Gamja jo rim – Potato side dish

gamja jo rim

I love potatoes. I am a Dutch Canadian girl married to a Korean and though I enjoy eating rice, I really like potatoes. This recipe is a wonderful marriage of both of our roots: potatoes in a salty sweet garlic sauce.

A Korean meal usually consists of rice, a main dish and a few side dishes. Side dishes (ban chan) are often made in a big batch and a small portion is served with each meal. This is one of my favourite side dishes. Seeing how I feel about potatoes, I have no problem forgoing the rice and eating this all.

The recipe:

The time you need:

Prep time: 10 minutes   Cook time: 15 minutes

The things you need:

  • 3 medium potatoes (about 2 cups)
  • 1 tbsp oil
  • 1/2 cup of water
  • 3 tbsp soy sauce
  • 2 tbsp honey
  • 1 1/2 tbsp sugar
  • 1 tbsp garlic (minced)
  • sesame seeds

The how to:

  • Cut potatoes into cubes
  • Fry the potatoes in the oil for a five (ish) minutes on medium-high
  • Mix the water, soy sauce, honey, sugar and garlic together
  • Add the mixture to the potatoes and continue to cook until the sauce is reduced (another five minutes – it will start smelling divine at about this point)
  • Lower the temperature a little and continue to fry until potatoes are fully cooked, stirring occasionally (about another five minutes)
  • Use a fork or chopstick to check if the potatoes done (while you are at it, sneak a taste!) If they are not done add a little water to ensure the sauce does not burn.
  • Garnish with sesame seeds
  • Enjoy hot or cold.  (Korean side dishes are often eaten cold.)

My big helper enjoying the last licks of the honey pot!

My original picture:

honey garlic potatoes

Recipe adapted from aeriskitchen.com


Korean language school

Every Saturday morning, Kyah, Jaina and I head off to Korean language school.  We pack up our backpacks with our books, binders and a snack and enter the world of Han-gul for the morning.  The girls really enjoy that the mom goes and studies too, and I really like that I have a few hours every week to exercise my brain.

As we inch towards a basic knowledge of Korean, we get to sprinkle our conversations with more and more Korean vocabulary and expressions.

Today’s lesson in my adult class involved prepositions of place (in, on, under).  My fabulous sentence of the day was: There is coffee in my cup.  Important things I need to know how to say!

Duk Kalbi – Korean beef patties

I found this recipe in the funniest place: a dutch church cook book!

Every time I make these, I can’t make enough.  My Yobo gushes over them, my kids fight over them and I try to lick the pan. (Just kidding, I don’t actually lick it, I lick my finger that has been in the pan!)

Once when we went to visit Korea, my Yobo’s friend took us out to dinner to a very nice place.  Nicer than anyplace my Yobo has taken me.  This was the first time I tasted duk kalbi.  It was delicious.  I was told it was expensive, very expensive.  I thought to myself, I can make this.

I am sure the rendition I had in that restaurant was made with ground sirloin, but I am a mom of four hungry kids on a budget, so ground beef makes its appearance in my recipe.

The recipe:

The time you need:

Prep time: 10 minutes   Cook time: 15 minutes

The things you need:

  • 1 lb ground beef
  • 4 tbsp soy sauce
  • 2 tbsp sugar
  • 1 tbsp sesame seeds
  • 1 tbsp sesame oil
  • 2 tbsp chopped green onion
  • 1 tbsp minced garlic
  • black pepper

The how to:

  • chop the onion into fine pieces.  To be a good Korean, you need to do this with your handy pair of kitchen scissors.
  • mix all the ingredients together
  • press into patties the size of your palm (ish)
  • place on a fry pan and fry on medium low.  Turn them over as they brown and flatten them down.
  • continue to fry until the juices start to caramelize and form a wonderful sticky coating on the outside
  • allow to rest for a few minutes before serving (as you quickly set the table, check on the rice and stir fry the veggies)
  • serve and be sure to sneak a lick of the pan

Note: these are also delicious bbq’ed and served as sliders. Sorry, no pan to lick if this method of cooking is chosen.

A good Korean in the making using her kitchen scissors.

Chapjae – korean stirfry noodles

Chapjae

My Yobo loves this dish.  What is there not to love? Sirloin strips, veggies, eggs and noodles all mixed together in a salty sweet sesame sauce!  The kids enjoy it too, each of them for different reasons.  Jaina likes the long noodles, Kyah prefers all the ‘stuff’ and Taron can’t get enough of the egg.  I love how easy it is to put it all together and have them all impressed.

The recipe:

The time you need: Since I like to cook but don’t have lots of time to spend in the kitchen, I try to make everything quick and easy

Prep time: 15 – 20 minutes   Cooking time: 15 minutes

The things you need:

  • 500 g package Glass noodles (the long clear potato ones)
  • 3/4 lb sirloin strips
  • 2 carrots
  • 1 package frozen spinach (or 4 c fresh spinach blanched)
  • 1 onion
  • 1 red pepper
  • 1/2 zucchini
  • mushrooms (I didn’t have any when I made them today and they are not the kids favourite but they are yummy in this)
  • 5 eggs
  • soy sauce
  • sesame oil
  • sugar
  • garlic
  • black pepper
  • rice vinegar
  • sesame seeds

The how to:

  • marinate the beef in 1 tbsp soy sauce, 1 tbsp garlic, 1 tsp sugar, 1 tsp rice vinegar and pepper
  • thinly slice the vegetables and cut into 1.5 inch pieces (using a mandolin makes this easy!)
  • drain the spinach and season with 1 tsp garlic, 1 tsp soy sauce and 1 tsp sesame oil
  • beat the eggs and fry a thin omelette. Cut into thin slices and 1.5 inch pieces
  • boil the noodles according to the package instructions (usually 6-7 minutes. Do not over cook!)
  • stir fry the beef and the veggies
  • drain the noodles and rinse with cold water to avoid sticking or just quickly coat in a mixture of 1/4c soy sauce, 2 tbsp sesame oil, 1 tbsp sugar. Be sure to mix well and have the noodles thoroughly coated.  Add more of the mixture if necessary. (Note: I find this the trickiest part.  I use my chop sticks and mix from the middle out.  That is how my mother-in-law taught me.  Feel free to mix however works best for you)
  • add the spinach, stir fried veggies and beef and mix as best you can. Mix in the egg strips.
  • serve and garnish with sesame seeds.

Enjoy!