Korean Food Recipes

Pine nut porridge (잣죽) is a high-protein porridge that Koreans eat when they are sick or feel under the weather. The benefits of pine nuts are well known. They are believed to help strengthen immune system and digestion. Pine nut porridge doesn’t require many ingredients and it can be a good hot breakfast too.

Ingredients
Rice 1/2 cup
Pine Nuts 1/3 cup
Water 2.5 cups
Salt very little

How to prepare
1. Soak 1/2 cup of rice in 2 cups of water for 3 hours
2. Blend the rice and water in a blender
3. Blend the pine nuts with 1/2 cup of water in a blender
4. Cook the blended rice in a pot and stir until it slightly thickened.
5. Add the pine nuts to the pot and stir for 5-10 minutes.
6. Add salt and serve in a bowl when it is hot.

My dad likes a quail egg on his pine nut porridge. Crack a quail egg and put it in the top of the soup. It will get cooked by the heat of the porridge.

Japchae (잡채) is a stir-fried noodle dish mixed with slightly cooked vegetables. The noodle is made with yam starch and it looks similar to vermicelli.  It is one of most served party foods. You can serve it as a side dish or a main dish. Also you can make Japchae rice by simply putting Japchat on the top of rice.

8 oz Dangmyeon (yam starch noodles)
thinly sliced mushrooms
1/2 thinly sliced carrot
1/2 thinly sliced onion
1/2 thinly sliced bell pepper
1/2 thinly sliced sesame leaves
soy sauce 3T
minced garlic 1T
sugar 1T
sesame oil 1/2T
pepper little bit
salt little bit

1. Soak Dangmyeon (noodles) in cold water for 1 hour until the noodles get softened. Drain water.
2. Stir fry sliced mushrooms and other vegetables separately except sesame leaf.
3. Stir fry the noodles and all cooked vegetables quickly.
4. Put them in a big bowl and add sesame leaves.
5. Add soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic, sugar and pepper and mix them well. If it is too blend, add salt.

Sesame Leaf Kimchi (kenip kimchi, 깻잎 김치) is a good side dish in summer. If you like fresh flavor of sesame leaves, you definitely should try this.
Fresh sesame leaves
Minced garlic 1T
thinly sliced Korean green pepper 1T
Soy sauce 1T
Chili powder 1T
Anchovy sauce 4T (You can get a bottle of anchovy sauce from any Korean grocery store)
Sesame oil1t
Sugar 1t

1. Wash sesame leaves and drain water
2. Mix all the ingredients in a bowl and make a sauce
3. Spread the sauce on a sesame leave
4. Place one leave by one and spread the sauce between.
5. Put them in a container and keep it in the refrigerator for a couple of hours.
7. Serve them with rice.

Bean paste soup is very commonly served soup in Korean dining. Bean paste has protein and spinach has lots of vitamins. So it represents healthy diet of Korean food.
Soup Base Anchovies 5
Korean Bean Paste (Dwanjang) 2 T
Minced Garlic 1t
Spinach

1. Boil 3 cups of water and add anchovy in a pot for 10 minutes and make anchovy soup
2. Take anchovies out of the pot.
3. Add 2 T of Bean Paste in to the soup and boil it for 5 minutes.
4. Add minced garlic and spinach to the soup and boil it for another 3 minutes.