Posts under "Cuisine"

Korean Jelly

Posted by Ginny 1 Comment
Jul 6 2011

Gwapyeon (과편) is a type of Korean jelly. Gwapyeon can easily be made at home. All you need is some water, starch, fruits/berries and sugar.

To make Orange Gwapyeon (오렌지 과편), take about six or so medium sized ripe oranges and squeeze the juice out from the oranges. Then place the orange juice in a pot. Add 1½ cup of water and 1 cup of 녹두녹말, which is basically starch. Then add two cups of sugar. Boil all the ingredients until the jelly hardens. If you like your jelly a little softer, add less starch for the next time. Also, if you want your jelly with a sweeter taste, add more cups of sugar.

Mulberry Gwapyeon (오디 과편) is made by mixing about 150 grams of mulberries with ½ cups of water. Be sure to wash the mulberries before mixing. If you can’t find mulberries, you can also use blackberries as well. Turn the heat on and add ½ cup of starch and ¾ cups of sugar. When the sugar dissolves and the jelly hardens, turn the heat off. If you want to make a unique shape out of the jelly, turn the heat off before the jelly completely hardens. When the mixture is a semi liquid, pour it over a mold.

Apricot Gwapyeon (살구 과편) is made by taking 15 small apricots and blending them in a mixer. Then take the mixture and add 1½ cups of sugar and 1½ cups of starch and 1 cup of water. If you want, you can use the dashik pans to make the mold. For more info on dashik pans go here: (http://www.transparent.com/korean/dashik/). Then let the jelly or gwanpyeon sit in the mold until the jelly shapes to the mold.

 

Cherry Gwapyeon (앵두 과편) is made by adding about 3 cups of cherries. Then take about three cups of water and 1 cup of sugar with 2 cups of starch. This is optional, but you can also add about 1 teaspoon of salt for taste. Mix everything until the mixture is slightly hardened. If you want, you can pour everything in a rectangular or square sized bowl. Then take a cookie cutter and press it over the jelly. This is a great way to get star shaped gwapyeon that are not only pretty in color, but also pretty in shape.

Omija Gwapyeon (오미자 과편) is a gwapyeon using 1½ cups of omega berries. These berries are a type of Korean berries, so if you can’t get these where you are currently based, then you can also use cherries as a substitute. Leave the omija berries in 2½ cups water overnight. Then drain the water and transfer the omija water to a pot. Add 1 cup of sugar, ½ cup of honey and ½ cup of starch. The 2 cups of syrup and 1 teaspoon of salt to taste are optional.

One thing to keep in mind is that gwapyeon tends to be thicker than let’s say American jello. You don’t see too many gwapyeon wobbling like the ones in American jelly. In addition, you can add as much sugar or starch as you like. These amounts are just general guidelines to give you an idea of how to make these Korean jelly snacks. It’s also up to you as to what fruit you want to use, but Korean people generally don’t use apples, peaches or pears for gwapyeon because of the color can turn unpleasant after boiling them.

 

Dashik

Posted by Ginny 3 Comments
Jun 6 2011

Dashik (다식) is a type of Korean confectionary consumed with a cup of tea. They are kind of like the Korean version of a cookie. Dashik is made by forming a dough and pressing the dough in a dashiki board (다식판). A dashik board is a board with several holes. The holes are the mold for where the dough will go in. The holes are often decorated in the shape of flowers and other various designs. There are different kinds of dashik, all with different tastes. Let’s see what kinds there are…

There is the Nokcha dashik (녹차다식), which is dashik made from green tea powder. To make Nokcha dashik, mix one cup of glutinous rice and two cups of green tea powder. Then add as much sugar as you’d like to the mixture. The more sugar the sweeter. If you’d like, you can also add some honey. After you knead all the materials into a dough-like form, press the dough into the dashik board. Make sure to grease the holes of the board before you place the dough inside the dashik board.

Heukimja dashik (흑임자다식) is dashik with black sesame seed powder as the main ingredient. To make this form of dashik, take one cup of black sesame powder and about one cup of honey. Add some sugar if you want it sweeter. Since black sesame seed can taste quite bitter, it’d be a good idea to add a little extra sugar. After you’ve kneaded the dough, squeeze the dough into the dashik board to get that nice shape. Then flip the board over and tap the dashik out of the board.

Songhwa dashik (송화다식) is made from pine pollen powder. Mix one cup of pine pollen powder and three cups of honey. Then oil up the dashik board and place some plastic wrap over the holes of the dashik board. After you’ve pressed the kneaded dough into the board, take the plastic wrap out and the dashik will fall out as well. Since pine pollen powder can be very fine, some of it can stick to the board, which is why the extra precaution with the plastic wrap was used.

Kong dashik (콩다식) is dashik made from bean powder. Mix one cup of bean powder with two cups of honey. If you like your dashik really sweet, add additional sugar. After you knead the dough, place the dough in a pan of oil. The dough will be slightly fried, but not too much. Set the dough in the oil for no longer than a minute. The grains of the bean powder are very fine and may prevent it from sticking together. That’s why it was fried. Lastly, place the dough in the dashik board.

Nongmal dashik (녹말다식) is dashik made from plain starch powder. Mix one cup of glutinous rice, three cups of starch powder and one cup of honey. Mix everything into a dough-like form. Then press the dough into the oiled dashik board. When you take out the dashik, you can fry them for less than ten seconds in a pan of oil. This will give the dashik a crunchy and crispy texture. The frying part is optional because some people like their dashik soft and chewy.

 

Hwachae

Posted by Ginny No Comments
May 6 2011

Hwache (화채) is a term used to refer to a type of traditional Korean drink that is made of fruits. Subak Hwachae (수박화채) is one example of this type of drink. “Subak Hwachae” is a watermelon drink. This drink is very popular in the summer months because it’s a cool drink that includes watermelon, ice, and other fruits. Some people make this drink by using the watermelon rind as the container and scooping out the watermelon with a melon baller. Others just place the watermelon and ice in a bowl.

Yuja hwachae (유자화채) is a drink made with yuja (유자). Yuja is a Korean citrus fruit that is similar to a mandarin orange. The rind of the yuja and the fruit is shredded into long, thin slices. Some people also add some shredded pear slices topped with cherries. The yuja is typically not consumed; it is only placed in the drink to give it a tangy flavor. Since the yuja is slightly bitter in taste, some sugar and water is added. Even if the sugar is added, this drink is much healthier than any canned fruit drinks at the store.


Bae Hwachae (배화채) is a hwachae made with pears. The pears are usually cut into flower or star shaped pears. Then some pine nuts are thrown in with the pears. To make the liquid, mix some honey, cold water and omija (오미자). Omija is a type of Korean berries. If you don’t have berries, you can use other small berries, like raspberries or blackberries. With Subak Hwachae, the watermelon already contains a lot of water that can be used in the drink, but with Bae Hwachae, a separate liquid drink has to be made.

Milgam Hwachae (밀감화채) is a hwachae made with milgam (밀감). Milgam is a type of small orange that is especially plentiful in the Jeju Province (제주도). First, some water and sugar is mixed together and boiled under low heat. Then the mixture is left to cool in the refrigerator. When the drink becomes cold, the milgam is placed in the drink. Some people prefer to coat the milgam with sugar first, then when the milgam absorbs the sugar, it is placed in cold water.

Ddalgi Hwachae (딸기화채) is a hwachae made with strawberries. Some people like to mix some sugar and water together to make the drink. Others like to use milk and sugar to make the drink, while others prefer to use carbonated soda as the drink. Some people also like to place a scoop of ice cream on top, so that it becomes an ice cream strawberry drink. Some people even pour a little alcohol and carbonated soda with the strawberries.

 

Korean Tea

Posted by Ginny 3 Comments
Apr 7 2011

What’s a great way to stay trim and quench your thirst at the same time? It’s simple, drink tea! Here are some of the most common herbal teas that Korean people drink:

Boricha (보리차) is basically barley tea. The barley that is used to make this drink is unhulled and roasted before it is stewed in hot water. The barley is unhulled because it is generally believed that this is healthier than hulled barley. Barley tea is great because it has a strong nutty flavor. It can be sipped when cold or hot, so it’s a great drink for the summer and winter months.

Oksusucha (옥수수차) literally means ‘corn tea’. To make this tea, individual kernels of corn are separated from the cob. Then they are roasted until the kernels turn brown. Lastly, the kernels are brewed in hot water until the water turns yellowish. Oksusucha tastes slightly sweet, and what’s more is that doctors recommend it for diabetes and those with high blood pressure.

Hongcha (홍차) refers to black tea. It’s similar to coffee in that it is generally darker in color than most teas and is also higher in caffeine than most other teas. Hongcha also has the tendency to taste bitter, but the good thing about hongcha is that there are studies that show that drinking hongcha may reduce cardiovascular diseases.

Hyeonmicha (현미차) is brown rice tea. Brown rice is healthier than white rice and has the effect of increasing blood circulation and preventing constipation. Like the other teas, hyeonmicha is made by brewing brown rice in hot water. The best way to describe the taste of hyeonmicha is that it is weaker in flavor than the hongcha, but not sweet like the oksusucha.

Nokcha (녹차) is green tea. In Korea green tea is sometimes used for weight loss. People say that green tea is good for suppressing appetite and reducing caloric intake. In addition to tea, some people use green tea to make all sorts of confectionary like cakes. When brewing green tea, it’s important not to overbrew. Overbrewing may cause the green tea to taste too bitter.

Tteokbokki

Posted by Ginny No Comments
Mar 7 2011

Do you like spicy food? Tteokbokki (떡볶이) is a spicy dish made of white rice cakes. Tteokbooki is considered a snack food in Korea. These white rice cakes are mixed with red pepper paste called gochujang (고추장) and added to this mix are fish cakes called odeng (오뎅), sesame seeds, sesame oil, onions, green onions, carrots, sugar, and water.

Jjolbokki (쫄볶이) is tteokbokki with noodles. Usually the ttoekbokki is long and fat, but they can be short and fat or thin and oval shaped. In addition to the odeng, green onions and a hardboiled egg is also added to the mix. Extra water is added to the jjolbokki to cook the noodles and the rice cakes. As with normal tteokbokki, red pepper paste is added.

A variation of tteokbokki is Haemul tteokbokki (해물 떡볶이) which is a spicy seafood version of tteokbokki. All or a mixture of shrimp, prawn, squid or octopus are used in haemul tteokbokki. Vegetables like green peppers and onions are used. Other ingredients are garlic, ginger, red pepper paste, salt and sugar.

Ganjang tteokbokki (간장 떡볶이) is a fancy kind of tteokbokki made with soy sauce. Although tteokbokki is usually made with red pepper paste, ganjang tteokbokki uses soy sauce instead of the red pepper paste. If any red pepper paste is used, it is used sparsely. In addition, beef or pork chunks are also added to the ganjang tteokbokki.

Cheese tteokbokki (치즈 떡볶이) is a kind of tteokbokki made with cheese. Unlike normal tteokbokki, red pepper paste is not used. A generous amount of cheese, tomato sauce, garlic and parsley is made with cheese tteokbokki. Cheese tteokbokki is a fusion food. It is sold in restaurants and tastes a lot like a pasta and cheese dish.

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