10+ Convenience Store Recipes from "Jang Geum, Oh My Grandma"

No more boring meals! Up your convenience store food with these easy-to-replicate recipes.

A haven for cheap eats, convenience stores are the go-to place for students, office workers and budget travelers. It is filled with a selection of ready-to-eat food items like rice meals, sandwiches, hot and cold drinks, etc.

My local favorites are FamilyMart (for its fried chicken, ice cream twirl and revel bar) and 7-11 (for their P50-or-less lunch options). It can get tiring to eat the same thing over and over again. Sometimes I wonder if there are food hacks that I can try within these establishments.

Then one day I stumbled upon a Korean drama called 대장금이 보고 있다 "Jang Geum, Oh My Grandma", which is one of my recommended 2018 series. It features food reviews, a home cooking segment and master recipes using convenience store food items.

In case you want to shy away from your usual (frequent customer) or lazy/tired to dine at a restaurant, I'm sharing with you Han Jin Mi's master recipes that you can try when you drop by the nearest kage (Korean konbini):

Episode 2 & 3: Crabmeat in a Fiery Pit a.k.a. Crabmeat in Endless Torment

Ingredients: Spicy noodles, sundae, crab meat, cheese, mayonnaise

Instructions:

1. Cook spicy noodles.

2. Heat sundae in the microwave.

3. Tear crab meat into pieces and mix with mayo.

4. Add crab meat to noodles and top with cheese. Microwave for 30 seconds.

Episode 4: Shut Up and Eat Gimbap

Ingredients: Sweet and sour chicken, cheese, kimchi gimbap, wasabi

Instructions:

1. Place wasabi and grilled sweet and sour chicken on kimbap.

2. Top each with a slice of cheese and heat in the microwave.

Episode 5: Sorry-racha

Ingredients: Sriracha ramen, stir-friend sausages, sweet corn, mozzarella cheese, shrimp chips

Instructions:

1. Cook spicy noodles

2. Add sausages, sweet corn and cheese. Heat in the microwave.

3. Top with some shrimp chips.

Episode 8: Jerky Sandwich

Ingredients: Spicy beef jerky, milk bread, potato salad, strawberry jam

Instructions:

1. Tear beef jerky into pieces and put them on the potato salad. Mix together.

2. Spread jam over half a slice of bread and potato salad on the other half.

Episode 10: Tomato Jelly Beer

Ingredients: 1 fruit jelly pudding, 1 tomato juice, 1 can of beer

Instructions:

1. Put the pudding in a plastic cup and break it with a spoon.

2. Add one-fourth of the tomato juice and 400mL of beer.

Episode 10: Cheese Knows Nothing About Crab Sticks

Ingredients: 1 pack of crab sticks, 1 pack of shredded cheeses

Instructions:

1. Tear the crab sticks and sprinkle cheese on top.

2. Microwave for 3 minutes.

Episode 13: Kim-chicken Pi-chicken

Ingredients: Snowflake cheese, kimchi, sweet and sour chicken, cup pizza

Instructions:

1. Heat pizza and chicken in the microwave.

2. Put chicken in a plate and place kimchi on top.

3. Pour the cup pizza on top.

4. Sprinkle grated cheese and microwave.

Episode 15: Blessed Are Those Who Mix

Ingredients:

• Dish 1 - instant tteokbokki, jjajang cup noodles
• Dish 2 - stir-friend cup noodles, shrimp bar, mozzarella cheese

Instructions:

Dish 1

1. Cook jjajang cup noodles.
2. Microwave instant tteokbokki for 3 minutes and 30 seconds.
3. Mix it with cooked jjajang noodles.

Dish 2

1. Microwave shrimp bar for a 1 minute and 30 seconds then cut it.
2. Cook stir-fried noodles and place the shrimp bar on it.
3. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese and microwave for a minute to complete the dish.

Episode 20: "Jin Mi's Convenience Store Master Recipe for Drinks and Snacks"

Ingredients:

• Dish 1 - Slices of boiled meat, trotter, spicy mixed noodles, salad, chogochujang, wasabi.
• Dish 2 - Cheese slices, mozzarella cheese, canned sweet corns, mayonnaise.
• Drink - Sikhye, apple juice, soju

Instructions:

Dish 1

1. Heat up the trotter for 2 minutes.
   
   
2. Cook the noodles with hot water. Drain the water.
3. Add the salad, 3 spoons of chogochujang and wasabi with the cooked noodles. Mix them together.
4. Place the noodles with the slices of boiled meat and trotter in a plate.

Dish 2

1. In a separate plate/container, mix 4 to 5 spoons of mayonnaise with the canned sweet corns.
2. Sprinkle the mozzarella cheese and a slice of cheese on top. Microwave for 3 minutes.

Drink

1. Mix sikhye, apple juice and soju with a ratio of 1:1:1 in a cup.
2. Add 2 to 3 shot glasses of soju into the peach water jelly.

Episode 22: My Heart Gets Salty and Sweet. It's Hotteok with Honey.

Ingredients: Mixed nuts, ham slices, hotteok with honey

Instructions:

1. Crush the nuts without opening the bag.

2. Cut the ham slices and microwave them for 30 seconds.

3. Slice the hotteok in half and add the ham slices and crushed nuts. Microwave for 30 seconds.

Episode 23: The Sudden Encounter of Jjajang and Risotto

Ingredients: Jjajang noodles, mozzarella cheese, bibimbap-flavored triangular gimbap

Instructions:

1. Cook jjajang noodles.

2. Add gimbap without dried laver.

3. Tear of the laver into pieces and mix them all together.

4. Sprinkle mozzarella cheese on top and microwave it for a minute.

Episode 26: Red Spicy Curious Dumplings
Ingredients: Spicy dumplings, tomato sauce, sweet corn, mozzarella cheese, sliced cheese, raw egg
Instructions:
1. Thaw spicy dumplings in the microwave for 2 minutes.
2. Top slightly cooked dumplings with tomato sauce and sweet corn.
3. Place a raw egg on top and cook in microwave for 4 minutes.
4. Top with sliced cheese and mozzarella cheese. Heat for 2 minutes.

BONUS: Min Hyuk's Subway master recipe (episode 19)

Order a steak sandwich with extra cheese, sweet onion sauce and mayonnaise plus a bag of potato chips. Put some crushed potato chips in between the sandwich to add a crisp texture.

As mentioned, qside from these convenience store and fast food recipes, you can also learn home-cooked Korean dishes through Han Jeong-Sik's "Fun Cooking Robot" segment.

I've yet to try any of these recipes and will add if something new comes up in future episodes. Watch the show with me on Viu.

Disclaimer: this is not a sponsored post. I'm just a fan of the show and I happen to stream it (legally, of course) through the said platform. Also, no copyright infringement intended :)