Aloha from Korea: Foodie's Guide

Aloha, foodies! 🌺 As a resident of the islands where summer never ends, watermelon is naturally my best friend. But have you ever looked at that thick, white rind and felt bad about throwing it away? In Korea, we have a "zero-waste" tradition of turning watermelon rinds into a crunchy, refreshing side dish called Su-bak Namul . If you like green papaya salad (Som Tum) or pickled cucumbers, you are going to fall in love with this unique Korean home recipe ! It has the crunchiness of a radish and the refreshing moisture of a cucumber, all dressed in my "Magic Sauce." Let’s save the planet and satisfy our taste buds at the same time! 🛒 What You Need The Base: Watermelon Rind: About 1/4 of a large watermelon (the white part only). Salt: 1/2 Tbsp (for pickling). The "Magic Sauce" (Korean Spicy & Sweet Dressing): Gochujang (Korean Red Chili Paste): 2 Tbsp Sugar: 1 Tbsp Shoyu (Soy Sauce): 1 tsp Minced Garlic: 1 tsp Toasted Sesame Seeds: A gen...

Aloha! 🌺 It was rainy today here in Hawaii, but nobody really cares enough to carry an umbrella. That's the island lifestyle I like a lot. Bare face, bare feet... If you live in Hawaii, you will really learn about the freedom that Mother Nature gives to us. Speaking of nature, I'd like to share a super fresh, nature-inspired pizza recipe with you today! Since I'm Korean, I usually make things a bit spicy. But today, I'll talk about a super soft, creamy ingredient. Yes, it's Avocado !!! 🥑 I love its bright green color and creamy, nutty taste. I honestly like it a hundred times better than almond butter or peanut butter. The color scheme of this pizza alone is absolutely mouth-watering! I believe everybody has their own go-to pizza dough recipe, or you can simply use a store bought dough. So I'll focus on the toppings today. (If you need my special pizza dough recipe too, please leave a comment! I'll write another post just for you.) 🛒 What You Nee...

Anchovy is one of the most useful ingredients for Korean food. We use dried anchovy stock for most of the soup and jjigae. We make sweet dried anchovy fry, myul chi bok um(멸치볶음) and most importantly, we use fermented ancovy juice for making Kimchi. When I first opened a canned Italian anchovy, I was super excited :) I expected some smelly fishy fermented anchovy but it wasn't! Italian Anchovy has so much flavor and can be loved from everybody. Now I'm recommending this to my Korean friends :)    Ok, what can you guess if I, a Korean lady make anchovy pasta? Yes!!! It's SPICY :D Ready to burn your mouth? Let's start!! <<Ingredient for 2>> anchovy - 1can pasta(spaghetti or linguine) - for 2 people garlic-6 cloves onion - 1/3 green onion - 2  dried Thai red pepper - 2 piece(if you are Korean, you need 1~2 more) olive oil NO SALT!!!!!    This is the anchovy in olive oil I've used.  ...

Hi! Today, the weather is so beautiful in Hawaii. As much as I love the nature, I love healthy food, local ingredients, organic stuffs. For our daily required protein, the best ingredients are low fat chicken, fish and tofu. I love fish and tofu, but cooking fish is very unpleasant. If I fry them, I have to deal with the fish odor for several days. I can't use my huge oven too.  For cooking one piece of fish...it's waste of energy. So I prefer foil steaming. If you cook your fish this way, you don't need to worry about odor and smelly pan. Let's start! <Ingredients> frozen salmon from Costco -1 piece (thawed) salt, pepper, dried herb bay leaf-2 white wine or sake-2Tb olive oil-1Tb 1ts of soy sauce and sesame and green onion -optional   Put the foil on the pan. Rub olive oil on the salmon. Sprinkle salt, pepper, herbs. Add bay leaf and white wine. Fold the foil but give some air spa...

Aloha! 🌺 It’s Jihye in Seoul. Today, I’m thrilled to share a recipe for a dish that holds a very special place in Korean food culture: Korean Fried Chicken . KFC? Please go home! (No offense, but when it comes to fried chicken, Korea is on a whole other level.) From spicy to soy-garlic, oven-baked to green onion-topped, we have an endless variety. But today, I’m introducing one of the absolute absolute best: Dakgangjeong (닭강정) . What is Dakgangjeong? Dakgangjeong is a bite-sized, boneless fried chicken that is double-fried for maximum crunch and tossed in a sticky, sweet, and spicy glaze. It's usually topped with crushed nuts or sesame seeds, and I love adding chewy Korean rice cakes ( Tteok ) to the mix for a fun texture! 🛒 Ingredients For the Chicken: 2 pieces of Chicken Breast (Pro tip: Chicken thighs taste much better for this!) Marinade: 2 Tbsp Sake, 1 Tbsp Soy Sauce, 1/2 Tbsp Ginger Powder, a pinch of black pepper Batter: 1/2 cup (or more)...