Recreating Spicy Korean Cuisine from Food Featured in K-Dramas


Hubby and I have been enjoying K-Dramas and eating spicy Korean cuisine for several months now. We watch the shows together and then eat as well as drink soju when the kids have fallen asleep. That’s our bonding moment by the end of the day, after being so tired with work and taking care of the kids. Aside from the fact that we like the scripts are written and how the K-Dramas are filmed, we get inspired by the spicy Korean cuisine usually featured in the shows.

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~ Thanks to the quarantine for Covid-19, this was our simplified samgyeopsal date at at home. It’s complete with black bean paste and grilled shiitake mushrooms and garlic. ~

We may have different reasons why we like to follow K-Dramas. It could the actors, the storyline, the cinematography, the lessons… But for us, it’s mostly the food memories. Read more.

Inspired by How Koreans Eat

Have you seen how Korean actors eat in the series? Especially if they have ramyun and other dishes with rice? Oh my, they surely eat with gusto. And we get hungry just by looking at them. They leave us drooling!

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~ Snacking like this? Oh boy. Ramyun with seafood now cooking in the kitchen. ~

Then sometimes, they would complain that it’s hot (because it’s newly cooked) as well as spicy, like the Jjampong that Sang-tae Oppa had in It’s Okay to Not be Okay.

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~ Spicy instant ramyun with tteokbokki and fish cakes. ~

And if you are watching them eat heartily while you are tired and it’s already midnight–your stomach starts growling, naturally. Gosh, they are a bad influence, the reason why I always break my diet at midnight. haha

Midnight snacking is just detrimental if you are trying to lose weight.

Especially bad if you are snacking on ramyun. haha

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~ Hubby with my homemade japchae. Using those aluminum chopsticks, who would think he is not Korean? ~

Hubby Looks Like an Oppa

I am not sure if you have noticed, but my hubby likes a Korean. Since there have been many Koreans who are coming in and out of Bacolod City for the last 20 years or so, many have mistaken him as an Oppa.

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~ Midnight snack: Jjapaghetti with braised pork and fried egg. Yes, midnight snack! ~

Yep, even the Koreans themselves greet him in their language. In the University of St. La Salle, their student publication, Spectrum, made a story about Filipinos tutoring Koreans. And instead of taking a picture of his student, they took a picture of hubby and published it with the caption that he is a Korean student learning English.

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~ My version of Kimchi rice with fried egg and some meat balls. ~

With a foodie husband who looks like an Oppa, wouldn’t I be inspired to recreate spicy Korean food at home?

Spicy Korean Food

Why spicy Korean food? Sure, Korean cuisine has many dishes that do not contain chili. Like for instance, the Korean beef stew that I did at home. Recipe here.

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~ My Korean beef stew using beef camto. ~

Or maybe the noodle dish called Japchae, which is one of my favorites. Find the recipe for japchae here.

But you know, hubby and I always think of spicy Korean food. If it’s not spicy, especially ramyun, we feel that something is missing and it’s not Korean food anymore.

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~ We have developed a liking for kimchi. This is Mongolian rice but I still had kimchi on the side. ~

Like yesterday. I made some instant ramyun with tteokbokki and fish cakes. We have tried the spicy version but the one I made yesterday wasn’t. So we felt that it was incomplete. Hubby added some gochujang in his bowl I had kimchi. Perfect!

Then we had iced coffee to cool down.

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~ I have even made Dalgona Coffee once! ~

K-Drama Inspiration

How about you? How do K-Dramas inspire you?

Aside from the life lessons and the critical thinking we do after each show, we are inspired to re-create spicy Korean cuisine at home. All throughout the quarantine for Covid-19, I kept cooking and we kept eating.

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~ My Korean fried chicken, served with white rice and soju. We already like sesame oil and sesame seeds, which is the reason why we easily accepted Korean food. ~

That brings my bonding moment with hubby further. We enjoy the shows, talk about the plots and twists, as well as how the life lessons apply to life in general.

Then we talk about food, re-create them at home, and then enjoy them together. That’s the ultimate bonding moment of a caffeinated, foodie couple!

Food memories are the best.

~ Kimchi has become a staple food for us. Have we turned into Koreans? ~

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