Taco Chilli Chilli

It was a lazy Sunday afternoon with the girls browsing the markets in Dongdaemun and we needed a quick fix.  Apart from street food in this area, restaurants appear to be the standard small Korean ones that don’t have huge variation and we were looking for something more western.

Taco Chilli Chilli is located in a central spot in Dongdaemun. On the exterior, apart from the name it looks like one of the traditional looking Korean tented buildings for cheap eats. However as soon as you walk in, the smell of fresh Mexican food invades your nostrils.

It’s a simple menu, burritos, enchiladas and nachos. I opted for the chicken burrito. It was cheap and tasty and even had some fresh coriander (something that is hard to come by here when outside Itaewon).

I recommend this place for a quick bite when you’re not stopping for long. It has no atmosphere and certainly isn’t a place to sit in all evening. However, it is tasty and for a Korean Mexican eatery, it hit the spot.

Getting There: 

Take the subway to Dongdaemun Station. Take exit 6 or 7 (7 is closest, but the station can be a little confusing). Walk straight until you cross the river (1 -2 minutes through a market area). Once you cross the river, cross the road and it’s pretty much right in front of you. (Red frontage and the name is above it).

No Bake Chocolate Peanut butter Oat Bars

I agreed to make something for a student’s birthday today in my class, and I already had the bones of this recipe. It’s really quick and easy.

Ingredients:

4 sticks of butter

2 cups of brown sugar

2 squirts of honey

3 cups of rolled oats (I used Quaker Oats – available in Itaewon or some department stores)

 2 cups of dark chocolate (I used a bar of dark cooking chocolate  from a bakers  market) 

 2 cups of peanut butter

Unfortunately being in Korea, I only have one heated cooking ring and one saucepan to work from, so I split the butter, sugar and oats and made it in two batches, so I could melt the chocolate in the middle. I’ll assume more people have more than one and will write the instructions that way.

1. Melt the butter in a saucepan on a low heat until it’s fully melted then whisk in the brown sugar and honey on a medium heat.

2. Using a separate saucepan, melt the peanut butter and chocolate in a bowl of near boiling water in the saucepan.

3. While the chocolate and peanut butter are melting, add the oats to the butter mixture and cook for 2-3 minutes on a medium heat until they’re fully coated and slightly softened.

4. Press half of the oat mixture into a tin (I had to use two square pans but it also fills a regular deep baking tray).

5. Pour over and evenly spread the melted chocolate and peanut butter, leaving a couple of tablespoons left in the bowl.

6. Gently crumble a second layer of the oats over the chocolate layer  so as not to disturb the melted chocolate underneath. (I put a lump of sticky oats onto the wooden spoon and used my hand to sprinkle it evenly). This gives it a sandwich effect when sliced.

7. Koreans seem to love cutesy decoration so I splashed the remaining chocolate over the top and threw on some sprinkles from Artbox. (Personally I prefer them looking more natural for these particular bars)