By Request

By Betty Shimabukuro

Wednesday, December 2, 1998

By Kathryn Bender, Star-Bulletin
Kook Soo Jang Kook, at left, and Chop Chae require
many ingredients, all of them thinly sliced.

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Details count
in classic
Korean dishes

The two principal ingredients in classic Korean cooking are time and patience. Lots of slicing, lots of individual stir-frying and many, many steps. If someone serves you home-made Kook Soo, you know the cook truly loves you.

Robert MacDonald is looking for a Kook Soo recipe and another correspondent who wishes to remain anonymous -- "my friends tend to tease me" -- wants to make Chop Chae.

These recipes come courtesy of Jennifer Kim, vice president of the United Korean Society, and Ki Youb Kang, vice president and general manager of the Waikiki Resort Hotel, where he is closely involved in the running of Seoul Jung restaurant.

Kang's recipe, Kook Soo Jang Kook, is served hot -- not to be confused with Bi Bim Kook Soo, a different dish served cold. Chop Chae is served at room temperature and Kim warns that it spoils quickly and should be eaten soon after cooking.

Chop Chae

Jennifer Kim

1/3 pound flank steak
5 dried brown oak mushrooms (see notes)
1 tablespoon soy sauce
Pinch of sugar
Beef marinade:
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon chopped green onion
1 clove garlic
1 tablespoon sesame oil
Black pepper to taste
Noodles and seasoning:
1/3 pound Chinese tangmyon noodle (long rice or cellophane noodle)
1-2 tablespoons sesame oil
1-1/2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon sugar
Sesame salt to taste (see notes)
Pepper
Vegetables and sauce:
2 ounces dried bellflower roots, about 1/2 cup (see notes)
1/3 carrot, in thin strips
1 clove garlic
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
1 onion, in thin strips
1/2 bundle watercress, in 2-inch lengths
Vegetable oil for stir-frying
Garnish:
1 egg, beaten, fried and cut in strips (see notes)
1 stone mushroom, soaked until soft and cut in strips
pine nuts (optional)

Cut beef into thin strips. Let beef stand in marinade. Soak mushrooms in water.

Scald the bellflower and shred finely, then fry lightly with garlic and some of the salt. Fry onion strips lightly in oil and season with more salt. Remove from pan. Repeat procedure separately with carrot and watercress.

Cook noodles in boiling water until soft, then rinse in cold water. Cut into 8-inch lengths and mix with sesame oil. Stir fry the noodles with the remaining seasonings.

Squeeze mushrooms dry and cut into strips. Fry with marinated beef and sprinkle with sugar and soy sauce. Combine beef, vegetables and noodles. Add more sesame oil and pepper if necessary. Garnish with egg, mushroom and pine nuts. Serves 3.

Notes: Stone mushrooms are small, black, dry mushrooms. May substitute shiitakes. Sesame salt is a mixture of salt and ground sesame seeds. Substitute regular salt and/or a sprinkling of sesame seeds. These items and dried bellflower may be found at Korean markets. For details on preparing egg strips, see recipe for kook soo that follows.

Hint: When stir-frying, begin with lightest ingredients and end with the beef, to keep the colors true. Mix in the watercress just before serving, to maintain the fresh green color.

Approximate nutritional analysis, per serving, with 1/4 teaspoon sugar and sesame salt: 500 calories, 20 g fat, 4 g saturated fat, 100 mg cholesterol, greater than 2,500 mg sodium.*

Kook Soo Jang Kook

Seoul Jung Korean Restaurant

1/3 pound flank steak, in strips
1 small zucchini
1 tablespoon salt
4 stone mushrooms, soaked in water until soft
2/3 pound thin, white Oriental-style dried noodles (somen)
2 eggs
Vegetable oil for stir-frying
Marinade:
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 tablespoons chopped green onion
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
1 tablespoon sesame oil
Pepper to taste
Soup:
12 cups water
1-1/2 ounces dried anchovy or hon dashi
2 green onion roots
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon soy sauce

Bring soup ingredients to a boil, simmer.

Combine marinade ingredients and add the beef.

Peel zucchini 1/8-inch below the skin. Cut skin into 2-inch thin strips. Toss with salt and stir-fry lightly in oil. Discard rest of zucchini. Squeeze mushrooms dry and cut into strips. Marinate with salt and sesame oil and stir-fry.

Beat eggs, pour into an oiled pan in the shape of a thin pancake. Cook until firm, then remove and cut into strips.

Scald noodles in boiling water and drain.

Divide noodles among four bowls. Add soup, vegetables, beef and eggs. Serves 4.

Approximate nutritional analysis, per serving: 470 calories, 12 g fat, 3 g saturated fat, 125 mg cholesterol, greater than 4,000 mg sodium.*

Send queries along with name and phone number to:
By Request, Honolulu Star-Bulletin Food Section,
P.O. Box 3080, Honolulu 96802.
Or send e-mail to features@starbulletin.com

Asterisk (*) after nutritional analyses in the Body & Soul section indicates calculations by Joannie Dobbs of Exploring New Concepts, a nutritional consulting firm.