Reeves Family Adventures: Adventures in Korean Cooking!

We've always loved eating Korean food - ever since we knew we'd be adopting a baby from Korea, we've tried to learn a bit about the culture and the food.

We've been blessed to meet some amazing people within the Korean community, both in Toronto and in Ottawa. I've read about making lots of different dishes, and we've tried different things at various restaurants (although we keep returning to some favourite dishes), but I hadn't done a lot of Korean cooking at home.

One of the things I've wanted for years is a Korean grill. They are cool little tabletop grills that you get in restaurants for cooking different dishes at the table. Chris surprised me with a new grill for Christmas this year, so I was eager to try it out. I'd also bought some Korean marinades at a local Korean grocery store when a friend visited Ottawa a couple of months ago, so I decided to bite the bullet and try doing some cooking on my own.

Some of our favourite dishes include Bulgogi (thinly sliced beef that is marinaded in a slightly sweet soy sauce mixture and then grilled), yachae jeon (pancakes with veggies) and mandu (dumplings). I bought some beef at the local Korean grocery (it is pre-sliced), and also some frozen mandu (I want to learn to make these from scratch). I made some Korean rice, the veggie pancakes and the bulgogi. We love eating the bulgogi the traditional way, where you take a nice fresh lettuce leaf, put some hot pepper sauce, rice and meat in the lettuce and wrap it up - almost like a Korean burrito. It is yummy and I learned a lot through some trial and error, especially with the dipping sauces and the veggie pancakes.

I can't wait to try out some new recipes as well! I've been collecting some great Korean recipes, and also some cool bookbooks, so it will be fun experimenting and learning more about Korean culture and food.