Seaweeds Soup

Seaweeds soup or miyok gook is one of the most famous soup in Korea. It is popular on birthdays and after giving birth. After delivery, the mother eats lots of seaweeds soup because it contains lots of calcium and iodine, the nutrients that is very important for nursing mothers. It is also a tradition to eat miyok guk on birthdays to remind the first food of the mother and passed on to her newborn through her milk which also believes that it brings good fortune for the rest of the year.



Miyok guk or seaweeds soup is not only eaten after delivery or during birthdays but also anytime of the year. It is serve as soup at home or in the restaurants because it is known as a highly nutritious soup.

It is very easy to cook. Just soak the seaweeds. While waiting for it to become soft, boil some amount of water with minced garlics. It depends how much garlic you put. I like mine with lots of garlic. When the miyok is soft, cut it and put in the boiling water. Boil it for about 10 minutes and put some sesame oil and salt. It's as simple as that but it's more delicious if you put some beef (saute the beef first, if you put some). We always put beef on birthdays.

Bangujong Naritojip

When we visited Imjingak, my hubby said that the place is famous for jang-o (eel) and megi(catfish) so my hubby searched on the internet through his phone and found the famous restaurant. He called the restaurant and asked for the address so we used our navigation and found the restaurant.

It was surprising to see lots of cars at the parking lot and the restaurant is as gorgeous as a Korean palace. Click the picture to see the contact number of Ban-gu-jong Narito jip if you are planning to visit there. You can call and ask the exact address so you can easily find it just like what my hubby did.



It's huge but it's full of people that some of the customers have to wait. Here are the people waiting.



It seems like we reached the Korean traditional palace instead of restaurant but to our surprised, it really was the restaurant. As soon as we enter, a guy asked us what kind of room we needed, if it's a cool room (inside with aircon) or an open-air room (outside). We chose the room with aircon because it was too hot but I think it's also cool outside it was windy and there are trees outside.







My hubby ordered megi maeuntang (a pepper-pot soup catfish). He's not a fond of eel.



I'm sorry because I could only take a picture of our left-over. I just snatch it while leaving the restaurant. I was with my in-laws so I think it's rude to take a picture of the food in front of them.

Anyway, it's not only the restaurant is very nice but also the food. No wonder why there are so many people. The food was really awesome. Oh, and the free ice coffee, too. The ice-coffee is also great specially now in summer. You can have coffee as much as you can.

Mul Naengmyeon

Mul Naengmyeon or cold soup noodles (Buck wheat noodle in cold beef broth) is famous korean cuisine specially in summer. They added ice in the soup so it's very cool and refreshing in the summer. Here in Jejudo, kogi naengmyeon or cold noodle soup with meat is very famous. So when we went to Seogwipo, we visited a famous Korean restaurant that serves cold soup noodles. The meat made noodle more delicious. Whenever we go to Seogwipo City, we always eat the noodles. It's cheap and yummy. Here's the noodles. Doesn't it look delicious?



Even when I had it many times, I'm craving for it again everytime I look at this picture. But it's winter now so I don't think it's a good idea to eat it.

Red Cabbage

If I didn't come here in Jeju, I can't know that there are also red cabbages. I was surprised to see red vegetables planted in the farm when I took a walk with my hubby. They look like red big flowers. When I came close to them, I found out that they are cabbages. It is full red even inside.



I told my hubby to have a taste of that vegetable so I cooked chicken legs. I just boiled the chicken legs and put some garlic, onion and salt. When the chicken is soft, I put the cabbage and boiled. Opppss.. The soup is red. The color is strange but it taste good. The red cabbage makes the soup sweet. It taste like potato but it's sweeter. The soup looks strange though. My hubby never tried the soup but he had much cabbage. hehe..

Noodle Soup with Ham

I'm proud that my hubby is getting well at cooking. I think he's getting more interested in learning how to cook. He's so happy when he gets good result on his cooking. Actually, even when it doesn't taste good, I always say that it taste good so he will cook again and again. That's not a problem, I'm sure if he cooks many times, he will do better. Who knows someday cooking will become his hobby and when that time comes, I will be free from cooking! Yahoo!

Oh, look what he made. The noodle soup with ham! It looks so cool and taste great! First he makes the ham soup and put some vegetables then boil some noodles in another pot. When the noodles is soft, he washed it and poured some hot soup. Wow~ it's yummy specially in winter.

Chaesundang Shabu Shabu

I've been staying here in Jejudo for many months and most of the restaurants that I've been to don't serve delicious food. So it's better if you go to the franchised restaurants because you can make sure that the food is good. Unlike other restaurants who just served expensive menu but the food doesn't taste good. You will just be disappointed. They are just the kind of restaurant who served and say goodbye. Maybe they think that because you are a tourist, you can't meet each other again or even when they serve delicious food, you can't go back again, anyway.

Well, we decided to stay here for a long time so we are looking for restaurants who served delicious food so to make sure that the food is great, we usually go to franchised restaurant like Chaesundang. It's our fourth time to visit this restaurant and the waitresses already know us. They treat and serve us well.

If we go there for lunch, we order the Jomsim Teukson Set A. A well-being shabu shabu for only 7,000won each person. Chaesundang serves fresh vegetables.



Shabu Shabu is a menu where you soaked the fresh meat and vegetables on the boiling soup.



It's up to you which vegetables you want to put first. Or you can put all at once.



When the vegetable and meat is cooked you dip it with the sauce.



There's also some dumplings and noodles which is eaten after eating the vegetables and meat. When you're done with noodles, there will be soup left and the soup is used to make porridge. The porridge is served last and it's included in the 7,000won menu. It's cheap isn't it? I don't have the picture of porridge because even it's free, we didn't eat because we were already full and there was no place for porridge when I decided to take my camera.

By the way, the picture above is the Set A. The set B is "maeun bosot" (spicy mushrooms) shabu for 8,500 and Set C is "myeongpum hanu" is branded beef for 10,000won.

Chaesundang Jejudo is in Jejusi Nohyeondong 1042-5. Or call 064-747-3655 if you want to know more or visit www.chaesundang.co.kr for more information.

Shabu Shabu

It's not a medicine but it's food. It's delicious food that Korean enjoy called Shabu shabu. It's a beef with different kinds of vegetables. First you boil the beef stock then put the vegetables like mushrooms, chinese cabbage, etc. and the beef.



When it is soft, you can get the vegetables of beef and dip it with sauce. When there's no more meat, you can put the noodles and dumplings.



And last, remove some soup and leave a little which is just enough for the rice and egg, then mix to make a porridge or fried rice. It's up to you whatever you like.

Bean paste soup

My mother in law always tells me to prepare bean soup at least once a week. She said beans are good for our health specially when you have constipation. Most Koreans have this constipation problem because of their hot and spicy food. She said we have to pooh everyday and if we can't then we have to eat beans. Here's the bean soup that I prepared for lunch.



I don't buy bean paste in the mart. My hubby's aunt who lives in county makes bean paste at home. Although it is different from the bean paste that we bought in the market because it's a little bit darker, hers has more nutrients than what we buy in the market. She has a small green tea plantation and green tea is one of her ingredients in making bean paste. Here's the bean paste that aunt made.



It looks strange and my hubby didn't wanna try it before because of the color but my mother in law said that aunt's bean paste is much better than the one in the mart. So, I prepare until hubby had a taste of it and he likes it now.

Here's how to make bean paste soup.

Ingredients: 10 pieces of anchovy, 2 potatoes, 1 red pepper, slice of squash, 1 onion, 1 tbsp. chopped garlic, bean paste

Method:
1. Put the anchovies in 4 cups of water and boil.
2. Cut the potatoes, red pepper and squash into eight pieces and the onion into flat pieces.
3. Remove the anchovies in a boiling water and put all the ingredients and boil again for 10 minutes.
4. Put some water in a bowl and mix the bean paste soup well. Pour it in a boiling water with vegetables and let it boil again for 10 minutes.

Hint: The soup is more delicious with mushrooms and tofu.

Obey our hunger

We went on a picnic last weekend. We were at the camping site when my sister in law called and wanted to dine out with us. My hubby told her that we weren't at home so they met an appointment the next day for lunch. Because of this appointment, we had to leave the camping site earlier. We got up early and left the site without having breakfast. We don't eat breakfast but because we were tired, we got hungry. On our way home, we saw a restaurant so hubby stopped the car and had breakfast. We shared this soondae gukbap. A soup made of soondae.





It's not too much but we couldn't eat all. We ordered it just to obey our hunger.

It's another mistake

I just want to say that I made a mistake in making the soup last night. Oh yes, it's another mistake. It was my first time to do it and as usual I failed again. I prepared it for almost an hour because i'm trying to get the exact taste of the soup but I always put some ingredients and I didn't know how to balance the ingredient. Well, the taste is not the same as what I have eaten in the restaurants or in my in-laws house.

It's summer and the weather is too hot so I need to prepare cold soup. My hubby already came from work but I was still preparing for the food and he saw the ingredients on the table and I looked very busy so he asked me what kind of delicious food i was preparing. Maybe, he expected so much. As soon as I served him the soup, he tasted it and smiled. He said it was delicious but he never touched it after that one spoon that he put in his mouth. hehehe...

After dinner, he told me to put some more water and vinegar. After washing the dishes, I started to make the soup again. I hope it will pass in his taste. Let's see what is gonna be happened tomorrow. Do you think he will like it? I'm so excited to know the result! hahaha...

Spicy Beef Soup (Yuk kae jang)

Spicy Beef Soup (Yuk kae jang)

Ingredients: 1/2 lb. beef, 1/2 lb. tripe, 1/2 lb. small beef intestine, 1/3 lb. fern bracken, 4 large green onions, black pepper, MSG, seasoning sauce: (3 tbsp. red pepper paste, 9 cloves garlic, 5 tbsp. sesame salt, sesame oil, 4 tbsp. red pepper powder, 4 tbsp. salad oil), 15 cups broth.

Method:

1. Wash the beef.

2. Wash and soak the tripe in hot water. Then scrape off the black skin with the back of a knife.

3. Remove any fat from the small intestine and cut it into pieces. Wash the pieces clean scrubbing with coarse salt.

4. Simmer the beef, truo and small intestine in 30 cups of water for 2 hours until very tender.

5. Shred the beef into think strips. Cut the tripe into pieces 2 3/4" long and 1/4" wide. Cut the small intestine into bite-sized pieces.

6. Clean the bracken and green onions and cut them into 4 3/4" lenghths.

7. Put the above ingredients (except the green onions) in a bowl and mix them with the seasoning sauce.

8. Mix and fry the oil and red pepper powder in a pan to make the red pepper oil.

9. Add the #7 seasoned ingredients and 15 cups of the broth to the pan and bring to a boil. Add the green onion slices and boil slightly again.

Beef Rib Soup (Kalbitang)

Beef Rib Soup (Kalbitang)

Ingredients: 1 1/3 lb. beef, 1/3 Korean white radish, green onion, garlic, 1 egg, 1 tbsp. soy sauce, salt, black pepper, MSG, 15 cups broth

Method:

1. Cut the ribs into pieces 1 2/3" long and score them at 1/3" intervals. Halve the white radish lengthwise.

2. Fry the beaten, salted yolk and white of egg separately into sheets and cut into thin strips. Chop the green onion and garlic finely.

3. Boil the ribs and radish with 30 cups of water in a large pot. Remove the radish from the broth when cooked and simmer the ribs for about 2 hours until very tender.

4. Take the ribs out of the broth and slice the radish thinly. Then mix the ribs and radish with the soy sauce, black pepper, sesame oil, green onion and garlic.

5. Cool the broth and skim off the excess fat from the top.

6. Put the seasoned ribs and radish into the broth and bring to a boil again. Season with the black pepper and MSG.

7. Check the seasoning and place the beef rib soup in each bowl. Garnish with egg strips.

Hint:
1. Scoring the ribs cross-again makes them easier to eat.

2. The soup may be saltier when cooled, so add salt sparingly when seasoning.

beef bones

When my in laws visited us, we went to the market to buy some beef bones. We've been to many market but we couldn't find what we were looking for so we went to the county and drove for an hour to buy this fresh beef bones for my sister in law. My sister in law delivered a new baby girl so i heard that beef bones is good for her. Here's we bought. My father in law paid more than $100 for this bones.

My mother in law cooked the bones for several hours and she uses the stock when she cook soup specially myokgu which is eaten by a mom who has just deliver a baby. When we went back to my sister, i saw this in her veranda. The bones soup.

My mother in law said that she already cooked the bones for the third time and it's still white as milk. When i had a taste of it, it still tastes like my favorite sollongtang soup. My mother in law wants us to go back to the shop where we bought the meat but we couldn't just have time to go back there again. But i'm sure we can go there before my sister in law ate the soup in that big pot.

bean paste

Do you have any idea what this is? It's ground beans or bean paste. I saw it when we went to the restaurant to eat daejigalbi. We were already heading home when i saw this beans hanging at the back of the restaurant near the parking lot.

I like bean paste soup. And i'm proud to say that i cook delicious bean paste soup. But i know my hubby is tired of eating this soup because i usually cook it whenever i don't have anything in mind on soup i should serve for hubby. My mother in law also agrees that i cook bean paste soup better than her. She also told me to cook it often because it's good for our health.

If you go to the restaurant, they usually serve bean paste soup, and this beans hanging on the roof is for preservation. I don't know how long will it take to preserve the beans but as you can see the beans is already too dried.

gukbap

We were still sleeping when the phone rang. It was already passed noon and my mom in law was on the other line. I don't know if it is her duty, rule, or responsibility to call us many times everyday. My hubby sometimes pissed off specially when is about to catch his sleep and then the phone will suddenly ring. And when the phone rings, we always guess that it's my mother in law. And guess is always right. hehehehe...

Because it was already noon so we decided to go out and have lunch. Hubby asked me what i wanted to eat so i chose kukbap. Because it's cold so i always crave for hot soup. We went to the restaurant and i ordered naejang kukbap and hubby had soondae kukbap.

Here's the soup. They serve this soup while it is boiling that's why it's delicious in winter. I like eating this soup when i have colds.





After lunch, we decided to go for a drive.

naejang kukbap

Naejang means the internal organs. Gukbap means rice and soup. Naejang gukbap is soup of internal organs like liver, intestines, etc with rice. It may sounds and seems strange for you but you will like it and crave for it as soon as you have a taste of it.

Doesn't it look delicious? I had this soup with soondae and soondae gukbap.

soondae gukbap

Before we just depend on watching tv where they show the famous restaurants and their menu. But now, my hubby found out a site on the web where the famous restaurants are listed. So during the weekend, if we didn't go out for a trip, we sometimes go the restaurant and try the food show on tv or listed on the internet.

Two weeks ago, we went to one of the restaurants but it was closed because it was Sunday. Last Saturday, we went back again and ordered soondae gukbap for hubby and naejang gukbap for me.

Here's the soondae gukbap.





Hubby had a talk to the owner and hubby said that we found the restaurant on the net. When i started to take some pictures, the owner knew that i'm also going to post it on the net so he gave us this cola for free. hehe.. Soondae is also free for all customers.

eomug (boiled fish paste)

Eomug or omug or whatever, is boiled fish paste and tastes like odeng. I think it is also originally from Japan. We can buy this food at the street vendor specially in pojang macha where koreans like to drink soju (korean alcohol). I love to eat omug but i've never tried to cook it at home.

Hubby bought this omug when he came home from work. I like it more when i eat in the street with the sticks and dip in soy sauce. In winter, we see many rolling stores selling this food. Students love this food in stick and the hajuma/ajassi gives free soup in paper cup which makes you warm in winter. I think that's more delicious than eating at home.

sollongtang (rice and beef noodle soup)

Sollongtang or rice and beef noodle soup is always served in the hangari (an earthenware pot). For those who enjoy the taste of various ox bones, brisket shank and beef tongue you'll probably take the soup down with no problems or questions asked. The bone is cooked for several hours which make the soup white.
I like this soup specially in winter because it warms me up.