Sequestration Meal #653

 

This is a Korean meal, served in a very Korean way, albeit with both vegan and Western twists. But rice and banchan in little bowls? I'm pretty sure my Korean friends would approve of my plating. (Or...plattering?)

The banchan begin with some beefless bulgogi, which this time is from Trader Joe's but tastes exactly like the Nasoya brand, and therefore I am suspicious that they are the same, in different packaging.

The tteokbokki (spicy stewed rice cakes) are also from Trader Joe's. This one was a miss. The flavor is primarily sweet, before giving you an aftertaste of cayenne pepper. It's definitely not a gochujang-type flavor. The texture of the rice cakes was good, though, and I'll keep looking for ways to make a better vegan version of tteokbokki for myself.

In the middle, I have some pickled red cabbage I'd totally forgotten about in the back of the fridge. The flavor had become very acidic, so I was not as keen on it as I usually am with pickled cabbage. But that's my fault; no way to blame anyone else.

The salads are what make this meal sing. I have "Korean" carrot salad (a recipe I understand is actually Russian, or Russian-Korean--but still delicious), some cucumbers in a salty-sweet dressing I made because I wanted to avoid adding spicy flavors when I didn't know how the tteokbokki would turn out, and a version of doenjang muchim made with some colorful sweet peppers instead of sweet green peppers. I used this recipe to guide me, but I didn't add any chili peppers and just used the mini sweet peppers.

This is my first experience using doenjang in cooking, and readers, we have a winner! It's like miso but better. I don't know how to describe that, so just try it for yourself sometime. Seriously: It's so good! A savory, slightly salty, addictive soybean paste.

I am the sort of person who probably could just eat rice and veggies all the time and never be discontented, but alas, I physically don't do well when I do that. So. Bulgogi to the rescue! I know I didn't have much to say about the bulgogi, but I was glad to have it, and it did taste good alongside everything else.