Arum Korean Market and the wonderful world of tabletop cooking

Beef bulgogi Korean barbecue style on Flickr by beFOODled.

S and I bought a shiny, red, gas-powered tabletop cooker from Arum Korean Market on Bank St., a vendor that has been reviewed by the Ottawa Foodies. It's my new favourite kitchen accessory and we've already used it three times this month.


Our new tabletop cooker on Flickr by beFOODled.

You know when you eat late because you are busy, lazy, not that organized or all of the above? That's the norm in our house, but the actual cooking part is so quick if you have marinated meat and condiments at the ready. Cooking your food at the table also just makes dinnertime more engaging — kind of like driving a standard versus an automatic.


Cooking beef bulgogi at the table on Flickr by beFOODled.

The cooker, as well as a six-pack of butane gas cartridges and a coated non-stick aluminum grill pan, came to about $120. The owner of Arum also sold us a big frozen package of thinly sliced beef for the bulgogi. I used this recipe for Korean barbecue.


Condiments for our Korean barbecue night on Flickr by beFOODled.

We also bought a big tub of kim chee from Arum. I think Arum might even sell the kim chee made by Restaurant Joy, the best kim chee in the city according to my friend Squeaky.

Our other condiments were sauteed shiitake mushrooms, julienned carrots and some diced pineapple, which added a nice hit of sweetness against the hot sauce and spicy kim chee.

The first day we prepped all the condiments and marinated the meat, but the next day we just grabbed all the leftovers from the fridge, turned on the gas and hey presto! We achieved the desirable conclusion of dinner :)

Arum Korean Market
512 Bank St.
Ottawa, ON K2P 1Z6
613.233.1658‎


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Homemade Korean Barbeque

I am a woman obsessed ... with Korean barbeque (just had some tonight at Oz Kafe). That restaurant in Toronto a few weeks ago really made an impression on me. I cooked a pared-down version of KB this weekend. Here's how it turned out (yummy, a lot of work, but well worth the wait).

Korean Barbeque for Two
Adapted from Jenny Kwak's recipe in Dok Suni, reproduced on epicurious.com.

The main ingredients are:
~400 g rib-eye steak, thinly sliced
red leaf lettuce, whole leaves
kimchi
dipping sauce


Marinate the steak slices in the following ingredients for half an hour:
1/2 C soy sauce
1 Tbsp sesame oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp white sugar
1 Tbsp sake
1 tsp black pepper
3 green onions, chopped
2-inch piece of ginger, grated
1/2 pear, peeled and minced
Fry the marinated meat in a bit of olive oil and pile on a plate. You can substitute kiwi for pear. The fruit will tenderize the meat, but don't use more than half of it, otherwise the meat may become too soft.

To make the dipping sauce, mix these ingredients together and warm in a saucepan over low until thickened:
3 Tbsp miso paste
4 cloves garlic, chopped
6 tsp hot pepper sauce
3 tsp olive oil
6 Tbsp water

Serve with the lettuce wraps, kimchi and sake.

The Korean Grill in Toronto

As my old friend JP says, "At the Korean Grill House, it's all about the meat!"

Last weekend I was in Toronto again for work and I saw JP. We lived together when we were in university and she was the best cook in the house. And as you can see, we had platters and platters of meat, from fish to pork to beef.

We ordered the unlimited Korean BBQ with unlimited lettuce and condiments and it only cost us $20 each. Now this is my kind of eating! You cook the meats on the sunken BBQ in the middle of the table. Then you take a lettuce leaf, smear it with chili sauce, add some barbecued meat or fish, top with condiments - kimchi, a pickled cabbage that is an aquired taste but then becomes addictive, bean sprouts and fried tofu, among other tasties - and wrap it up into a bundle and pop it in your mouth. We even tried some tongue.

Cooking the food before you eat it forces you to take it slow. Another great thing is, since the food arrives on many plates and needs to be assembled, you'll never know how much you are eating. Therefore one has no excuse to feel like a greedy pig at the Korean Grill. We went to the one at Yonge and Bloor, but there are other locations at Yonge and Dundas, and Queen and University. It's probably wise to make a reservation before you go because it's really popular.

My only complaint is that when they find out it's someone's birthday, they bang this great gong at the front and everybody yells "Happy Birthday," which is kind of irritating when you are trying to talk to someone. But I really recommend this place. The prices are great and the BBQ is just fantastic!

Korean Grill House
754 Yonge St. (corner Bloor)
Toronto, ON
416.922.3328