spoon and transfer it to a bowl, discarding the skins. Mash the squash with a wooden spoon.
   
4. Put ½ cup of the squash into a small pot. The remainder can be frozen for up to 1 month in a plastic bag, for later use.
5. Add the honey and 1 tablespoon lemon juice. Heat up the pot and boil for about 5 minutes over medium high heat, stirring with a wooden spoon until the consistency turns into something a little thicker than apple sauce. Remove from the heat and set aside.

Make Rice cake

1. Put the rice flour into a coarse sieve over a large bowl. Sift through the sieve and stir with a wooden spoon so that rice flour goes through and gets well aired. Remove any hard solids left over in the sieve.
2. Sift and stir the rice flour a second time.
3. Add 1 tablespoon lemon juice, salt, and sugar.
4. Mix it all up between your palms, gently pressing out any wet lumps, until the rice flour is uniformly wet. Sift the rice flour again.
   
5. Bring 6 cups of water in a steamer and boil.
6. Put 1 to 2 teaspoons squash filling into the bottom of each ramekin.
7. Use a spoon to fill each ramekin ⅔ full with rice flour, then add another dollop of squash filling. Top it up with some more rice flour, and garnish with the lemon zest.
   
8. When the water in the steamer starts to boil, put the ramekins into the steamer. Cover and steam for 30 minutes over medium high heat.
   

Serve

1. Serve right away. The rice cake will be fluffy for about 5 to 7 hours at room temperature.
2. If you want to save some to serve later, let the rice cake cool for 30 minutes and then wrap it in plastic wrap and freeze. When you want serve it later, first thaw it out at room temperature. The rice cake will still be fluffy, but you could also microwave or steam again to refresh it.

The Korean danhobak is a kind of winter squash, known by its Japanese name kabocha in English. In Korean, dan means “sweet,” and hobak means “pumpkin,” and bap means “rice,” so you could translate this dish as “sweet pumpkin rice.” A danhobak is very sweet and fluffy when cooked, so I often steam it and eat it by itself. The texture is very similar to sweet potato.

There are 2 ways to prepare danhobakbap. The first way is to mix rice with chunks of kabocha in a pot, and serve with a seasoning sauce called yangnyeomjang. The second way is to scoop out the insides of the kabocha, fill it with rice and other ingredients, and cook it.

I’m introducing the second version to you today because Halloween is coming soon, so I think you might be interested in making this beautiful and delicious danhobakbap with the kabocha pumpkin intact. If you take danhobakbap to your party, it will be popular because your friends will be excited to open the lid to see the colorful delicious looking rice inside!

Ingredients

Kabocha (1½ kilograms, or about 3 pounds), sweet rice, black sweet rice, salt, jujubes, pine nuts, raisins, canned chestnuts, soy sauce, vinegar, green onion, green peas, and red chili pepper.

Directions

Let’s make the rice first!

1. Place 1 cup of sweet rice and 2 tbs of black sweet rice in a small pot.
2. Add some water to the rice and scrub it by hand a couple of times. Rinse, and then drain the water. Repeat until the rice is clean and the drained water is mostly clear.
3. Add 1 cup of water and a pinch of salt to the rice and close the lid. Set aside to soak for at least 30 minutes.
   
4. After soaking, bring to a boil over medium high heat for about 5-6 minutes.
5. Open the lid and simmer over low heat with the lid closed for 10 minutes.
6. Add ⅓ cup of green peas to the hot rice and mix it up. Set aside.

Prepare the kabocha:

1. Cut off the top to make the lid just like a jack o’ lantern.
2. Scoop out the insides and set aside.
   
3. Remove the pits from 8 dried jujubes. Measure 2 tbs raisins, 2 tbs pine nuts with the tips removed, and ½ cup canned chestnuts, and set aside.
4. Place the jujubes on the bottom of the kabocha and add the cooked rice, the raisins, and the pine nuts, in that order.
5. Add more rice on top to fill it out.
6. Open a can of chestnuts and place them over top of the rice.
   
7. Put the lid back on the danhobak and steam or boil for 30-40 minutes until it’s cooked thoroughly. Wrap it in cheesecloth beforehand so you can easily take it out when it’s ready.
8. Make sauce by mixing 3 tbs soy sauce, 2 ts vinegar, 1 tbs chopped green onion, and 1 ts red chili pepper in a bowl.

How to serve:

1. Open the lid of the kabocha and cut it into 4 pieces with a knife.
2. Transfer each piece to a plate and serve with the sauce.

Enjoy the recipe!