11.23.2021

3 Popular Korean Dishes that are easy to cook at Home

 

Kimchijjigae, or in English Kimchi Stew, Kimchi Pancake and Twigim, or fried food in English, are all popular dishes beloved by both Koreans and Foreigners. You will find Kimchijjigae and Kimchi Pancake on the menu of most Korean restaurants and Twigim is a delicious snack that is sold as street food all over Korea. But those commonly sold dishes are actually also very easy to make at home.

Kimchijjigae

 Ingredients : 2 Tbsp Sesame oil, 200g Pork Belly cut into bite sized pieces, 300g Kimchi, 1 Tbsp Gochujang Chili paste, 2 pieces of minced garlic, 1 piece of fresh ginger sliced, 800ml water, 200g firm tofu sliced into pieces, 2 small shiitake mushrooms sliced, ½ stalk small green onion sliced

How to cook:

  1. First heat the sesame oil in a pot, then add meat and kimchi and cook it for 8-10 minutes.
  2. Then add Gochujang, ginger and garlic. Cook everything together for 2 more minutes.
  3. After that, add the water and let everything boil for 20 minutes.
  4. Then add mushrooms, green onion and tofu and boil for 5 more minutes.
  5. Serve with rice.


Kimchi Pancake

Ingredients : 150g Kimchi, 100g wheat flour, 40g sticky rice flour, 3 Tbsp Kimchi liquid, ½ Tbsp fine sea salt, some vegetable cooking oil

Dip : 1 Tbsp Soy sauce, 1 Tbsp rice vinegar, ½ Tbsp roasted sesame, ½ Tbsp Gochujang chili powder

How to cook

  1. Cut the kimchi in mouth sized pieces. Put the kimchi with 130ml water and all the other pancake ingredients, except for the oil, together and mix them well in order to make the pancake batter.
  2. Put all the ingredients for the dip together and mix them well.
  3. Pre heat a pan with the vegetable oil, when heated put the batter and spread it evenly. Cook the pancake for 3 minutes on one side and then turn it and cook it 3 more minutes on the other side.
  4. When cooked, slice it into pieces and serve with dip.


Fried Sweet Potato and Shrimp

Ingredients : 600ml vegetable oil, 110g wheat flour, 90g sticky rice flour, ½ Tbsp backing powder, ½ Tbsp fine sea salt, ¼ Tbsp minced black pepper, 325ml cold water, 2 sweet potatoes cut in pieces, 8 shrimp peeled

Dip : 4 teaspoons soy sauce, 2 teaspoons water, chopped onions

How to cook

  1. Mix all ingredients for the dip together and put aside.
  2. Put all the oil in a pot and heat it up. While the oil is heating up mix the two flours with the backing powder and pepper. Then add the cold water and blend everything quickly until it has the consistence of milk.
  3. Put the sweet potatoes and shrimp first in the batter until they are covered and then put it into the pot with oil. Do not fry everything at once, only a handful at a time.
  4. Fry the sweet potatoes 4-5 minutes and the shrimp 2-3 minutes until gold brown.
  5. Put the fried pieces on a kitchen paper to remove the excess oil and serve with the dip.


FAQ

Which Korean dish only takes a short time to cook by yourself?

Kimchi Pancake is easy to make and only takes a few minutes.

What is a healthy Korean dish to make at home?

Kimchijjigae is a both delicious and very healthy food to cook.

What is Twigim?

Twigim is a Korean snack commonly sold as street food. It translates to Fried Food and is usually fried vegetables, sweet potato, squid, etc....

Is Kimchi Stew vegetarian?

In restaurants it is usually sold with meat or tuna, but if you cook it at home you can replace the meat with tofu and vegetables.

Is grocery shopping in Korea expensive?

A good tip to buy affordable cooking ingredients like fresh vegetables, meat and fish is to go to one of the traditional markets in Seoul.