And for that matter, god bless pojangmachas and god bless Koreans for having the waffle craze, these days.
Back when I was doing the 7 am commute to privates around Seoul, I’ d always make time to stop at 김밥천국 in Gangnam Station. And my daily breakfast would almost always be the same. Chamchi-jjigae. Good, old, reliable kimchi stew mixed with onions and tuna. My personal Korean version of Mac and Cheese. Or wait, maybe that’s ramen. But ramen still leaves me hungry.
Eating 뿌셔뿌셔 dried ramen straight of the bag is enough for some to forget how hard it is for Western tongues to find a proper snack in Korea. But eating dry Shin Ramen with its spicy kick and being able to lick all the hot, sticky powder off of your fingers? Well, that’s almost enough to make me forget about real Doritos. At least for a moment. If there was ever such thing as low-cal Shin Ramen, it’d instantly become my 4th meal of my day.
Quick and Dirty Recipe
- Buy bag of Shin Ramen
- Without opening the bag, use your hands to squeeze, crush and break up the ramen inside.
- Once you can feel that the ramen has been broken into little bits, open the bag (be careful to open one side, while preserving the bag like a pocket) and take out the seasoning packs.
- Open and pour the contents into the bag with broken-up ramen still inside.
- Seal the bag opening with your fingers and shake vigorously for 1 minute.
- Open bag and enjoy!
- For best results, eat while sitting in patio furniture in front of Family Mart, with friends and beer.
Although Samgyetang first comes to mind when thinking of chicken soup in Korea, there is simply not enough said about Dakgaejang, which amounts to chunks (or flakes. It depends on the place) of chicken, mixed with sprouts and vegetables in a spicy broth. Even better once you’ve mixed in your rice. Not as easy to find as the other more popular chicken soup, but can often be found on the menus at places that have a featured chicken dish, such as dakgalbi.
Budae-jjigae is something that every expat loves (or should love). Ham, spam, bacon, onions, and ramen, boiled in front of you, make an experience to remember. Budaejjigae spawned from the ashes of the Korean War, where Koreans used leftovers and GI rations to create meals. And this delicious concoction decided to stick around after the tough times had passed. If you haven’t tried it, run, don’t walk to a place like Nolbu, which is arguably the most popular chain of restaurants that specialize in the dish. Or if you are in the area, visit Budaejjigae Street in Uijeongbu, where it is said to have originated.
Bossam can bring to mind ‘cold cuts’, but its much more than that. It involves warm slices of pork, with heaping helpings of leafy greens for you to wrap the pork (with nice dollop of dwenjang), sliver of garlic and gochu), before exploding into your mouth and leaving you wondering if you’ve ever tried a more memorable combination of flavors before. Don’t leave Korea without having the Bossam experience, at least once.
Boribap is a popular twist on Bibimbap in that it uses barley rice and often tends to surround itself with a lot more banchan, making it a great alternative for vegetarian-leaning stomachs. Boribap restaurants can be found all over the place, but specifically, you can expect to see them near the base of mountains that are in urban areas (such as Namsan, Apsan, etc…) and can also be seen frequently on the menus of the small 식당 that sometimes reside at the top.
Jjimdak is the Marcia Brady to Dakdoritang‘s Jan. Much bigger, much more popular, and much more expensive. The differences are bigger portions of chicken, Chinese-style vermicelli noodles, and more mixed vegetables, making it a feast meant for 2 or more. Jjimdak almost always comes with a spicy kick, so consider yourself forewarned. A really great way to bring some western preference into the meal, is bringing along a loaf of bread for use as dipping, as the dish tends to accumulate a nice gravy.
The Shabu Shabu experience doesn’t cause me to go bonkers until the next time I can have it again, but I can see why people like this a lot. A Mongolian-influenced Japanese meat and veggie fondue that rubbed off on Korea. I also remember having this in Sincheng, a small town in Taiwan, just east of Taroko Gorge. Taiwan, like Korea, is another country that Japan left behind a lot of their culture to later be absorbed into their mainstream cuisine (Don’t even get me started on how kickass the Japanese-style onsens are in the hills overlooking Taipei).
Anyways, the Shabu Shabu experience beats the hell out of repeatedly eating bulgogi, which is the point of this series.
In the quest to uncover and promote Korean dishes that are western-friendly and that step fully away from expats’ well-versed mantras of ‘bulgogi juseyo’, ‘galbi juseyo’, ‘samgyupsal juseyo’, and occasionally ‘bibimbap juseyo’, we feel that something needs to be done to break down the comfort barriers preventing the discovery of some really great gems in Korean cuisine.
For example, take Dakdoritang. A much less expensive sister to Jjimdak, you can find 닭도리탕 (pron. ‘dahk-doh-li-tahng’) a lot more abundantly than her Jjim eonni or even her cousin samgyetang. This hot little number carries the right kind of spicy chicken to potato ratio, to make the menu decision math simple for all Korean food newbs or aficionados. And is great for ordering on your own at a random bunshik jib to eating with friends while downing soju at Korean bars.
