Here's how to cook Korean food faves with a Filipino twist at home


Fulfill your K-drama food dream with these easy-to-do recipes

K-dramas these days are not just for the kilig. Oftentimes, they are sources of the next K-dish to try, from the warm ramyeon in “Crash Landing On You” and the crispy Korean fried chicken in “The King: The Eternal Monarch” to the dosirak lunch in “Squid Game.” If you find yourself drooling over Korean food you see on your favorite K-drama series, here’s some good news for you. You can now recreate those at home with these recipes, and with a touch of Filipino flavors.

Chicken Longanisa Tteakbokki

Guiltless Tteokbokki

Ingredients:

  • 1 pack Mekeni GOLite Gluten-Free Chicken Longanisa 250g, cut diagonally into coins
  • 3 tbsp oil
  • 1/4 cup garlic, minced (about 12 cloves)
  • 1 large white onion, sliced into strips
  • 4 cups water
  • 1 tsp soy sauce
  • 2 tsp sugar
  • 1 1/2 tsp dashi powder or seasoning granules
  • 2 tbsp gochujang (Korean red pepper paste)
  • 3 cups Korean rice cakes (about 42 pieces)
  • sliced spring onions or leeks and sesame seeds for garnish

Procedure:

  1. Put oil in the pan and fry the longanisa pieces until lightly brown. After this, transfer to a bowl and set aside.
  2. In the same pan, sauté garlic and onion until fragrant and translucent.
  3. Add water, sugar, soy sauce, seasoning granules, and gochujang. Let it boil.
  4. Gently add the rice cakes and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes or until the rice cakes are soft.
  5. Put the longanisa back in the pan and slowly simmer for about a minute until heated through.
  6. Top with spring onions and sesame seeds. Serve while hot.

Korean Picnic Hotdog Sandwiches

K-hotdog Sandwiches

Ingredients:

  • 6 to 8 Mekeni Picnic Hotdogs (you can also use Mekeni Picnic Cheesedogs)
  • 2 tbsp oil (for frying)
  • 6 to 8 hotdog buns

Kimchi Mayo

  • 1 cup or 120g kimchi (store bought or ready-made may be used)
  • 1/4 cup mayo
  • 2 tbsp furikake
  • 1 tbsp gochujang (Korean red pepper paste, optional)

Sesame Kimchi Coleslaw

  • 1/4 cup kimchi juice
  • 1 tbsp sesame oil
  • 1 tbsp sesame seeds
  • 1 tbsp patis/fish sauce
  • 1 tbsp liquid seasoning
  • 1 tbsp vinegar
  • 2 cups carrots, shredded
  • 2 cups cabbage, shredded
  • 1 medium onion, sliced
  • 1/2 cup spring onions, sliced 1 inch in length
  • 1 tbsp gochujang (Korean red pepper paste, optional)

Procedure:

Kimchi Mayo

  1. Firmly squeeze the kimchi until most of the juice has been removed. Collect the juice in another container and set aside.
  2. Chop the kimchi cabbage and put in a bowl.
  3. Add the rest of the ingredients, mix, and set aside.

Sesame Kimchi Coleslaw

Pour the kimchi juice and combine it with all the ingredients for the coleslaw in a bowl. Set aside.

Assembly

  1. Fry the hotdogs until thoroughly cooked.
  2. Warm the hotdog buns on a pan or in a toaster for one to two minutes.
  3. Spread kimchi mayo on the warmed buns and spoon some sesame kimchi coleslaw.
  4. Put a hotdog in the bun. You may add more kimchi mayo and sprinkle them with more furikake, spring onions, and sesame seeds. Serve while warm.

Pinoy Bibimbap

Ingredients:

  • 1 220-gram pack of Mekeni Specials Pork Tocino Tamis-Alat
  • 1 cup seasoned spinach
  • 1 cup seasoned bean sprouts
  • 1/2 cup mushrooms (optional)
  • 1 small carrot, julienned
  • 3 to 4 serving portions of rice
  • 3 to 4 eggs
  • Oil
  • Korean seasoned seaweed, shredded

For the Bibimbap sauce:

  • 2 tbsp gochujang
  • 1 tbsp sesame oil
  • 1 tbsp sugar
  • 1 tbsp water
  • 1 tbsp roasted sesame seeds
  • 1 tsp vinegar
  • 1 tsp minced garlic

Procedure:

  1. In a small pan, heat some oil and cook the veggies one by one starting with the carrots, followed by the mushrooms. Do this on medium-high to high heat for two to three minutes. Add salt to taste. Remove from heat once cooked then set aside.
  2. Make fried eggs.
  3. Fry the pork tocino in the same pan. Once cooked, remove from the heat and let it cool before slicing into thin pieces.
  4. While waiting for the pork tocino to cool down, combine all the bibimbap sauce ingredients in a small bowl.
  5. Put the rice into a bowl and add the pork tocino pieces, assorted vegetables, seasoned seaweed, bibimbap sauce, and the egg on top of the rice. Serve it.

Check out more recipes here.