Kimchi Princess

 

Young-Mi Snowden-Park: "Kimchi Princess was my nickname."

Young-Mi Snowden-Park was born in Wolfsburg as the child of Korean immigrants. After finishing school, she spent a year in the South Korean capital of Seoul. After that, everything changed for her - after she had had a chance to acquaint herself with authentic Korean cuisine and food culture, that is. She began cooking frequently for friends, telling them that she would open a restaurant one day when she had the money. Then, she got the chance to run a Korean food stand at a Christmas market for three days. The stand became the hit of the market. Four years later, on her 30th birthday, she opened her very first restaurant, Kimchi Princess.

Kimchi Princess in Berlin's Kreuzberg district

When she started her restaurant eight years ago in Berlin's Kreuzberg district, there were few eateries in the area. Many of her friends told her that she would go out of business. Instead, the district in western Berlin has become a total hot spot for going out to eat and drink. And Kimchi Princess is now a magnet in the area.
 

 

Bibimbap (Mixed rice with vegetables and marinated beef) 

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 450 g sushi rice
• 625 ml water

For the marinated beef:

• 300 g beef neck
• 1 onion
• ¼ nashi pear
• 1 knob ginger (around 8 g)
• 6 garlic cloves
• ¼ leek
• 1 green onion
• 5 T soy sauce
• 1 T rice syrup
• 1 T Chunga rice wine
• 1 T sugar
• 1 T maesil chung (green plum extract)
• 1 pinch pepper
• ½ T sesame oil

For the spinach topping:

• 150 g fresh spinach
• 1 l water
• ½ t salt
• ½ t sesame salt
• 1 garlic clove
• 1 T sesame oil
• 1/2 T sesame seeds, toasted

For shiitake mushroom topping:

• 8-10 shiitake mushrooms, dried
• 1 garlic clove
• 2 T soy sauce
• 1 t sugar
• 1 T sesame oil
• 1 T sunflower seed oil

For the gochujang chili paste:

• 5 T gochujang chili paste, heaped
• 2 T water
• 2 T rice syrup
• 2 T sesame oil
• 1 t sesame seeds, toasted

Additional toppings:

• 1 zucchini
• 1 carrot
• 1/3 radish
• 1/8 white cabbage
• 5 garlic cloves
• 4 eggs
• 1 T vegetable oil
• Salt to taste

Preparation:

Pour rice into pot, cover with water, and soften for 30 minutes. Then wash thoroughly, replacing water several times throughout the process.  Finally, pour off water and add 625 ml water to rice. Bring rice to a boil at high heat. Turn heat to low and cook rice in covered pot for 20 minutes at low heat. Then set pot aside and allow rice to set for five minutes in covered pot. Fluff rice with wooden spoon before serving.

Use a sharp knife to cut beef into very thin slices. Peel onions and slice in half. Peel nashi pear, slice in half, and remove core. Peel ginger and garlic. Use a hand mixer to blend half an onion, ginger, garlic, and pear into a smooth paste. Slice remaining onions into fine rings and set aside.

Rinse green onions in water, remove ends, and chop finely. Mix green onions together with soy sauce, rice syrup, rice wine, sugar, plum extract, sesame oil, and pepper. Marinate meat in paste for at least one hour.

In the meantime, wash leek and slice lengthwise in uniform strips. Heat pan at medium heat and sauté meat together with onions and leek until meat is tender. Set aside and keep warm.

Soften shiitake mushrooms in warm water for 20 minutes. To make spinach topping, rinse spinach leaves and allow to drip-dry in a sieve. Peel garlic cloves and chop finely. In a large pot, bring water and salt to a boil. Briefly blanch spinach, then shock in cold water and carefully press dry. Add all additional ingredients and mix thoroughly by hand. Salt spinach to taste.

Wash zucchini, cut off ends, and slice into fine 7-cm strips. Peel radish and carrots, and slice into strips. Slice white cabbage. Peel and finely chop garlic.

Heat oil in pan at medium heat. Add carrots and a pinch of salt, and sauté at medium heat until carrots are crisp. Finally, add garlic. Sauté briefly, remove carrots from pan and set aside. Sauté zucchini, radish, and cabbage.

Remove softened shiitake mushrooms from water, cut off stems, slice mushrooms into fine strips, and combine with garlic, soy sauce, sugar, and sesame oil. Heat oil in a pan at medium heat for five minutes until mushrooms are cooked through.

Combine all ingredients for gochujang sauce and mix thoroughly. Fry eggs sunny side up in a pan with oil at medium heat and set aside.

In a deep bowl, evenly distribute rice and place egg in the middle. Surround by vegetable strips and meat.

Spoon gochujang sauce into a separate bowl and serve together with bibimbap. Add one or two spoonfuls of gochujang sauce before eating.

Restaurant Kimchi Princess
Skalitzer Str. 36
10999 Berlin

Tel.: +49 163 4580203

Kimchi Princess website