Korean Seafood Pancake

 ...and Phil gave a ring to his woman and he said unto her, "domesticate cho-self!"

I kidd I kidd. This year, for various and obvious reasons, we will need to scrimp and save and be more financially fit than ever. It's a good time to finally learn to cook some of the things we've always planned to cook. Starting with a Korean themed dinner with friends. I'm still new to the whole photographing while I cook so some steps and ingredients are not pictured but I'll get it right one day.

 The first thing on the menu was Japchae, silver noodles stir fried with vegetables and beef.

(~$2) dangmyun - Korean starch noodles. This bag makes alot. It can feed 8-12 people.

 ($4.29) Shitake mushrooms. You don't need the whole bag. I made way too much obviously. You need to presoak the shitake mushrooms a few hours before you plan to cook. I bought pre-sliced to make things easier on myself and the price was the same as the whole mushrooms.

 Ta-da! wow that was fast. See, I told you I forgot to take pictures of ingredients and steps in between. This is not my exact dish but mine looked like that. Here's the recipe.

 Japchae recipe

This girl is very good with a knife. Had I bothered to watch her instructional video before cooking, I would have saved myself alot of trouble. For the beef, we bought pre-marinated beef at the Korean market at about $5-6 per pound. This makes things alot easier. In the hustle of it all, I forgot to add the beef to the noodles but it still turned out well and the beef was used later for something else. At the time I complained the japchae is too much hassle to make but after watching maangchi's video above, she makes it alot easier and now I know how to do it more efficiently.

Item #2 is Pajeon - Korean pancake with shrimps

 ($2.49) Pancake mix that feeds probably 12 people even though we didn't use it all.

You mix the above flour with water, add chopped shrimps and scallions and pan fry. Phil has become an expert at frying and flipping by now. 

His masterpiece. So the key to the Korean pancake is in the dipping sauce (recipe listed below). Very easy to make but its extremely important in the success of your dish.

Korean pancake dipping sauce
4 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons vinegar
2 teaspoons red pepper powder
1 tablespoon of finely chopped green onion
1/2 tablespoon of minced garlic
2 teaspoons sesame seeds
2 teaspoons sesame oil
1 teaspoon sugar

Our version of Namu's Korean Tacos

No, these aren't the ones we made. We loved the Korean tacos from the SF Food Festival and thought they were so easy to make that we gave it a try at home. The orange sauce is a mystery so I skipped that. Basically we cooked Japanese rice and mixed it with the rice vinegar just like you would in sushi or spam musubi. On a piece of nori seaweed, we put some rice, pre-marinated beef from what was intended for the japchae, and diced tomatoes. Even without the orange sauce, it makes for a tasty treat.

OVERALL IMPRESSIONS/DISCLAIMER

I thought this meal was pretty simple and successful. The total cost of everything for about 8 people was $70 with enough leftover food for 2-3 more people for another meal. There were also extra sauces we could use for a long while. Sure, not everything tasted authentic and exactly how it should have. Of course I can't open a restaurant with these skills, but my motto with cooking is simple and delicious and low maintenance.

Please give me feedback on these home cooking entries. Do you like them? Are they useful? How can I improve upon them? Or should I just never show the world my cooking again?

Ingredients purchased at Kukje Korean Super Market in Daly City