My Mother's Day Korean Recipes and Preparations

Getting an early start.  I do as much prior to the event as humanly possible.
 
This is my shopping cart:


 
 
Here is the soybean dish I made last night:
KONGJANG, KONGJORIM
 
1 cup of dry soy beans
½ cup of soy sauce (I used Korean Soy)
1 t. of vegetable oil
2 cloves of minced garlic
½ cup of sugar
½ T roasted sesame seeds
 
Rinse soy beans, drain and place in a pot.
Add 2 cups of water to the pot and soak the beans for 8 hours.
 


 
Boil the beans on the stove over medium high heat for 5 minutes
Watch as it may boil over.  Uncover, turn down the heat to medium and cook another 5 minutes.  Continue watching!
 
Add ½ cup of soy sauce, 1 tsp of vegetable oil, 2 cloves of minced garlic, and ½ cup of sugar.
 
 
 
Boil over medium heat for 30 minutes, covered.  Peak as this is where it can burn!  Burned sugar mixed with soy sauce is something you do not want.
 
 
Uncover the pot and over high heat stir the beans occasionally with a spoon until the beans look shinny and all of the liquid is evaporated.  Okay, I stirred the entire time.
 
Turn off the heat and add 1 T of toasted sesame seed and cool.
 

 
 
Transfer it into a container and keep it in the refrigerator
 
Next up...  Onion pancake. 
 
 

 

Onion pancake AKA Yachaejeon
1/2 cup flour
2/3 cup water
1 t. salt
1 egg
½ cup diced green onions
3 cups Asian chives
½ cup shredded zucchini
vegetable oil
 
 
 
Place the flour, salt, and water in to a big bowl and mix it.  I used a blender.
  
Put chopped vegetables into the flour and water mixture and mix it up.
 
 
 
In a heated pan, put some oil and spread the vegetable pancake batter thinly. Lower the heat down to medium.
 
I chose to make several small (5) pancakes instead of one big one.   
 
    
 
Turn the pancake over with a spatula... or flip!
 
Add more oil if needed, and serve hot with dipping sauce by mixing 1 tbs of soy sauce and ½ tbs of vinegar.
 
*tip: To make it crispier, add oil more generously and use your spatula to lift the edge of your pancake so that vegetable oil can reach the center.  
 
Thanks for the egg flipping lessons.  I’m getting pretty good.

That onion pancake looks good. Hmm. I might want to wrap some duck in it.

Where did my finished pancake go?
 

I ate it, remember? With some duck?

So was it good?

Abso-lutely! Best I've ever tasted.

Mar, nice shopping cart, that was what you were showing us, wasn't it??........Anyway, great job on the menu, nice job on the flipping..... Rising Korean Chef we have here...................."byun-soh-un-dee-yip-nee-ga"
...............pnwc..............Always good to know this in strange city.........

mar52


Getting an early start.  I do as much prior to the event as humanly possible.
 
This is my shopping cart:


 
 
Here is the soybean dish I made last night:
KONGJANG, KONGJORIM

1 cup of dry soy beans
½ cup of soy sauce (I used Korean Soy)
1 t. of vegetable oil
2 cloves of minced garlic
½ cup of sugar
½ T roasted sesame seeds

Rinse soy beans, drain and place in a pot.
Add 2 cups of water to the pot and soak the beans for 8 hours.




Boil the beans on the stove over medium high heat for 5 minutes
Watch as it may boil over.  Uncover, turn down the heat to medium and cook another 5 minutes.  Continue watching!

Add ½ cup of soy sauce, 1 tsp of vegetable oil, 2 cloves of minced garlic, and ½ cup of sugar.

 

Boil over medium heat for 30 minutes, covered.  Peak as this is where it can burn!  Burned sugar mixed with soy sauce is something you do not want.

 
Uncover the pot and over high heat stir the beans occasionally with a spoon until the beans look shinny and all of the liquid is evaporated.  Okay, I stirred the entire time.

Turn off the heat and add 1 T of toasted sesame seed and cool.




Transfer it into a container and keep it in the refrigerator

Next up...  Onion pancake. 
 
 

 

Your shopping cart?? Do you push it everywhere you go?? LOL
Food looks great!

Yep.  Makes walking easier.

Looks like a great start Mar! That pancake looks delicious!

This will be a busy day for you. I can't imagine trying to bring your planned meal together. I hope your mother enjoys it.

Mar, I hope you have a wonderful day with your Mom...........

Just checking in.  I've been chopping, stirring and steaming all morning.
 
Later!

I'm sure it will all be delicious! Can't wait to hear about the results.

Well, was it as wonderful as I expected?

Another Mother's Day come and gone.  I'm beat!
 
Everything went off without a hitch and I don't know if I'll be able to walk tomorrow.  I hurt!
 
I'll work on the pictures tomorrow.  I think.

I knew you'd do it.

Cabbage and soy bean paste soup
 
One medium (?) head of Napa cabbage
2/3 cup Korean soy bean paste
6 dried anchovies, head and guts removed
12 cups of water
1 green Korean chili pepper
12 cloves minced garlic
2 T flour
¼ cup Korean hot pepper paste
One block of soft tofu diced in ½ inch cubes
 
Clean and chop entire head of Napa cabbage.  Put it into boiling water and stir it for about 20 seconds. Boil for a minute with the lid open.  Drain.
 
I did up to this point yesterday and it’s where I quit.
 

 
Put the cabbage into a large pot.
 
Put the anchovies in a mesh ball thing and hang from the side of the pot.  Put the rest of the ingredients except for the hot bean past in a large soup pot with the cabbage.
 

 
Mix it by hand or a wooden spoon.
 

 

 
Add 6 cups of water and bring to a boil for 20 minutes over medium high heat.
 
Remove the fish ball and skim any foam that formed on top of the soup.
 
Lower the heat, add the hot bean paste and tofu cubes and simmer another 10 minutes.
 

 

You refer to hot bean paste at the end. Did you mean the ¼ cup Korean hot pepper paste?

Yes, that is correct.
 
Here's another.
 
I think this was the best dish.
 
SPICY STIR-FRIED PORK    
 
1 ½ pound pork shoulder diced into ½ inch cubes
1/3 cup Korean hot pepper paste
1 sliced medium onion
4 cloves minced garlic
½ tsp minced ginger
3 diced green onions
1 diced Korean green chili pepper
1/3 cup hot pepper paste
1 T Korean hot pepper flakes
2 T natural brown sugar (Like Turbinado)
1 T soy sauce
½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 T sesame oil
2 tsp roasted sesame seeds
 
 
In a large pan, add all of the ingredients except for the sesame seeds.
 

 
 
 
Heat up the pan over high heat.
Mix and stir all ingredients until the pork is cooked thoroughly and the onions are translucent.
 

 
 
Sprinkle with the sesame seeds to serve.
 
 
 
We wrapped this up in lettuce leaves to eat.
 

That looks good.

That pork looks excellent.

Beautiful meal!

It looks like all your hard work turned into a great meal. I hope you and your Mom had a great day...........

Thanks!
 
For appetizers, besides the onion pancakes I made….
 
TOFU WITH SPICY SAUCE 
 
Half package of extra firm tofu
3  T vegetable oil
2 T soy sauce
1 tsp Korean hot pepper flakes
1 tsp honey
1 diced green onion
1 clove minced garlic
2 tsp sesame oil
roasted sesame seeds
 
Slice the tofu down the middle in half and then into bite size pieces (¼ inch thick rectangles). You should hopefully get 10 pieces. Dry off each piece with a paper towel.
 
Heat a pan with the oil. Add the tofu and lower the heat. Cook over low heat about 5-7 minutes without trying to peek underneath.  If you do, the tofu will stick.  I have a spatula that is extremely thin and it was perfect for flipping.
 

 
Turn the tofu over and cook another 5 minutes.
 
Transfer the cooked tofu to a serving plate.
 
The Spicy Sauce which I made a  couple of days ahead:
 
1 clove of minced garlic
1 chopped green onion
1 tsp Korean hot pepper flakes
1 tsp sugar
2 T soy sauce
2 tsp sesame oil
 
Mix up everything and spoon the sauce evenly over the tofu.
 

 
 
 
PANFRIED TOFU IN SOY SAUCE   
 

The other half package of the tofu left over from the above recipe
2 T veggie oil
1 clove minced garlic,
1 T soy sauce,
1 T corn syrup
Black sesame seeds.
 
Do the same pan fry as above.
 
In a separate small non-stick pan, cook the minced garlic, soy sauce, and corn syrup until it becomes a syrupy sauce.  Add the fried tofu.
 
To garnish, sprinkle some roasted sesame seeds just before serving.  I used black for color contrast.
 

 
Looks better facing to the right!  Both of these were blah unless you love tofu but they added to the look of my table.
 
My table is as important to me as the food.
 

 

 

Wow! The table looks fantastic, and those chairs are great.

 But wait!  I've only just begun.  I tend to overdo on Mother's Day.
 
Japchae
 
I did all of the toppings first and then assembled it. 
 

 
1 pound package Starch noodles found in Korean Markets (Dangmyun)
2 stripped slices of thinly sliced ribeye, the type used in cheese steak sandwiches.  Also found in the Korean Market!
1 bunch of spinach, washed good with stems removed and then cut a few times
1 carrot, cut into thin matchstick pieces
1 medium size onion, sliced thin
½ cup dried ****ake mushrooms, soaked until they become soft. Squeeze out and slice. (optional)
1 package of white mushrooms, sliced (optional)
3 cloves of minced garlic
8 diced green onions
1 T soy sauce,
sesame oil
sugar to taste
pepper
sesame seeds for garnish
 
 
 
Boil noodles in boiling water in a big pot for about 4 minutes. When the noodles are soft, remove  them from the water and put in a large bowl.  Cut the noodles several times by using scissors and add 1 T of soy sauce and 1 T of sesame oil. Mix it up and set aside.     
 

 

 
In the boiling water, add a bunch of spinach and stir it gently for 1 minute. Then take it out and rinse it in cold water 3 times. Remove any grit or dead leaves thoroughly while rinsing. Squeeze it gently to get the water out, then cut it into 5 cm pieces.  Add ½ tbs soy sauce and ½ tbs sesame oil and mix it in.  Set aside.
 
Stir fry the carrot strips in a teaspoon of olive oil for a minute. Put it into the large.  In another teaspoon of olive oil sauté the sliced onion.  Stir it until the onion looks translucent.  
 
In another teaspoon of olive oil saute the sliced white mushrooms. Set aside.
 
Do the same with the green onions.   
 
Now do the same with the beef strips along with the ****ake mushrooms. Stir it until it’s cooked well, then add the garlic, ½ tbs soy sauce and ½ tbs sugar. Stir for about 30 seconds and set aside.  Add 2 tbs of soy sauce, 3 tbs of sugar, 2 tbs of sesame oil, and 1 tsp of ground pepper to the large bowl.
 
Put all the vegetables and meat on top of the noodles and mix up everything. 
 

 

 
 
Sprinkle 1 tbs of toasted sesame seeds on the top.
 

 
I adjusted to sesame oil, sugar, soy and black pepper at the end.

You just had to put mushrooms in it.

I always start dinner with a soup.  Then a very small salad.  This is the dressing I made up:
 
Korean Salad Dressing
 
6 tablespoons of soy sauce
8 tablespoons of rice wine vinegar
3 tablespoon of sesame oil
1 tablespoon of Korean red pepper flakes
1 1/2 tablespoon of sugar
sesame seeds to garnish salad
 
Mix everything except for the sesame seeds in a plastic storage container.
 
Garnish salad (I just used thinly sliced red leaf lettuce) with sesame seeds.
 
Although I made a few of the banshan items  (spinach, eggplant, yucky soy beans) and the dipping sauces, I purchased a few more of the banshan items already prepared from the Korean market.  I also bought the meat pre-marinaded.
 

I used to sell these little tabletop stoves in my store. The kids (nieces and nephew) and my brother got a real kick out of cooking at the table.
 

 
 This is how I served as the table was way too crowded.
 

 
See that noodle dish in the middle with the black sauce on top?  It was horrible!
 
Dessert was a tiny, scoop of ice cream, a teaspoon of sweetened red beans both topped with unsweeted coconut cream.
 
Done.  
 
 

We told my mother that everything was chicken and she was happy.
 
The tabletop meats were marinaded short ribs, marinaded thinly sliced ribeye and pork belly slices.
 
Mushrooms are optional.

Spectacular!

Thank you.  I do something like this every year for Mother's Day.  The rest of the year I recuperate.

You should hire a staff.

Mar has always outdone herself when it comes to her Mother's Day dinners.  This year, she prepared the most delicious meal ever and the setting was outstanding.  Great job Mar!

I have nothing to say but WOW. And thank you for posting your recipes!
Ab

This is like a $125 per person event......Iron Chef Mar

Drool, yum, slurp!

PNWCHEF


This is like a $125 per person event......Iron Chef Mar

Iron Chef Mar, indeed!

I will have to try your recipe for the fried tofu with spicy sauce. I've had a similar dish at a Thai restaurant and it's my favorite. 
Your spread looks amazing. Well done!

Very impressive, Mar-and excellent pictures!