This is why my poor dog is always hungry. These days, I have been cooking a lot more at home. It is comforting and it really helps to bring the household together. My roommate, Lauren, is a vegetarian so my dishes have been geared towards that. Now cooking everyday means that I should set up my kitchen in a way that is fast and efficient. One weapon in my arsenal is my pressure cooker. I use it almost everyday and I find that it can cook food quickly and easily. I mean you can make rice in 5 minutes if you use the pressure cooker instead of the traditional rice cooker. Plus the rice has a distinct pop- it’s not mushy like when you make it the other way.

Menazala is a stewed eggplant dish. I like to flavor it with smoked paprika. I got this amazing stuff from Zen Kimchi. So here’s the recipe.

Ingredients
3 japanese eggplant
1 white onion (medium sized)
1 tomato (cut out the seeds)
olive oil
1/4 cup water

Prep
1) remove the skin of the eggplant with a vegetable peeler
2) Dice the onion and the tomato
3) cut the eggplant in quarters lengthwise and then cut in half

Cook
1) sauteed the onion
2) throw the eggplant, the tomato, the water, and the smoked paprika into the pressure cooker.
3) Lock the top and then bring it to a boil. You know when the pressure cooker is at a boil because it’ll start to make a popping sound. When it has a regular rhythm like the alphabet’s sound, reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook for 10 minutes and then release the steam in the pot and eat. It’s really good with pita or with cucumber.

Dan

동동주 is like makkolli which is an unfiltered rice wine. The difference between the two drinks is that Dong Dong Ju has little bit of rice that floats on top. Dong Dong means floating. Koreans say that it goes very well with kimchi pancake

Dan

Both services are usually quite lively. Local monks are usually regulars customers there as well, no doubt drawn by the incredible all-you-can-eat buffet. The buffet features a variety of faux meat dishes such as the smoky vegetarian bulgogi and spicy mixed mushrooms with vegetarian “ham”. The best pretender of all is definitely the meatless tangsuyuk- fried vegetarian pork with a sweet and sour glaze.

Also on the buffet were delicious tofu and vegetable side dishes. The large buffet incorporates a small salad bar with an assortment of lettuces, nuts, bread and fruit complimented by the restaurant’s delicious homemade jam.

Many customers are drawn to this restaurant not only because of the excellent healthy food, but also because of the small corner shop setup by the register. Here, you can purchase most of the faux meats that were featured in the buffet dishes. You can also buy frozen bags of vegetarian bulgogi and tofu chicken nuggets! Just next to the exit is also a small rack set up of vegan baked goods such as banana and pumkin muffins, as well as an assortment of whole grain breads.

How to get there: From exit 5 of Yangjae station take bus 4430 and get off after two stops. You should see a Starbucks when you get off. Keep walking straight and it’s just ahead on the left.

There is a cool shop at this restaurant as well.

You will get table full of side dishes.

Sanchon.

What can I say about it that hasn’t already been said by Zenkimchi and Fatman Seoul? It’s good. It’s delicious. I love the atmosphere. It was really a blast to eat the numerous mountain shoots and leaves.

It’s one of the places that must be experienced in Seoul.

www.sanchon.com

Oh, btw. Here is a KBS video documentary that I appeared on for about 5 seconds with Zen Kimchi, Fatmanseoul, Terry, Mrs. Zen Kimchi, and Kiss my Kimchi.

Jeonju however, in amongst the swathe of other cities, towns and villages offering delectable dishes in these provinces, is particularly light on ethnic food. Foreign food if you prefer. We have traditional Australian food (via the USA) in the guise of ‘Outback Steakhouse’ and when you need a big burger and a goldfish bowl full of alcohol, TGI’s can step in and fill your foreign belly and offer a welcome respite from Korea (just hope it isn’t someone’s birthday.)

No, there really is no substitute for good old fashioned ethnic food. Jeonju has nowhere to get a Thai curry, red or green, no food from India or Pakistan or anywhere even in that region, no Turkish kebabs, no hummus, no European food even (Sweet potato pizza is a distinctly Korean invention and does not even come close to satisfying a pizza craving and don’t even get me started on ‘TEAM’ the fauxer than faux Italian restaurant whose idea of risotto is a bowl of dry rice in a hot stone bowl with a slab of inferior melted cheese on top) but not too long ago I found a place that qualifies as ethnic, a place hidden away in a back alley, untouched by foreign hands that serves traditional, home cooked, delicious Filipino food.

A recent shortcut took me down a side street I had walked through a hundred times, past a large shop that sells a lot of ethnic ingredients, which is itself relatively unknown, and past a shop offering ‘Digital Pinting’ when a shop front caught my eye. It wasn’t covered in Hangul and the door was open. Racks of unidentifiable food ingredients were visible from the street and were enough to make me step inside for a closer look. As I stepped into what turned out to be an Aladdin’s cave of Filipino ingredients and home cooked food on a back alley in Jeonju, far from the madding crowd of Koreans scoffing pizzas that have had their crusts stuffed with pumpkin puree, I knew I had stumbled on a little secret.

What turned out to be a short reconnaissance mission saw me leave with a bottle of San Miguel (which turned out to be cheaper in the supermarket) and the knowledge that the small shop/restaurant, with its small tables, enough to host maybe 8 or 9 and the several family members who were sitting around eating, would be visited again very soon.

I did indeed visit again very soon but this time brought my very own talking food translator, in the form of my friend Cezar, a Filipino-American (or should that be the other way around?) We feasted on the food of the day, which on that particular Sunday included;

Langonisa ( lahn-go-knee-sa) – Philippine chorizos flavoured with indigenous spices.

Banggous ( bahng- oouhs) – A dish of milkfish cooked in what I imagine was some kind of soy / vinegar sauce.

Nilaga (knee- la- gha) – Nilaga means boiled and these soups are characterised by long cooking, leaving the meat (popularly beef) to become meltingly delicious.

Gulay (Goo-lie) – A dish of ginger and squash, also delicious.

and last but by no means least, a delicious bowl of Halo-halo, the Filipino answer the Korea’s summer favourite pat ping soo, which I have to admit to preferring over the Korean version.

Filipino food will from this day forth be very much a part of my regular eating out experience, especially as it will be somewhat of a surprise to find out what the family are eating that day.

Rob McGovern

I love my pressure cooker because it can transform food in ways that other methods just can't. For example, take tofu. If you use the pressure cooker to cook it, then the water will leach out and you'll be left with tofu that's almost like feta cheese.

People still don't believe me, but it is true.

I also found that it's a great way to make tofu and kimchi. I first fry up some kimchi with some pork belly, add about a 1/4 cup of water, then I set the tofu on top and then pressure cook everything for about 15 minutes. The tofu will have a feta cheese like texture and the kimchi will be soft like saurkraut that has been cooked overnight. It's a very fast, nutritious dinner.

Dan

All the ingredients are available, so I recommend you make yourself some summer salsa. If you need to find lime juice and cilantro, I recommend the foreign mart in Itaewon.

Dan

My note written by my roommate

This was a note that I found on her desk. Let me preface that by saying that she asked me to get something out of her room and this is the note I found on her desk. It reads:

Dr @ 9:15am
Pee in cup!

Find Cup