Tag Archive for 'kimchi'

Korean Kimchi Fried Rice Bokumbap

Korean Kimchi Fried Rice

Photo by: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jae_yong

Tuna Kimchi Soup (ChamChi KimChi JjiGae)

Video coming soon…

It will be weird to hear that somebody doesn’t like kimchi or kimchi soup in Korea, except maybe young kids. Of course once they grow up, they like it. Kimchi is the most famous Korean food. It is thought to be one of the most healthy foods in the world. Like some other Korean food, there are different types of kimchi soup, depending on the ingredients: Tofu kimchi soup, Tuna kimchi soup, Pork kimchi soup, Bean sprouts kimchi soup, etc. Today, I will post one of them, tuna kimchi soup. I will post different kinds of kimchi soups later.

Short Korean Lesson: *^^*

  • ChamChi = Tuna
  • KimChi = Kimchi
  • JjiGae = Name for one way to cook. It’s a kind of stew, but has more broth than stew and less broth than soup.

Main Ingredients:

  • 1½ Cups Kimchi
  • 2 Cups Water
  • 1 Cup Tuna
  • ½ Tofu
  • 1/4 Onion
  • 1 Green Onion
  • ½ Green Chilly Pepper and ½ Red Chilly Pepper

Seasoning Ingredients:

Yield: 3 Servings

Cut 1½ cups of kimchi into 1 inch pieces.

It’s important to use well fermented kimchi for kimchi soup.

Sour (old) kimchi works good also.

Slice ½ of a pack of tofu and ¼ of an onion into ½ inch pieces.

Cut 1 green onion and chilly peppers into 1 inch pieces.

Prepare 1 cup of tuna. I recommend you use tuna packaged in oil instead of water. If you get a Korean tuna can, 1 medium size will be enough. Use all of the oil and tuna from the can for the soup.

In a pan, add the kimchi and 2 cups of water. Boil it on high.

Once the soup starts to boil, add the tuna and onion.

Then add 1/8 cup of kimchi broth, ½ to 1 Tbsp of red pepper powder (depending on your taste), 1 tsp of minced garlic, and 1 tsp of salt. If you use tuna packaged in water instead of oil, add 1 Tbsp of oil (vegetable or canola oil) to it, and slap your fingers because I told you to only use tuna packed in oil! =P

Cover the lid, and cook for 15 to 20 minutes until the kimchi is cooked.

15 minutes later, add the tofu, green onion, and chilly peppers.

Cook for 5 more minutes and turn off the heat. Enjoy!! ;)

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Kimchi for Charity

Last week, the world’s largest batch of kimchi was made in Seoul. 2,200 volunteers used 58,000 heads of cabbage, and the 143 tons of kimchi that were made will be…
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Traditional Korean Food Ingredients

If you’ve ever gone to a Korean restaurant and tried a dish or two, chances are you fell in love with this fantastic cuisine. Korean food is some of the most varied and wonderful food in the world. But many of those that try it (and would love to be able to make it at home) feel a little intimidated by some strange-sounding ingredients and unusual recipes. However, it really is simple. All you need to make great Korean dishes at home is the right Korean food ingredients

Three Important Korean Seasonings

Gan jang: Gan jang is the term for one of the most important (and easy to find) Korean food ingredients: Korean soy sauce. Soy sauce is widely used for salt and flavor throughout Korean cuisine.

Gochujang: If you like your Korean food spicy, that means you love Gochujang. A kind of heavy hot sauce, gochujang is generally made from red chili powder, glutinous rice powder, powdered fermented soybeans, and salt. It’s used as an ingredient in many dishes, as well as a condiment. One of this Korean food ingredient’s most famous uses is as a condiment for bibimbap.

Doenjang (or Dwen jang): This is a fermented soybean paste, and is considered essential to Korean cuisine. It is used in a huge variety of dishes, including on its own as a condiment, mixed to create another condiment (called ssamjang) or to flavor stews, broths, and other dishes.

The Main Korean Food Ingredients

Ssal: Ssal is simply rice… but there’s really nothing simple about it. Unlike in many cultures, Koreans don’t prefer soft and fluffy rice. In Korean cooking, a short-grained, sticky rice is used, instead.

Baechu: Baechu, or Napa cabbage, is one of the most important Korean food ingredients you can find. It is often used in soups, or eaten raw as a wrap. Most importantly, though, baechu is used in baechu kimchi, the most popular type of Korean kimchi (see below).

Kimchi (or Gimchi): Kimchi is a vegetable dish eaten in Korea with just about every meal. Though it can be made differently each time, it is generally made with various vegetables and is fermented and highly spiced. It is both used as a side dish (called a banchan), as well as an ingredient in other Korean dishes.

Biji (or Kongbiji): When soybeans are blended in order to create soy milk, a fibouous pulp is left behind. This is biji, and is used throughout Korea and the rest of Asia as an ingredient in stews and soups, as well as bread products.

Other Korean Seasonings and Sauces

Ggaet nip: Ggaet nip, called sesame leaf, is a member of the mint family, and is used both as a spice for stews and other dishes, and a wrap for meats and seafood.

Ssamjang: When the Korean food ingredients gochujang and doenjang are combined with sesame oil, onion, garlic, and scallions as a condiment, the result is ssamjang. Ssamjang is a spicy sauce used as an addition to grilled dishes such as samgyeopsal.

Red bean paste: Red bean paste is used throughout Asian cooking. In Korea, it is used in snacks and desserts, such as bungeoppang and hotteok. It’s also traditional in Korea to eat red bean paste at the winter solstice in order to warm the body and keep you healthy through the winter.

Korean Food Nutritional Information

When you eat in a restaurant and cook cultural foods on your own, you want to know that what you’re putting in your mouth is good for you.  Sure, when you go to McDonald’s, you know what you’re eating is bad for you… but you also have the nutrition information right there to tell you so. Unfortunately, when you eat at a Korean restaurant, Korean food nutritional information isn’t generally posted right on the menu.  Which is a shame, as knowing how good Korean cuisine is for your health makes eating it even more fun!

As a culture, Koreans are very proud of their rich and varied cuisine. And they’re healthier for it, as well.  They very rarely use the deep-fry methods found in China, and as part of their national cuisine, they eat plenty of vegetables, grains (such as rice), soups, meats, seafood, tofu, and other soy products. But the sheer variety of foods isn’t the only exciting Korean food nutritional information you’ll find. Because despite Korean food’s variety, vegetables and soy products are served with practically every meal in Korean cuisine… and this makes Korean food incredible healthy in the long term.

Korean Health Foods

There’s more to evaluating Korean food nutritional information than simply saying “lean protein and lots of vegetables? Sounds great!”  Because there are a lot of hidden benefits to some of Korea’s most popular foods.

Doenjang: Doenjang is more than just a popular Korean ingredient or flavoring.  This fermented soybean paste has started receiving attention in the Western world as a health food.  For one, soybeans are made of superior proteins which help the body to digest.  Even better, however, is what the fermentation process does to this product. During fermentation, substances are developed in doenjang that reduce the risk of developing cancer and blood-vessel-related illnesses, as well as encourage healthy intestines.

Kimchi: Kimchi is another hugely popular Korean dish which is beginning to gain a lot of popularity as a health food.  The Korean food nutritional information behind this tasty dish is enough to make you want to eat it every day. For one, kimchi has antibiotic properties, as the bacteria that are made during fermentation restrain harmful bacteria from growing in the intestines. This helps to eliminate or reduce the severity of intestinal disorders, as well as treat diabetes and gastrointestinal cancers. Substances found in kimchi also help prevent heart-burn and other conditions caused by too much acid in the system.

As far as general health goes, you can’t get much healthier than the ingredients found in kimchi. Kimchi is rich in plenty of important vitamins and minerals, such as vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium, and iron. Plus, most of the ingredients in kimchi are quite low in calories and have very little sugar… but are filled with plenty of fiber. The fibers found in the cabbage used in kimchi, for instance, help to aid in digestion and elimination.

All of this is great news if you’re worried about Korean food nutritional information when you head over to your favorite Korean restaurant. So stuff yourself with all of the kimchi and doenjang jjigae stew you want… and know that you’re not just having something great for your taste buds. You’re also doing something great for your health.  Eat up!