Gungjung-tteokbokki is a dish made of white rice cakes, beef and a variety of dried and raw vegetables stir-fried with soy sauce for seasoning. Tteokbokki was not spicy and only made with soy sauce until the 18th century. Now, however, it is cooked with a spicy red chili paste, which has been seen in recipes since the 1950s. This is a recipe for a traditional style. Ingredients ● 300g white ste...

MUMBAI ― Cooking Korean food for foreign palates in foreign lands requires much creativeness and resourcefulness. Chef Bae Han-chul, formerly with the InterContinental Hotel in Seoul and currently a professor at Gangdong University, who served a five-course hansik meal for 200 people at a Korean food promotion gala event in Mumbai last week had to prepare the menu in Seoul, exchange numerous ema...

It’s a bitter world out there ― bitter as in a growing tide of cocktail bitters, digestifs and aperitifs. The taste imparted by bitter herbs, roots and tree bark isn’t for everyone. But I like the flavor, especially in pre- and after-dinner drinks, and am intrigued when encountering a new one (or at least, new to me). Two such drinks, one a bitter, the other a vermouth, caught our eye, and pala...

Liege waffles, salted caramel éclairs, madeleines and more Nearly 30 years have passed since the residential area called Seorae Village began to earn itself a reputation as a charming French neighborhood. Drawn to the baguettes spun out by the landmark Paris Croissant, and to the quaint wine shops and pastoral vibe running throughout the hilly roads, weekend visitors flocked to the village, spu...

Hobaktteok is a type of rice cake made with non-glutinous rice powder and steamed pumpkin. Tteok has a long history in Korea. It can be served as a main dish as a substitute for rice, or as a special food for a festive day or birthday. There are various kinds of tteok with different ingredients. Ingredients ● 5 cups non-glutinous rice powder, 1/2 tbsp salt, 2/3 cups sugar ● 2 sweet pumpkins ●...

Taj Mahal hotel group hosts Korean Food Promotion events in Mumbai, New Delhi MUMBAI ― Korean cuisine was introduced to Mumbai, India, for the first time Wednesday night. The Korean Food Promotion, jointly organized by the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel and Corea Image Communication Institute, kicked off with a gala dinner at the historic five-star hotel. Korea Consul General Lee Seo-hang, publisher a...

The first Asian Master of Wine wondered why only Western ingredients were used to describe wines and decided to try using those from Asia. “The significance of Asian cuisine is a pretty major force all over the world. You see Chinese restaurants, Korean restaurants and Japanese restaurants everywhere. So the ingredients we use for cooking are actually universal. But in the world of wine they wer...

The white grape Grechetto has a long history in Umbria in central Italy. It’s an essential part of the blend for the region’s best-known white, Orvieto. But winemakers in Todi, a medieval hill town near Perugia, use the native grape on its own to make Grechetto di Todi. One of the best is made by the Roccafiore estate. Fiorfiore, as it‘s called, is pale gold with a scent of tropical fruit and flo...

Daehajjim is a dish of large prawns steamed with seasoning. It has a light and clean taste. Daeha are large prawns that can be up to 25 cm long. Prawns are considered to be a healthy food that strengthens the kidney and provides vitality. Prawns contain a fair amount of good quality protein, calcium, phosphorus, iodine and iron. Ingredients 4 large shrimps, 5 cups water, 1 tbsp refined rice win...

Crafted classic or done up like haute couture, the sweet stands the test of time Songpyeon, half moon-shaped rice cakes steamed over a fragrant bed of pine needles, are synonymous with Chuseok. Celebrated on Sept. 12 this year, the traditional harvest festival culminates with the ancestral rites, the centerpiece of which is the ceremonial table. Come Chuseok morning and tables will be groaning...

Denny’s -- the US-based all-night casual dining chain that makes a sport of topping itself in extreme foods -- is at it again with the launch of a grilled cheese sandwich stuffed with macaroni and cheese and a beef patty blanketed in Frisco sauce. Their Mac ‘n Cheese Big Daddy Patty Melt is part of the diner’s ‘Let’s Get Cheesy’ menu which launched this week across the chain‘s US locations and i...

Yukwonjeon is a dish of ground beef or pork and tofu, shaped into patties then pan-fried. There are two thoughts on how the dish got its name. One is that the name came from the round shape of meat, and the other is from the shape of the patties which is similar to that of an old brass coin. Ingredients ● 200g beef (top round), 50g (1/6 cake) tofu ● seasoning sauce: 1/3 tsp soy sauce, 1/4 tsp ...

Two eateries set up shop in historic Tongui-dong buildings Two eateries ― Gastro Tong and Euro Gourmet ― have set up shop on a little tuft of historic turf down in Seoul’s Tongui-dong. Property owner Cho Kyu-yuen, who converted another space into an atelier called Creer, revealed that her clutch of buildings date back to the Japanese colonial period. “Gastro Tong and the Creer atelier were onc...

I’m always on the lookout for something other than Chardonnay or even Sauvignon Blanc for a warm weather white. Recently I tasted the 2010 “Maria Andrea” from Bodega Eduardo Pena in Galicia. Brought in by the excellent local importer Antalva Imports in Los Angeles, Maria Andrea is an unusual blend ― 40 percent Trexiadura (watch for that one on your next wine test) with the remainder equal parts A...

Beoseot-jeongol is a hotpot made of different types of mushrooms and vegetables. This dish is clear, light in taste and has a wonderful aroma of mushrooms. It is a stew for the autumn season when the cold wind starts to blow. In olden days, people believed that mushrooms have a medicinal effect and used them in fried or grilled dishes. Ingredients ● 5 oyster mushrooms ● 3 fresh pine mushrooms ...