Insam Cha 인삼차 (Korean Ginseng Tea)

My in law came to visit not long ago and brought us some fresh ginseng.  These are 6 year old ginseng.  Do you know how to recognize the age of ginseng?  My mother in law taught me by counting the "head" of the ginseng, the top part of ginseng... I think it's a great tip :) Have a try the next time you go shopping for ginseng~

Since we can't consume all the ginseng in one go, we wash and clean up the fresh ginseng and keep them in freezer.  By keeping the fresh ginseng in freezer, it will help to last longer up to 2 - 3 months.  We usually cook Samgyetang (ginseng chicken soup) but since there are a roots falling apart when we did the washing and cleaning.  We collected them and boil ginseng tea.  Nothing goes to waste ^^



Yield: About 2 liter of ginseng tea
Ingredients:
A handful of Ginseng roots or 1 Ginseng
25 piece Red dates (jujube)
10 piece Dried longan (optional)
3 liter Water

Step by step photos:

1. Wash and clean up the ginseng and red dates.  Prepare a pot, put in the ginseng, jujube, dried longan and water.  Boil over medium high heat for 30 minutes.
2. After 30 minutes, close the lid and simmer over low heat for another one and half hour or until you get brownish red color of tea. 
3. Off the fire and serve.
4. To get the full amount of flavour from the ginseng, add more water and boil it over for the second time.  Keep the tea in the fridge and drink it anytime.  If you like your tea hot, reheat and serve.

**My mother in law told us that it's best to cut off the head of the ginseng when you consume them as it's believed that the head part provides too much heat to the body if consume.

Chicken Breast Salad with Danmuji (Korean radish pickle)

I saw this recipe in one of the Korean cooking TV programme - Homefood Rescue 2.  They added danmuji in the salad which makes me wonder how would it taste and I am so eager to try it out as there are still some danmuji sit in my fridge after my last made gimbap ^^

This recipe is definitely a keeper as I love the texture of the salad.  The danmuji suits really well in the salad!  The sourish, sweet and tangy taste from danmuji compliments the salad and the crunhy texture of it makes you munch on the salad non-stop...lol ;)  Hope you all will like it as much as I do~

 

Serving: 2 person
Ingredients:
1 whole piece of Chicken Breast Meat
1 Japanese Cucumber (medium size)
1/4 cup chopped Carrot
1/4 cup chopped Onion
1/4 cup chopped Danmuji (Korean radish pickle)
2 hard boiled Egg (Optional)
1 tsp Salt
1 tbsp Vinegar
1/2 Lemon
Pinch of Black Pepper and Salt (To taste)

Step by step photos:

 

 

 

 

1. Wash and cut cucumber into quarter and slice thinly.  Place the cucumber in a bowl and add 1 tsp of salt.  Slightly mix the cucumber with salt to marinate.  Set aside for 20 minutes.
2. Prepare a small pot, add in water and bring it to boil.  Add in the chicken breast meat and boil for 10 - 15 minutes or until it is cooked.
3. Take out the chicken breast meat once it's cooked and set aside to cool down.
4. Drain the cucumber water (Try to taste the cucumber, if it's too salty, try to wash with some water and drain again).
5. After drain the cucumber, squeeze out excessive water from the cucumber with hands (this step will help to get crunchy cucumber :).
6. Mix all the veggies (carrot, cucumber, onion and danmuji) in a big bowl.
7. Add in 1 tbsp of vinegar and toss to mix well.
8. After the meat has cool down, tear it into thin strips, and add in the salad bowl.  Add in the hard boiled egg too if you have.
9. Sprinkle some salt and pepper to taste.  Toss to mix well.
10. Squeeze some lemon juice into the salad.  Toss and ENJOY your salad!

Tip:
Add some mayonaise and it will serve as a great yummy filing to sandwich! ^^

Bibim Guksu 비빔국수 (Korean Spicy Mixed Cold Noodle)

The weather is quite hot recently.... hubby and I do not have much appetide so I decided to make this simple spicy and sourish mixed cold noodle today :)

Bibim guksu is quite a fast dish to prepare, the ingredients are simple and it's full of green leaves too which is a healthy choice! Usually the type of veggie used in this dish is cucumber but I have a bunch of salad leaves in my fridge so I use salad leaves. Any veggie leaves that gives a crunch texture will goes well with this noodle. ^^

Serving: 2 person
Ingredients:
About 180g of Thin noodle (somyeon or 寿面)
A quarter of medium size Cucumber (sliced thinly)
A bunch of crunchy salad leaves (slightly slice/tear into smaller pieces)
Some sliced carrot (Optional)
1/2 cup of chopped kimchi
1 hard boiled Egg

Sauce:
2 & 1/2 tbsp Gochujang (Korean hot pepper paste)
1 tsp Gochugaru (Korean hot pepper flakes)
1/2 tbsp finely minced Garlic
15 tbsp Kimchi juice
1 tbsp Soy sauce
1 tbsp Vinegar
1 tbsp Sesame oil
1 tsp Sugar (or 1 tbsp Honey)
1 tsp Roasted black/white Sesame seeds

Step by step photos:

 

 

1. Wash and drain the veggies, set a side or keep in fridge for extra cool and freshness.
2. Prepare the sauce by mixing all the sauce ingredients, gochujang, gochugaru, minced garlic, kimchi juice, soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, sesame oil and sesame seeds).  Keep it cool in fridge.
3. Boil a pot of water.  When the water starts to boil, add in noodle and boil for about 5 to 6 minutes or until the noodle becomes cook. 
4. Prepare a big bowl of icy water to cool down the noodle.
5. Off the heat and drain the noodle quickly under running cold water.
6. Place the drained noodle into the bowl of icy water to get chewy and cold noodle.
7. Prepare a bowl, drain the cold noodle by slightly press the noodle with hand after lift up from the icy water.  *I add in a few ice cubes in the bowl because i like my noodle COLD...hehe ;p
8. Place the veggies and hard boil egg on top of the noodle.  Add the sauce, mix and yumm!

*Tip:
- You can use soba (buckwheat noodle) for this dish too.