Take Me to the Rice Paddies: Abalone, Sea Squirt and Ssangdoongi Hwetjib

I have been fascinated by television shows that cover Korean food. I am a big fan of Anthony Bourdain and was so glad he took No Reservations to Korea in Season 2 and to LA's Koreatown in Parts Unknown. I was even more excited when PBS started airing Marja Vongerichten's Kimchi Chronicles. Recently, I've happily discovered Judy Joo's Korean Food Made Simple on the Cooking Channel.

It was on Kimchi Chronicles that I learned about Jeju Island black pork and about the free diving Haenyo on Jeju Island that pluck shellfish out of the sea and sell it to local tourists and restaurants ~ the New York Times just this spring published a story about them. I was thrilled and lucky to catch a glimpse of a Haenyo woman as we drove through a seaside village and even luckier to have several amazing meals on the island.

Dinner on Monday evening was at a Seogwipo seafood restaurant that specializes in sashimi, raw fish. But, before we were led to our table, first things first, we needed to remove our shoes.

I lost track of the number of courses they brought to us during the course of the evening (we were again seated on the floor at a traditional low Korean table). Our meal included a host of raw seafood options, as well as a rice porridge to start, another stir-fried rice dish, a fish seafood stew, a flash-fried whole fish and even a traditional Korean dessert made from shaved ice and sweet red beans. Other sides included an odd corn-cheese dish and a deep fried pork cutlet with barbecue sauce, which wasn't bad but didn't seem to fit.

The food, washed down with plenty of beer, was delicious. But, the most unique and quite amazing thing I tried was sea squirt (sea pineapple) or moenggae (멍게). I'd never heard of it or seen it before as a Korean food, but there it was as part of they array of options, from squid and octopus to abalone to shrimp and a wide variety of raw fish. The moengae was amazing. I've eaten nothing before that tasted so wonderfully of the sea ~ fresh, salty, sweet, slightly savory and almost refreshing. In reviews I've read online since, I haven't found many fans. I'm not sure if they had a bad batch or if I had a particularly well-prepared dish (it was lightly seasoned). It was hands-down the tastiest item that was brought to us at that restaurant. Here are some photos from that night at "Ssangdoongi Hwetjib" in Seogwipo.

That's grilled abalone at the bottom of the above picture. I've been eager to try it and it was delicious. I was not a fan of the raw abalone, but prepared and grilled ~ yum! Abalone is limited in the US, but I saw it sold sold by the dozens in the grocery store in Seoul.