Korean Cuisine Unveiled: Appetizer Edition!

This is my first week of trying out my skills in recreating dishes from South Korea.

My first stop? Appetizers!! In the last decade, appetizers have been the spotlight of the food industry. Whether families choose to eat out or have friends over, appetizers have been a go-to for a lot of people. I could think of a couple reasons why this is the trend. First- most appies requires shorter preparation time and less ingredients to think about. Sometimes, chicken wings, salt & pepper, and a dipping sauce are all you need to please your guests. Throwing some cold beverages with your chicken wing appy could make you, their hero! Second- appies are flavorful food everyone could eat- old and young- sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste…… I bet you, your grandma won’t say no to bacon wrapped jalapeno peppers nor your kindergarten nephew would turn his back from garlic dry ribs.

Still reading? Well- that’s what I thought, because who doesn’t want to explore more about food especially those that we haven’t tried yet!

South Korea is not foreign to the concept of appetizers. In fact, their appetizers are available on buzzing and dazzling streets of urban areas. Yes! If you don’t feel like cooking for supper but you’re on a tight budget, you can drive to the city center and you can feed yourself several mouthwatering foods at an affordable price. But I do not have the luxury of that here in Regina. What I do have though is access to ingredients I need to recreate these appetizers. I decided to try and recreate Sotteok Sotteok (Rice Cake & Sausage Skewers). I chose this appetizer because I would love to try the combination of the rice cake’s chewy texture, the smoky flavor of the sausage, the sweet and spicy sauce, and the nutty flavor from the sesame seeds.

For this appetizer, I have purchased most of the ingredients I need from Seoul Mart Regina. It made my shopping experience a lot less daunting because the store person was very helpful and knowledgeable! Though I’ve done my research before venturing into this learning project, it still feels comforting knowing that an expert on a certain area- in this case- Korean ingredients- was giving me tips and advice on what brand or product to buy. I loved my whole experience at that store!

I followed Sue’s recipe for Sotteok on My Korean Kitchen. She writes out very detailed instructions and provides tips and tidbits on the what’s and how’s every person new to trying out her recipes have. Her creativity and the heart she put into every dish she makes is admirable. I learned that if you just bought your rice cake the day you planned on cooking it- because they are frozen, fret not!  You can blanch them in boiling water for a couple minutes and they’ll be ready. It is also good to consider the length of the sausages and rice cake to be uniform as it makes the Sotteok more appealing. The main ingredient for the sauce is gochujang (red chili paste), which gives its profound flavor with the sugar balancing the spiciness of this rich paste. Overall, I am delighted with how this appetizer turned out and how my family gave me two thumbs up!