Japchae (Meatless)

This was my first attempt at japchae.  I adapted this from Maangchi's recipe to suit my taste.  It came out to be a perfect hint of sesame oil.  I hope you enjoy my version.


8 oz sweet potato noodles
4-6 fresh shiitake mushrooms (or dried ones, rehydrated for 20-30 mins in warm water), cut to strips
3/4 cup julienned carrots
1 bell pepper, cut into strips
1 medium onion, cut into strips
1/2 to 1 bunch fresh spinach, blanched
2 Tbsp oyster sauce
1 tsp Sesame oil
2 Tbsp Soy Sauce
Fish Sauce
Cooking oil

Marinate the shiitake mushrooms and with oyster sauce and set aside.

Bring water to a boil and cook the noodles for 6 minutes.  The noodle should be soft and chewy, but should not easily break apart. Rinse the noodles under cold water when done and drain well.  Cut the noodle to shorter length.  Add noodles to a large mixing bowl and add 1 tsp of sesame oil and soy sauce and give it a light toss.

Heat up a pan and add oil to lightly coat the pan.  Cook the carrots, bell peppers, mushrooms and onion separately with a dash of salt.  Add to the mixing bowl with the spinach and noodles.  Mix the ingredients with your clean, washed hands.  Your fingers will incorporate the ingredients together better than using utensils.  Add the fish sauce to taste.  Allow the mixture sit for 5-10 minutes before serving.

Korean Fried Chicken

Difficulty: Easy to Medium

If anyone has gotten to really know me, knows that I am a bit of a scatterbrain. Becoming a mom made it worse with my children distracting me. Googling pandan waffle recipes made a right turn to fried fish, which lead to Malaysian style fried fish, which lead to a Malaysian fried chicken, which lead to Southern fried chicken, which made me think of Roscoe's chicken and waffles, which lead to Korean Fried Chicken. Oh I have left over coconut that taste good with pandan. Yes, Korean fried chicken with coconut pandan waffles.

For the fried chicken (inspired and adapted from Maangchi's seasoned and sweet and crispy)
20 pieces wings
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp adobo seasoning
1 large egg

For sauce:
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 Tbsp corn syrup
1 tsp ginger powder
1 Tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp of hot pepper flakes


For sauce:
Add all ingredients into a saucepan and simmer until thicken.


For chicken:
I know that there is a proper method to breading chicken, but I found for this recipe, you get extra crunchiness from breading ignorance. I threw the wing pieces into a large bowl. I combine the dry ingredients and blend well. Threw it on the chicken and mix well. Then I threw a beaten egg in and mixed it all up. It was clumpy and just a plain ol' mess.

I heated up a deep frying pan or wok. Added some oil, just enough to cover the chicken when frying in the pan. Fry them for about 10-12 minutes and pull them out of the pan. Allow 2-3 minutes to rest. Scoop out any free floating pieces and fry the wings an additional time to get it to be extra crispy. Place them on a paper towel to remove any excess oil. Toss the wings with the sauce or have sauce on the side.

Penne with Sausage

Pictured here with portobello mushroom and light sauce

Difficulty: Easy to Medium

After having my first child, food changed for me.  One of the first things that changed for me was spaghetti.  I didn't enjoy eating spaghetti any longer and give up on it but it is one of my husband's favorite cheap and fast go to meals.  After adding more organic foods to the family's meals, my husband re-approached the red sauce because I was buying organic canned tomatoes to make bun rieu/crab or shrimp dumpling noodle soup.

After trying this recipe, you will never need to give Ragu and Prego your money again.  It is simple, flavorful, and it is delicious.  I have tried this recipe with conventional canned tomatoes and it isn't as good.  Spend the extra dollar on the organic because it is worth it.

Red sauce:
1- 28 oz can organic whole peeled tomatoes
8 leaves sweet basil, chopped or chiffonade
2 cloves crushed and minced garlic
1/2 medium onion, diced

Sausage:
1/2 lb ground pork, turkey, or chicken
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp fennel seed
1/3 tsp black pepper
1/4 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp sage
1/4 tsp thyme
or
3 sweet Italian sausage without the casing

1/2 box penne

Prepping the sausage:
Start by making the seasoning for the sausage.  Add the dry ingredients together and blend it well.  Add the ground meat and mix it well.  Make sure that the spices is evenly distributed throughout the meat.  Set aside and allow the mixture to set for at least 1 hour.

Prepping the canned tomatoes:
Pour the contents of the canned tomato in a large bowl.  With very clean and dry hands, crush the tomatoes with your hands. You don't want large chunks.  Aim at tearing each whole tomato into 4-6 pieces.

Prepare the pasta based on the package instruction.  Do not rinse the pasta after you finish.

Heat up some oil in a large stock pot, enough to cover the bottom of the pot.  Make sure that your sausage is near by. Cook the garlic and diced onions until the onions are soft.  Add the sausage.  Use a spoon to break up the sausage into small pieces.  Pour the tomato sauce in and lower the heat.  Allow for the sauce to simmer for about 5-7 minutes.  Finish the sauce off with the sweet basil.  Add the pasta to the sauce and combine it.  Add cheese if you desire.

Ssamjang Dipping Paste - 쌈장

This is my adaptation of Maangchi's ssamjang paste.  This dipping goes well with all the Korean grilling specials.  According to Maangchi, it can replace the ranch dressing on a veggie platter.  Experiment to your heart's desire.

Difficulty: Hooker Easy

1 tsp chili paste
2 Tbsp soy bean paste
2 Tbsp onion, finely chopped
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1 stalk green onion, green parts only chopped

Mix all the ingredients together.  Allow for it to sit for about 10 minutes before using.

Sườn Bò Nướng Tẩm Gia Vị Hàn Quốc - Korean Galbi - 갈비

My version of the Korean galbi

Galbi served with Boston leaf lettuce, shiso leaf, pickled carrots and ssamjang.

Difficulty: Medium

The LA style of the beef ribs were on sale and I was inspired to make some Korean galbi for my family.  I don't cook Korean food or even eat it often, but  I had fond memories of sitting around the table eating Korean food on a Friday at an office I use to work at.

I usually get my marinade from a bottle because I wasn't very familiar with the flavors components to come up with a marinade myself. This time I wasn't going to pay $5.00+ for a bottle.  So I went to ol' Maagchi's webpage to get some inspiration.  I am looking at the recipe and thought that there is no way I was going to pay $3.00+ for an Asian pear for this recipe!!!  We are on a budget.  So I pondered for a few moments and I know that the majority of the marinade is a soy sauce base and every Korean swears on sesame oil.  So this is the marinade I came up with from all the ingredients that came from my kitchen.  I personally like the flavors better than any Korean restaurant I have been too.  I hope you enjoy.

1/2 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup water

1 tsp sesame oil

1 inch nub ginger root

2 stalks green onion, white parts only, smashed with the side of your knife

4-5 cloves garlic
1 Tbsp honey

2 Tbsp brown sugar

1/4 cup organic apple juice
1/2 small organic apple, peels and cored

Ssamjang paste

3-3.5 lbs of beef ribs

Take all your solid ingredients and placed them into a mini chopper and chop until you have a paste.  Add all your liquid ingredients and set aside.  If you don't have a chopper, smash everything together in a mortar and pestle or smash everything with the side of your knife and rock the knife over it and scrap them over your cutting board to make a paste.

Wash you beef ribs well by scrapping the exposed parts of the bones with your knife to remove any bone fragments.  Also remove the membrane from the underside of the bones.  Afterwards, rinse several times to ensure that it is well cleaned and allow for it to sit in a strainer or colander to remove any excess water.

In a large zip top bag, place the well drained ribs in with the marinade.  Let it sit for at least 4 hrs, preferably overnight.  Take the ribs out of the fridge for at least 30 mins before grilling.

When grilling you want the grill very hot.  Depending on the thickness, you will be aiming between 3-7 mins total.  Look for shrinkage around the bones and also the meat will bounce back a little when you press on it.

I like to eat mine wrapped in lettuce with pickled daikon and carrots with some fresh cucumber slices.  You can use the Korean soybean paste with the hot pepper paste as a condiment for this dish.  I prefer the Vietnamese nuoc cham.

soybean paste

Hot pepper paste