If you love Korean food, but are intimidated by cooking it at home, I have the perfect plan of action for you.
You want to keep the menu pretty simple and buy a few things already prepared.
1) Buy banchan and dessert: Jenn brought kimchi, seaweed salad, kimchi cucumbers, fried anchovies, and seasoned sesame leaves. For dessert (which we actually snacked on while cooking), we had rice balls filled with sesame seeds. I've never had these sweets and really liked them!
2) For the main course I chose a kimchi and beef stew made in a pressure cooker! More on it below.
3) While the main course was in the pressure cooker, we whipped up simple scallion and shrimp pancakes. Luckily, Cat was more than happy to cook them (I get a bit scared of hot sizzling oil).
4) To drink, have iced tea and rose on hand!
My entire condo smelled like oil, but it was so worth it! The pancakes were crispy on the edges and took only a few minutes to cook. For the dipping sauce, we combined soy sauce and rice wine vinegar with a bit of Korean chili flakes.
Beef & Kimchi Korean Stew With Potatoes & Zucchini: How To Host A Korean Feast At Home
Serves 6
Adapted from Two Sleevers
In my version of the stew, we used fresh mushrooms instead of dried, and added peppers, potatoes and zucchini. If you can't find Korean peppers and zucchini, use regular ones. Cat bought produce from an Asian market and that's how they were labeled there.
Ingredients
2 cups kimchi
1 pound stew beef cubes
1 small onion, chopped
8 ounces sliced shitake mushrooms
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons ginger powder (I did not have fresh ginger)
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon Korean chili powder
1 tablespoon gochujang
1/4 teaspoon sugar
2 cups water
4 Korean peppers, sliced (or use 1 green bell pepper)
2 Russet potatoes, peeled, cubed
3 Korean zucchini, cut into large dice
1 cup diced firm tofu
rice to serve
scallions, chopped
Directions
1. Put all the ingredients (other than potatoes, zucchini, tofu, rice, and scallions) into a pressure cooker. Set for 15 minutes.
2. Release the pressure. Add potatoes. Set for 5 more minutes.
3. Release the pressure. Add zucchini. Set for 3 minutes.
4. Release the pressure. Add tofu. Taste and adjust seasoning as necessary.
5. Serve the stew over rice garnished with scallions.
Talk about comfort food!!! The stew wasn't overly spicy, but had so much flavor from the kimchi and the vegetables and the beef. I added a bit of kimchi and kimchi juice to my portion before eating it. The addition of potatoes was so good: who doesn't like meat and potatoes!?
The stew makes about 6 portions and is great for leftovers!
This rose is so refreshing, has a pretty label, and is under $10!
Here's to more cooking adventures with friends!
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