then there was Korean food

The other day I posted on facebook that I love bibimbap and a few people asked me about it, so I thought I would fill you in on some of the greatest main dishes in Korea, side dishes will have to be a different entry. Pictured above is Street food: Although I havent had the chance to try all of it, it is basically everything you can imagine placed on a stick and deep fried for your enjoyment...vegetables, potatoes, meat, rice cakes, fish cakes, hot dogs...you name it.

This is by far my favorite...Shabu Shabu. There are many different kinds but basically you put a ton of veggies in a boiling pot of water in the center of your table, along with some meat...let it cook, then wrap it up in rice paper (you know that clear stuff they wrap things in at the chinese take out place) add some fresh veggies inside along with a ton of different sauces and eat away. After you are done...the meal is not, they then add big fat udon noodles to the pot to cook...when the noodles are finished...one more course...homemade fried rice, right inside the same pot to soak up all the juices and flavors that have been cooking.

This my friends, is bibimbap. There is rice below and it can be served hot or cold, I like the cold version better. Ontop are all different types of veggies (depending on the restuaurant) some meat, sometimes imitation krab, some egg and nice hot thick red sauce. You then take your spoon and chop sticks and mix it up into one big mush and enjoy (those of you who have eaten Thanksgiving Dinner with me know how much I love everything all mashed up together)

This is Kimchi Zzige soup, it can be spelled many different ways. It is a spicy red soup with cabbage, tofu, scallions and whatever else the cook wants to put inside.

A nice cheap alternative is always gimpab. It may look like sushi, but is much less complicated and much less expensive. Inside is egg, a sesame leaf, carrot, krab, egg,sometimes ham, sometimes kimchi, sometimes tuna..from a can.. (my favorite) It runs you abour $1.50

Galbi is always a favorite and super innexpensive...as little as $4.00 a person. Galbi is meat cooked on a plate in the middle of the table either by gas or wood. It cooks up quick and then you wrap it in lettuce leafs with a ton of sides..yum yum. Chun is the yellow pancake thing on the right. They call it a korean pancake..yum!

This is dukbogi. I was definitely not a fan when I got here...but now love it. The consistancy is weird and it is really chewy. It is rice...rice rolled and mixed until it forms a kind of dough. (they also fry this on the side of the road, or fill it will different things and serve it as a dessert) It is cooked inside of a really spicy thicker red sauce. The first time I ate it, i thought it was spaghetti, which may be why at first I thought it was gross.

Anyway, we will write another blog on all the great side dishes served here in Korea.