Sunday, January 1, 2012

Spicy and Savory Korean Snacks

When I come to Korea, I don't necessarily want to gorge on filet mignon, escargot and caviar, or lobster tail at a four-star restaurant. Instead I want to try food that I can't easily obtain in the United States.
A couple days ago, my aunt brought some to-go food for dinner. I hadn't eaten since 10:30 am that morning, so anything edible at that time looked delicious.
The seafood dish with bean sprouts in red chili sauce was extremely spicy. There were so many types of sea creatures, including a huge octopus that we had to scissor, scallops in shells, shrimps, a whole squid, a fish, and abalones.
The dish was enough to feed seven people. We even had leftover with which we added some kimchi, seaweed. and rice to make delicious fried rice.
Personally the sauce was overwhelmingly spicy with a hint of sweetness that didn't go too well. I was tempted to wash the bean sprouts in the water to get rid of some of the sauce. The bean sprouts were overcooked because it lacked some of the juicy and the freshness. The seafood, especially the crab, was too hard to eat so I just bit into it and the juices oozed out from the shell.
Aunt also bought soondae, or Korean sausage made with pig intestine on the outside and clear noodle and vegetables inside. It may sound disgusting, but it's one of the snacks I used to love when I was little. Eating too much of it is nauseating, but it tastes really good with some salt and pepper. The intestine used to wrap the fillings is jerky, while the insides are like the fillings in the dumplings.
There were three different types of soondae. One of them was quite spicy, while the other was overly chewy. The gray, triangular one is liver--it has somewhat of a bitter taste.

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