Eating IN LA: Kogi Taco Truck



[Korean BBQ Taco]

We hope to feature some quintessential Los Angeles eats here but replicate them in our own kitchens. Our first foray into cooking together is the legendary Kogi Taco Truck. We made both beef and tofu tacos.

[Tofu Korean BBQ Taco]

We met, reviewed our recipes, and made a master shopping list. We adapted recipes from here and here. We walked over to City Market, the Korean market on 6th & Alexandria.

[Picking out a tasty cabbage for the greens]

[Cabbage heads - 5 lbs for 99 cents!]

Then we headed back to my place and started cooking.

[A look at all the ingredients]

BBQ Sauce
3 tablespoons of sugar
2 tablespoons of gochujang (Korean hot pepper paste)
2 tablespoons of low sodium soy sauce
2 tablespoons of sesame oil
1 teaspon of rice wine vinegar
Mix all the ingredients, and serve with a spoon. Nothing fancy. The BBQ sauce is what makes the tacos delicious.

[BBQ sauce. MMM]

Cilantro Onion Topping
2 small/medium onions chopped into little squares
Rice wine vinegar
4 tablespoons of chopped cilantro
Lime juice
Add onions and rice wine vinegar and let it sit for 5 to 10 minutes. Drain and rinse in water, but you don't have to be too thorough because the vinegar adds a good kick. Add the cilantro, mix, then pour the lime juice over it.


[Chopped cilantro]

[Chop those onions]

The Greens
2 cups of Napa cabbage, shredded
¼ cup soy sauce
2 teaspoons of rice wine vinegar
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced
1/2 of a large jalapeno, seeded and minced
2 teaspoons of minced fresh ginger
Cut up the cabbage - I used a mandoline. Mix the soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, garlic, jalapenos, and ginger separately. I don't think I used 1/4 cup of soy sauce - I just eyed it bc I didn't want the greens to get soggy from too much soy sauce.

[Are you laughing at my plastic glove substitute? Trust me, jalapenos on bare skin is no fun for later when you try to take off your contacts]

[Prepping the dressing for the cabbage]

"BBQ" Tofu
8 ounces of firm tofu

6 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon of gochujang (Korean hot pepper paste)
2 teaspoons minced ginger
4 teaspoons lime juice
2 cloves of garlic thinly sliced
Combine soy sauce, gochujang, ginger, lime juice, and garlic in a bowl. Add tofu to the mixture and marinade for 30 minutes. Stir occasionally, or in my case give the bowl a good shake, to make sure all the tofu is covered in the marinade. After 30 minutes, you can either serve the bbq tofu cold which I prefer or saute them for 2 minutes in the wok and serve them warm.

Korean BBQ Meat
There are countless recipes for Korean Galbi BBQ, but due to the marination time needed, we bought pre-marinated meat from the supermarket. Not bad at $5.99 per lb at City Market. Galbi is the marinated ribs, but you could also buy Bulgogi or Galbi Sahl (Galbi minus bones).

[Galbi in the pan]

[Cut up the meat after cooking for tacofying]

We toasted our corn (yellow AND white - fancy) tortillas, and set the table.

[We did not eat the air plants]

All in all it was delicious, fun, and full of laughter and sharing stories.

  Even if we had a sink full of dishes at the end of the night.