One of my favorite things to order at a Korean restaurant is their tofu soup. I miss those LA days where BCD and Tofu-Ya were close by.. man that was delicious. But since I'm here, and I'm probably the only one of all my school friends who is in love with this soup, I decided that I need to recreate this... I looked up a few recipes. They were very similar.. and on that glorious trip to 99 Ranch, I picked up what I needed... until I got to the red pepper part. This was the hard one. I found it... yep.. definitely found it in the spice section.. on the lowest part of the display.... but um... why wasn't there a smaller bag? ... I think it was around 2 pounds of dried red peppers.. Really? Do people inhale this? WHY WAS THE PACKAGE SO LARGE?! The recipe only called for 3 tbsp! Ah..I looked for substitutes... there weren't any. It was either buy a 2 pound bag of hot peppers powder for around 6 bucks... or... try to be creative. Well.. I tried to be creative...
I went home too giddy from my buys. I got started quickly with the recipe... dried anchovies... check! (the packaging told me to wash and remove intestines... no thank you on the dissection part.. handling them was terrifying enough) water... kelp... mushrooms.. check X 3 ! I boiled that for like 30 minutes trying not to gross myself out by looking at all the mangled fish parts in my soup.... strained the soup, and started flavoring the broth.. with cayenne pepper... sriracha... red pepper flakes? anything spicy that I had.. I threw it in... the results? Tasted like my instant ramen soup... no go. Was NOT Korean tofu soup...
So today, I walked down to the Korean market.. and stared at the wall of hot pepper powders (not to be confused with the paste.. which I might try one day).... there was a whole display devoted to this spice... and they ranged in prices. I'm sure the more expensive ones are tastier... but eh. I'm a beginner... I'll go with the cheapest package I could find.... and that happened to be a 1 pound bag that cost $4.49.. and no I did not want a bag with that for an extra 10 cents... I happily walked a half of a mile back home clutching my one pound bag of red pepper powder...awesome.
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| Cheapest powder they had - coarser than I'd like, but did the job.... Couldn't read most of the packagings at the store.. didn't know if this one was really spicy or not.. |
I also made Kimchee - Before I left to go on my adventure to the Korean market, I sliced up a bunch of napa cabbage, washed and dried it, and then sprinkled a generous amount of salt over it... I love kimchee... every time I go to a Korean restaurant, I just sit and wait for the kimchee to come out.... it's so spicy.. and so good... I don't know what it is.. I mean, I feel like I get ulcers from eating it..... but yes.. totally worth it. I used to buy a jar of kimchee every few months when it's on sale at Mollie Stone's. I think the brand is King's Kimchee. It's pretty good, and just convenient to make friend rice with but that jar doesn't last long... When I was at 99 ranch, I stared at the kimchee section... hm... pricey! I didn't think that kimchee would cost that much.. seeing as how napa cabbages there were so cheap ($0.49 /lb).. well I couldn't get myself to buy a huge tub of it... so I went over a got the smallest napa cabbage they had... in hopes that I'd make my own. So there was the process... Kimchee had the same pepper powder as the soon tofu.. PERFECT. I ended up leaving out a bunch of stuff like shrimp, green onions, daikon.. just because the typical kimchee I had was just... cabbage... and who knew this wasn't a vegetarian side dish?? So many recipes had fish sauce...I wonder if the ones they serve at restaurants are vegetarian...Anyway the controversy is still there... to ferment or not to ferment... I enjoyed eating it when it wasn't fermented... it's fermenting right now.. so we'll see how I feel in a day.
So back to tofu soup land... I got out all the ingredients again... made the anchovies broth, and strained it.. then I added the pepper powder.... I probably added too much.. but it was SO good.. added the rest of the ingredients, decided I was going to be more proper with my tofu this time and scoop it out in a large layer with a spoon so it looks more rustic (I didn't buy the soon du bu tubes people talked about... I'm sure it's at the Korean market, but I didn't feel like spending more on tofu, the prices at that market were around 40% more than at 99 Ranch :( so I bought the soft tofu in the white plastic trays that are available at most grocery stores.. it worked well) I also added a bit of the kimchee I was making... I felt like it needed veggies (and I don't like zucchini in my tofu soup).... but yea there it was.. simmering on my stovetop... Korean Tofu Soup... it looked, tasted, and smelled just like the ones at the restaurants. Instantly in Love... and that's a wrap. I did it. I recreated my favorite Korean dish.... I don't know if my techniques were authentic, and I'm sorry if they're not, but I'm happy with the results... it won't stop me from going to get it at the restaurant though.... maybe one day I will buy one of those heavy black serving bowls they always use.... and truly make it like the restaurants do... those definitely kept things hot from start to finish!
Kimchee Recipe : http://www.chow.com/recipes/29505-basic-napa-cabbage-kimchi-kimchee
Korean Tofu Soup ( Sundubu Jigae) : http://www.maangchi.com/recipe/soondubu-jjigae
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| Creativity fail... don't substitue anything for the real Korean Hot Pepper Powder! |
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