Home-Cooked Korean Meal (with a little help from H-Mart)
Author: Taryn Kim
Photographers: Taryn Kim and Jasmine Li
If you are anything like me, cooking from scratch is a daunting task. Coupled with the intensity of the UChicago quarter, I struggle to commit to the undertaking of finding a recipe, buying groceries, meal prepping, and then cooking. At the same time, the monotony of the dining halls and missing my mom’s home-cooked Korean food draw me to the kitchen on rare free evenings. Luckily, Korean food is made accessible to the cooking beginner or the overloaded student in a few key ways: many of the same ingredients can be reused across multiple recipes, the cooking techniques are relatively basic, and, most relievingly, some of the work can be supplemented by pre-made packets.
H-Mart Ingredients
Coming from Los Angeles, home to the largest Koreatown in the United States, I find the selection of Korean food and supermarkets to be lacking in Chicago, particularly close to campus. That being said, we are fortunate to have access to H-Mart in Downtown, which offers a plethora of Korean ingredients and pre-made options. Over the years, my friends, family, and I have tested several different Korean dishes made from H-Mart ingredients. For the purposes of this meal, I offer you three: one main dish, one side dish, and one dessert.
For the main dish, I chose doenjang jjigae, one of my personal favorite Korean dishes. Doenjang jjigae is a soybean paste stew made with doenjang (the soybean paste) and an assortment of vegetables (and, if you want, meat or seafood). One of the most popular home-cooked meals, it is pretty accessible to make from scratch, but H-Mart can save you the trouble (and cost!) via pre-made packets that range in spice level, contents, and price. I like to find a more basic packet, which contains doenjang, water, and an assortment of vegetables, and then add from there. The beauty of doenjang jjigae is that it can be entirely modified to your taste; it can be made milder or spicier, thinner or thicker, and with whatever selection of add-ons you want. I personally choose to add tofu, potatoes, zucchini, green onions, and onions to mine, as well as some added doenjang for taste.
Recipe: Doenjang Jjigae
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Serving Size: 2
Ingredients
Doenjang jjigae packet
Doenjang (optional)
Water
½ a large zucchini
½ box of tofu
½ potato
½ yellow or white onion
3 green onions
Rice
Instructions
Cut the zucchinis into half-moons, cube the tofu and potatoes, and dice the onions and green onions.
Put one teaspoon of doenjang and ¾ cup of water into a pot and bring to a boil over medium heat.
Add in the potatoes and cook for a few minutes. Then add the zucchinis and wait until they start to become translucent.
Add in the doenjang jjigae packet. Add in the onions and green onions and cook until the vegetables are soft and some of the liquid has boiled off. Occasionally stir.
Once all the vegetables are cooked, test for taste. Add more water to make the soup thinner and more doenjang and vegetables to make the soup thicker. Doenjang and water can make the soup less spicy (but saltier) and vegetables can help make the soup milder. Any other vegetables, meat, or seafood can be added based on preference. Chili flakes are an optional add-in for more spice.
Add tofu last and cook for a couple minutes before serving. Leftovers can be stored in a glass container in the fridge and heated in a pan with a little water.
Heat instant rice, or rice of your choice, and serve with soup.
For the side, I chose to make jeon, a savory Korean pancake. Like doenjang jjigae, anything can be put in jeon based on your personal preferences. It is truly the best thing to make if you are sick of stir-fry but need to quickly rid yourself of expired foods. H-Mart comes to the rescue again with a prepared pancake mix to which you simply need to add water and your desired vegetables, meat, or seafood. If you are making jeon alongside doenjang jjigae, as I did, many of the same ingredients can be reused.
Doenjang Jjigae
Recipe: Jeon
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 5 minutes
Serving Size: 2 (or as many as you want)
Ingredients
Korean pancake mix (1 cup)
Water (1 cup)
½ zucchini
½ large carrot
2 green onions
Any other vegetables, meats, or seafood of your choice
Soy sauce
Vinegar
Olive oil
Instructions
Julienne the zucchini and carrots and dice the green onions.
Mix Korean pancake mix and water (1 cup each or as much as desired, with a 1:1 ratio). Whisk until smooth.
Toss in the veggies/meats/seafood in the mixed pancake batter. The entire batter should be filled with the veggies/meats/seafood (more than you might think) so that the vegetables are barely coated in the batter.
Heat up a nonstick pan with a generous amount of oil and pan fry a ladle-full mixture at a time. The pancake should be a golden brown color on both sides.
Make a simple dipping sauce by mixing soy sauce with a splash of vinegar.
Jeon, a savory Korean pancake
Finally, for the dessert, I chose to make garaetteok, which is essentially the rice cake used in tteokbokki, pan-fried and dipped or drizzled with honey. This is the easiest of the three parts of the meal to put together and literally takes a few minutes to prepare. I cook this up for breakfast, an after-class snack, dessert, or to satisfy a midnight craving.
Recipe: Garaetteok
Prep Time: 0 minutes
Cook Time: 5 minutes
Serving Size: 2 (or as many as you want)
Ingredients
Tteok
Honey
Olive oil
Instructions
Heat up a nonstick pan with a generous amount of oil.
Pan fry as many tteok pieces as desired.
Occasionally turn over the tteok until all sides start to become crispy. The surface of each tteok piece will look bubbly and slightly brown.
Serve with honey, either on the side or drizzled on top!
Garaetteok
If you are craving a home-cooked Korean meal on a budget of time or money, H-Mart is your friend. Even with no prior experience, these Korean dishes can be accessible to the most beginner cooks with just a little bit of practice. And, luckily, they can be modified to fit your needs, cravings, and fridge contents. Make the jjigae, jeon, or garaetteok that’s right for you!