This recipe is brought to you by the SAVEUR Cookbook Club, our passionate community of food-loving readers from around the globe, celebrating our favorite authors and recipes. Join us as we cook through a new book every month, and share your food pics and vids on social media with the hashtags #SAVEURCookbookClub and #EatTheWorld.

The rice-based liquor known as soju is an essential element of the pojangmacha, or “covered stall,” street food scene across Seoul. In her new cookbook, Pocha: Simple Korean Food from the Streets of Seoul, author Su Scott offers a handful of fresh cocktail recipes to put the iconic liquor to work, including this twist on the classic sour. Though you can easily enjoy soju by itself, this zingy drink brightened with lemon juice, maple syrup, and maraschino cherry syrup is well worth a try.

Adapted with permission from Pocha: Simple Korean Food from the Streets of Seoul by Su Scott, published by ‎Hardie Grant Publishing, June 2024.

Featured in “Pocha Takes You on a Street Food Crawl Through Seoul” by Jessica Carbone.

The post Soju Sour appeared first on Saveur.

This recipe is brought to you by the SAVEUR Cookbook Club, our passionate community of food-loving readers from around the globe, celebrating our favorite authors and recipes. Join us as we cook through a new book every month, and share your food pics and vids on social media with the hashtags #SAVEURCookbookClub and #EatTheWorld.

In her new cookbook, Pocha: Simple Korean Food from the Streets of Seoul, author Su Scott unpacks one of her favorite street foods: an oil-seared version of Korean rice cakes known as gireum tteokbokki. This dish is believed to have appeared in Seoul after the Korean War in the early 1950s, but also has roots connecting it to the royal court delicacy known as gungjung tteokbokki, which did not include gochugaru (Korean red pepper powder). In Scott’s rendition, the rice cakes are seasoned with perilla oil and soy sauce and cooked over low heat until they’re simultaneously crispy and chewy, then finished with sweet honey and spicy chili crisp.

If you are using frozen tteok, soak them in cold water for 10 minutes to soften first. You can find tteok, gochugaru, and perilla oil in many Asian grocery stores.

Adapted with permission from Pocha: Simple Korean Food from the Streets of Seoul by Su Scott, published by ‎Hardie Grant Publishing, June 2024.

Featured in “Pocha Takes You on a Street Food Crawl Through Seoul” by Jessica Carbone.

The post Tteokbokki with Chili Crisp and Honey appeared first on Saveur.

This recipe is brought to you by the SAVEUR Cookbook Club, our passionate community of food-loving readers from around the globe, celebrating our favorite authors and recipes. Join us as we cook through a new book every month, and share your food pics and vids on social media with the hashtags #SAVEURCookbookClub and #EatTheWorld.

A deep-fried corn dog might not seem like a classic Korean dish, but as author Su Scott recounts in her new cookbook, Pocha: Simple Korean Food from the Streets of Seoul, it was a frequent snack for her during childhood, sold in local stationery shops called munbanggu. Hot dogs were introduced to Korea in the early 1950s via the American presence during the 625 War (or the Korean War, as it is known in the U.S.). Korean chefs have since found innovative ways to repurpose ingredients from this time of conflict into irresistible street foods. These corn dogs, hand-dipped in a donut-like batter and rolled in panko breadcrumbs, are an indulgent old-school treat and easy to make at home. 

Superfine sugar is a more finely ground version of granulated sugar. It can often be found in grocery stores, but you can also make your own by pulsing granulated sugar in a food processor for about 1 minute. A cut-up stick of string cheese also works beautifully for the cubed mozzarella called for in this recipe.

Adapted with permission from Pocha: Simple Korean Food from the Streets of Seoul by Su Scott, published by ‎Hardie Grant Publishing, June 2024.

Featured in “Pocha Takes You on a Street Food Crawl Through Seoul” by Jessica Carbone.

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Around the world, the celebratory dishes atop Lunar New Year feast tables are as symbolic as they are sumptuous. Long noodles signify longevity, chewy rice balls stuffed with sugary paste represent sweetness, and whole fish foreshadows abundance in the year ahead. Though often called Chinese New Year for its connection to the Chinese lunisolar calendar, Lunar New Year is a lively, joy-filled celebration across much of Asia, including Korea, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, and Indonesia. This year, ring in the Year of the Dragon with a spread of global dishes—from crackly chả giò and chewy tteokguk, to fluffy fa gao and flaky pineapple tarts—to usher in prosperity and good fortune in the year ahead.

Chả Giò (Fried Spring Rolls)

At just about any festive occasion in Vietnam, you can bet fried spring rolls will make an appearance on the feast table. Known regionally as chả giò or nem rán, the snack is best dipped into nước chấm, the sweet-sour Vietnamese condiment. Get the recipe >

Yu Sheng (Prosperity Toss Salad)

Break out those chopsticks for a generous platter of yu sheng, or yee sang, aka prosperity toss salad. Make the recipe chef Alex Au-Yeung serves at Phat Eatery in Katy, Texas, then gather friends and family around the table to mix the Malaysian and Singaporean staple together. The higher it’s tossed, the more blessings the new year will bring. (See Au-Yeung make the dish here.) Get the recipe >

Tteokguk (Korean Rice Cake Soup)

Cook thin oval-shaped tteok, or rice cakes, in a savory anchovy broth to make what Junghyun Park and Jungyoon Choi call “one of the most significant dishes in Korean tradition.” Eaten on the first day of the new year as a tribute to ancestors, the soothing soup showcases tteok at their toothsome best. Get the recipe >

Fried Sesame Balls with Sweet Red Bean Filling

Crispy sweet rice balls filled with red bean paste and rolled in sesame seeds are a mainstay at Chinese bakeries and dim-sum restaurants, but they’re particularly auspicious as a Lunar New Year treat—round foods symbolize not only the moon, but also family togetherness. Cookbook author Kristina Cho’s recipe delivers a satisfying bite that’s crisp and crackly on the outside, and tender and chewy on the inside. Get the recipe >

Chao Niangao (Stir-Fried Rice Cakes) 

In many cultures, rice cakes are symbolic of a prosperous new year, so all shapes and sizes show up at holiday gatherings. This enticing stir-fried version—a spin on a Shanghai classic—amps up the flavor with a dollop of doubanjiang, the Chinese fermented soybean paste. Get the recipe >

Lumpia (Fried Spring Rolls)

Crispy fried wrappers envelop a delectable pork filling in these Filipino spring rolls, a party favorite in the Philippines and among the diaspora. Chef Dale Talde serves his version with sawsawan, a vinegar-and-soy-sauce mixture laced with raw garlic and fiery chiles. Get the recipe >

Yuanxiao (Sweet Rice Balls with Nut and Sesame Seed Filling) 

Chewy dough encases a rich, earthy paste made from nuts and sesame seeds in this Chinese snack symbolizing family reunion. Families boil them to celebrate Yuanxiao Jie, also known as the Lantern Festival, which falls on the 15th day of the lunar month and marks the end of the two-week new-year festivities. Make this version from Buwei Yang Chao’s 1945 cookbook to enjoy while admiring the full moon. Get the recipe >

Fa Gao (Steamed Cupcakes)

Sometimes called prosperity cake, fa gao is a beloved Chinese Lunar New Year treat that’s extra pretty to boot. When steamed, the tops of the cakes blossom into a flower-like pattern. In this recipe from Kristina Cho, the cookbook author lets us in on her grandmother’s clever shortcut: Bisquick, which ensures perfectly split tops and a satisfyingly soft, fluffy texture. Get the recipe >

Pork and Chive Dumplings

Wrap, pleat, and boil a pot of dumplings—a symbol of wealth and prosperousness in China because of their resemblance to gold ingots—to invite good fortune in the year ahead. Pork and chives make a classic savory pairing, so fold a little extra to freeze and enjoy in the new year whenever a craving strikes. Get the recipe >

Taiwanese Beef Noodle Soup

Invite good health and longevity with steaming bowls of red-braised beef noodle soup enriched with soy sauce, ginger, and scallions. This recipe from a Taipei noodle shop calls for simmering the protein for a few hours, yielding fall-apart-tender meat. Get the recipe >

Fish Sauce-Pickled Radishes

For special occasions like the new year, Vietnamese families often pickle radishes in nước chấm rather than the usual brine. The flavorful liquid imparts a depth of flavor that cuts through the richness of opulent celebratory dishes. Get the recipe >

Pineapple Tarts

Food blogger Yi Jun Loh’s pineapple tart recipe transforms the tropical fruit into a spiced, marmalade-esque filling, then encases the jammy mixture in rich, buttery pastry. The two-bite delights—popular in Malaysia, Singapore, and Indonesia when the Lunar New Year rolls around—are perfect for hosting, gifting, and snacking. Get the recipe >

Thit Kho (Vietnamese Braised Pork Belly with Eggs)

This hearty dish of caramelized, melt-in-your-mouth pork belly gets its irresistible savoriness from fish sauce and Coco Rico, a mild, coconut-flavored soda from Puerto Rico that’s common in Vietnamese cooking. Get the recipe >

Whole Steamed Fish with Tangerine Peel and Fennel

Bright citrus and peppery fennel enliven flaky steamed fish in this elegant banquet-table centerpiece. Follow Chinese tradition and save some leftovers for the following day as a symbol of bringing surplus into the new year. Get the recipe >

Japchae (Stir-Fried Glass Noodles)

Toss slippery sweet potato noodles with soy sauce, crunchy veg, and tender, juicy beef to make this crowd-pleasing Korean party dish. At any celebration of Seollal (as Lunar New Year is called in Korea), a heaping bowl is bound to be on the table. Get the recipe >

Chinese Lion’s Head Meatballs

Named for their impressive size, these juicy Chinese meatballs make a show-stopping addition to any festive feast. The trick to achieving their signature tender, bouncy texture? Stirring the pork mixture for at least five minutes, to thoroughly distribute fat and flavor. Get the recipe >

Spicy Beef Potstickers

Enhance ground beef with chili oil for a spicy take on a Lunar New Year classic. These pan-fried dumplings are a beaut: a flour-vinegar slurry added near the end of the frying process creates a beautifully crispy “skirt” that holds the potstickers together. Get the recipe >

Whole Grilled Fish with Vietnamese Peanut Pesto

For a whole-fish presentation with rich, nutty flavor and smoky flair, try this grilled, Vietnamese-inspired version from Houston chef Chris Shepherd. The peanut pesto smearing the fish hits all the flavor notes: umami from the fish sauce, caramelly sweetness from the brown sugar, and brightness from the lime juice. Get the recipe >

Tian Tian Chao Mian (Chinese Everyday Fried Noodles)

This stir-fried recipe calls for layering ingredients like dark soy sauce and sugar to concoct a concentrated, salty-sweet sauce that clings beautifully to noodles. Fresh mix-ins like cucumber and carrot add cheery color and satisfying crunch. Get the recipe >

Hong Shao Rou (Chinese Red-Braised Pork Belly with Eggs)

Red-braised pork belly is homestyle Chinese comfort food, with two types of soy sauce and a touch of sugar giving the beloved dish its signature glossiness and deep red-brown hue. In this version from cookbook author Fuchsia Dunlop, boiled eggs make the ideal vehicle for soaking up the savory sauce. Get the recipe >

Beef Rendang

A stick-to-your-ribs Indonesian staple, this succulent number calls for slowly simmering beef in a rich coconutty sauce seasoned with aromatic lemongrass and makrut lime leaves. Serve it alongside steamed white rice to absorb the velvety gravy. Get the recipe >

Bò Kho (Vietnamese-Style Beef Stew with Lemongrass, Ginger, and Garlic)

Tender short ribs and collagen-rich oxtail form the bedrock of this beefy, herbaceous Vietnamese stew. Fistfuls of cilantro and Thai basil enhance the dish with grassy aroma and brightness, while red onions and scallions add a peppery punch. Get the recipe >

Galbi Jjim (Braised Short Ribs)

Sohui Kim, chef of Brooklyn restaurant Gage & Tollner, weaves a thread of French technique into her Korean galbi jjim recipe: she incorporates both red wine and soy sauce into the braise for extra depth of flavor and East-meets-West oomph. Get the recipe >

Braised Winter Squash with Fermented Black Beans

Any feast full of rich fare needs some lighter options in the lineup for balance—like this flavorful, winter-friendly option from cookbook author Hannah Che. Her recipe utilizes the Chinese smother-braising technique—similar to red-braising—to soften squash to a luxuriously buttery texture. Get the recipe >

Stir-Fried Choy Sum with Garlic Sauce

It takes just five minutes to turn choy sum (or any other leafy green, like baby bok choy) into a garlicky, show-stealing side. Slightly bitter vegetables beautifully counterbalance any heartier dishes that might be on your banquet table. Get the recipe >

Nian Gao (Chinese Sticky Rice Cake) 

Steamed sweet rice dough flavored with brown sugar and almond extract makes a luck-filled Chinese Lunar New Year treat (nian gao is a homophone for “higher every year”). A sprinkling of toasted sesame seeds and an optional smattering of red dates elevates the treat to show-stopper territory. Get the recipe >

Sliced Pork Belly with Garlic Sauce

Dress tender poached pork belly with garlic, chili oil, and Taiwanese soy paste for a delicately salty-sweet dish straight from the island’s vibrant beer halls. Get the recipe >

Chinese Salt-Baked Chicken with Congee and Pickled Mustard Greens

A whole chicken represents prosperity, so make this oven-baked Hainan-style version that calls for coating a bird generously in salt—resulting in even cooking and extra-moist meat. Get the recipe >

Lo Bak Go (Pan-Fried Turnip Cake)

Rice flour and grated daikon studded with lap cheong sausages are a perennially popular dim-sum order, and they make a welcome addition to any holiday feast. Serve the crisp-on-the-outside, soft-on-the-inside snack with spicy hoisin sauce for a fiery kick. Get the recipe >

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Hybridized Korean Italian fare first began spreading through the street food alleys and bunsikjeom (snack restaurants) of Korea in the early 2000s, in response to growing demand for Italian flavors. One of the most enduringly popular dishes from the canon of Korean Italian eats has been rosé tteokbokki. Traditionally, tteokbokki calls for simmering tteok, chewy Korean rice cakes, in a spicy-sweet gochujang sauce. But around 2006, after Korea loosened trade restrictions on Italian products, street food vendors—drawing inspiration from vodka sauce—began adding heavy cream to classic tteokbokki. They named the concoction “rosé” for its pinkish-orange hue. In food writer Jia H. Jung’s crab rosé tteokbokki recipe, she uses crème fraîche for its thick, creamy texture and subtle tang, and adds crab for a fancy flourish.

Look for tube- or oval-shaped tteok at your local Korean grocer, or online. Pair this one-pot meal with chilled soju or a bowl of makgeolli, unrefined rice wine. 

Featured in “A Brief Guide to the Wide, Wonderful World of Korean Rice Cakes,” by Jia H. Jung.

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Hotteok, sweet pancakes filled with cinnamon sugar and nuts, are one of the most popular and common husik, or desserts, in Korea. Brought to South Korea by Chinese immigrants in the 19th century, the dish has a delightfully chewy texture thanks to glutinous rice flour. Sold in markets and street stalls throughout the country, the ubiquitous treat “is one of the most nostalgic childhood memories for Koreans,” write chefs Junghyun Park and Jungyoon Choi in The Korean Cookbook. 

Park and Choi recommend using the oven to proof hotteok dough: Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 200°F for 1–2 minutes. Then turn it off and use the residual heat of the oven to proof the dough.

Adapted from The Korean Cookbook © 2023 by Junghyun Park and Jungyoon Choi. Photography © 2023 by Jinju Kang. Reproduced by permission of Phaidon. All rights reserved.

Featured In: “A Brief Guide to the Wide, Wonderful World of Korean Rice Cakes,” by Jia H. Jung.

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In South Korea, New Year’s Day happens twice a year: once on Jan. 1 on the Gregorian calendar, and again on the first day of the lunar calendar. Both days are celebrated with tteokguk, a simple soup made by cooking thin oval-shaped tteok, or rice cakes, in broth until tender. “Tteokguk is one of the most significant dishes in Korean tradition,” write chefs Jungyhun Park and Jungyoon Choi in The Korean Cookbook. “On the first day of the new year, tteokguk was eaten as the first meal in tribute to ancestors.” 

While the version below calls for homemade anchovy broth, a widely used ingredient in Korean cuisine, it can be swapped out for beef broth or vegetable broth. Look for dried anchovies with smooth, shiny scales. If they’re not fully dried, Park and Choi suggest microwaving them for 30 seconds to dehydrate fully. They also recommend cleaning the dried anchovies by slitting the stomach and removing the black organs, although many Korean home cooks skip this step. Since anchovy broth is so commonly used in Korean cuisine, you can also find pre-batched sachets of anchovies, dasima (dried kelp), and dehydrated vegetables at Korean markets.

For this dish, the traditional rice cake shape is thin coins, which are often labeled as tteokguk tteok. Look for them fresh in the prepared or refrigerated sections of a Korean grocer, or frozen in the freezer aisle.

Adapted from The Korean Cookbook © 2023 by Junghyun Park and Jungyoon Choi. Photography © 2023 by Jinju Kang. Reproduced by permission of Phaidon. All rights reserved.

Featured In: “A Brief Guide to the Wide, Wonderful World of Korean Rice Cakes,” by Jia H. Jung.

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“This is the quintessential Korean household dish,” says chef Esther Choi, who grew up eating kimchi-jjigae around four times a week. “It would be my last meal on Earth if I had to pick one.” The warming, spicy stew is extremely versatile: According to custom, you can use any protein you want. In this version, meaty chunks of pork belly meld with the tart, fermented flavor of kimchi.

Featured in: “How To Make Kimchi With Chef Esther Choi,” by Stacy Adimando.

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The light, Korean soup called jogaetang is served up at San Francisco’s Toyose, run by husband-and-wife team Kong Kim and Jong Yu. Short on neither heat nor spice, it’s traditionally served over a butane flame, so the broth remains hot, and a heavy dose of heat is delivered from two types of thinly sliced green chiles. Jogaetang’s popularity derives from its status as a kind of Koreatown pub grub that functions as a reset of sorts, a piping elixir that blankets the belly and washes away the effects of the night past. Find dasima in well-stocked supermarkets, Asian grocery stores, or online; a type of dried kelp frequently used for adding briny richess to stocks and sauces, it is sometimes sold by its Japanese name, konbu or kombu.

Featured in: “Korean Clam Soup for the Drunk Soul.” 

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Eaten for centuries in Korea as a quick and convenient meal, jumeokbap or “fist rice” became a symbol of resilience and solidarity in 1980 in Gwangju. When armed military forces attacked civilians during a democratic struggle in the city, townspeople handed out fist rice to freedom fighters. More recently, the “anything goes” DIY-appeal of these hand-packed rice balls helped renew and expand the dish’s popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to traditional ingredient combinations like tuna and mayonnaise, chefs and home cooks around the world shared innovative new iterations on blogs and social media, and even restaurants began offering modern spins on the classic dish.

Im Hyun-sook, owner of the restaurant Haengbokhan Yangrim Bapsang in Gwangju and survivor of the uprisings in 1980, developed this jumeokbap recipe as a tribute to the courageous citizens who stood up against government oppression during that fateful period. Im incorporates non-traditional ingredients like beets and walnuts for vibrance and texture—and encourages everyone to experiment with their own favorite ingredients at home. Jumeokbap vary in size, from bite-size versions to spheres as large as baseballs; Im’s are a little smaller than tennis balls.

You can wear a pair of food-safe gloves when rolling the jumeokbap, as the beets may stain your fingers.

Featured in “The Comfort Food Sweeping Korea.”

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During Chuseok—the annual Korean harvest festival, also known as Hangawi, traditionally held on the eighth month of the lunar calendar—the dinner table is laden with indulgent, celebratory food like jeon (meat and fish fritters) or songpyeon (honeyed rice cakes stuffed with sesame paste, sweet beans, and chestnuts). But there is one restorative exception to this indulgence, often served as part of the feast, or even on the morning after as a (much-needed) hangover soup. That delicious exception is captured in this toranguk recipe: a beefy, brothy soup where the star of the show is taro, a starchy root vegetable with a creamy center that is said to aid in digestion. Taro has a bit of a slippery, okra-like texture that makes it a natural comfort food during or after a big meal.

This recipe comes courtesy of chef Ji Hye Kim, chef and owner of Miss Kim in Ann Arbor, Michigan. When she was growing up, toranguk was a must-have on the dinner table, even if the table was already full. As Ji Hye says: “Chuseok is one holiday where there’s so much abundance of food … it’s said that you eat toranguk to help you digest all the other food you eat on top of it.” Despite its rich brisket-based broth, the soup is intended to be mildly spiced, so offer it with additional salt and black pepper on the table, along with steamed white rice and a wide assortment of Korean banchan, or side dishes. If you cannot find taro, this recipe can easily work with mu (Korean radishes), white radishes, or even potatoes.

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