CUISINE > Galbi-jjim (Korean beef stew)

Galbi-jjim (Korean beef stew): This is a Korean traditional dish great for entertaining guests. Sweet and savory, it’s a favorite of young children and adults alike. Never left out from the traditional holiday table, galbi-jjim goes well with rice and lettuce, too.

Ingredients:

1kg beef short rib (cut into 5cm pieces)

1 chunk of Japanese radish (cut into 5cm chunks)

10 chestnuts

10 gingko nuts

10 dried dates

Sauce:

5 cups beef stock (water left over from boiling beef rib)

6Tbsp soy sauce

4Tbsp grated pear (preferably Korean pear)

2Tbsp corn syrup (or substitute with 6Tbsp of sugar)

1Tbsp minced garlic

1/2Tbsp minced ginger

1Tbsp sesame seed oil

black pepper

Direction:

1. First soak beef short rib pieces in cold water to draw out the blood. Trim off the fat and make little cuts on the rib so that the sauce can seep well into meat.

2. Cut Japanese radish into large cubes, about half the size of beef rib pieces. Peel the inner skin off chestnuts.

3. Peel off the outer skin of gingko nuts and stir fry them in oiled frying pan to eliminate the inner skin. You can easily peel off the inner skin if you rub the gingko nuts in paper towel.

4. Grate pear and strain it in cheesecloth to get only the pear juice.

5. In a large pot cook the rib pieces drained of blood. Once it boils, take the meat out of the pot and reserve about 5 cups of stock.

6. Mix only 2/3 of the sauce with the partially boiled meat and cook in a big pot with the reserved beef stock. Bring it to boil.

7. Add radish chunks, chestnuts, gingko nuts, and dates and put in the rest of the sauce, and mix well.

8. Let it simmer until the sauce boils down to half the amount. Garnish with pine nuts before serving.

Tips:

1. Beef rib may be tough to some people. You can soften beef effectively with grated pear, onion, pineapple or kiwi. When using kiwi, you have to remember that kiwi is a strong meat-softening agent, so use only one kiwi per 6 kilograms of beef.

2. You may add chunks of carrots, onions and black mushrooms to get more vegetables in your diet.

3. If you don’t like the rich flavor of beef, sprinkle a bit of lemon juice before serving.

ENTERTAINMENTS NEWS > Kim Ki-duk’s New Work Sold to France

Director Kim Ki-duk’s 14th film “Breath” has been sold to French distributor ARP before its domestic release.

Film marketer CineClick Asia said Tuesday that it sold “Breath” at the Hong Kong Film Market held from March 20 until 23. The French distributor is devoted to introducing Asian movies to the country. Kim’s latest work had also been sold to other 10 nations including Spain, Italia, Mexico, Greece and Belgium.

The marketer also sold “Seducing Mr. Robin” starring Daniel Henney and Uhm Jung-hwa to Japan’s Geneon Entertainment. It is expected to be released in the island country late this year. “Oasis” and “Friends” were sold to Britain, “The Birth of a Family” to Greece, and “The Host” to Hungary.

ENTERTAINMENT NEWS > “The Host” Exceeds 1 Mil. in US Earnings

The film “The Host” has earned one million US dollars at the US box office in the three weeks after its release there, its producer Chungeorahm said Tuesday.

Having been released in 71 theaters on March 7, the film raked in 320,000 dollars for the first week, and the earnings reached 690,000 in the second week and one million in the third week, when the number of theaters also rose to 94.

The producer said that the film reached the million dollar mark in the shortest time among all Korean films released in the U.S. Citing the film’s US distributor Magnolia Pictures as saying that it plans to show the film for the long-term, the Korean producer expressed its confidence in the film’s success there.

Korean movies released in the US include “Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter,” “Brotherhood of War” and “Old Boy.” Among them, “Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter” set a record high in box office earnings with 2.3 million dollars during its seven-month run.

ENTERTAINMENT NEWS > Kim Hae-sook Wins at Japan’s Movie Critics Awards

Middle-aged actress Kim Hae-sook has won the International Cooperation Award at the 16th Japanese Movie Critics Awards held by Japan’s Movie Critics Association on March 27 in Tokyo. The event was sponsored by Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology along with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Kim is the first Korean celebrity to receive the International Cooperation Award, whose previous winners include Hong Kong star Leslie Cheung. Kim’s agency cited the event organizers as saying that the actress received the award for her outstanding acting in TV dramas and movies that have aired in Japan and for contributing to movie exchanges between Korea and Japan.

Kim has appeared in all four “season series” of drama director Yoon Seok-ho, including “Winter Sonata” and “Summer Scent.” In addition, she has gained popularity in Japan for her role in the movie “My Brother,” which also stars Won Bin. Kim is also one of the few middle-aged Korean celebrities to appear in a Japanese TV commercial.

ENTERTAINMENT NEWS > Lee Jee-hoon to Release Album in Japan in July

Singer/actor Lee Jee-hoon held two solo concerts, entitled “Lee Jee Hoon 2007 - The Live Act: Zero In Tokyo,” on March 25 at the Tokyo FM Hall in Japan.

At the two-hour concerts, each consisting of two parts, the singer sang 15 songs including his hit songs “Promise” and “The Doll,” and even hosted his own concerts personally in fluent Japanese to demonstrate his versatile entertaining talent.

Lee said the concerts marked his full-fledged activities in Japan, drawing a favorable response from his fans.

At a news conference following his concerts, Lee, who marks the 11th anniversary of his debut, said he chose the FM Hall as the venue of his concerts because he wanted to start afresh in Japan, where he is still a new artist. The singer also said he wants to release a new album around July but has yet to choose a record company.

ENTERTAINMENT NEWS > Ko Ah-ra Cast as Lead for Japanese Movie

Actress Ko Ah-ra, who has gained popularity in Japan recently, was cast to play a lead in the joint Japanese-Mongolian movie “The Blue Wolf” by beating competition odds of 39,157 to one.

The movie’s producer, Haruki Kadokawa, offered Ko the role at a March 25 event held in Tokyo that marked the release of Ko’s first photo album. Nicknamed “Midas Touch,” Kadokawa decided to produce the movie after a ten-year hiatus.

Ko’s photo album, entitled “Ara in Rome,” was produced by Kadokawa personally for the first time, attesting to the high interest in Ko as an actress. The album is based on the famous movie “Roman Holiday,” which stars Audrey Hepburn. The photo shoot was held in January in Rome, Italy by the famous Japanese celebrity photographer Kishin Shinoyama.

Ko says she has always been interested in Rome and learned a lot about the city during the photo shoot, adding that the album includes photos of her with both long and short hair.

“The Blue Wolf” is a large-scale movie costing 23 billion won and depicting the life of Genghis Khan. Ko plays the role of a woman-warrior named Kuran, the principal lover of Genghis Khan. The movie opened in Japan on March 3 and topped the Japanese box-office in its first week. It remained in the top-ten for three weeks in a row, taking the third spot in its second week and the eighth spot in its third week.

CUISINE > Green Pepper Japchae

Green Pepper Japchae (Stir fried green pepper and assorted vegetables): Japchae is a traditional Korean party food. Korean traditional holidays would not be complete without this dish, a mixture of healthy vegetables and potato starch noodle. But today I gave this japchae recipe a little twist to the traditional offering, so try this new version of Korean traditional fare.

Ingredients:

200g beef
1 large green pepper, or 4 green chili pepper (mild ones)
1/2 medium onion
30g bamboo shoots (canned)
3 cloves of garlic
1 small piece of ginger
1 stalk of green onion
Cooking oil
1Tbsp cooking rice wine
1Tbsp soy sauce
Sesame seed oil1
1/2Tbsp oyster sauce

Marinating sauce
1Tbsp soy sauce
1Tbsp sugar
1tsp sesame seed oil
1Tbsp minced green onion
1tsp minced garlic
1Tbsp cooking rice wine

Direction:

1. Slice beef into thin strips, about 3-4 millimeters-thick. Marinate beef in the marinating sauce for about 30 minutes
2. Slice onion and bamboo shoot in the same thickness as beef.
3. Take out the seeds in green onion and slice it into long thin strips too.
4. Slice garlic and ginger into thin strips as well. Green onion should be first cut lengthwise and then sliced into long thin strips.
5. Heat up wok on high heat. Add a tablespoon of cooking oil to coat the pan and put in the sliced garlic, ginger and green onions to add aroma to the oil.
6. Before garlic, ginger and green onions get too crispy or burned, put marinated beef and cook until the outside is done. Then add sliced onion and stir fry until onion becomes transparent.
7. When onion is done, season the meat and onion with a tablespoon of cooking wine and soy sauce. After that, put in the remaining ingredients, green pepper and bamboo shoot, and stir fry them until they are done. Before turning off the heat, don’t forget to add oyster sauce and sesame seed oil and stir until mixed well.

Tips:

1. All ingredients should be sliced and ready before stir-frying, because speed is the key in making japchae. When cooking, be sure to use high heat because the nutrients in vegetables may be destroyed when overcooked.
2. If you add egg white and potato starch when marinating beef, it helps retain juice and tenderize the meat.
3. Some of the vegetables that can go well with this type of japchae are carrots and mushrooms (especially black, enoki and oyster mushrooms).