Yukgaejang (육개장) / Spicy Beef and Leek Soup.

Yukgaejang is one of  most popular  Korean soup. It looks very spicy with bright red colour  but it is not too spicy as Korean chilliies are milder than most of any other chillies. I make yukgaejang often, specially the weather is gloomy and cold, rainy, miserable, we, our family emjoy this soup.

 Even I made vegetarian version of this soup for my cookery class, I am happy to say it was great.

   Put 300g of brisket beef  in a large pan with 1 onion, 2 stems of celery, 1/2 mooli, 5 pepper corns, 1 bay leaf, 3 garlic clovers , 2 lt of water and boil first, then reduced heat simmer for 40 minutes until meat is tender, take out the meat, leave it  to cool down . Take out all the vegetables, pepper corns and discard them , except mooli, skim the fat from the pan and leave beef stock to cool.

Shred cooked brisket beef like match sticks ,10cm long. Cut mooli, leek and spring onion (1bunch)  as same size as  meat, set aside.

 Soak dried fern shoot( Gosari) in the warm water for 1 hour, wash few times and boil until soft but has bite to it, 

Boiled the stock and put leek, fern shoots,, crushed garlic(2tsp) and boil  first simmer 30 minutes, add  beef , mooli, spring onion, boil for 3 minutes. Season with light soy sauce.

 Finally make chilli oil :   Put 1 tbsp, chilli flakes, 2 tsp sesame oil and boil for a minutes ( be careful not to burn) and pour into the soup, boil for a minute. Befor serve with rice add bean sprout to the hot soup.  Yumm!!.

If you are a vegetarian, use very good home made vegetable stock instead of beef stock and add more vegetables like shitake mushrooms, or any veggies you like.

It is equally delicious with toasted French bread or  brown bread, as a main meal ,

adding boiled barley in the soup that gives you more body. or add  cooked noodle.   

Dressed Crab,

The other day I bought a live Devon crab. I wanted to try and recreate a dressed crab dish that I had had in London restrauants. The crabcost £5.00. It is expensive but for a starter on a special occasion it's not too bad.  I am happy to say that you can make dressed crab for 2 people with one crab. I made stock with the shell.

In a big pan, put 1 onion, 4-5 peppercorns, 2-3 garlic covers,1/4 of dry chilli, 2 tsp salt, boil the cleaned and washed crab for 10-15  mins. Leave to cool. When the crab is cool enough to handle, carefully open it up, take out the white crab meat  put in a bowl, but  be careful not to include any shell, even tiny pieces. Place the white meat in the fridge .

In a separate bowl, collect the brown meat, add 1 tsp English mustard, mix well, and season with salt and pepper. Place in the fridge.

Onto a serving dish, push the white meat into a ring food mould and then carefully add the brown meat on the top. Put rocket salad on the side with a lemon wedge, Serve with brown bread.

It's delicious, do try!!!. Oh,  I put razor clams (thinly sliced and marinated in lemon juice and olive oil) on the side (only 1 tsp), it  gives another texture.

 Stock: put back all the shells in the pot add 1 fennel bulb, 3 garlic cloves and boil for 30 minutes.  

Mixed vegetables and rice in the stone bowl/ 돌솥 비빕밥

1. Bibimbab, one of the most versatile dishes in Korean cuisine, can be  vegetarian or meat dish . You may use any seasonal vegetables. bean sprout, carrot, courgette etc.  Cook your chosen vegetables and season with salt and pepper. Place vegetables/meat on top of the rice, add a raw egg yolk (when you mix with hot rice the egg will cook) and serve with sauce/ chilli paste (gochujang) cooked with sesame oil and garlic.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         
2. Dolssot ( stone bowl) creates a rice crust in the bottom by cooking a little oil and rice on the direct heat. Cook on the hob for 5 minutes . This makes a  different texture of rice. Crust  in the bottom, soft on the top.                                                                          3. Bibimbab in a stone bowl looks very attractive but it is costly. I bought one to use in my cookery  class, unfortunately it was expensive (£17.00). However, you could use a brown Korean earth ware stew bowl, or even the Spanish  tapas dish, for cost of about £5.00.  Most such bowls can be used  to cook directly on the hob.