Travelling with baby/toddler in South Korea

I just remembered that I have a post regarding travelling that I haven't finish writing!! =.=" 

Same like many parents, we always have bunch of questions pop in our mind from where shall we travel with little one tagging along to what should I bring, what about food....and the list going on and on....

We travel quite frequently with our little one, especially at least once a year (if possible) to South Korea, to visit my in laws.  This time, I try to make some notes and photos to share while travelling in Korea.  I will share more on basic and general information about food, and accommodation. Hopefully this post will give parents some guide when travel to South Korea with little ones.  Happy Family Travelling~~~ :)

Convenience Store in Korea

You can see a lot of convenience stores in Korea whether it's along the shoplots at roadside, subway or just right beside the hotels.  It's really easily accessable and has a lot of things to offer from food, drinks to daily essentials.  My recommended 'must buy' items when visiting the convenience store for my boy are: Fresh milk, yogurt, juice, bread, roasted seaweed sheets and instant rice pack.



Convenience Store



Someone is busy choosing at the convenience store... 'mummy, I want this...mummy, I want that!!!'  >.<

Fast and Easy meals on the go with little ones:
Rice with roasted seaweed



Instant Rice Pack:  It can be heat up with microwave or in hot boiling water.  Wrap the rice in roasted seaweed sheets and tada~~ instant kimbap/sushi! ^^ Or serve the rice with egg also as good!  You can always order cooked white rice from a restaurant too.

Bread and Jam






Always ready some bread and jam in your bag.  We bought our squeeze pack jam from the department store in Korea but you can always bring your own over ;)

Noodles (Non-spicy)/Rice Soup/Porridge/Pancake

There are varieties of noodle selling in Korea which are not spicy and suitable for young children.  For example:-

Jyajangmyeon 짜장면 (Noodle with blackbean sauce 炸酱面),

Kalguksu 칼국수(Korean knife-cut noodles)

Janchi guksu 잔치 국수 (Banquet or party noodles/warm noodle soup),

japchae 잡채 (Stir-fry glass noodle with vegetables),

Udon noodles,

Sujebi 수제비 (Harn-torn noodle soup) and many more. 

For rice, you can choose from varieties like

kimbap,

samgyetang 삼계탕 (Ginseng chicken soup) or

gukbap 국밥 (soup serve with rice).

For porridge 죽, there are:-

Yachae juk 야채죽 (Vegetable porridge),

Dak juk 닭죽 (Chicken porridge),

Jeonbok juk 전복죽 (Abalone porridge)

hobak juk 호박죽 (Pumpkin porridge).

For pancake, there have

Grated potato pancake 감자전,

Seafood pancake 해물파전,

Vegetable pancake 야채전 and many more.

Some of the restaurants prepare kids utensils, like this one.  It's my boy favorite cartoon character pororo! yeah, I am a happy mom! ^^



Udon



Grated Potato Pancake 감자전

Janchi guksu 잔치 국수

Dwaeji Gukbap 돼지국밥 (Pork meat soup with rice) we had in Busan.

Accommodation

Try to opt for service apartment hotel when staying in Korea with children.  Most of the service apartment hotel in Korea are well equipped with basic kitchen tools and utensils.  This trip we managed to arrange a short trip to Busan and stay in Citadines Haeundae Busan.  It has a kitchen corner with induction stove, microwave, electric kettle, cooking pots, cooking pan, knife, scissors, chopping board, spoon and fork.  The hotel also provide dishwashing liquid.  It's really convenient and we can heat up/cook our boy meal anytime.  The room we stayed also has a balcony with laundry rack provided.  You can actually handwash your little one dirty laundry and dry at the balcony (less clothes to bring when travelling if staying in this type of hotel...hehehe).  Overall, we were impressed and really enjoy our stay there.  The hotel is also within walking distance to the eateries/restaurants, subway and beach. 

For more info, may checkout their website:http://www2.citadines.com/en/index.html



Small but well equipped kitchen at Citadines Haeundae Busan



Bought this Pororo cake from Paris Baguette at Incheon Airport before headed back home.  It's cute & yummy and best of all they keep my boy's tummy full and quiet for a moment in the airplane...hehe ^^

Other considerations:
Stroller vs Baby Carrier/Hip-seat
My choice goes to baby carrier.  Most of the tourist spots like theme parks do provides stroller.  Some department store do provide stroller too, just go to the information center and ask :)
For remote from one place to another whether by walking or taking trains, it's more convenience to use baby carrier especially in subway, people are walking fast and there are many stair case too, I would say carrier is a better choice.

HAPPY Travel! <3





Yangnyeom Tongdak (Seasoned Fried Chicken with Sweet, Spicy and Sour Sauce)

Have you order Korean fried chicken before? Usually there are a few types of fried chicken in the menu - Original fried chicken, yamnyeong chicken, ganjang chicken and etc.  When we trying to place order, there will be a few moments of silent.....because it's decision making time!!! Oh my, we will be repeating asking ourselves whether to order just fried chicken or shall we go for seasoned fried chicken?  One will say, "Ahh...today I am craving with something sweet and spicy..." and another one will say, "But, I want without any sauce...".  And finally, we will go for half original fried chicken, half yangnyeom... >.<

 

Actually it's quite easy to make your own seasoned fried chicken.  Today, I am going to share how to make the yangnyeom sauce.  For Fried Chicken recipe, you may refer to my previous post here: --> http://yvonnekoreankitchen.blogspot.my/2015/06/korean-crispy-fried-chicken-popular.html

 

 

Serving size: 2 - 3 person

Yangnyeom sauce:
Ingredients:

1/4 cup Gochujang (Korean pepper paste)

1/4 cup + 1 tbsp Ketchup

1/4 cup + 1 tbsp Honey or corn syrup

3/4 tbsp Vinegar

3 clove of Garlic (Minced)

1 tbsp Cooking Oil

3 tbsp Peanut (chopped)

 

Step by step photos:

 

1. Prepare a pan, add in cooking oil and garlic over low heat.
2. Add in gochujang, ketchup and honey.
3. Keep stirring and mix well, let it simmer over low heat for about 4 to 5 minutes.
4. Add in peanut and keep stirring.
5. Off the heat and add in vinegar.  Stir and mix well.
6. Add the fried chicken (click here for fried chicken recipe) and gently mix well until all the chicken are well coat with sauce.
7. Serve hot and cheers!!

*Tongdak means whole chicken :)

Miyeok Guk (Korean Seaweed Soup with Fresh Mussels)

Miyeok (aka wakame or seaweed) is well-known for its health benefits: improve metabolism regulation, blood purification, constipation relief, detoxification, anti-aging and many more.  Miyeok guk is one of my son's favorite soup but he called it "Kim Soup" which the "kim" that he refers to is the dried seaweed that we usually use it to wrap kimbap...looks like he is still confuse between these two types of seaweed =.="

 

Previously I had issued Miyeok Guk recipe where the seafood ingredient used was dried mussels.  Today I am going to issue another one with fresh mussels.  Both are equally delicious, it's all depends on which ingredient is more easy to find in your pantry or the market nearby you :) And this time the portion that I cook is for 5 person. 
 

 

Serving size: 5 person

Ingredients:

3 tbsp dried Miyeok (cut seaweed/wakame) *I use pre-cut dried miyeok

25 piece fresh mussels                                                                                  

1.5 tbsp Garlic (minced)                                                                             

2 tbsp Sesame oil                                                                                       

2 tbsp Soy sauce                                                                                      

1.5 liter of yuksu (Dried Anchovy & Kelp soup stock) (*Use water if yuksu not available)

 

Step by step photos:

 

1. Soak dried seaweed in water for about 10 minutes.  Rinse with water and drain.  Cut the seaweed into smaller size with a scissor if you find them too big after soak and expand.  Set aside. 
2. Wash the mussels and set aside.
3. Prepare a pot and put in sesame oil. Add in the seaweed and saute for 1 minute on medium low heat (**Do not pre-heat the pan and sesame oil as the oil may splash when putting in the soaked seaweed).
4. Add in minced garlic.  Saute for 30 seconds.
5. Add in fresh mussels and saute again for another 30 seconds.
6. Add in yuksu and boil over medium high heat.  Once the soup starts to boil, you will see some some bubbles floating.  Scoop out if  you prefer clearer soup broth.
7. Add in soy sauce.
8. Close the lid and let the soup boil for another 30 minutes on medium low fire. *the longer you boil, the soup will have deeper taste.  If time allow, let the soup boil for 1 hour.
9. Taste to season, add more soy sauce if it's too bland.  Off the fire and serve.

Dashima Myeolchi Yuksu (Dried Anchovy & Kelp Stock)

Yuksu is the soup base used in Korean cooking.  I always prepare this soup stock and keep in my frige and it will become handy especially when I plan to prepare jjigae, yuksu will speed up my cooking and it has a subtle but savory flavor that helps to enhance soups or dishes. It can be kept in the fridge about 1 week to 10 days or up to a few months if kept in freezer.

Dashima Myeolchi yuksu can be used in various dishes like duenjang jjigae (Korean fermented soy bean paste stew), miyeok guk (Korean seaweed soup), noodle broth, tteokbokki (korean spicy rice cake) and many many more :)

Serving Yield: about 2.3 liter
Ingredients:
3 liter water
12 piece Kelp (6cm x 5cm)
30 piece Dried Anchovy

Step by step photos:

 

 

1. Put kelps and dried anchovies into a large tea ball strainer (As shown in picture.  If you do not have this strainer, just skip it.  By using the tea ball strainer, it makes the straining and cleaning process easier).
2. Prepare a big pot and add in water.  Put the strainer with kelps and anchovies into the pot, boil over medium high heat for 10 minutes.
3. After 10 minutes, turn the heat to low and continue to boil for another 20 minutes with the pot lid on.
4. Remove the ball strainer and let it cool down.
5. After cooling down, store the yuksu (soup stock) into container. 

Kimchi Bokkeumbap [Kimchi Fried Frice with spam (ham)]

Don't feel like cooking today and there is some leftover rice in the fridge....so i made a quick and easy meal - kimchi fried rice! ^^

This dish goes well with any type of meat, pork, can tuna, chicken, or beef.  It's also taste yummy if skip the meat and just fry the rice with kimchi.  You can top up with a fried egg for more protein.  I like to eat my kimchi fried rice with a bowl of miyuk guk (Korean seaweed soup) or duenjang jigae (Korean fermented soy bean paste stew) too.

Serving: 2 person
Ingredients:
2 bowl cooked rice
3/4 cup chopped kimchi
4 tbsp kimchi juice
1 tbsp gochujang
100g spam (ham) cut into cubes
1 tsp minced garlic
1 seaweed sheet (roasted and shredded)
1 thumb size of butter (optional)
1 tbsp sesame oil
Pinch of salt
Pinch of pepper
1 tsp oil
2 egg
Sesame seed for garnish
Spring onion (chopped) for garnish

Step by step photos:

1. Heat up a pan with oil, add in spam (ham).  Stir fry until brownish and a bit crisp on the outside over medium high heat.
2. Add in chopped kimchi and stir-fry for about 1 minute.
3. Add in minced garlic and keep stir-frying.
4. Add in cooked rice.
5. Then, add in kimchi juice, gochujang, pinch of salt and pepper.  Stir and mix well all the ingredients together for about 6 minutes.
6. Add butter and stir well to mix in with the rice.
7. Off the fire and drizzle sesame oil over the fried rice.
8. Fry 2 eggs and put on the kimchi fried rice.
9. Garnish with some sesame seeds, chopped spring onion and shredded seaweed sheets.
10. Serve immediately.

** It's recommended to use well-fermented kimchi (sourish taste kimchi) for this dish.
*** Add some water if the cooked rice is a bit dry.