Korean Night in the Northcutt Residence!

I brought home some Jeju mandarin orange Makgeolli from my vacation and knew I wanted to share it with my fellow foodie friend Phil. (Woah, so many “f” sounds…) Makgeolli is not something I normally drink and I have rarely found one I liked.  It’s a Korean rice wine, originally considered a farmer’s drink,  made from mixing the rice with a fermentation starter. It has a milky color and sometimes has the taste of licking an Asian grocery store floor. Seriously. Sometimes its really bad.

But, I went ahead and bought this one after the clerk in Jeju said it was very delicious. Traditionally with makgeolli you eat a Korean pancake called pajeon. Jeon means pancake. I wanted to make it, not buy it, but I cheated a bit. I used a premade mix from the store and only had to add water and the vegetables. I feel like I looked off my friend’s math test and only got a C grade…the mix wasn’t that great and it was so puffy for some reason. Next time I will make it from scratch and include a recipe.

The makgeolli was delicious and I was really happy with it. I also loved adding the avocado slices to the pajeon, which while not traditional, upped the taste greatly. I bought some kimchi and seasoned squid at the fancy grocery store in Hyundai Department Store to add to the meal. …ANDBESTOFALL…I finally got to use my floor table once again. The last time was last Thanksgiving. Sad.

I incorporated mushrooms, green onions (the “pa” in pajeon) and red onion to my pancake.