Sunday, August 10, 2008

Some of My Favorite Korean Eats....


This is Sambap, which is a healthy rice pot eaten with a variety of veg and side dishes.  You start by getting the rice served in the lower left corner pot.  You empty out most of the rice in a separate bowl (lower right) except what gets stuck to the pot, then you fill the hot pot up with rice water and set aside.  You eat the "rice soup" last as a sort of dessert.    For the rest you take a leaf of some variety (my fav is the boiled cabbage) and you put some rice in it with bean paste and whatever side is vegan friendly and eat.  I frequent this place and the ladies are so sweet they make me a separate non seafood soup.  It is a type of doen jang chigae that i posted earlier and it rocks.  I put the bulky part of the soup in the leaf wrap too.  It is awesome.  (You may be able to see some fish further back in the photo, please ignore, for it was not apart of my meal)
Next up is spicy noodle a.k.a. hangover cure.  It is great, a huge pot of homemade noodles with mushrooms, onions and potatoes.  Then once you eat most of this enormous pot they fill your bowls with the remaining in order to create a delicious rice ensemble in the bottom of the pot.  Sorry no pic of it.  They usually put egg in but if i partake they leave it out.
This here is Kristin and her favorite korean meal.  Chung Gook Jung.  I like to describe it as a jazzed up bipbimbap.  You take rice, the tofu bean stew (close up below), veg and bipbimbap sauce (a thick red somewhat hot pepper paste) and you mix it all together, while enjoying the homemade not hot but not iced tea and side dishes.
Mmmmm tofu bean stew....
This is Kristin and I and the oh so yummy rice balls.  We have a few matching photos because we are cool like that.  You will only get subjected to one or two.  But for real rice balls rock.  Glutenous rice with a sweet red bean filling.  The red/brown ones in the middle are my fav, covered in cinnamon.  The others are coated with sesame seed and green tea something or other and something else.

4 comments:

Virginie said...

All this Korean food looks so yummy. We've got very few Korean restaurants in France, mostly in Paris, but it isn't so easy to get satisfaction if you are vegan.

spiceislandvegan said...

Wow, where is this restaurant? I am in Los Angeles and don't have vegetarian Korean restaurant.
Looks so good and I love Korean food.

Debbie

...barbara... said...

These are some of the awesome little places i like to eat in my lil town here in Korea. It is a shame that they do not have a good place to go in L.A. Although, I will have to assume that most American Korean restaurants play up the whole Korean BBQ end which would make it very difficult to get a good vegan meal.

spiceislandvegan said...

Yes, you are right. Most of American Korean restaurants served a lot of Korean BBQ. I think that there is no vegetarian Korean in this area or who will serve vegan meals. There was one vegetarian Korean restaurant in LA. Only a few months, then they closed down. Too bad. There are lots of Tofu House/restaurants by Korean owners but they add meat and seafood to the tofu. I love Korean food and cook it myself at home but my knowledge of Korean dishes that can be veganized is limited. Which is unfortunate because there is a Korean market within a walking distance from my house.

Debbie