“Korean Farms (Brand)” Soybean Sprouts – “Korean Farms” 콩나물

By admin - Last updated: Monday, August 9, 2010

Soybean Sprouts
It used to be that soybean sprouts were sold in clear plastic bags in 1 pound unit. In recent years, however, I noticed that more and more of them are sold in branded packages with clear labeling. I guess that is a positive development because I would assume that the sprouts are raised in [...]

Filed in Cooking Ingredients, Vegetables

“Ichiban (Brand)” Tofu – Firm or “이찌반” 두부 – 부침용

By admin - Last updated: Monday, August 9, 2010

This particular brand is from a Japanese company that is also famous for ramen noodles commonly found in many big-chain grocery stores in the US. I found this tofu as good as others, either for stir-fries or stew dishes.

Filed in Cooking Ingredients, Tofu

“Pulmuone (Brand)” Pickled Radish for Seaweed Rice Roll or “풀무원” 김밥용 단무지Pickled sweet daikon radishes

By admin - Last updated: Thursday, August 5, 2010

For people who are not familiar with Asian vegetables (esp. Korean and Japanese), “radish” usually means the bright red-colored round root vegetables. To avoid this confusion, it may be a good idea to qualify that these are daikon radishs, white radishes commonly used in Korean cooking (e.g., ghim-chee, salads, etc.) that are also much bigger [...]

Filed in Cooking Ingredients, Pickled Sweet Daikan Radishes, Vegetables

“Assi” Dried (Shiitake) Mushroom or “아씨” 표고버섯

By admin - Last updated: Wednesday, July 28, 2010

One of dried mushrooms that are employed in many Korea recipes. Other than specific usages, these mushrooms are particularly effective in enhancing the flavor when used in broth-making of any kind. People who make vegetable broth usually make sure to include these mushrooms, in addition to other vegetables such as green onions, yellow onions, and [...]

Filed in Cooking Ingredients, Dried vegetables

Japanese (No name) Sushi Tempura

By admin - Last updated: Tuesday, July 27, 2010

This is one of my favorite fish cake. I don’t know the brand name and that is not printed on the package. This one has a wide range of applications: you can use this for rice rolls, rice cake sticks and fish cake slices in sweet and spicy red-pepper sauce, and fish cake soup, among [...]

Filed in Cooking Ingredients, Frozen seafood

“Song-Hak (Brand)” Mini Rice Cake Sticks or “송학” 꼬마 쌀 떡볶이

By admin - Last updated: Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Rice cake strands, Oval-shaped rice cake slices, & Rice cake sticks
I am aware that there is no agreement on what to call these pieces of rice cake strands (가래떡, pronounced “Gha-Ra-Tduck”) cut in 1-2 inch length. So, at least on this website, I decided to call them rice cake sticks.
Below is how the rice cake [...]

Filed in Cooking Ingredients, Frozen noodles

“SamYang (Brand)” Chacharoni or “삼양” 짜짜로니

By admin - Last updated: Tuesday, July 27, 2010

“Noodles with black bean sauce or 자장면” is a hugely popular Chinese-Korean dish in Korea. And the very existence of the black bean sauce ramen is a proof of its popularity. A similar analogy in American cuisine can be found between the popularity of real pasta dishes and the many varieties of frozen pasta dishes [...]

Filed in Ramen noodles, Ready-to-Cook/Eat Foods, Without broth

“Assi (Brand)” Cooked Clam Soup or “범아식품” 국내산 재첩국

By admin - Last updated: Monday, July 26, 2010

I liked this one better than any other corbicula clam soup available in the US that I tasted so far. The soup has nice original flavor and the clams were in good shape.
Aside from the product quality, this one presents an interesting case. The actual product was made and packaged by a Korean food [...]

Filed in Instant soups & stews, Ready-to-Cook/Eat Foods

“Pulmuone (Brand)” Oriental Noodle – Clam Flavor or “풀무원” 생가득 바지락 칼국수

By admin - Last updated: Monday, July 26, 2010

I like this one. The noodles are fresh (not fried) and the soup has rich flavor. In my view, this is a good alternative to fried ramen noodles, except that this is more expensive and has to be kept in refrigerator until consumed. Although the package says that the soup is based on clams, I [...]

Filed in Ramen noodles, Ready-to-Cook/Eat Foods, With broth

“Pulmuone (Brand)” Pork and Vegetable Dumplings or “풀무원” 돼지고기 야채 만두

By admin - Last updated: Sunday, July 25, 2010

This is a fine product. The dumplings tasted as good as many other pork/vegetable dumplings in the market. To me, however, they were slightly disappointing because I tend to have very high expectations of Pulmuone products. By the way, the company name “Pulmuone” should be pronounced “Pool-Moo-One.” The company also sells products under different brand [...]

Filed in Frozen dumplings, Ready-to-Cook/Eat Foods