Bibimbap 비빔밥

 One of my favorite foods is bibimbap.  Bibimbap is a Korean dish.  Bibim (비빔) means mix and bap (밥) means rice.  I can't remember when I first ate it, but after that first time I always craved it.  I've always wanted to try making it myself, but then all the veggies that are required scared me away from trying out the recipe.  I wanted to buy every single ingredient required before I attempted making this.  Because of this, it took me a few months before I actually tried making it myself.  However, I ended up making it with only a few veggies.  The veggies I used were bean sprouts, carrots, and spinach.  I didn't have any zucchinis, mushrooms, gosari, garlic, or sesame seeds.  I was worried it wouldn't turn out well because I was lacking so many ingredients, but I was pleasantly surprised.  Also, I used some ground pork that I had left in the freezer for a year.  It was still good! Hahaha.

I followed Maangchi's recipe for bibimbap and used Korean Bapsang for the red pepper paste sauce.


College Student's Version of Bibimbap
Slightly adapted from Maangchi's recipe.

 
 Before mixing.


After mixing.

Hoddeok 호떡 - Sweet Korean Pancakes

Recently last year, I got into K-pop and Korean dramas.  It all started with Personal Taste, a drama that my aunt recommended to me.  Ever since that drama, I have been watching many other Korean dramas.  My addiction led to an interest in Korean food and desserts, so as I was watching Maangchi's videos on cooking, I discovered this recipe for hoddeok 호떡.  When I found this recipe though, I was still at my college dorm.  So once I got home, I was catching up on the posts of people I follow and I saw the same recipe on Lena's blog. :)   This spurred me into action and I decided to make the pancakes in a couple of days.

The pancakes were easy to make and they turned out okay.  I really liked how the brown sugar melted in the pancakes, giving a nice caramelly filling.  The walnuts also gave the pancakes a bit of a crunch, in contrast to the soft texture of the pancake.  However, something I was unsatisfied with was the texture of the pancake.  The pancake was supposed to be soft and fluffy, but some of mine turned out chewy.  I'm guessing it's because of the squishing during the frying process, but I'm not sure, so I plan to try out this recipe soon again.  I just looked at reviews of this pancake and it turns out it is supposed to be a little chewy.  Anyhow, this recipe is really easy and the end result is tasty. 

Hoddeok
호떡




Recipe from Maangchi