Placeholder Image

Subtitles section Play video

  • [cheery music]

  • Hi everybody!

  • Do you feel like braising something? Here you go!

  • [laughs] This is in Korean: Yeon-geun. In English it's called lotus root.

  • What a great name. So beautiful, isn't it?

  • I'm going to braise this.

  • Yeon-geun-jorim. Braised lotus roots.

  • It's not easy to find really good quality lotus roots.

  • Beautiful and smooth and without any blemish.

  • The other day I went to the Korean market I found:

  • "Hmm, nice looking! I should make this."

  • Actually this is one of my cookbook recipes.

  • This is not an everyday side dish like kimchi or soybean sprouts.

  • This is a special side dish.

  • Whenever I make this, especially for my Western friends, they really love it.

  • Because visual: really pretty, and when they taste it, irresistible for them.

  • Lotus root. It sounds very mysterious.

  • "What does it taste like?" And then they taste: "Oh, amazing!"

  • It tastes like between the potato and radish.

  • And a little crispy, but shiny, and chewy!

  • I like to choose one. Which one do you like better?

  • I'm going to peel the skin and then slice, the outcome should be really beautiful circle.

  • So you can check out like this. This is a circle? Sometimes you will see almost a triangle shape.

  • It's not pretty when you make this.

  • You need to find that kind of really round shape so that when you slice this, nice beautiful round shape.

  • I will show you!

  • I'm going to peel the skin.

  • This guys weighs about one pound and four ounces.

  • Around six hundred grams.

  • I'm going to cut thinly.

  • It should be a quarter inch thick.

  • It has a lot of vitamin C, vitamin B, it can lower your blood pressure, circulate blood well,

  • Funny thing is that I found somebody says this can clear your mind!

  • [laughs] Already sounds mysterious, doesn't it?

  • When you cut this, if you saw it, it will be easily broken.

  • So make up your mind first, and then just one stroke.

  • Like this.

  • I will soak this in cold water.

  • Now i'm boiling water.

  • I'm going to blanch this.

  • Starch came out, so the water is a little milky.

  • Here I will add vinegar.

  • About one teaspoon.

  • This root is very tough, so we need to blanch first and then later we have to braise for a long time.

  • The reason I added a little vinegar

  • Is that, the taste is a little astringent.

  • So to remove that kind of taste we add a little vinegar.

  • And also vinegar makes the color whiter.

  • Five minutes I'm going to cook.

  • Five minutes passed!

  • Water turns a little cloudy.

  • And this is white, beautiful, gorgeous, isn't it?

  • And also a little sticky, a little slippery.

  • I will just use this same pot to braise.

  • Now we have a really heavy, clean pot here, and also sliced lotus, a little blanched, all are ready!

  • And then. just seasoning sauce I'm going to add, and braise.

  • Garlic cloves, two or three garlic cloves.

  • How many garlic cloves do you think I use today?

  • You are wrong! I will use two!

  • [laughs] You thought three, right?

  • Let's turn on stove.

  • Pan is heated. I will add vegetable oil, one tablespoon.

  • I'm going to stir fry with a little vegetable oil.

  • Only just a few minutes stir, until this lotus root is a little translucent.

  • [sizzling]

  • We are going to add some water here, two cups plus quarter cup.

  • Two...

  • Garlic...

  • And soy sauce, quarter cup.

  • So these slices are submerged in this water.

  • And then cover.

  • Then turn down the heat over low heat.

  • Forty minutes I'm going to braise.

  • Forty! Four zero!

  • [jazzy music]

  • [wind blows]

  • This is rice syrup.

  • Brown rice syrup I will add this around three quarter cup.

  • Ok, like this...

  • Still some water is inside...

  • Nice.

  • Rice syrup.

  • Sometimes you should open the lid.

  • It depends on your heat, sometimes water quickly boils off.

  • In that case you can add water.

  • Important thing is I'm going to braise this another twenty minutes.

  • [wind blows]

  • Twenty minutes passed!

  • It should be really nice, let's open!

  • We can let it boil off this liquid until it's fully cooked and also a little shiny and it looks like jelly.

  • I used rice syrup here.

  • If you don't have rice syrup use just sugar.

  • You see the color is getting darker and darker.

  • This process is very important to make it really beautiful.

  • Because I want it to be really shiny.

  • You don't have to keep stirring.

  • Once in a while you can turn it over

  • So that it's all evenly brownish and shiny.

  • So beautiful!

  • Ten minutes I just boiled off this liquid.

  • Now really pretty.

  • I'm really tempted to do more, but I like to stop.

  • Last touch, we need sesame oil.

  • Sesame seeds.

  • When you serve this, we don't serve like a mountain

  • Just a small amount.

  • So you can serve this with rice and other side dishes.

  • Or you can use this for a luncbox side dish.

  • Just one or two.

  • And with other side dishes.

  • And rice. It will be really pretty.

  • Leftover...

  • It will be a good mitbanchan.

  • Mitbanchan means that you can keep it in the refrigerator, then you can enjoy it until it runs out.

  • Let me taste!

  • Mmm...

  • M.

  • I love this texture! it tastes like a little crispy jelly.

  • Sweet, a little salty.

  • If you guys happen to see beautiful, handsome-looking lotus root

  • Pick it up, and make this. You will love it.

  • Today we made yeon-geun-jorim.

  • Braised lotus roots.

  • Enjoy me recipe.

  • See you next time! Bye!

[cheery music]

Subtitles and vocabulary

Click the word to look it up Click the word to find further inforamtion about it