Spicy Octopus Over Rice (Nakji Dup Bap)

Sorry for the lack of posts last month! Lots of traveling and procrastinating. But we're back. When we made this dish we were going through a heat wave in LA, but now with the freezing temperatures it's the perfect cozy dish guaranteed to warm you up. Remember our trip to Nakzi Village? It was our inspiration but we made it to go over rice. Instead of rice you can also cook some 'somyun' noodles to go on the side. Either way it's so good.

Ingredients for 3 servings:
- 3-4 octopi(nakji) preferably fresh. Can be found in Korean or other Asian markets.
- 1/2 bag of been sprouts
- 1/2 onion
- 1/2 carrot
- 1 small zucchini
- Green onions
- 1/2 green chili
- 3 bowls of cooked rice
- Crushed seasoned seaweed and toasted sesame seeds for garnish

For the sauce:
- 4 T red chili paste
- 4 T red chili powder (adjust this if you don't like it too spicy)
- 1 1/2 T soy sauce
- 2 1/2 T rice wine
- 2 1/2 T Korean cooking syrup (you can substitute with agave)
- 1 T minced garlic
- 1/2 T plum extract
- 1 T sugar
- 1 1/2 T sesame oil
- 1 T toasted sesame seeds

Part 1. Prepping the octopus

1. Cut the heads off of the octopi. Make sure you don't cut through the head as the ink will go everywhere.

2. Put the legs in a strainer with a spoon of flour and a spoon of course salt. Rub it in well with your hands.

3. Rinse well in running water.

3. Dip the octopus into boiling water for 3 seconds each.

4. Slice into bite size pieces.

5. Mix all the sauce ingredients together. Add to the octopus.

6. Mix well and set aside while you prep the other stuff.

7. Blanche the bean sprouts in boiling water for about 1- 2 minutes.

8. Rinse and drain. Season with a little bit of sesame oil and salt.

9. Slice the rest of the veggies. You can use any kind of vegetable you like. Cabbage and bell peppers are also good options.

10. Put some oil in a heavy bottomed pan heated to medium. Add onions, carrots and zucchini. cook until softened.

11. Then add the green onions and green pepper. Cook for 1-2 minutes.

12. Add the sauce and octopus.

13. Stir around and cook for another couple minutes until the octopus is just cooked through. You don't want to over cook the octopus as it will get rubbery.

14. Put the rice into bowls and top it with some bean sprouts and octopus. Garnish with seaweed and sesame seeds.

Myulchi Rice Balls

So if you have a stash of the myulchi in the fridge it will take you less than five minutes to make these rice balls.

Ingredients:
- 1 bowl of rice, room temperature
- 1/3 cup of myulchi
- 1 package of roasted sesame seaweed

1. In a larger bowl, mix up the rice and myulchi.

2. Make little balls out of the rice mixture using your hands. You may have to press firmly to make it stay in shape.

3. Crush the seaweed and put in a plate. Roll the balls around in the seaweed until they are sufficiently covered. Again, you may have to press a bit firmly to make the seaweed stick.

And enjoy! Great way to eat leftovers.

Kimchi Fried Rice (Kimchi Bokkumbap)

This is one of our favorite ways to use old kimchi that's been sitting in the fridge for a while. It's so easy and comforting.

The key is to use kimchi that is a little old because it is more tangy and tastes better when fried. Also important is using rice that is a day old because it has less moisture and gets crispy at the bottom of the pan. If you don't have rice that's a day old, just make rice as usual but use a little less water and stick it in the freezer for 5 minutes to cool.


Also Our favorite brand of Kimchi is "Chongga". We've tried all kinds of brands but this one is by far the best.  The one on the right is regular fresh kimchi which needs at least 10 days to be ready for Kimchi Fried Rice. The one on the left is old fermented Kimchi so it's already ready. This is about $7.99 at a Korean Market.

Ingredients for 4 servings:
4 cups old kimchi, cut into bite size pieces
4 bowls of one day old rice (cold)
2 T cooking oil
1 T butter
1 T red pepper paste (gochujang, sold in Korean markets) - if you don't have it, you can skip it.
1 T sesame oil
Pepper to taste

Garnish:
4 eggs
Sesame seasoned seaweed, crushed (sold in the Asian section of most supermarkets)
Chopped green onions

1.Heat a frying pan on medium and add cooking oil. Then add the kimchi and fry for a few minutes until it is heated through.

2. Add butter and red pepper paste

3. Add the rice. Use a spatula to break it up and mix it around so all the rice is evenly coated in the kimchi and paste.

4. Add sesame oil.

5. Spread the rice evenly on the pan and let it sit for a couple minutes so the bottom turns a little crispy and brown.

6. While the rice is browning, fry up the eggs in a separate pan. We like sunny side up because it looks the nicest. But remember to cover the pan with a lid so the top side cooks and is not too runny.

7. Mix the rice again using the spatula and then put in serving bowls. Top each bowl with a fried egg, crushed seaweed, and a sprinkling of the green onion.

*Variations with more protein: Fry some chopped ham in the pan before adding the kimchi. Or add canned tuna(drained) with the kimchi.

Basic White Rice

This is going to be a boring yet essential post as rice is the staple of a Korean meal and it's quite easy to ruin a good meal by botching up the rice.

1. Choosing the rice. Get short grain or sushi rice. Small bags can be bought in any grocery store but we like to go to Asian markets and get the 20 pound and up bags. They are usually stacked at the entrance ways. Kind of like dog food bags as one friend put it.

2. You can use an electric rice cooker and if you don't have one, a regular pot with lid is fine too.

3. Follow cooking instructions on bag of rice. If you don't have any measuring cups handy you can use this trick that a lot of Korean moms use. Put a big handful of rice per serving in the pot, and for the water  just put in enough to not quite cover the tops of your fingers.

4. When the rice is done, use a spatula to fluff it. Then serve.

And there you have it. The most basic staple Korean food. Add a fried egg, some soy sauce and sesame oil and you have a quick and easy meal or midnight snack.