Korean Dieting Trick [Culture]

Water. Does the body good.  We need it.  We drink lots of it.  But should we ever NOT? 

YES!

According to Koreans, anyways.  I was having dinner with my relatives the other day and found it odd that I was the only one at the table who asked for water to drink with my meal.  So of course, I politely offered to get some for everyone else, but they all declined.  

Hmmm...just not thirsty?

Actually, it's a habit!  A rule of thumb.  A dieting trick.  

No wonder Korean girls are so skinny...?

So we all know that good digestion leads to good everything else.  You'll lose weight, trim inches from your waist, etc.  That's why people take probiotics and fiber when dieting to improve digestion.  

Ever seen the Activia commercials? 

[Hahaha so funny, I love this one! Great ad!]

So what's water have to do with it?  When you diet, you're supposed to drink lots and lots of water right?  RIGHT!  Buuuut there's a specific time that you actually SHOULDN'T drink water!

During meals.

I know that sounds really bazaar because logic would tell you that you need the water to wash down your food.  HOWEVER, unless you're eating something like straight up biscuits or saltine crackers [and apparently even then] you're supposed to chew the food in your mouth until your saliva makes it watery enough to swallow without that sandpaper-y feeling as it goes down the chute.  

If you need the water, it means you are:

A)  not chewing enough

B)  stressed (apparently reduces saliva)

C)  in a hurry

D)  dehydrated (I'll get to this)

E)  all of the above

For E)  I know you're thinking, "well that's why you should drink more water during your meal, DUH!" but actually, it just means you should drink more water during the day around your meals.  

So here's the rule:  No water 30 min. before or 2 hours after your meal.

Why?  Because water interrupts the enzymes in your stomach that break down food and disrupts your digestive process.  So instead, you should eat with another form of liquid food, like a soup.

That's why most Korean meals come with a soup.  Look at Japanese meals also...most come with miso soup!   

Don't believe me?  

 Check my post about [ food delivery ]  

It's so important, they found a way to pack it EVEN for delivery!

And if you ever go to a Korean restaurant, they won't have regular American-sized cups.  They are always the size of a little teacup...think espresso sized.  And you have to get up to go and get water...rarely do you get a pitcher unless you're with a group of people.  I found this really uncomfortable at first, because during my meals used to be the ONLY time during the day I'd drink water, but after learning this, I'm going to try it out for a bit and report back on this topic in about a month.

Oh, and I found out my blood type today, so you can kind of expect that to be my next post's topic ;D ... coming soon!

5,246 Things to do with Rice

Haha ok maybe not...but there are MANY MANY variations to one of the most popular foods in Korea, called Topokki.  The spelling of the word also has many variations (ddeokbokki)...but I believe this is the official one.  

If you've been to Korea, you know exactly what I'm talking about.  If not, allow me to enlighten you.  Like LA has the "dirty dog,"  Korea has its trademark street food.  And that would be topokki.  It's made in bulk and sold in little tents and carts littered throughout the streets at all hours of the day and night along with odeng [fishcake in delicious hot soup with a little kick] and fried everything. The standard version looks like this:

[http://bit.ly/tKN1dv]

It's rice cake that is marinated in a spicy sauce that is just so delicious and addicting.  It's chewy.  It's hot. It's spicy.  And it's so good when you are cold, drinking, drunk, or just have the munchies.  And basically, everyone in Korea eats it.  That and ramen.  I see someone eating spicy instant cup noodles every single day.  Kids in front of a convenience store, students sitting on the stairs, adults chatting outside, etc.  Sometimes, they even add ramen to the ddeokbokki and call it rabokki.  And sometimes, they add seafood to that and top it with melting cheese.  The variation possibilities are truly endless and all are SO GOOD.

Anyways, last weekend, I went on the coolest field trip of my life.  Yes, it was like grade school where you get on a bus with your classmates and drive off to some factory to learn about how things are made.  BUT, field trips as adults are WAY more fun!   

For this one in particular, I went here:

[Topokki Food Research Institute http://www.topokki.com]

FOR THIS:

[what adorable little Asian rice cakes]

The purpose of this trip was to learn how topokki is made...from scratch.  Usually this class is for Korean children and foreigners don't get to see this, but we got a special opportunity through https://www.facebook.com/kexperiences 

This was by far the CUTEST factory I've ever seen!

[These precious little characters are all things that go into topokki...fish cake, rice cake, leek...i'm not too sure what the little peanut dude is doing there. There aren't any peanuts in topokki]

So began the learning... 

Rice Cake Making Process

STEP 1/2.  Soak the rice.

    

[This is the mastermind behind one of the tastiest foods ever]

STEP 3/4. Drain the rice.

  

[That's a lot of rice huh?]

STEP 1.  Pulverizer

  

[The rice is poured into a machine that grinds it into powder]

Step 2.  Add a little water, a little salt, and a whole lotta love.

Step 3.  Back to the pulverizer...but this time, it comes out looking like mozzarella!

[please keep in mind...this used to be rice]

Step 4.  Put the cloth on the metal box

[this is so the rice powder doesn't drop through the holes that line the bottom of this box]

Step 5.  Pour it in, pack it in

  

Step 6.  Cover with another cloth

Step 7.  And BOOM! Here comes the steam and the magic!

Step 8. Shaping

[It comes out as a massive block of rice cake that you can see the ddeok (rice cake) master pushing into this machine]

    

[Which is then squeezed out like play-doh (btw...never realized how weird that word is spelled) into hot water and then cut and placed in a crate by the rows]

[stacks on stacks]

[hilarious billboard to illustrate this process]

TIME TO TASTE!

[chocolate and rice syrup dipping sauces]

[rice syrup...really sweet like nectar and super yummy!]

[Thank you for the demo!]

Topokki Cooking Process

[on to the cooking lab!]

Ingredients:  meat, sauce, veggies, ddeok (rice cake)

Step 2.  Slice all the veggies

Step 3.  Saute veggies

[in order of hardest to softest (carrots first)]

[getting my cooking on]

Step 4.  Mix the sauce in with the meat and mash it all up

Step 5.  Saute meat

Step 6.  Add the sauce and the ddeok (rice cake)

Step 7.  Add the veggies

Step 8.  Garnish with sesame seeds and voila! 

[First time actually trying the meat version...like I said, the most common is red and spicy with fish cake, cabbage, and onions]

Variation 1:  Sweet Japanese Pumpkin sauce with broccoli and sweet potato stuffed ricecake

[OH MY GOSH. DEEEELICIOUS.]

Variation 2:  Cream sauce with chicken, broccoli, and mushrooms

[again...YUMMY IN MY TUMMY]

To top it all off, they let us taste (or a little more than taste ;] haha) some RICE wine called Makkoli!

[ultimate gluttony] and to think this was all made from rice

As if all of that wasn't enough, we also learned how to make rice chocolate!

From this:

TO THIS! MMMMM....

[Tasted kinda like a Crunch bar]

BEST FIELD TRIP EVER!

"Jack in the Box" = "Healthy Meal in the Box" in Korea

You're hungry. But you don't feel like leaving the house.  Maybe you're curled up in a blanket sipping hot cocoa, eating some Ferrero Rochers (one of my absolute favorites) and watching a movie, maybe you have company and it'd be too difficult to gather everyone and go to a restaurant, or maybe you just don't want to be seen as a loner, eating alone in public.  Regardless of the reason,  you want food without stepping a foot out the door.

SOLUTION

Korea is extremely good when it comes to food delivery.  While driving or walking around the streets, you'll see or almost get run over by guys on mopeds zooming by with boxes latched on the back.  What's in the box?  

This:

nom nom :]

So basically, you dial the number, tell them your address, what you want (sometimes there's a minimum amount you have to spend, but most of the time it doesn't really matter...not to mention delivery is FREE!)

And then after about 20 minutes, you get one of these outside your door.

Open it up...

saran wrap sealed...this is soup btw

and this is my meal....불고기 덥밥 aka bulgogi on rice with vegetables. mmmm yummyyy AND convenient!

and a neatly organized assortment of side dishes :] yay!

After you eat, throw everything back in the tub and leave it outside the door!  Voila! Clean, easy, convenient and DELICIOUS! :D