This is The Haul, where we follow the city’s top chefs and food experts as they forage for their pantry must-haves.
Ravi Kapur, the renowned Hawaiian-born chef-owner of Liholiho Yacht Club and Good Good Culture Club, is a Kukje regular. A devotee of the excellent, 19-year-old Korean supermarket in Daly City, he knows his route: “First, I go to where the banchan and stuff is. And then I wrap around to the rice and grains, and then the meats.”
However, first you must pass the prepared-foods section, which includes many variations of fried chicken, including “original spicy” and “extra hot” — the aroma like the call of a lusty siren. Kapur is disciplined. He turns sharply toward the good-for-your-gut kimchee, looking wistfully at the chicken. “I’m too old to be munching on that shit.”
The banchan section, a wide array of the snacky little dishes, is the real motherlode. Plastic containers contain an array of veggie and dried fish preparations, most stained red with gochujang, the essential sticky-sweet-spicy Korean chile paste made from fermented soy beans and glutinous rice. There are also a wide variety of kimchees, from chunky daikon radish to Persian cucumber.
We pass the pastel-colored fish balls, which are “always fun — great in soups,” but Kapur grabs a packet of fried fish cake to use in a stir-fry instead. Then it’s on to the noodles and rice cakes, and the produce section, which has endless “choys” and cabbage. “Napa cabbage, green head cabbage, Savoy cabbage — cabbage is something I draw upon being from Hawaiian-Chinese-Indian heritage,” he says.
In the home goods section, judgment is passed on rice cookers, the best deemed Zojirushi. Some kimbap is purchased for snacking on the drive home. Standing in awe of the selection of dried seaweed, Kapur almost genuflects: “Kukje is a place I come because there’s just so many things to draw inspiration from.”
As a wrap-up, the burning question is posed: Is our hometown Kukje better than H Mart — or at least as good? Kapur demures. But I’ll answer this for him: Yes, it is. One hundred percent.
Ravi Kapur’s shopping list:
Seasoned dried cuttlefish ($16.99/lb)
“In the banchan section, something nostalgic for me is what we call ‘taegu’ in Hawaii. Koreans have a similar version. It’s made with dried cuttlefish and seasoned with gochujang.”
Fried fish cake with burdock ($4.99)
“Some are steamed, but this fish cake is fried. You can julienne it, cook it with some fresh vegetables. It adds flavor, texture and umami.”
Glutinous rice cakes ($6.99)
“The ones in the refrigerated section are cool, but I usually go around the corner to get the fresh, softer ones [made by Takbokki], best used on the same day. This, stir-fried with some of the sliced pork belly from the meat section, and kimchi? You have a meal right there.”
Fresh wood ear mushrooms ($4.99)
“I really like wood ear mushrooms for texture, but then I’ll add oyster mushrooms for flavor. If you sear them really hard, they get crispy, almost meat-like.”
Mixed 7 Grains ($7.99)
“This is mix of brown rice, some sweet rice — which is stickier — sometimes there’s a little barley, a little red beans. I like to add this to short-grain white rice, adding one part [7 Grains] to four rice.”
Nori komi furikake ($3.59) and roasted rice crackers ($7.99)
Hurricane popcorn is a Hawaiian tradition, and Kapur picks up the ingredients to go in it, including “your standard furikake and roasted rice crackers — which are also called arare or kakimochi.”
Powdered bonito soup stock ($4.50)
“If you need a little MSG blast, get this [Ajinomoto Hondashi]. It adds a lot of flavor, especially if you’re in a pinch. Take it camping too. Boosts up the flavor and impresses your friends.”
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