Meal 43: DPR Korea

Nothing about making a North Korean meal is easy. First of all, it's even hard to find someone from North Korea to talk to: estimates say that only 14,000 people have managed to escape the totalitarian state in the 59 years since the end of the Korean War, and there's virtually zero Internet access within the country. Secondly, except for a particular noodle dish, most (South) Koreans aren't really aware of which of the foods they eat originated across the DMZ. And thirdly, when you search for "North Korean food," you tend to find information about famine and international relations, not recipes. Needless to say, this meal is a feast of an abundance that probably only a privileged few would ever enjoy in North Korea.

With help and research from my officemate Soo Young, whose grandfather hailed from the north of Korea, and some clutch advice from my Korean foodie friend Monica, I managed to cobble together a menu. But that's not all...now to make the darn meal! I made the kim chi the week before, and the beef broth a few days before. We took a trip all the way to the H-Mart in Flushing, Queens on Saturday for ingredients, I spent most of Sunday afternoon prepping, and then Soo Young and I spent the evening frying, folding, steaming, and cooling. I've never seen so many prep bowls used in one meal!

Before we continue, a note on the meal order. You may be wondering, "North Korea? But you just cooked Croatia, how's that alphabetical?" Well, we go by the strict alphabetical order of this UN member list, and the official name is Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Yes, we have three more C's to go, but for a variety of reasons we have to do those later.

Along with Soo Young, we had Lauren, Padraig, Jens, Melanie, Angad, Michele, and Rachel — she's the one with the headphones and microphone, recording for an upcoming radio segment!

Bindaetteok | Mung bean pancakes | Recipe

If you'd handed me a bunch of yellow split mung beans, I'd never have thought to soak them in cold water with a bit of rice for a few hours, then puree it, add some preserved fiddlehead ferns, onions, pork, and seasoning, and then fry it like pancakes. But Koreans have been doing exactly that for at least three hundred and fifty years. And I can see why! (And not just because it's fun to mix.) From these basic ingredients a wonderful richness emerges. The crisp outside contrasts with the soft inside, too, which makes it all the more fun to eat.

Mandu | Dumplings | Recipe

So many cultures wrap things in dough that you'd think everyone figured it out on their own. But apparently everyone from the Turks to the Koreans learned to make them from the Mongols many centuries ago — and they have virtually the same name in Turkish and Korean! These ones are made primarily of ground meat and chives, kept separate in the bowl to preserve texture and flavor until being stuffed, which Soo Young did so beautifully. You can pan-fry them, make them into a soup, or steam them as we did.

Pyongyang naengmyeon | Noodles in cold broth | Recipes: Kim chi, beef broth, noodle dish

Apparently, if you ask a South Korean to name the most distinctive dish from across the DMZ, most will mention these chewy noodles in a cold broth. From their unassuming appearance, would you have guessed that this probably took more prep work than any other single United Noshes dish? I mean, I could have used the broth packet included in the package, but that's just cheating.

A week ago I made the mul kim chi, which unlike the red-slathered stuff you're probably more familiar with, is only moderately spiced and is fermented gently in a brine. (Mul means "water.") It was actually not as hard as I'd expected, you pretty much chop up a bunch of stuff, throw it in the brine, let it sit for two days, and it magically ferments on its own. Perhaps the hardest part was clearing out enough space in the fridge for the big pot.

Then a few days ago I made the beef broth. Unlike in the Western tradition, where the bones are first roasted and thus the broth has a rich color, the Korean way is to do an initial boil to get off the gunk, dump that water and scrub the pot, and then do a second boil for several hours. The broth ended up almost clear, and Emmylou has been very happy to have some bones to chew on.

Finally to make the noodles, made of a combination of buckwheat, sweet potato and wheat. After just a few minutes they get chewy, and you immediately strain them and run cold water through them to prevent overcooking. Cop them with Asian pear and marinated cucumber, gently place half a hard-boiled egg, pour in a mix of beef broth and kim chi water, and serve this labor-intensive bowl of pure cold refreshment.

Oh, and I made a hot sauce to put on top of it too! Red pepper paste, Asian pear, and lots of other yummy stuff.

Bulgogi | Marinated grilled beef | Recipe below

According to Soo Young, a survey or study showed that this is the dish North Koreans most wish they could eat. Thinly sliced beef is marinated in soy sauce, sesame oil, etc., and then grilled, or in this case quickly pan-fried. We enjoyed it ssam style, wrapped in a lettuce leaf and spread with a particular sauce. Really tasty.

Sujeonggwa | Cinnamon-ginger drink | Recipe

If most of the rest of this stuff was really complicated, this was shockingly and deliciously simple. Just simmer cinnamon and ginger (separately), add sugar, chill together, sprinkle with pine nuts and dried persimmon if you can find it, and you've got summertime refreshment that tastes like Christmas. Just for fun I turned half of it into sorbet, which was really refreshing too. What a pleasure to have a light dessert after four different tasty and filling dishes.

It will likely not surprise you that it's extremely difficult to find North Korean music online, so alas our soundtrack was lacking — but given that we were recording for radio that's probably for the better. Next week we turn to the only other country in the world where you can't buy a Coke: Cuba.

Photos by Laura Hadden, who regrettably forgot to sip Hennessy in honor of the late Dear Leader. 

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Soo Young's guide to Korean beef

meat:

- For Bulgogi, get bulgogi sliced meat at the Korean grocer, or thinly sliced tenderloin or sirloin works best

- For Kalbi, use sliced short ribs (with or without the bone), typically double the thickness of bulgogi

- For LA Kalbi - LA stands for "lateral axis" cut, bone-in cut, which you can find at the Korean grocer

- Other - you can use this marinade for chicken (but I'd probably include some ginger and pepper for the chicken marinade). i do not recommend this marinade for pork. there is a spicy pork recipe that is better for pork.

marinade essentials:

There is nothing EXACT in Korean food, so approximate and adjust to taste;

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup sugar/brown sugar, or substitute some of the sugar with natural sugars like a fuji apple pureed. I'd choose a fuji apple or asian pear.

1/2 cup soy sauce

3 tablespoons sesame oil

2 tablespoons fresh ground pepper

4 minced garlic cloves

optional, but in order of recommendation:

2 chopped scallions - personally, I like to chop them longways at an angle (optional)

1 tablespoon ground roasted sesame seeds (optional)

1/2 onion chopped - personally, I like to cut the onion in half from top to bottom, and then chop longways, but you often see restaurants also slice the onions down the middle - good for grilling

king oyster mushrooms, sliced - especially great when you're grilling

Make the marinade in one bowl. Dip each slice into the marinade and then put into a container for storage. That way, no matter how much meat you have, you get an even distribution of marinade. Let the marinade do its magic for at least 1-2 hours for bulgogi, and longer for kalbi since it's a thicker cut of meat. I like to often put my marinaded meat in a large ziploc bag, marinade overnight (and even freeze it if I'm headed to a barbecue the next day).

how to cook your bulgogi:

- stovetop on a pan (gets you a juicy version)

- charcoal grill

- gas grill

the meat is served well done.

how to serve:

- Bulgogi dup bap - You can serve it over rice (bulgogi dup bap). Typically you serve the stovetop version, so you've got some juice for the rice.

- Ssam - Serve with red leaf lettuce and red bean paste, soy bean paste, or my favorite: ssam jang, which is a combination of the two. Sometimes restaurants serve other types of lettuce/leaves and vegetables and a scallion salad to go with the ssam.

- Main Dish with ban chan - Korean food is typically served family style, so this could be your main protein dish, and you'd serve it with other banchan (side dishes) including kimchi

- Other: I've seen people get really creative and use bulgogi in fusion food, including bulgogi burritos, bulgogi hamburgers, bulgogi topping on pizza. The bulgogi burritos were my favorite of the three

Detour: Olympic-but-not-UN Potluck!

What do Hong Kong, Guam, Bermuda and Aruba all have in common? Well, aside from being islands in warmer climes, they are all a part of the special group of places that compete independently in the Olympics but aren't UN member states.

Since we had a spare week due to some schedule shakeups, we thought we'd take a brief pause from our march through the alphabet and also acknowledge the great international spectacle that is the Summer Games. What's more, we did this one as a potluck, and it turned out super successfully! As we drank and ate our ways through the foods of some of the smallest teams, we gathered on the porch to watch the rather bizarre closing ceremonies on a TV perched on top of the barbecue.

Piña coladas (Cayman Islands), painkillers (US Virgin Islands) and rum punch (British Virgin Islands)

If you like piña coladas...well, you'll probably also like the other two drinks featuring rum and pineapple juice. Thanks to Elly, John, and Katie for the concoctions! These sweet, cold drinks definitely got us into the mood. (See the little bit of red in the middle? That's from a macerated cherry left over from the Croatia meal!)

Papaya with coconut (Cook Islands)

The Cook Islands make for a small dot in the South Pacific, roughly between Tonga and Tahiti. Their cuisine places an emphasis on simple preparations of fresh foods, and so to balance out the heaviness of the rest of the meal I decided to make a simple dish of papaya with a squeeze of lime juice topped with fresh scraped coconut. To be really accurate I should have used the smaller "solo" or Hawaiian papaya, but on the East Coast those are really hard to find so I went with a big, and unfortunately less sweet, Mexican papaya. (Fun fact: my grandfather was the first person to grow Hawaiian papayas in Mexico!)

Pernil (Puerto Rico) | Roast pork shoulder | Recipe

Congratulations to Puerto Rico for their silver in 84 kg mens wrestling and bronze in mens 400 m hurdles! In celebration, Elly and Jeff whipped up a mean pernil. Simply encrusted with a few spices and slowly roasted, it was a meaty and tasty treat, best enjoyed with a squeeze of lime and a sprinkling of cilantro.

Keshi yena (Curaçao)

The Netherlands Antilles was dissolved as a country within the Kingdom of the Netherlands, and since then the new smaller countries haven't set up Olympic Committees. So its athletes (along with a South Sudanese marathoner who, understandably, refused to run under the Sudanese flag) participated as Independent Olympic Athletes under the Olympic flag. Anyway, all those former Dutch Antilleans were from Curaçao, so that's what I went for.

This dish, which means "stuffed cheese" in the local Papiamento creole, has a telling history. Apparently the Dutch landholders would get wheels of cheese shipped from the Old World, and scoop out the insides. When only the rind remained, they'd give it to their slaves, who then filled it with whatever they could find and bake it. Today's recipes includes all sorts of ingredients that reflect the very diverse trading influences on the island, from Indian-inspired English piccalilli to Portuguese olives — and I found the recipe on a local Jewish community's website!

Chicken kelaguen (Guam) | Chicken-citrus salad | Recipe

Marinating meat in a citrus sauce is popular the world over. Kelaguen is the version they enjoy on Guam. With most meats it's made from raw and the acid does the cooking, but with chicken you have to use heat to cook it first. So that's what Chrys did. Chilies gave it some kick, and the tender meat of a young coconut added a nice bit of crisp to balance out the soft meat.

Baked pork chop and rice (Hong Kong) | Recipe

As a "special administrative region" within China, Hong Kong does a lot of things separately from the mainland, including its government system, its currency, and yes, its Olympics team — which won a bronze in women's keirin cycling. Amy, who hails from Hong Kong, made us a dish that she calls her comfort food: a casserole with layers of rice, pieces of fried pork chops, a sauce with big chunks of tomatoes, finished with a layer of melty mozzarella cheese. With a vaguely Asian basis but also some Western ingredients (tomatoes) and techniques (baking cooked rice just isn't something normal Chinese cuisine does), Amy gave us an appropriate taste of her home.

Braised pork belly with preserved greens (Chinese Taipei, aka Taiwan)

Taiwan is not a part of the UN. The Republic of China, as Taiwan's government is formally known, was in fact the representative for China's seat until 1971, until the People's Republic of China took it over. Taiwan has tried many times to gain readmission to the UN, but many factors, not least of which is the PRC's permanent seat on the Security Council, keep this de facto country of 23 million people out. Not wanting to upset the PRC, the US does not officially recognize Taiwan or the ROC as a de jure country, but in de facto terms we're great buds, with embassy-like non-profits in each other's capitals and lots of trade. It's this weird state of affairs that leads to the nonsensical name of Chinese Taipei for much of their representation in international affairs such as the Olympics — and congrats for the silver in women's weightlifting and the bronze in women's taekwondo.

Anyway, when I met Katie, she was sad to hear that we weren't planning to do a Taiwanese nosh, because her partner Phil's family is Taiwanese and a great cook. So when we whipped up this idea, she was the first person I invited. And wow! This was just spectacular: richly spiced and falling-apart pork belly, braised with some sort of preserved green his mother brought back from Taiwan, scooped into a small, fluffy taco-like pancake and topped with pickled mustard greens, cilantro, and chopped peanuts. So much yum.

Fungi (Aruba) | Cornmeal | Recipe

We've experienced fungi, fufu, and all the other names for mush many a time at our Noshing table for both African and Caribbean meals, but I gotta say that Annie did a darn good job with her version. This cornmeal-based one was much more solid, and much of it was cut into pieces and fried, so hence, delicious.

Rum Cake (Bermuda) | Recipe

With all that food, one dessert was enough! Christen made this scrumptious rum cake. She's definitely my kind of cook because the cake arrived with that notch at the top missing — she couldn't resist tasting it!

This culinary tour did leave out two qualifying teams: our American Samoan representative couldn't make it, and Palestine will get a full meal as a permanent observing member of the UN. And with that we're back to the list, albeit a tad out of order, with a dip into the d's with Democratic People's Republic of Korea — aka North Korea — coming up.

Meal 41: Côte D'Ivoire

Am I getting better at cooking African food, or is Ivorian cuisine just that good? Probably more the latter, but still, this was probably our best sub-Saharan meal yet. The flavors were so well-balanced, the spice delightful and not overwhelming, and the textures pleasant. What's more, with the exception of a few ingredients that you could probably cleverly work your way around, you can find these ingredients in a standard Western supermarket, so if you've been looking to try cooking African food, this is a good start.

Other than the New World staples like cassava and chilies which have become so common over Africa that most people probably don't know they were brought there, this meal shows essentially no European influence. Jessica, who lived in Côte D'Ivoire during high school, notes that although Ivorians are the world leaders in cacao production and also grow a lot of coffee, they consume almost none of either.

In contrast to the day before which was gross and rainy, we were blessed with amazing evening weather. Around the table were Jessica, Anthony, Miriam, Flonia, Natalie, Diana, Anna, and David.

Tilapia braisé | Grilled tilapia | Recipe: French, English translation

  The coast is so much a part of the country's identity that it's in the name! So it was only appropriate to cook some fish. I had several options available, including dorado and hogfish, but I went with tilapia because I could buy it live from a tank in Sunset Park. Doesn't get fresher than that!

As with last week's Congolese quail, the marinade was a blend of garlic, ginger, onions, and hot pepper, although this time I used a blender rather than crushing it. And also the same, this grilling style calls for cutting deep slashes in the meat to allow more of the marinade to permeate. But what's different is what comes afterwards: throwing onions and tomatoes marinated in a vinaigrette straight on the grill! As you can see from the photo I used a mesh, otherwise it would have all fallen through. It all made for a delicious mess, and I'm glad I got three fish, because it all got snapped up!

Kedjenou | Chicken and vegetable stew | Recipe

I have to admit I was a bit suspicious of the value of this stew, since it doesn't feature any ingredients you couldn't find at a Walmart with a produce section, but several sources pointed to it being a well-known Ivorian dish so I took the plunge. I did start with the heat too low, because after the prescribed hour and a half with the lid shut, the meat was still pink, but I turned it up to medium for another half hour. How rewarded we were! The flavors blended so delightfully and the chicken was really tender. Maybe the super-slow start helped?

Sauce arachide | Peanut sauce | Recipe

I swear it tasted way better than it looks, what you see here is the red palm oil having separated. This recipe comes by way of my colleague Christiaan! I found this article when I was looking for an Ivorian peanut sauce, and it turns out that he did Peace Corps there. In fact, he's something of a peanut sauce impresario, he's even hosted a cook-off! He also helped make sure that the rest of the meal seemed on-track.

I left out the chicken from this recipe since we had it in another dish, and instead upped the crushed dried shrimp. I also halved the number of peppers and fished them out partway through, in the interest of keeping it less than fiery. But it's a damn good recipe and it would go well on so many things.

Attiéké | Cassava couscous | Preparation

Another African country that doesn't just do fufu, hooray! This one's pretty distinctive, a couscous that's traditionally made by hand out of cassava. Christiaan doubted I'd find it in the states, but my little favorite African market has it in frozen three-pound balls. You could really do fine using regular couscous, but the texture would be a bit different. Also, I like the preparation as (passionately!) described in the link, including a bit of vinegar and bouillon for flavor.

Aloco | Fried plantain

It's hard to make a bad fried plantain, but apparently you can always improve. I biked a little farther than I normally go on my shopping jaunts to Sunset Park, and among dozens of produce shops found Marketa Los Fernandez. This place was narrow and crowded, and was holding its own a block from a supermarket, a very good sign. But the best part was the plantain selection: not only green and yellow, but also black! The stuff of legend! I snapped up every one I could find, cut them up in wedges as shown, fried them in red palm oil, and, well, yum. (There's supposed to be a spicy tomato-onion sauce with them, but with all the other dishes I just skipped that part.)

Mangues | Mango

Apparently dessert isn't much of a thing, so I cut up some ripe mango, and we passed the bowl around as we ate with dainty cocktail forks.

We're taking the next week off to celebrate our third wedding anniversary at the Newport Folk Festival, and when we're back it's Croatia!

Photos by Laura Hadden, who is really enjoying experiencing the wide variety of African cuisine. 

Meal 40: Congo

The larger better-known of the two countries named after the Congo River is the Democratic Republic of Congo, the former Zaire and previously a Belgian colony, but that shows up in the D's. This meal is from the north side of the river, the Republic of Congo, the former French colony, sometimes known as Congo-Brazzaville after its capital.

Anyway, as you might imagine, it's a bit tricky to find what's distinctively from this country as opposed to its cross-river sibling, both because they eat similar things and also because the similar name makes it hard to search precisely. But I managed! While this is hardly the first time we've encountered cassava leaves, this preparation takes advantage of Congo's coast and throws in fish. And for the first time we're approaching bush meat! Read on for the tasty details.

The threatened thunderstorms never arrived, and it was just a perfect evening on the deck. It was a really fun crowd, with Melvin, Pegi, Alex, Barrak, Hillary, Dan, Jessica, Beni, and Barmey trading stories for hours.

Cailles grillées au piment et au gingembre | Grilled quail with chili-ginger marinade | Recipe: French, English translation

All manner of animals are either hunted or raised in Congo, of which quail is a good example. And this marinade is a good example of the simple, straightforward, and tasty approach that so much African food shows: mash up some onions, garlic, ginger and chilies, toss in some salt and oil, and you've got yourself a marinade. By cutting slits in the meat, more flavor can get in. Then just throw them whole on the grill, turn 'em a few times, and they're really tasty. Don't be scared by the amount of chili pepper in the recipe, since it's a marinade you're only really eating a fraction of what you put in. I would definitely recommend this for even less adventurous meats like chicken; if you don't want to mash it by hand you could make a fine marinade in the blender. If you're making it with quail, just remember that each one weighs barely a quarter-pound, so think of it more as an appetizer at one apiece.

Saka-saka | Cassava leaf stew with mackerel | Recipe: French, English translation

One hazard when cooking the most "authentic" recipes is that they assume you're cooking from the same type of ingredients that you'd find on the ground. But it turns out there's a pretty big difference in cooking fresh and frozen cassava leaves, which I only realized when I found this recipe that was specifically developed for the frozen kind. Turns out you gotta cook it a heck of a lot longer!

Another great improvement over the Burundian and Central African versions of this dish is the addition of fish. These two whole mackerel did a lot for both the flavor and the texture. I also learned a novel technique for removing the bones: put the fish on top of the stew for about ten minutes to heat it up, remove it, and the meat just slides off the spine. Genius!

I did make a few variations on the recipe. The "whole bottle" of red palm oil was ambiguous, I ended up using about half the one-liter bottle I had. I also took two bits from another recipe: I sauteed the onion and garlic in the oil before adding it to the dish, and I crumbled in two little bouillon cubes (equivalent of one American-sized cube) rather than just adding salt. I left out any chilies, and instead passed around some Peri-Peri hot sauce.

Bananes plantains | Green plantains

We're cooking green plantains as starch so often that, just like the rice I also served with the meal, I'm probably going to stop calling them out at some point. But one thing I wanted to point out was advice from my mother: it's so much faster and easier to cook them in the microwave! Give it about two minutes apiece, and they're done.

Mango-ginger-lime sorbet | Recipe

A real Congolese meal would probably end in cut fruit, if anything. But I was itching to make a frozen delight, and had the ingredients on hand, so I made this sorbet. I only had two mangoes rather than the five the recipe calls for, and I tripled the ginger, added an extra lime's worth of zest, and put in some sugar water to compensate. All told, the original recipe is probably more of a crowd-pleaser, but if you like ginger and aren't afraid of bitter, try it my way! Oh, and those red things are pieces of papaya bathed in lime juice.

We're heading around the Gulf of Guinea up to Côte D'Ivoire for our next meal. Joining us for the rest of our journey is our sweet new dog Emmylou, a border collie mix who just joined our family on Friday!

Photos by Laura Hadden, who's looking forward to Emmylou's help eating table scraps.

One Year of United Noshes!

39 countries, six continents, several gallons of oil and one hell of a time. After one year, United Noshes is neatly at the 20% mark of cooking one meal from each UN member country in alphabetical order. On July 10, 2011, we had three guests for lamb, eggplant and chunky yogurt drink to kick things off with Afghanistan. Last week we served a Costa Rican feast on the shores of a lake on a Puget Sound island for our 39th meal. While most of our meals were either in our dining room or back porch in Brooklyn, we took the show on the road to Boston, DC, the Catskills, Tacoma, and the Bay Area (twice!).

Some meals, like Argentina and China, have been magically abundant occasions; others, like Andorra and Bhutan, were pretty strange. Belarus and Canada were great excuses to make doing shots into a culturally appropriate experience, while Antigua and Barbuda was postponed, appropriately enough, by a hurricane. Guests with experience of the country taught us much, such as Rudina's stories about the great national Ponzi scheme of the 90s in Albania and Ssebbaale teaching us the Botswanan toast to rain. Along the way I bought a couscousssier, a deep-fryer, and a jumbo African mortar and pestle.

From the beginning, Noshing has been about giving as well as indulging, and we're so grateful to our guests and Google's generous matching. In total we've raised $7,455 for the World Food Program USA, which at 4 meals per dollar means 29,820 meals served. 14 of the meals we've cooked so far have been from countries the WFP serves, and at our big fundraiser nosh with WFP USA we explored the explicit connection between the Cameroonean meal and the nutrition challenges of central Africa.

And the people Noshing has reached! A total of 218 unique guests, from ages 2 to 92, have come to at least one of these 39 Noshes; of those, we met 86 for the first time at the meal. Our site's received visits from 127 different countries/territories, and the most popular meal's page was Canada. We're pleased to have been written up by both Grub Street and CNN's Eatocracy, yet we got by far the most traffic from an email we had the chance opportunity to send to over 20,000 people via The Listserve — and now for over three dozen countries we've got volunteers to help with the menu.

Whether you're a regular at the table or looking on from halfway around the world, thanks for being a part of this beautiful adventure. We've got a long way to go, so put on your eatin' pants and buckle up!