The whole reason I learned Hangul (Korean alphabet), was so I could read ingredients in Korean to make food from K-dramas.Which K-drama food would you really want to try?
They make so many interesting types of kimchi in there that I wanted to try some (it’s really difficult to figure out the recipe for some).
Dramas, where you see that the family has a collection of onggi (fermentation pots) filled with gochujang, doenjang and different types of soy sauce, also inspired me to make my own Dutch onggi (Keulse pot) filled with gochujang.
I’m watching the Let’s eat seasons at the moment and I really wanted to try to make the Red bean noodles from season 1, episode 3. Just have to figure out a recipe
What food in which K-drama do you want to try? Or have you tried to make?
I’m really curious
My first “Korean” dish I cooked myself was jjajangmyeon (although, technically, it’s Chinese). The one I prepared was just so nasty, it deterred me from cooking Korean for a long time.
Second was tteokbokki, and it was delicious although almost lethal (that spiciness!) And I’ve been cooking regularly Korean from then on.
I tried many things for which I could find ingredients. Unfortunately, perilla leaves are impossible to get here where I am.
But, what I found suuuuper comforting is that the street tteokbokki I tried in Seul tasted almost identical to my own. So, I concluded that recipes in cookbooks written by Koreans really are authentic.
Let’s Eat thought me one important thing. Before, as a Westerner, I feared to eat various Asian food because I wouldn’t know HOW to eat it. But “Let’s Eat” shows you not only a million different ways how to eat a single dish, but also that there isn’t one universal right way.
Another fun show which shows you how to eat (as opposed to what to eat) is Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok Joo. Those ladies had a strict order of eating
But I realized that you can cook so many different Korean dishes if you had only four “weird” ingredients in the house: gochujang, deonjang, dried anchovies and kelp.
We eat lots of kimchi and we have a SK small vegetable/fruit place who makes the most delicious homemade kimchi that taste simply delicious. Is so popular that she can’t make it fast enough, and she sells it at a reasonable price.
Everything else i’ve tasted Japanese, Chinese I don’t like so far. Amazingly, Kimchi helped my daughter with a severe stomach problem to get better. It was a godsend.
Oh I love making tteokbokki as well (I’m stubborn and tried to make tteok myself and like it more than the store-bought version - why do I make my life hard? )
I’m fortunate enough to find most ingredient needed, but some are difficult to find.
(You can order perilla seeds if you like gardening)
And I love the point you made! You are right. Many of the dramas have showed me the different ways people eat the dishes, which made it feel less foreign to me I used to find it weird to put rice in soup, for example, and now I do it automatically!
I can imagine that is super-satisfying. I haven’t been there yet, but a SK friend who stayed at my house tried my kimchi and chicken soup and she said that I was Korean. So, I’ll take that compliment
Yup, always have those at my house as well
That must be so nice! I always have to be careful with kimchi in restaurants, since they tend to make them with the fermented shrimp and I’m allergic - so I make my own. But it must be great to have someplace to buy it
I can’t remember which drama it was, but it introduced me to white kimchi, which I absolutely love! And the Korean grocery owner, who used to be a taste tester for my recipes, told me about dongchimi, another kimchi I love. It’s too bad I couldn’t find any good radishes this year to make some
That drama had me craving for Kimchi while my first encounter with Kimchi wasn’t a good one as I didn’t like the taste of it at first.
I made my own version of Bibimbap sometimes, I tried to make Omurice when “Rooftop Prince” was airing. Been to a workshop for Gimbap and Hotteok. I made hotteok a few times at home too.
And now I can’t wait for saturday evening. I’m going to eat Korean then at the Korean restaurant with a bunch of people I don’t know yet. Very scary as I’m an introvert but I can’t wait for the food
And not Korean but I love Japanese curry. Every once in a while I make a huge pan of it and the left overs I freeze for later use.
Tried it myself on three different occasions and it didn’t work. No matter how long and hard I battered them, my tteok were never chewy, but quite mushy. I think I was using the wrong rice flour. It’s supposed to be glutinous flour and I only have access to the regular one
However, I have (relatively) successfully made kalguksu (knife-cut noodles). Amazingly simple to make and satisfy my cravings for noodles every single time
She is my alpha and omega! Her videos are so good and often very simple, hence doable. Looking at different recipes for the same dish adds to the variations you can do and makes you relax about making the food, to the point where you don’t necessarily follow the strict recipe anymore and make your own choices.
I’ve noticed that jeon (small fried pancakes) with veggies and seafood are a good intro into Korean food, particularly for the sceptics
I quite disliked it the first time I had it too (but I made it with the wrong ingredients and I wasn’t a fan of zuurkool either haha). But I’ve grown to like it.
Yes, I know maangchi. It’s here gochujang that I’ve made I like to combine her recipes with some other bloggers, to make food that suit my preferences.
Oh good luck (fellow introvert here)! I don’t know which restaurant you are going to, but I hope it’s delicious I’ve been to a few here and there and still have some I want to go to.
Haha, I’m glad you talked about Japanese curry. Before I came into contact with K-dramas, I was a major anime fan and anime food is a realm of it’s own! Curry was definitely in my top 5 foods to try and when I realized how simple it was to make (roux + stock + ingredients), I made it and love it ever since. (Have yet to perfect okonomiyaki).
Ah! Maangchi has a great recipe for that, which I also kinda follow. You need short grain rice, soak it, freeze it, grind it to flour (I have a powerblender) and then use it to make the tteok. I’ve read people’s experiments with making tteok and saw that using a kitchen mixer (like a kitchen aid) would help make it chewy, I put it in for around 20 to 30 minutes
I absolutely loved Kimchi Family and admired the variety of kimchis!!! I want to try the spring onion kimchi and would like to know how Lotus Kimchi tastes. - All the traditional healthy food got me always so hungry when I watched the series I only ate Korean food - meat barbecue and soup in NYC and I regret I didn’t buy Soju in Korea town I have done several times the cabbage kimchi with daikon, onion spring and carrots… the first time I used the recipe from maangchi just google the word.
In another drama they used big green leaves, I wonder if they were squash leaves or sunflower leaves…
Do you maybe have a photo? I know people eat squash / pumpkin leaves. I’ve also have sweet potato leaves and those were absolutely delicious! One of my other favorite leaves are perilla / kaetnip leaves. I planted some this spring, but they didn’t get as big as I hoped… but the kimchi I made with it was great
Yes I know what you mean. I want to go to Japan for more then 10 years. Finally had my trip booked for april 2011 but that was cancelled due the tsunami. Then I had to postpone it a few times and then I decided to go to Korea first as that was a lot cheaper and now I’m finally going if nothing bad happens again.
And lotus kimchi, I could try that in Korea but I didn’t dare because in China I had lotus once and I almost couldn’t swallow it as I found it so so disgusting. I’m not a picky eater and I would like to try everything but that. But maybe it was just the seasoning. I once bought rettich Kimchi years ago to try and hated the rettich but when I tried in Korea I actually liked it.
However, most often I make a (sort of) ramen with them, where I mix Japanese miso and Korean doenjang to make the broth. This might be awful to read for the culinary puritans, but I like this weird combo. Basically, the broth is 2 spoonfuls of miso, 2 spoonfuls of doenjang to one litre chicken/veggie/fish stock. And then I pack it with veggies and fish or pre-fried or hard tofu and occasionally I poach eggs directly in the broth. It’s quick and so healthy!
I tried a few types of pickled daikon (white raddish) and I really didn’t like the flavor. Is your home-made version different in taste?
Could that be the perilla leaves? Those babies are sooooo delicious!
If you’re visiting Tokyo, there is a food district/street there where surfing from one restaurant to the next all in one evening was one of the most satisfying experiences of my life!
Folks, have you seen this show? (Note: Watch when not hungry)
I have always wanted top find the recipes for a lot of these dishes, so I googled them, found a lot of them, I do have an Asian market nearby, so it isn’t difficult to find the ingerdients. the kimche, was really easy to make, I didn’t have the pots you all described, but it turnmed out very good. YES, Maangchi, I came across her too. awesome!!
The Korean food I had yesterday was good!
Let’s see I had: Bibimbap, Kimchi fried rice, Gimbap, Rice cakes,Japchae, Pajeon (leek pancake), Hobakjeon (pumpkin pancake, Kimchi Mandu, Maeun Dubu (spicy tofu), tofu soup. Now I think about it I also had to try Teokbokki again and I didn’t try Jjajangmyeon either because I didn’t want to make a mess of myself.
But next time I will try that for sure
And yes it looks a lot and I tried a lot but it was really small portions at an all you can eat.
I meant I make it all together not separately so I either make small cubes or julienne cut and add it to cabbage. There is more cabbage than other parts. I like the different flavors and crunchiness. The taste is all like kimchi, sour, hot and crunchy. I like to put it in my ramen soup just before eating, it gives it a nice kick, particularly in winter
Oh and I made couple times a kimchi pancake as I have seen Jang Hyuk doing it in a reality show somewhere in winter in the country side, that episode was once on YT but got removed.
There are many different recipes online, some with egg some without it, but just watching this video makes me to make one soon, as I have kimchi in the fridge!!! But the flip Maangchi is making I can’t do yet. I read the pancake is crispier when cooked on a gas than electric stove. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sJzhriY1C70
I think it was in A Hundred Years’ Inheritance with Eugene, she was a daughter in law and was cooking these. And those were not Perilla leaves… rather some pumpkin/squash leaves
Btw Maangchi has also a video recipe with the Perilla leaves, there is a snipet where she shows her potted Perilla on a high rise terrace in New York (or so I think)
And I’ve been cooking regularly Korean from then on.
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I only ate Korean food - meat barbecue and soup in NYC and I regret I didn’t buy Soju in Korea town 
I have done several times the cabbage kimchi with daikon, onion spring and carrots… the first time I used the recipe from maangchi 