It seems insane to me that I have never posted a spring roll recipe because I love those little suckers more than life itself. I would never have an order of Chinese food without them and a pack always makes its way into my basket when I’m shopping at home. But sadly they are not as popular in Korea as they are in the rest of Asia. You can find them in your local Thai restaurant, but when you enjoy eating them as much as I do you have to make them in bulk. They call be a a bit fiddly, but once you get in the zone you can churn them out by the dozen. Sit in your living room to roll them out while watching an episode of your favourite show and in no time you will have a pile of the little beauties. I got my spring roll wrappers from the foreign food market in Itaewon. They usually have 3 or 4 sizes. I chose the medium sized ones. Obviously the bigger the wrappers the bigger your rolls will be. I only used about half of the packet making these, so they go a long way and they only cost about 5,000. You can also use them to make samosas. Use whatever veg and meat you like, I just used up all my leftovers.

Ingredients

½ a packet spring roll wrappers

1 red pepper

1 green pepper

1/2 a carrot

A small wedge of cabbage

100g of shredded chicken

2 eggs beaten

1/2 an onion

2 inches of ginger

3 cloves of garlic

1 packet of instant noodles

A bunch of cilantro leaves

3 tablespoons of soy sauce

2 tablespoons of sesame seed oil

900ml of soy bean oil (for deep frying)

Directions

1. The first step is to finely slice your vegetables. Get them the peppers and cabbage as thinly as possible and grate the carrot.

2. Boil the noodles until soft then drain.

3. Fry the onion, garlic and ginger for a minute or two to soften, then add the rest of the vegetables. Fry on high for five minutes until softened. Add the drained noodles, chicken, cilantro, soy sauce, sweet chili sauce, and sesame oil, and mix. Turn off the heat and put into a large bowl.

4. Peel off one spring roll wrapper and put it out on the chopping board. Place 2-3 tablespoons of the mixture into the middle of the wrapper. Like below. Fold the top edge up, then wash the three remaining sides with the beaten egg. Fold the two other sides in and roll until you have a neat little spring roll. Set on a clean plate and repeat until all your mixture has been used.

5. When all of the spring rolls have been made, heat the oil to 190 degrees. If you don’t have a thermometer let it heat on medium for about five minutes. Carefully put a spring roll into the oil, if it sizzles and floats to the top then it’s hot enough, if it doesn’t, turn it up a little higher and wait until it reaches temperature. Cook them in batches of about 5 for a couple of minutes until they are golden brown. Remove from the pan when they are done and let them drain on kitchen paper. Serve with your favourite dipping sauce and enjoy!

I have been a fan of the Dongdaemun Mutton Refectory since my very first week in Korea. I also enjoy  the name, there just aren’t enough restaurants that have the word refectory in the title. Back in my Cheongju days it was the restaurant to go to. Every birthday, leaving party, or visiting friend warranted a 20 strong posse descending onto our favourite restaurant. This was long before I had discovered the likes of Ho Lee Chow and it satisfied every craving I ever had for Chinese food. The food at the Mutton Refectory is Chinese style not Korean or Western, though the dishes we chose were always crowd-pleasers. So, after I moved away from Cheongju, I always missed it. That was until I found out that the Dongdaemun Mutton Refectory is actually a chain restaurant.  Shockingly they have one in Dongdaemun! You would have thought that the name would have been a clue, but clearly I missed that (d’oh!)

Nestled in Dongdaemun, on a street practically brimming with Chinese restaurants offering lamb, is the Dongdaemun Mutton Refectory. The menu is almost the same as my beloved Cheongju branch, although sadly they do not offer the amazing potatoes (감자탕수육). Deep-fried battered potatoes in a spicy sauce. You have to have tried them to know how good they are and it is a delicacy all Cheongjuers will remember fondly throughout their lives. Luckily they do have my other three favourite dishes on the menu.

One of the best things about this restaurant is the free side dishes. Chinese picked vegetables, salty sugar peanuts, and my absolute favourite, the tofu ribbons. I have never had tofu as good as this anywhere else in Korea (apart from my BBQ tofu wings.) I’m not sure how they even make these beautifully textured ribbons of tofu. But suffice it to say, they rock!

The first dish we ordered was the mixed vegetables  (삼색야채) 12,000. This dish is insanely good, it’s not just for the veggies and vegans. Potatoes, peppers, and aubergine in a sweet chinesy sauce, they are so soft and tasty. Everyone loved this dish, especially the men. We could never get enough of it.

Their specialty is lamb skewers (양꼬치) 10,000 for 10. Lamb was always very hard to get hold of in Cheongju and is still even considered a specialty meat four years later. Until it is sold on the shelves of Home-plus it will always be a treat for me. BBQ lamb skewers are always a winner for me. Every time I have visited this restaurant there has been a group of ladies sat at the table threading skewer after skewer. They clearly sell these by the truck load. You’re given the coals and you cook them yourself at the table. They also came with a delicious plate of mixed spices that is the perfect accompaniment. I’m not ashamed to say that I took my left over spices in an envelope home with me and will swiftly be using them to make some lamb meatballs.

Last up is the sweet and sour pork Beijing style(탕수육) 13,000. This has always been my favourite dish. Thin slices of pork in a light and crispy batter served with a sweet and sticky sauce. This is as close as you will get to those sweet and sour dishes from home but even better. This hits the spot every time.

The mutton refectory is located in Dongdaemun on the 2nd floor of Dok-il Yak gook(독일약국 pharmacy). To get there take a train to Dongdaemun Station (Lines 1&4) then come out of exit 4. The restaurant is just on your right on the second floor above the pharmacy. The door is located in the alley to the left, just after the restaurant. You can call them on 02-766-9388 if you require any further information.

Also for all you lucky ducks living in the Chungbuk province they have a branch in Cheongju.  It’s at Cheongju University intersection, so in a taxi, say 청주대사거리 (“Cheongju-day sah-guh-ree”). Look for the corner with Pizza Hut, and the restaurant is a few doors down to the right.

I have always been quite a big fan of tofu. I enjoy those spongy chunks you always get served at the Chinese restaurants back home. However when I came to Korea I found that the tofu was too soft. I tried several different brands but to no avail. No matter what I did the chunks would always break up when I was making stir-frys. Lately I have been attending the Seoul Vegan Potluck and have finally learned the secret to good tofu. Rule 1 is that you to get all the water out, usually by putting something heavy on it. Rule 2 is freezing it.  I don’t know how, but freezing it turns it back into that lovely spongy goodness I enjoyed back home.  To make my tofu a little unhealthier I decided to batter it first. You will need to prepare the tofu a day or two in advance to make it spongy.

Ingredients

Tofu

2 blocks of tofu

230g of ottogi frying mix

200ml of cold water

A pinch of salt and pepper

Soy bean oil for frying

Sauce

4 tablespoons of sweet chili sauce

3 tablespoons of sugar

3 tablespoons of vinegar

1 tablespoon of soy sauce

2 tablespoons of ketchup

1 baby orange (the juice and zest)

1 tablespoon of cornflour (corn starch)

Directions

Open the two packets of tofu and drain off all the water. Place the blocks on a plate and put something heavy like a frying pan on top of them. This will help to remove a lot of the excess water that is in them. It may take several hours to get out as much water as possible. Once the water is out wrap them in cling film or put them in a zip lock bag and pop them in the freezer. You can leave them in there as long as you like but they need to be in there for at least 12 hours to get the desired texture.

The day you want to use the tofu, take it out of the freezer and let it defrost. Make sure you squeeze out any remaining water that is in the tofu. It will be very spongy at this point. Cut your tofu into chunks ready to be used.

Put the ottogi frying mix in a bowl with a dash of salt and pepper. You could also add any herbs or spices too if you want extra flavour. Combine the dry ingredients then put your tofu into the floury mix and make sure all the pieces are coated before removing. Put the pieces on a separate plate. Meanwhile heat your frying pan and add enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan. Add the water to the remaining dry ingredients and whisk until you have a smooth batter. Dip your floured tofu pieces in one at a time then put them straight into the pan of oil. Turning them until they are golden brown on all sides. Once they are all done remove them from the pan and leave to drain on a piece of kitchen paper.

To make the sauce put all the sauce ingredients into a pan and whisk to combine, making sure the corn flour has dissolved. Turn the heat on and bring the sauce to a boil, stirring occasionally to dispel any lumps.

Serve on a bed of wilted pak choi and scatter on a few toasted cashew nuts. Place the tofu on the pak choi and top with the sauce. Voilà crispy tofu Chinese style.

Shanghai soup dumplings or Xiao long bao are so amazingly good that I wish that I could eat them every day. Funnily enough I first tried them when I was in Shanghai, however I didn’t get around to eating them in Korea until just recently. They are served at Crystal Jade and Din Tai Fung, both located in Myeong-Dong if you are hankering after them as much as I am. After eating even more of these bad boys I decided it was about time I tried to make my own. A quick search on Google gave me the basic formula of how to make them. You get the soup into the dumpling by making a meat jelly, which you can cut into chunks when it has cooled. Then when the dumpling is cooked, the jelly melts back into the delicious soup. Pretty clever, eh? I also decided to try using mandu wrappers instead of making the dough. Making and cutting tonnes and tonnes of little wrappers would have driven me insane so I though I would try it with the mandu wrappers instead. They worked pretty well actually, although they didn’t taste the same as the real thing.

Ingredients

200g of minced pork

I pack of mandu wrappers (만두피) (the large round ones)

500g of chicken wings

750g of belly pork

1 packet of gelatin crystals

3 cloves of garlic

1/2 an onion

2 litres of water

Directions

Place your onion, garlic, chicken wings and belly pork into a large saucepan and top up with the water and place a lid on top. A lot of recipes online recommend using Chinese ham too, but I didn’t have any and the broth still tasted great.  Boil them for about 2 hours until the water  has reduced to about 1/2 a liter and you’re left with a great stock. Strain the stock and mix in the gelatin. Then pour the stock in to a flat shallow container and leave in the fridge for a few hours to set. Once the jelly has set you can cut it into cubes. Meanwhile season the minced pork and roll it into small balls. Defrost your mandu wrappers then take one and place a piece of jelly on top.

Then place a small ball of the pork mince on top of the jelly.

You now need to gather the dumpling together, making as many pleats as you can. This is a true skill and mine are certainly not all that artistic. You can watch this video on you tube to see how the professionals do it. As long as they seal then that’s the main thing. You can practice working on their appearance the more you make them.

Once the dumplings have been formed put them in a bamboo steamer (I bought mine at Bangsan bakers mart). Place the dumplings on a piece of parchment paper, then  cook them above a pot of simmering water for about 10 minutes.

You can tell when they are done when the skin turns translucent.

Carefully remove the dumplings from the steamer and serve with Chinese rice vinegar and thinly sliced pieces of ginger. To eat the dumplings place the dumpling in a soup spoon and make a small bite on the side. Suck out the soup then eat the dumpling. Voilà homemade Shanghai Soup dumplings.

As you may know, we are off to Hong Kong tomorrow to ring in the New Year. It has been a tradition of mine to for quite some time now that I spend New Years Eve in a different country every year. New years Eve can be such a let down, but if you spend it in a different place then you have no preconceived ideas and it always ends up being a great night. Anyhow, I thought I would leave you with one last post before I venture on my holidays since it is related to Hong Kong.

Last Saturday we were out and about in Myeongdong doing some last minute Christmas shopping when we were feeling rather peckish. Personally I can never find anywhere other than Ashley’s in Myeongdong that I really like to eat. However shopping days do not always go hand in hand with all you can eat buffets. It usually puts a swift stop to all shopping.  We were having a browse around and saw a sign for Smokey’s, a burger place up on the 6th floor of Noon Square mall. However when we got there we saw this place next door and decided to try it instead to get us in the mood for all the dim sum we will be eating in Hong Kong.

They have a wide and varied menu consisting of many Chinese delights that I would have loved to have sampled. Noodle soups, wontons, fried rice, and meat dishes. There was a large variety that seemed of more of a western style than the Korean. Which is always a thumbs up for me! As I said before, we were eating light so we had an order of dumplings.

I ordered the steamed soupy pork dumplings – 6,000 for 6. In my zest to eat them I forgot to take a picture of the soupy goodness inside. For such a bargain these were incredibly tasty. The juice inside was great along with the soft doughy dumpling and a piece of pork these are my new favourite lunch. 6 was the perfect amount and with the free tea and traditional picked vegetables this was an ideal lunch.

Niall decided to get a mixed set of three spicy soup dumplings and 3 pork -7,000. Although in the end he said he preferred the original pork ones that I had ordered. They also have crab, and cheese varieties available.  I cant wait to try them in Hong Kong now, who knows how many I shall manage to eat in the next week.

Although hidden at the top of the mall I’m very glad we ventured up to this little place, the series of escalators was well worth it and I’m sure this will be my new lunch venue of choice when I’m out shopping in Myeongdong. Not only is the food tasty and cheap but you even get some entertainment in the form of the chefs in the kitchen, showing off there talents as you watch them make noodles.

Crystal Jade restaurant is located on the 6th floor of Noon Square at 83-5 Myeong-dong 2(i)-ga, Jung-gu, Seoul. It’s the same building as CGV and H&M. The closest station is Euljiro 1-ga Station (Line 2), Exit 6.
Walk straight for about 200 meters. The turn when you reach 7-11 and walk along the main shopping street.  Noon Square is on the left. You can call them on 02-3783- 5428 or visit their website for more details.

I love Chinese food, and especially love their soups. There is nothing more delicious than a bowl of soul warming chicken soup. I’m a huge sweet corn fan and this just makes the soup so scrummy it always has me heading back to the kitchen for a second bowl. Sadly here in Korea it is impossible to go and buy a bowl of this delightful delicacy, but luckily for you it’s very easy to make and you can source all the ingredients at your local Korean supermarket. This soup is so good that we have had it twice this week already. It’s a great option if you have a chicken man that sells roast chickens on your street, if not you can just use two breasts. If you have whole chickens use the bones to make the stock.

Ingredients 

2 chicken breasts (or the chicken picked off the bones of one roast chicken)

2 cans of creamed corn (or 2 cans of sweet corn blended in the blender)

1 onion

4 cloves of garlic

An inch of fresh ginger (optional)

1 litre of chicken stock (homemade or stock cube)

4 tablespoons of soy sauce

5-6 spring onions (finely chopped)

2 eggs (beaten)

2 tablespoons of sesame seed oil (optional)

Directions

If using raw chicken breasts boil them in the chicken stock until they are cooked. Remove them from the stock, allow to cool then shred them to pieces. Fry off the onions and the garlic in a little oil until softened. Add the chicken stock and bring to the boil. Add the blended sweet corn to the stock mixture along with the soy sauce and the shredded chicken. Allow to simmer for 5 minutes.

Remove the pan from the heat and add the beaten egg whilst whisking at the same time, this will make the long strands of eggs that you find in the Chinese soups. Throw in 3/4 of chopped spring onions and 1 tablespoon of sesame seed oil. Mix everything together then put into bowls. Garnish with the remaining spring onions and sesame seed oil and serve. If you’re feeling frivolous you can add some mandu into the soup a minute or two before you add the egg , it makes a nice addition in the place of wontons. Voilá my chinese chicken sweet corn soup another way to warm your winter.

If I was ever to end up on death row (I don’t discount the possibility), I would choose sweet and sour chicken balls for my last meal. They are neither nutritious or authentic chinese cuisine, but to me they are culinary heaven. A delicious piece of chicken wrapped in a glorious thick batter and smothered in a grotesquely orange sweet and sour sauce. This is my number one choice for comfort food. Sadly in Korea these delightful delicacies do not exist, and believe me I have looked. My yearly visit home is no longer enough to satisfy my lust and I have finally cracked and made them myself.

I’m so amazed by the results I can’t believe I never tried it before. They are just as good as the ones back home. As soon as I crack the sauce I’m golden.

Ingredients

125g flour

2 teaspoons of baking powder

2 eggs

2/3 cup of milk

1 tablespoon of oil

1 teaspoon of salt

2 chicken breasts (you could also use pork or king prawns)

900ml of soybean oil for frying

Directions

First you need to cook your chicken breasts, by frying or boiling them. The chicken will not have long enough to cook when you deep fry them so pre cook the chicken first and chop into small pieces. Heat up the oil to 365 degrees fahrenheit  If you have an electric ring this will take a while but if you have a gas one it should heat up quite quickly. If you don’t have a thermometer the oil is hot enough  when a drop of batter sizzles at the top instead of floating to the bottom.

To make the batter combine the dry ingredients in a bowl. Mix the eggs and milk then add to the flour mixture. Beat until smooth, then add a tablespoon of oil. When the oil is hot enough take the chicken pieces and dip them in the batter and put them into the frying pan.  Don’t cook more than 4 at once as overcrowding the pan will lower the temperature of the oil, making them greasy. You may need to turn them to make sure the batter cooks evenly. When the batter is golden brown remove from the oil and strain on kitchen paper. When they are are all finished serve with sweet and sour sauce and devour. Voila chinese chicken heaven.

So for us it has been a week of factory eating. First came Poutine Factory and now here’s China Factory. I do enjoy my food when it’s in factory form. China factory is a chain of restaurants owned by the CJ group, those wonderful people who brought us VIPS.  I thought that it’s about high time that I started covering a few more chain restaurants. I know that we are very fortunate to live in foreign food heaven, but everyone isn’t as lucky as us. Korea is a pretty big country and some of you are flung far and away from the glittering lights of Itaewon. So I want to start covering more places that are found here there and everywhere.

We had spent an enjoyable and fun packed morning at the immigration offices and since we had cleverly made an appointment we had an hour or so to kill. What else to do than to go for lunch. The big Hyundai department is in Mokdong, brimming over with delectable delicacies from around the world. However we decided to go and pay China Factory a visit. I had been once before and enjoyed it immensely, also because it was lunch time I knew it would be cheap.

When you arrive they will give you a menu. For the set price fee you can either choose one premium dish or three regular dishes. Never one to believe that less is more, we opted to get three each. The menu is pretty extensive with lots of western style dishes as well as the Korean ones. You also get your choice of tea, access to the all you can eat dim sum bar plus fruit and ice-cream for dessert.

We perused the menu, chose our dishes, and set about attacking the dim sum bar. They had various fried and steamed dim sum or mandus if you will. These were fine but nothing special in the taste department. They did have the very adorable hello kitty dim sum as well as other various animals and cartoon characters. Although sadly they were filled with red bean which I find to be the most vile food on the planet so I couldn’t actually eat those but they were still cute none the less.

As we were tucking into our mandu the first plate we ordered came out. It was the Beijing style sweet and sour pork. I really liked this dish, the slices of pork were tender, covered in a crispy batter and smothered in light sweet and sour sauce. My only complaint was that the portion was far too small, by the time I had given Niall his share there wasnt much left. I could have eaten twice this much by myself! Other than that it was good.

The next dish to arrive was the Kungpao Chicken. This is Niall’s favorite dish so we had high expectations. Sadly they were not met. Although the portion was of a decent size the taste left a lot to be desired. It just had a kind of unpleasant bland burning taste that so many Korean foods have. There was no sweet or spiciness just a kind of numbing heat. Compared to one we had the other day elsewhere it really didn’t fare well. It’s a shame as last time we enjoyed it.

The Mongolian beef arrived shortly after and it had so many beansprouts on it I first thought it was something else. Since it has shrimps and squid in it, I think you can understand my confusion. The few pieces of bulgogi in amongst all that veg qualified as Mongolian beef. There was nothing wrong with the meat per se, I was just expecting large chunks of it in a sticky brown sauce. The real problem of this dish was again the bland burning sauce that covered it.

Finally things turned around as out came the lemon chicken. This was my favorite dish. The chicken was light, tasty, and covered in a lovely batter. The sauce was lemony and sweet. It could have had a little more zing but overall I enjoyed it. Again a bigger portion would have been nicer, luckily I had managed to trade off my portion of the il fated Kungpao chicken and got to enjoy this mostly to myself.

After the meat came the spicy fried rice with chicken and onion. It had the look and smell that you want in a fried rice, but sadly in my rush for fried rice I had overlooked the word spicy. It wasnt that it blew my brains out, I do enjoy hot food. It’s just after some of the previous dishes containing that same bland heat I was looking for a bit of respite. This rice was doused in flakes of red chili. Clearly someone in the kitchen was being far too heavy-handed with it. I’m quite certain that it wasnt that bad last time. The onions were crunchy and there was plenty of egg it’s just after all that chili I couldn’t really taste anything. The heat had scalded my taste buds rendering them near to useless and all the green tea in the world wasnt able to change that.

Last of all was the Singaporean fried noodles. These were fairly good and at last it was nice to eat a dish that tasted a little different. They were nothing to write home about in the taste department but a good way to finish the meal. It would have been good to have more noodles and less vegetables though. A common problem in Chinese noodle dishes.

Overall I think the review is more positive than negative and I would go back again. There are some nice dishes on the menu and plenty of others that I would have liked to try. I would definitely ask them to tone down the chili flakes though. After tax it worked out at about 20,000 each which is pretty fair considering the amount we got. Considering you get the tea and as much coffee as you like plus the fruit, ice-cream, and dim sum bar, I think it is worth it. You also get to try a lot of dishes at once , which is what I personally want from a Chinese meal. No, it’s not as good as Ho Lee Chow but it’s also half the price, and we still left equally as full if not more so.

We visited the Mokdong branch which is open from 11am – 11pm. Prices vary from 18,000 -26,800 depending on the day and time you visit. If you would more information about China Factory, including location and phone numbers  check out their website. http://www.chinafactory.co.kr/

Located in the alleyway behind the Hamilton Hotel is the delightful fusion restaurant My Thai China. The menu has a good balance between Thai and Chinese dishes. This second floor restaurant gazes down upon you looking warm and inviting to those on the outside. Take a journey up the stairs to find yourself in a Thai den of iniquity full of dark wood and flickering candles.

The menu is quite substantial and has a lot to offer, all the Thai favourites seem to be there as well as the more westernised Chinese offerings. We opted for the set  menu (55,000)which included spring rolls, the choice of two main meat/fish dishes as well as a rice or noodle dish and 2 complementary soft drinks. For an extra 30,000 you can upgrade it to include a bottle of wine.

The spring rolls were crisp and tasty and reminiscent of the ones I ate in Thailand. It’s very hard to find good  spring rolls in Korea but these guys cracked it. The sweet chilli sauce accompanying them was also very good. It had the right balance between chilli and sweetness, and it tasted homemade.

Next were our main dishes, we chose the fried chciken with mushrooms and cashew nuts and the fried shrimp with pineapple in red wine sauce.  The chicken was lightly fried without batter in a spicy sticky glaze, there was a generous amount of cashew nuts sprinkled on top of the dish. I really liked this dish, but my boyfriend said it fell short of the Kung Pao at Ho Lee Chow as he felt it was too dry, perhaps a little bit more sauce could secure them a victory.

The real star of this meal was the fried shrimp with pineapple in red wine sauce. It was so good I don’t even know where to begin. The king prawns were large and juicy and covered in a divine thick crispy batter. It reminded me of the same batter we get at home on our fish and chips, The pineapple was juicy and the sauce was a nice take on the sweet ‘n sour, I would have licked the plate clean!

Our last dish was the soy fried chicken rice but it turned out to be rather disappointing. There was far too much soy sauce for a start and it was too heavy on the garlic, both flavors I usually enjoy but they completely overpowered any other elements in the dish. I love fried rice but this one was worse than the Korean fried rice(볶음밥).

Overall I would certainly go back to My Thai China, it would be worth it for those king prawns alone, but there were plenty of other dishes on the menu I would like to have tried. The decor is dark and romantic, it would be a nice place to take a date and it’s not too expensive, our food could have easily fed three people.

To get to My Thai China come out of exit 1 and head for the alley behind the Hamilton Hotel, it’s just opposite Scrooge’s pub. It was quite busy on the Thursday night we were there so it might serve you well to make a reservation to avoid disappointment. Telephone number 02-749-9287.