Korean tofu restaurant-what to do with the heated stone bowl?

[lillizkat]

Last night, I ate at a Korean tofu/bbq restaurant in Walnut. I ordered kimchee dot sol bibimbap and tofu soup. When my order came, our server scooped out the rice from the heated stone bowl and put the rice in a metal bowl. Then, she put the stone bowl with the crusted rice on the table. Since it was my first time at such a restaurant, I didn't know what to do with the stone bowl. I looked around the room to see how it's supposed to be eaten, but all I saw were bowls filled with water or some other liquid. Can someone tell me the proper way to eat the remaining crusted rice? TIA!

[HannahEats]

I LOVE the water+crispy rice that they serve at the end of the meal at Tofu places. If it tastes bland, add in kimchi to the mix and it's delicious.

[mlgb]

I would prefer just to eat the crusty rice plain, but the waitress poured water over it before I could get to it, she just didn't trust me!

[koreankorean]

I always joke that the way to tell apart real hardcore koreans is to see if they enjoy this hot water with rice thing (or noo-roong-jee). I have some non-friends who will eat the most hardcore korean food (fried chitlins, etc) but will refuse to drink that stuff because it 'has no flavor'. Hehe. To me it tastes extremely delicious. I can eat/drink that stuff everyday. Perhaps one must be born and raised in Korea to appreciate this 'flavorless' water. =)

[justagthing]

Nope, born and raised in the good ol US and not Korean, but still like to eat that. Also, we Chinese do have something similar.

[PseudoNerd]

I don't normally like rice, but I will make an exception for nooroongji.

That and kimchi together-- seriously hwansangjukin combo (how's that for Konglish?)!

[MobyRichard]

Wouldn't that be Kringlish?

[bitsubeats]

I am not a hardcore korean, but I'm a hardcore half korean who was born and raised on this stuff.

noo roon gee tastes like delicious nutty porridge or soup (depends on how thick you like it).

sometimes my mother and I will take a cup of really hot tea and throw in some cooked rice (just regular bap, untoasted) or some noo roon gee and drink it as is. delicious!

[Miss Needle]

I love that stuff as well. It's soothing and very nutty. Perfect complement to the spicy hot soon tofu. I prefer when they put boricha in the bowl as opposed to water. My heritage is Korean, but was born in the States. My husband is an ABC, and is not too crazy about it. He also claims that it has no flavor.

[justagthing]

Love it, I'm an ABC too!

[Das Ubergeek]

If they poured boricha in there, I'd be all over it like flies on honey. I *love* boricha. But they don't. It's always just water.

[bitsubeats]

forgot to add. crusty rice sprinkled with sugar was also a favorite childhood treat

[bitsubeats]

you usually fill it up with water or tea. My family and I do this with boricha - roasted barley tea at the end of a lot of meals. However we don't use dol sot pots for it. Instead we toast the rice (make a flat pancake of rice) in a frying pan until it dries all the rice out. After a meal you take some of the dried rice and some boricha, cook it up until the rice softens, and eat.

Yes its bland, but it acts as kind of a digestif (sp?) at the end of the meal. I also have fond memories of this being served to me whenever I was sick as a child. Its like a toastier and nuttier version of jook.

the rice and tea also soothes the stomach after a night of eating really spicy or greasy foods or drinking alcohol.

hannaone, the toasted rice is called noo rum gee or noo rum bap?

[lillizkat]

Yay! Thanks everyone! Now I know what to do instead of pretending to look at the posters on the wall while actually checking out what everyone else is doing with the rice! BTW, the mushroom tofu soup was so satisfying on a cold night. The tofu was soft and silky, and the broth had a great earthy flavor.

[raytamsgv]

In the Korean tofu restaurants I've visited, they always gave us one small stone bowl per person. After we took out the rice and placed them into the metal bowls, we poured the tofu soup into the stone bowls and mixed a raw egg in them. It was absolutely delicious.

[Das Ubergeek]

Ah, at some places you get the black pot with the soup (and you put the raw egg to cook), and then a stone bowl of rice separately.

[notmartha]

My favorite local place is like that - the soup is already in a heated pot, and the rice is scooped out of another heated stone pot.

My hubbie likes to just eat the burnt/crispy rice plain by plying it off the stone pot and eat it like a rice cracker. Akin to the crust of a paella. I suppose you can also throw them into the tofu soup as well. Most add the tea or water, but I find it too plain.

[justagthing]

I like the krispy stuff as well, that is why I love dol sop bim mi bop (not sure how to spell). Basically that is rice, veggies and a little bit of meat in the hot stone pot with an egg and you add some sauce and mix it all up. The heat of the pot makes the rice crispy over the duration as you eat the rest of it. Then you get the yummy, flavorful crispy rice at the end.
I think I like the krispy rice b/c it reminds me of when I was little and would hang out in my families restaurant waiting for the rice to be done. We would cook batches and batches in the gigantic woks. After my dad scooped it out, I would hover over the hot wok and take some of the crispy parts out and eat it straight up or add a little bit of butter. Ummm mmm good!

[hannaone]

Dol sot bi bim bop (bap)

[hannaone]

Most Korean rest serve (or have available) bori cha (barley tea). Pour the bori cha into the bowl and let it sit a couple of minutes, then eat the resulting "rice soup" as you would any soup.

[zruilong]

Sometimes instead of water they will fill it with tea instead. Either way, eat your soondubu as normal, when your done, enjoy the rice soup. You will find that the cooked rice slightly sweetens the water/soup.

[webb]

Have the bowl filled with water and eat the wet crusted rice.

[Das Ubergeek]

I hate this part of the meal -- it doesn't taste like ANYTHING. It's like eating slimy dishwater.