December
there’s nothing like hot steaming Korean street food that signals the peak of winter. My favorite trio of all time is what I illustrated for this month: Kimbap, Odeng soup, and ttoekbokki. Here are the recipes for all three!
Tteokbokki
Ingredients (1 portion)
1 Tbsp gochujang
2 Tbsp sugar
1 Tsp garlic powder
1/2 Tbsp soysauce
1/2 Tsp ramen packet seasoning
1 cup Ricecake (dduk)
1 cup water
Soft-boiled egg (optional)
In a small bowl, mix together the gochujang, sugar, garlic powder, soysauce, and 1/2 Tsp ramen packet seasoning
In a pot, bring 1 cup of water to a boil and add in all of the seasoning mixture
Once the mixture is boiling, add in the ricecakes and boil for about 5 minutes
Serve it with some soft-boiled eggs, and enjoy!
you can find the video here: https://www.tiktok.com/@cafemaddy/video/6891807178944990469
Spam Kimbap
Ingredients (makes 1 Roll)
Kimbap Seaweed
1 slice of SPAM (store the rest like this)
1 cup of cooked rice
1/2 avocado, sliced
cilantro
1 egg
pickled radish, precut or cut into one long strip
shredded carrots
In a lightly oiled pan, pan-fry both sides of the SPAM slice. set aside and cut into long strips
In the same pan, ligthly stir fry a handful of shredded carrots, about 2-3 minutes, and set aside.
beat 1 egg, then make a thin pancake on the pan. fold it in half while it’s mostly cooked, and let it cook through for another 2 minutes. set it aside and cut into 2-3 long strips.
On your bamboo roller mat, place the seaweed, and spread the cooked rice as thinly as you can to cover about 1/2 of the seaweed. you can easily spread the rice if you use a metal fork, and dip the fork in water before spreading. or, lightly wet your fingers before spreading it by hand.
stack the ingredients as together and high as you can: the SPAM, egg strips, avocado, cilantro, and pickled radish.
start rolling the kimbap with your hands as you lift the side of the seaweed closest to you, and letting the edge of the seaweed touch the rice on the other side. feel free to add more rice if the ends don’t meet. make the ‘initial seal’ so that the seaweed is pressed against the rice.
once the ‘initial seal’ is made, roll up the rest of the seaweed and smudge some rice where the ends meet so the kimbap stays shut.
use the bamboo roller to roll up the kimbap and let it rest for 1 minute to hold the shape.
roll the kimbap out of the roller, then brush the top with some sesame oil, sprinkle some sesame seeds, and cut into bite size with a very sharp knife. lightly wetting the knife between cuts help the rice from sticking as it’s being cut.
enjoy!
Odeng Soup
Ingredients
2-3 sheets of flat fishcake (halved into long pieces)
4x 1" slices of Korean Radish (moo)
thumb size of serrano pepper, thin sliced
1 scallion, chopped
2 pieces of dried anchovy
1 piece of kombu
3.5 cup water
1 tsp fish sauce
1 tsp soysauce
1 tsp minced garlic
black pepper
handful of dduk (tteokbokki rice cakes)
1. in a small pot, boil anchovy, kombu, and radish with 3 cups of water for 5 minutes.
2. add 1 tsp each of fish sauce, soysauce, and minced garlic, boil another 5 minutes
3. add all your fishcake, rice cakes, and scallions, boil another 5 minutes until radishes and fishcakes are soft. (if you're using sliced rice cakes, add them in the end and boil 1-2 minutes)
4. add black pepper, and if necessary, add salt to taste.
5. thread the sheets of fishcake into a skewer, and enjoy.
A bit about December in Korea- and one extra recipe for you :)
December 21 Dong Jit Nal (Winter Solstice)
There is no offical Korean-specific holiday in December, but I do want to point out winter soltice that falls on the 22nd term in the 24 solar terms (like the gregorian and lunar calendars, the 24 solar terms is also its own calendar system). This is the day that the earth’s poles reaches its maximum tilt away from the Sun, hence the shortest day and the longest night of the year.
In the ancient days in Korea, this day was considered a “small new year” as people thought that the sun dies and resurrects on this day. On this day, there is a very old Korean tradition of eating Pat-Jook, a warm and sweet Red bean porridge, for good luck.
In the ancient days, Koreans believed that the red color of the “Pat” (red beans) kept ghosts and evil spirits away while they endured the longest night of the year. For similar reasons, you’ll often see this red bean as a common ingredient used for food involving various celebrations. Our ancestors also believed that if you eat this pat jook, you get sick less often and live a longer life.
I mean, red bean IS a great source of minerals and vitamins, so they weren’t wrong! On this day, it was common for everyone to try to pay back all their debt, reconnect and reconcile with neighbors and family, so they can start the new year on the right foot, hopeful for longer days ahead.
A common banchan (side dish) that accompanied this pat jook in this winter season was Dong chi mi, which you can see in a pretty leaf-shaped bowl in the calendar. Dong chimi is a variety of kimchi with radish, napa cabbage, chili, Korean pear, and other aromatics. It’s different from traditional kimchi in that it has a clear, acidic, slightly sweet brine rather than a spicy one.
Dong Baek Flower (Camellia)
From the fall through the winter and all the way to April, this beautiful flower blooms on the Dong Baek tree that grows across the center of the Korean peninsula.
this flower was also the title of a famous Korean classic novel written in 1936 (Dong Baek Kot 동백꽃)
A Short Cut to Pat Jook (Red Bean Porridge)
Ingredients (1 serving + paste to use later for 6-7 times more)
1 cup red beans
1/2 cup short grain rice
4 cup water
1/2 cup water to add later
2 Tbsp of brown sugar
pinch of salt
Wash 1 cup of red beans and 1/2 cup of white short grain rice
Add the mix of rice and redbeans into a rice cooker, and add 4 cups of water with a pinch of salt.
run the rice cooker (white rice cycle)
When done, mix the rice and red beans together until it becomes a paste-like consistency
Into a blender, add 1 cup of this red bean/rice paste, 1/2 cup of water, and 2 Tbsp of brown sugar
blend until smooth.
microwave 1 minute to make it warm, if you’d like to eat it warm! the porridge is good cold as well.
sprinkle with a pinch of salt to accentuate the sweetness, and enjoy!
portion the red bean paste, freeze it to enjoy the pat jook as needed!
