My Korean Meal at Home

To complete #77 of my 101 Challenge, I prepared a Korean meal at home last month.  I will say, the meal wasn't terribly traditional, but it did have all Korean dishes.  Usually there is a main dish with meat, plain rice, soup, and side dishes and kimchi, but we improvised for our lunch.

We had buddae chiggae (army stew), jjajangmyeon (the black bean noodles), and bokempop (mixed fried rice).  I used what I wanted to from two soup recipes I found online, the jjajangmyeon was purchased from a nearby Chinese restaurant, and the bokempop was made from a  recipe our Korean sister Alice wrote for us in 2008.

My parents, my sister, and her boyfriend all said everything was pretty good!  I would have used less gochujang and less Spam in the stew (to make it less spicy and less salty, respectively), but it was good.  I really liked getting to have Korean foods again!  So yummy!

A very loose bokempop recipe:

(I'll try and update with more exact recipe measurements when I can!)

Sautee chopped onion and carrot in a large pan with some oil.  Add chopped bacon when the onion becomes clear.  Add cooked rice, ketchup, oyster sauce, and salt and pepper to taste.  Mix and cook until all is hot.

In a seperate pan, fry an egg (yolk broken or not, it's up to you) for each serving.  To plate, cup the bokempop mixture into balls using a shallow mug or small bowl.  Set each ball onto a plate and top with a fried egg.

Voila!

Because of the ketchup, the bokembopis actually kind of sweet.  It's very, very tasty, and my family has loved it since our sister Alice made it for us when she was here.