I have a special story with this dish. While studying in Odessa, I first tasted the "Korean carrot" at "Privoz" in 1990. Being a gourmand and an enterprising student. I bought from Koreans a grater for Korean carrots. There is a picture of it at the beginning of the article. This grater is already 33 years old and it is still in working condition. After graduating from Polytechnic, my wife and I, as a young professional, had a hard time getting a job at a sugar factory. It wasn't an easy time, we had to make it work. Often and not for one year, the work was only during the season of sugar beet harvest, at that time we seldom received cane sugar for processing. He still somehow bailed out the sugar industry. And it so happened that he would work at the plant for 5-6 months and then go at his own expense for half a year. What was a young engineer with a wife and a 3-year-old daughter to do? I had to get out of it.
My father worked at the furniture factory, he was a savvy instrumentation engineer. That's where my grater came in handy. My father examined it carefully and said that at work he could get me scrap wood, which could be used to make his own grates. They were scraps of excellent plywood board, it was perfect for the thickness. My father also got the knives for my cutters at the factory. I, a young power engineer, had to learn a new trade.) The first five cutters of my own production, I gave to my relatives. They, of course, were glad and some of them also did not leave me without gifts. Everyone liked my grates.
It was not enough to make them with my own hands, I had yet to realize them. In total, I made, by my own hands, at least 1,500 pieces. When the factory didn't work, I started making grates again and selling them. Sold them in Odessa and in all cities and in the north and south of the region. The funny thing was, not only did I sell the grater, but I also gave the recipe for "Korean Carrot" and "Danube Salad". It was a glorious time, as the saying goes: "Water doesn't flow under a rolling stone".
Well, I'll write my own recipe, which I was able to myself with the help of many experimental preparations. That recipe, which was given by Koreans, did not give the desired result. Something was wrong. Through trial and error I figured out a formula for a tasty "Korean Carrot".
Ingredients:
Carrots 1 kg
Vegetable oil 5 tablespoons.
Salt, black pepper to taste
Vinegar 3 to 4 tablespoons
Coriander 3 teaspoons
Onions 3 medium sized bulbs
Garlic 3 to 4 cloves
Sugar 1 teaspoon
Grate carrots on a grater. Coriander grind, it is better not to take ground. It will be tastier. Finely chop onions and add them to hot oil in a pan. Just a minute or even less in the pan, until the onions are translucent. Do not fry!!! Salt the carrots and add a little sugar, then pour the ground coriander and ground black pepper in one place, and on top of these spices pour boiling oil with onions, this is very important, the spices reveal themselves completely. Before that, add and stir in a few cloves of garlic and finally the vinegar. Stir. It will be tastier if the "Korean carrot" will stand in the refrigerator, at least a couple of hours. Usually it does not stand for a long time.) This is a beauty. It's a legendary dish, I still love it very much.)