Spicy Crab Stew - Ggotgae jjigae

I'm finally moving out of korea town. No more gun shots in the night, gang fights, or ktown sleaziness on youtube (haha). Sorry, just exaggerating a bit. I'm going to miss the cheap groceries and good food though. You'll always be in my heart ktown. Although, moving has been a huge pain in the butt and in my arms gahh!

Anyhoo, here are some random facts I've read in the past...

MYTH BUSTERS!
False: Toilet water on your toothbrush will get you sick
I don't ever keep my toothbrush where the toilet is because microorganisms are ejected when you flush the toilet. It can spray further than 5 feet (ahh!) and all the good stuff lands all over the bathroom even if you close the lid. But, fortunately you won't catch anything from what comes out of your toilet because when the toothbrush dies, so does most of the organisms. Although, that'll probably take some time so don't brush your teeth right after you go haha... Just keep your toothbrush in the cabinet!

False: Bathroom door handles in public restrooms are the germiest place
Door handles actually have the least bacteria of any surface in public restrooms says Dr. Chuck Gerba of University of Arizona in Tucson. That's because on average 68% wash their hands before leaving (WHAT! NOT 100%??). Your desk is way dirtier than a toilet bowl (400x more!) In his recent study, Gerba and co. found parainfluenza virus, which causes colds and flu on about one-third of office surfaces...and most of it on the phone. These viruses can survive for 2-3 days on desktops, phones and keyboards too.

Just keep washing your hands, become a germ-aphobe and stop making out ah ha ha...

Spicy Crab Stew - 꽃게 찌개

Haemul Soondubu Jjigae - Seafood Soft Tofu Stew

My biggest regret this month is to miss the audition for the Spicy eating challenge at BCD Tofu House sponsored event at the Ktown Food Fest. OMgoodness, I would have totally owned it. But I didn't know there was an audition. I thought...I thought... ahhh. I missed my chance to win an iPad!! There were other contests like choco pie eating, but I can almost imagine choking down chocolate covered dry pieces of bread. bleh...

Anyhoo, I can make my own Soft tofu soup and eat it. Wuah wuah. Although, BCD's hot stone pot rice is soo fluffy and delicious. Something I can't make at home, unless I burn down my house.

Here's a short human body fact for today. I promise a more substantial, interesting and intellectual story next time...unless you guys really don't like reading too many words :p

FACT: 250,000 pores that exist on the soles of the feet secret almost 1/4 cup of sweat every day
Now I know why my feet smells like flowers.... :)

Haemul Soon dubu - Seafood Soft Tofu
Makes 2 servings

Green tea & Red Bean Mochi Cake

Ah! I've been so busy lately I haven't posted as regularly as I do. Definitely trying to juggle too many things and I need at least three clones of me. Boo. So I'll keep this one short with an interesting body fact.

FACT: A person can live without eating for weeks, but will only survive eleven days without sleep.

Well, I guess I should just go hungry and sleep. I'm so sleep deprived. I'm usually a morning person but seriously waking up every morning at the crack of dawn is driving me insane. Thankfully no cranky behavior (guess I can't be my own judge). But imagine people around those who haven't slept crazy moodswings...they'll probably only survive a day or two.

I made this super simple and tasty mochi cake. It isn't very sweet, which is perfect for me and a lot of my aunts and relatives who were eating them. They make lovely gifts when you wrap them up nicely. Koreans love this stuff. I mean, it's mocha and it's got red bean. What's not to love?

Matcha Green Tea & Red Bean Mochi Cake
Makes 2 loaves or 9x13" pan

Ingredients
3 cups glutinous rice flour (I used a mix of 1 cup brown and 1 cup white)
2 tbsp Matcha green tea powder
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 cups milk
2 tbsp oil
2 eggs
Filling
1/2 cup red bean boiled (or measure from a can of prepared sweetened red bean and cut sugar to taste)
1/4 cup dried dates chopped (or use diced kabocha squash)
1/4 cup walnuts quartered

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees
2. Grease pan or 2 loaf tins with oil or butter
3. Whisk all your dry ingredients in one bowl (rice flour, matcha powder, sugar, baking powder, salt)
4. In a large bowl, whisk eggs, milk and oil. Combine dry mix with the wet mix.
5. Gently fold in the filling ingredients. Feel free to use all red bean, or add raisins. Seriously, whatever you like.
6. Bake for 40-50 mins or until the sides pull away from the pan.

Glossy with honey and walnuts!

Seasoned Shishito Peppers - Ggwarigochu muchim

I always love those mini banchans (반찬) that they give in Korean restaurants. Most of the time you get free re-fills so don't be too shy to ask. I fill myself up on those ah ha ha. I've been learning so many recipes from my mother so here's a simple side dish to complement a steaming hot bowl of rice.

A little science for the day and a little justification of why I'm so short haha :)
Why Height Matters
Interestingly, in modern western society, studies have found that shorter women tend to bear more children. On the flip side, average-height men do best, better than short or tall men, in the number of children they father. Researcher Gert Stulp and co. of the University of Groningen in Netherlands pulled data that followed more than 10,000 Wisconsin high-school graduates for around 50 years.

Results show in shorter families, the sisters had more children than their brothers. In average-height families, however, brothers had more children than their sisters. The published article in the journal Biology letters says that sexes are locked in a push-and-pull battle over height. That means: shorter than average woman are more likely to have children and pass on her short genes. Good for her daughter who will bear more children than average, but bad for her son. Can you imagine this pattern continuing over the entire population???

As a whole, the population gets shorter because shorter women are producing more. Too bad for men, this increases the evolutionary pressure but still taller guys reproduce more and push the heigh of the next generation back to average.

They say that height is also correlated with income, attractiveness, education, health and longevity. An apology to short guys who think they'd like to find a short girl... :( I'm sure personality counts!

Seasoned Shishito Peppers - 꽈리고추 무침
phonetics: ggwarigochu muchim

Delicious ban-chan (side dish)

A Japanese variety of the bell pepper - small, finger-sized and thin-walled. Not spicy unless your seasoning is!

Kiddy Kimbap - 꼬마 김밥

I'm finally doing a kimbap post, but only because my mum is here helping me make them. My little brother's at camp and we decided to make it for his lunch and ours too! It's a perfect picnic recipe and my mum and I enjoyed these under the LA sun. The weather is to die for :)

Have short intestines? Addicted to Alcohol?
I guess you can't really tell if your intestines are short or not... But if you're older and have undergone gastric bypass surgery (stapling stomachs!), you're more likely to become addicted to alcohol! For people with short or damaged intestines, the alcohol goes straight into the intestine and is absorbed rapidly. That higher absorption rate makes alcohol oh-so-enticing, says research team from the University of Pittsburg Medical Center.

There are obese testimonials who developed alcoholism and were treated for their alcohol addiction. What would you rather have? A trimmer figure swapped for alcoholism? Well...both (as in gastric bypass and alcoholism) are avoidable if you get off your lazy butt, exercise and eat healthy!

Kid's Kimbap - 꼬마 김밥 (Ggoma kim bap)
Makes 3-5 servings 

Here's a jumpstart to a healthy lunch! KOREAN SUSHI.
Since we had to be out of the house early the next day, we prepped all the ingredients the night before and kept them in the fridge after letting them cool. Then we made fresh rice that day and rolled the kim bap straight away. If you're making it all in a day, make the rice as your rice cooker says first so that it can cool.

Korean Spicy Braised Chicken - Dak Doritang

One test down, and two more to go. And then I'm free from this academic year...and then I have another 3059708235 years of schooling :(


Anyhoo, if you've been reading my blog, you'll find that most of the food I post are red and filled with chilies. I absolutely love spicy food. Like fire-in-your-hole spicy. Bubs thinks that I must have burned off all the capsaicin receptors. They're the ones that make you feel the burning, crying, mouth numbing sensation when you eat spicy food. I like to snack on raw jalapenos, and it doesn't kill me. I give one to bubs and he'll be sweating out of his ears. Sooo.. here's radical health news for today!


Innovative Surgeries: Spicy foods into getting rid of your Muffin tops
I think a lot of people know that eating spicy food increases core body temperature and may cause you to burn more calories and yadayadaya. What's even more crazy is that at Brigham and Women's Hospital, they're doing surgical procedures that insert capsaicin (stuff in red pepper) to destroy some nerve fibers of the vagus nerve. Results on lab rats show significantly reduced visceral fat - you know those hateful beer bellies and muffin tops.

This is going to be the next new catchy 1-800 Get Thin jingle on the radio and soon you'll be singing ♩ ♫rub chilies into your spinal cord♬♪...Um.. maybe more catchy and witty than that :/
But on a more serious note, it'll fix the fat people obesity epidemic. Woo.

Without further adieu, another one of my favorite spicy dishes.


Korean Spicy Braised Chicken - 닭도리탕
Adapted from Korean-cuisine

Ingredients
Seasoning paste
4 tbsp soysauce
3 tbsp Korean chili paste
2 tbsp Korean chili powder
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp honey
2 tbsp minced garlic
3 tsp minced ginger
3 tsp black pepper
8 tbsp water
2 tbsp rice wine or white vinegar


Pot Ingredients
2 lb chicken thigh (or drummettes or breast)
1/2 cup water
1 large potato
1 large carrot (or handful of baby carrots)
1 onion
5 cloves garlic halved
2 serrano chilies (or jalapenos for less heat!)
10 perilla leaves or green onions (optional)

Mix all the ingredients for the seasoning paste in a large bowl (so you can put your chicken in it). If you have Youndoo, which I used here and also most of the stews I make here, then instead of soysauce + honey, use 2 tbsp of regular soysauce and 2 tbsp of Youndoo.

Set the sauce aside so you can work on your chicken. Feel free to use chicken breast (skin, no skin). Cut them into about 2 inch cubes and cut out the fatty parts. Marinate it in the sauce.

Let the chicken sit in the sauce for at least 15 mins, so now we get the veggies prepared. Cut up the onions and potatoes to roughly the same size as the chicken bits. I used baby carrots because I'm too lazy to peel and cut up carrots :P And for the garlic cloves, just cut them lengthwise in half. Chop up your chillies finely and julienne perilla leaves if you're using them.

Preheat a big pot, add some oil and fry up your potatoes and carrots for about 5 mins and pour in 1/2 cup of water. Then add the chicken, onions, garlic and chilies. Stir it and bring to a boil.


Once boiling, put on the lid and reduce the heat to medium-low. Let it simmer for around 15 mins, occasionally stirring once or twice. Then take off the lid and let it simmer for another 15 mins so the sauce can reduce and thicken. The meat and veggies should be properly cooked through by now.


Top it off with some perilla leaves, green onions and sesame seeds!

Enjoy with a huge bowl of steaming rice!

Perilla Leaf wrapped Beef Jeon - 깻잎 고기전

No!! It's raining again. Stupid DC weather. Bubs and I are supposed to go on the embassy world tour, mostly to eat free food experience different cultures through food. Hopefully, DC doesn't make walking outside a pain the the butt.


Sometimes it pays to listen in class. Today, we had a Gastrointestinal pathophysiology lecture and our professor actually mentioned something interesting. Usually this is never isn't the case... But did you know....


Factoid: You swallow 15 ml of air into your stomach with EACH swallow
The average person swallows more than 2000 times a day. If you don't belch, you'd bloat up like a hot air balloon! For babies you have to burp them or they get fussy, fart everywhere and get explosive diarrhea (haha). Then we all grow up and properly develop our abdominal muscles, so they contract and expel gastric air out into the esophagus (food pipe). The rumbling burping sound is then caused by the vibration of the upper esophageal sphincter as gas passes through it. 


Also, did you know in some cows that fail to burp, it can be extremely dangerous? There is such a high pressure buildup of gases in their stomach, they need to insert a rubber hose down their pipe to expel it. In some severe cases, punching their sides open!


I say let it rip. And in the words of Shrek... "Better out than in!"


It's approaching Mother's day and maybe this year I'll remember to thank my mum for doing everything for me (oops). I was just reminded of all the times she made these Gogi Jeon (meat patties) for me for lunch, picnic or for snacking. These are sooo good dipped in ketchup.


Perilla and Beef Jeon - 깻잎 고기전

Ingredients
1/2 cup carrots
1/2 onion
2 stalks spring onion
2 tsp ginger minced
1.5 tbsp garlic minced
2 tsp serrano chilies minced

1lb ground beef
1 tbsp ground pepper
1 tbsp soysauce or Yundoo
2 tbsp white vinegar
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tsp salt
2 tsp korean chili powder

2 eggs
1/4 cup flour
20 perilla leaves

Chop up finely all the veggies in the first list. Mince up your ginger and garlic.

In a large bowl, put your ground beef and all the seasoning in to it (2nd list of ingredients). Add in all your chopped veggies too. Using your hands or a wooden spoon, mix everything really well.

Wash your perilla leaves and dry them with a paper towel or wait until it's dry.

Place the 1/4cup of flour in a shallow dish and scramble the eggs in another dish.

Flour both side of the leaf and flatten a ball of the meat within the leaf. The flour helps the meat stick to the inside of the leaf.

Fold the leaf in half and dip it in the egg. The flour also helps the egg stick onto the outside of the leaf.

When you're making a batch, you can flour and stuff all the leaves first and then dip it in the egg one at a time when you're about to fry them.

Turn the heat to medium low and put a good amount of oil in the pan. When the oil is heated, you can add you egg dipped perilla meat jeons.

Each side takes a while because you want to make sure the meat is fully cooked inside. Maybe around 8 mins each side. It really depends on how thick the meat patty is inside.

We also made mini meat jeons made the same way except no leaves. Just make small medallions 1 inch in diameter, roll it in the flour, dip into the egg and fry it up.











Serve it with some ketchup! Trust me, it's really good.

Doenjang Jjiggae - Korean Miso Soup

Happy 4/20 folks! I just realized it was high stoner holiday today... Not that it really matters. But what is really interesting is what I read in the news today.


Apparently, yogurt GROWS balls. Yeah...a recent study by scientists at MIT fed mice yogurt and they found that the testicles of yogurt consumers were about 5 percent heavier. WHAT?! So lay off the junk food unless you want your balls to shrivel up like raisins! HAHA


On the note of probiotics. I'm going to show you how to use Doenjang, which is Korean fermented soybean paste. It sounds really gross but it just doesn't have a pretty name like tempeh, miso or natto, which are all practically the same. And now it's time to present health related news of the day...


FERMENTED SOYBEANS > raw soybean products


Did you know that non-fermented soybean products like tofu contains lots of good nutrients like isoflavones that is not bioavailable to your bodies? Fermentation transforms your everyday soybeans into a superfood, that makes your gut happy with lots of friendly microflora. That sounds like great bowel movement to me :D And that also means a wealth of nutrients and boosting your immunity. 

Anyway, doenjang is considered one of the mother sauces in Korea. It comes from fermenting soybeans, then separating the liquids and solids. That liquid becomes your soy sauce and the remaining mashed beans become doenjang. 

It is really a gut warming and lovely soup, that cures hangovers and all kinds of ailments. Haha ok I guess I should write a disclaimer. Just because I put it in my blog and I believe it, doesn't mean its 100% true 'kay? So don't sue me :)

Doenjang Jjigae - 된장 찌개

Sorry for the blurry images! My DSLR is at home and not here in DC :(

Ingredients

1 large piece of kelp/ kombu (3x3')

6 dried anchovies (opt out for vegetarians and vegans)

2 cups water

1/2 diced onion

1/2 chopped up chilies (serrano, jalapeno, whatever tickles your fancy)

1/2 diced zucchini

1/2 block of tofu

1/2 pack of enoki mushrooms (or any kind)

1 stalk of green onion

2-3 tbsp doenjjang (Korean miso/ bean paste)

1/2-1 tbsp gochujang (Korean chili paste)

2 tsp Korean chili powder

salt/ pepper to taste

There are 3 ways in which you can flavor your soup.
Bring to boil in a pot 2 cups of water and...
1. A large piece of kelp (vegetarians)
2. Kelp and anchovies
3. A palm size amount of chuck meat (fry this in garlic and oil first before adding water)

The picture to your left shows the net device I talked about earlier so you can easily take out the anchovies once you're done with it. But I'm lazy so I just leave it in there and fish it out while I'm eating :/





So now you've chose one of those three options and the water should be heating up on medium high.

Prepare all the vegetables and tofu. I like to dice them, but whatever shape tickles your fancy.





Once the water starts boiling, add your onions and zucchini. Let it boil for a good 7 mins before you add your chilies, chili powder, doenjjang and gochujang.

Bring to boil again (2 mins) and add your tofu. Boil that for around 3 mins and add your mushrooms. Taste it now. If you want it saltier and deeper in flavor you can always add more doenjjang or a pinch of salt.

Garnish with some spring onions and enjoy with a steaming bowl of rice!

Kongnamul Bap - Beansprout Rice

Woo, just finished an exam! I can finally update! I'm super stoked that people are starting to read my blog. I hope for your sake that it'll get better over time. Let me know in the comments if you want to see something happening in my blog. I can't always guarantee it though...but I'll try not to flake :D

Let me do a health myth buster today....

MYTH: Wearing an underwire bra increases your risk of getting breast cancer

I don't know how many girls have heard this growing up, but I certainly did. I used to be one of those geeky, awkward girls in middle school wearing oversized t-shirts to hide a few lumps (wait... still awakard..no change there). I used to be so embarrassed about boobs and wore bras even in my sleep. Is this TMI?! haha too bad. Anyway, I remember having a sleepover one day and my friend told me I could get breast cancer from doing that. And I totally freaked out and decided to just go braless for the rest of my life... yeah 

But seriously there are claims that the wire compresses the lymphathic system and cause toxins to accumulate and thus cause breast cancer. Bogus. All you ladies out there, feel free to wear a bra however loose or tight fitting it may be.

OKAY. No more boobies. More food. Kongnamul bap is almost like bibimbap except that it's easier to make because unless I'm at home, I have no extra assortment of veggies I can use to mix into my rice. This is a healthy one pot meal that requires almost no work (even less work if someone else does the dishes :D). 

Kongnamul Bap - 콩나물밥

Adapted from Maangchi

Ingredients

1 cup uncooked rice (mix of purple, white or all white)

1 cup water

2 - 3 cups beansprouts

2/3 cup ground beef (a little more than fist sized..a lady's one)

1.5 tbsp soysauce

1 tsp sesame oil

Pepper

1 chili (serrano, jalapeno - optional)

Sauce

1/4 cup soysauce

1/4 cup Youndoo (sweet soysauce or just use all soysauce)

1 tbsp minced garlic

1-2 stalks Green onion chopped

2 tbsp Korean chili pepper

1 tsp honey (or sugar)

1-2 tsp sesame oil

1 tbsp roasted sesame seeds (optional)

Let me begin by letting you know how I cook my rice on the stovetop. Of course, I'd prefer using a rice cooker but I couldn't haul my singing/ talking rice cooker from LA (so asian, and so sad :\). I like to use a mix of 7 grain rice and white rice in a 1:3 ratio. If you do use a mix, remember to soak your rice at least an hour before making this.

I'll wash my rice and instead of using measuring cups and what nots, I'll just cover the rice with water just enough so that the water level hits my knuckles (picture to left). I swear by this method and it works for any size hand, any pot and even the rice cooker. Fo realz. Then cover it, heat on high. When it starts to boil, turn the hit super low. And your rice should be done in 25-30 mins!

OK...NOW FOR THE RECIPE
Take your uncooked rice, wash it and soak it for at least 30 mins. This includes all blends of rice or all white. Put that aside. The water level doesn't matter right now.

Marinate your meat (or skip this to make it veg) with a pinch of pepper, sesame oil and soysauce. Set this aside.

Wash your beansprouts and pick out all the nasty looking ones.



Now, let's make the sauce. This is for flavoring your kongnamul bap after it's cooked. Just mix all the ingredients under the sauce label and you're good! As you can see the dish is not very seasoned and you can adjust how much sauce you add in to your finished bap. I usually make a huge tub of this sauce just to keep in the refrigerator! You can dip your mandu (potstickers/ dumplings) in it, stir fry tofu with it etc...


Yay, now the fun stuff. So after the rice has been soaking for 30. You can drain some of the water or add water until the level is below what you normally put in. (say not your knuckles, but the next finger joint distal to that). Or if you're anal, drain your rice until there is no water and add in 3/4 cup water. On top of your rice, pile on the beansprouts and then the meat. I also added in some chilies over the meat.

If you don't like the idea of putting raw meat over your veggies and rice, you can always fry it first and then put it on top later.




Cover that and let it boil for 10 mins over medium-high heat. Then using a huge rice scooper, give it a good whirl, recover it and set the fire to low. Simmer for around 12-15 mins with the lid still over it.



And that's it! SO simple. Serve it in a bowl with a runny egg on top and some lovely greens. Pour in your sauce according to taste (maybe like 1/2 tbsp per serving). I don't like things salty, so its up to your discretion.

Enjoy!

Kimchi Jjigae/ Stew - 김치찌개

Last week bubs and I went shooting for the first time. Well, first time for me. And I mean real shooting, with REAL guns. No bb guns, laser tag or nerf guns :P. We did a round of 9mm bullets so there was a good amount of recoil. It was so... powerful! I felt like an FBI agent loading my gun. I probably didn't look like one though... Jumped at the sound of the first bang and took forever to focus. Oh my goodness was it loud. Even with earmuffs I felt like I was going to go deaf. I'd like to say that I would have done better than bubs if I had my glasses with me haha. But I think I did pretty dece... if I say so myself (no shortage of confidence here).


We made Kimchi jjigae yesterday because the weather is so bloody cold. DC weather is so stupid >:( It was hot, then it's cold. Yes, then you're no...  ♪ ♫ ♪ ♫ Just kidding, I'm not going to sing. But this stew is soo easy to make. Especially when you buy a huge tub of kimchi from the korean store and you think you're going to finish the whole thing. But in reality you never eat at home and always buy take out (#truelyfe). You must use old ass kimchi where the cabbage looks a little grey and it tastes really sour or else your soup won't taste very good. Trust me. You can also change it up and add seafood or meat or keep it really simple with neither. Enjoy!

Kimchi Stew 김치찌개

Ingredients
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp minced garlic
Palm size amount of meat (or none if you want to keep it veg)
1.5 cup OLD kimchi
4 tbsp kimchi juice
5 anchovies (or vegetarians use shiitake mushrooms for that umami)
2 cups water

1/2 zucchini
1/2 pack of firm tofu
1 pack enoki mushrooms
1/2 tbsp korean chili powder + serrano/jalapeno chilies (optional for some extra heat)
1 stalk of green onions

In a huge pot heat up the sesame oil and garlic and throw in your meat. We used pork belly (ssamgyup ssal), but you can use other scraps of meat like chuck, strips of pork. Throw in your kimchi to fry for a bit (makes it more fragrant) and add your water and kimchi juice. You can prepare the dashi water (anchovies and 2 cups water) before hand or just add the anchovies to the pot and you can fish them out later.

Oh also using old kimchi is KEY. It has to be sour!






While it's boiling chop up your zucchini, tofu into cubes, green onions and enoki mushroom. You can add your zucchini first because that takes a while to soften.


Add the korean chili powder and toss in chopped up serrano or jalapeno chilies for extra spiciness HMMm.

After maybe 15 mins of it boiling, add the tofu. Let it boil again and then add the enoki mushrooms and green onions.

You can taste the soup and you can adjust the saltiness with more salt or add kimchi juice.

Boil for another minute and then it's ready!

Mackerel Jjorim - 고등어조림

Yay Easter break! And yay for going to a catholic school! We get good Friday off and Monday off. Although I have so much catching up to do for our neuroscience class. Telencephalons, neurons, meninges gahh *brain fart*. I can see that I haven't been posting as frequently as I used to :/  I hope it doesn't become a habit. I'm just a lazy writer, but we've still been cooking up some delicious meals.

Ooh I also watched Hunger games the other day and I think the girl who played Katniss is so very hot. But bubs doesn't. Now I don't trust his taste in woman...what does that say about me??!! >:(  haha but we both agree that the baker's son was a total miscast. I was thinking more big, burly, blond and hunky! I want more eye candy in the movie!!

Anyway, I'm going to show you how to make Mackerel Jjorim, which is just this lovely blue fish packed full of nutrients. My mum used to tell me that the Japanese are smart because they always eat this fish, which is full of omega 3 and DHA. I've been eating it like it's my job ever since... I'm still waiting to become Einstein... Who knows.. maybe one day

Spicy Braised Mackerel - 고등어조림

Ingredients

Main

1. 1 Mackerel

2. 6 anchovies

3. 1 cup of Korean radish

4. 1/2 Onion

5. 1 stalk green onions

6. 1 serrano chilli finely chopped

Sauce

1. 2 tbsp Gochujang (Korean chili paste)

2. 1 tsp minced ginger

3. 1 tbsp minced garlic

4. 1 tbsp White vinegar

5. 2 tsp Korean chili powder

6. 2 tsp black pepper

7. 3 tbsp mix of Yoondu + soysauce (or all soysauce)

Cut up your radish like the picture above, slice up the onions and the green onions. Our mackerel comes already split in half (like butterflied) and then just cut that up into thirds.

In a huge pot, put in 2 cups of water, anchovies and radish. Boil that for 10 mins, while you mix all the sauce ingredients together in a separate dish.





Lay out the fish on top of the radish as shown in the picture to your left. Pour the sauce over it. DON'T stir it. Just leave it alone for 5 mins. Every now and then, use a spoon to ladle over your fish so that it mixes with the sauce and helps cook your fish.

Your fire should be medium high through out cooking.

So after 10 mins, add in your sliced onions and keep ladling the soup. We added 1 serrano chili here for extra spice and juice of a 1/4 lemon to add acidity to the fatty fish (good fats!). The soup should start turning red and reduce to half the amount.

Once the soup is significantly reduced, add your green onions on top. Make sure your fish is cooked too! Ladle soup and let it boil for another 5 mins.

At this point, your onions and radish should be soft and fish should be cooked. You can adjust the sauce by adding salt or more pepper.








The sauce is really good when you pour it over your rice. MMM delicious-ness. A perfect complement to a huge bowl of steaming rice. Enjoy~ and get in your Omega 3s!!

Seafood and Chives Pancake - Haemul Pajeon

Easter is almost here! Yay more holiday! My next door neighbor, Rhusheet, and bubs want to go to six flags during Easter but I HATE rollercoasters. If I haven't mentioned that enough in my other post. I guess I can always stay at home and catch up with work like a lame-o :(

Last weekend, bubs, Rhusheet and I went to the tidal basin here in DC to see the ALREADY dying cherry blossoms. Only to find they were really all dead :(. Maybe a few trees here and there. I was so excited for some photo opportunities of the monuments surrounded by a sea of pink. So disappointed. And it was windy. And I was wearing a dress. I would have felt like Marilyn Monroe, if my hair wasn't all over my face and in my mouth haha. Sounds so attractive.... But we did manage to pack a picnic of inari sushi (yubucho bap), 2% Korean drinks and chocolate chip cookies. Everything home made, except for the drinks of course (or I'd be a freaking millionaire). Maybe I'll do a next post about making inari sushi. It's just seasoned rice in some seasoned tofu skins. Yum. And if Rhusheet (our adopted son haha) likes it, you'll like it too. We don't only bring him around to help us take pictures... We make sure we feed him :D

Anyhoo, back to food! We occasionally go to the korean supermarket, which is unfortunately quite far. But when we do, we stock up our fridge with all kinds of Asian produce that would otherwise be $3927538 times more expensive at Safeway or Whole foods. Seriously, we bought a bunch of chives for $2 and I saw it in Safeway in a sad little box for $7! Ridonculous! With our plethora of veggies, we decided to make....

Haemul Pajeon - 해물파전

Ingredients - makes 2 pancakes

1. 5 stalks garlic chives

2. 5 stalks green onions

3. 1/2 pack of enoki mushrooms

4. 1 Korean zucchini - thinly sliced

5. fistful of frozen seafood or around 5 fresh shrimps

6. 1 Serrano chili (optional!)

7. 2 cup Pancake flour (store bought)

8. A little less than 2 cups cold water

9. 1 tsp Korean chili pepper

10. pepper

Dipping sauce

1. 2 tsp sesame oil

2. 2 tbsp soysauce

3. 2 tsp white vinegar

4. 1 tsp chili powder

6. 1 tsp sesame seeds (optional)

7. chopped Serrano/jalapeno (optional)

Prepare all your ingredients: chop chives, mushrooms and onions into lengths of 2 inches. Finely chop your Serrano chili or just slice it thinly or use something less spicy like jalapeno (weak!). For the seafood, we like to use a frozen bag of assorted seafood that you can get really cheaply at an Asian supermarket. If not, take 5 shrimps and chop them into bite sized bits.

Pancakes are so easy to make when you have the pajeon flour. Also available in many Korean food stores. I've tried making it with flour, eggs etc... but you need extra ingredients like panko crumbs, glutinous rice flour to make the pancake that chewy and crispy texture at the same time! TOO much work. And I'm very lazy. The ready made flour is all seasoned and all you have to do is add water. Works like a charm!

In a large boil, you can start with 1 cup of flour and 4/5 of water to make a pancake. Mix that up real well and you can add more pepper or chili powder if you so wish. Then, add a handful of all the ingredients into the mix. We like lots of vegetables in our pancakes, but you can always adjust it. Just remember that lots of veggies means less doughy, more crispy! The garlic chives are SOO delicious in pancakes, but you can thinly slice 1/2 an onion instead. But chives.... so fragrant!

Heat up a large frying pan, add a generous amount of olive oil. You always want to wait for the oil to heat up or else anything you put into the pan will just soak up all the oil and make it soggy! (tip learned from Hell's Kitchen, I love you Gordon Ramsey!! <3). Add in all your batter to make 1 pancake, or you can make it mini. If I were to make it alone, I'd make it small. But bubs is a pancake flipping mastah!

Do remember to spread your batter out thin and separate your veggies well. Fry on one side until golden brown on medium heat (around 5 mins). Flip and do the same on the other.




For the dipping sauce, just mix those ingredients all together. There's a picture to show you what I used and the pack of pancake flour. Cut up your pancake and enjoy with lots of kimchi!

om nom nom

Odeng Guk 오댕국

Woo! We just came back from spring break in Orlando and I did everything I wanted to do. Drink butter beer, touch a dolphin, SWIM with a dolphin. Omg it was amazing. And now I'm just pooped and so very tired. I had to also ride all the roller coasters in the various themeparks. AND I HATE roller coasters. I don't know why people enjoy the feeling of having their guts in their throats. Although, nothing can be quite as bad as the X ride in six flags in California. That is a BAD ride. and I'll never go on that again. But the rides weren't so bad at Universal. Plus I had to ride all the Harry Potter ones just because I'm a true hp fan like that :P

I tried to take pictures of our ride photos but they're extremely stingy about that. Got caught a couple of times... very embarrassing. But then I always turn out like I have an extra Y chromosome in those pictures. very unflattering...

Anyhoo, back to food! This is a meal we made during our last exam because it's extremely easy to make. You can get all the ingredients from your local asian market and store it in your freezer for months and make it whenever you like!

Odeng Guk 

Ingredients
1. 1 tbsp minced garlic
2. 1/2 sliced onion
3. 2 tbsp sesame oil
4. small piece of kelp
5. 6 dried anchovies
6. 2 inch block of korean radish or japanese daikon (so essential)
7. 1/2 pack of oden (japanese or korean)
8. 1 tbsp yoon du or soy sauce
9. 2 tsp korean chili powder (or more if you like spicy)
10. handful of chopped green onions, sesame seeds (if you like)

Here's what kelp looks like and what yoondo is. It's like an organic soysauce that's been sweetened a little bit with sugar cane. Adds a lot of umami to your dish!

Usually, if you're not mooshikae (brash in korean) like me. You'd make the dashi in a different pot. But I don't like having to wash two pots so I leave the anchovies and kelp in it. Plus, I don't mind eating it. Extra calcium for me!

Okay, so first heat up some sesame oil (maybe also a drop of olive oil so things don't start burning). Fry the minced garlic and sliced onion. You can also do this to the anchovies to get rid of the freezer/ fishy smell. Once the onions are slightly translucent, add around 3-4 cups of water. Put in the kelp in there too. Let it boil for around 3 minutes.



For the daikon/radish, cut it into mini cubes or half moons. However you feel like eating it. But the mini cubes cook and get softer faster. The radish is soo critical to the refreshing taste of the soup. So drop those in. Let it boil for another 3-4 minutes or until the radish is partially soft. Then add in the odeng. This stuff is also called fish cake and a lot of asian cuisines have some sort of version of it. In Korea, you can get ones with bits of carrot, onions and veggies embedded in it. Or ones with dang myung (potato noodles) or just simple plain ones. They are my all time favorite street food. SO delicious. I'll always remember begging my aunt to get me some after swimming lessons :)

Anyway, I digress. Let it boil for another 3 minutes and add the yoondu or soysauce, chili powder, some pepper, green onions. Adjust the saltiness with salt or more soysauce to your liking.

After the last boil, add some sesame seeds to garnish and enjoy with some bap! nom nom nom

Although he likes plain white rice, I've made him eat purple rice. It's rice mixed with all sorts of beans, brown rice and some other grains. It's a lot healthier and it tastes better too (in my opinion)!

Happy eating!

Kimchi Fried Rice (bokkeumbap)

I can't wait until spring break! We're off to the Wizarding world of Harry Potter. I am a HUGE HUGE fan of HP. I've probably read the entire set more than 20 times. I lined up for the books when it first came out. And and... I just love JK Rowling for making my childhood so complete. On the other hand, bubs hasn't even read the book. OMG :O incompatibility right there (haha). But we've watched the last 2 movies together and he's more of a movie person than a book person. I am the ultimate bookworm. I just love the smell of new books and the feel of well worn books from many nights of reading.
Also, we're going to go dolphin swimming in Discovery Cove and visit sea world. The tickets to all these places were pretty pricey but our hotels and flights were all booked with miles. Well, in my case, I used my mum's credit card to book my flight :D (that's almost free). As big foodies, we've already done research on where we're going to eat too! Hopefully yelp is just as trusty in Orlando.

Anyhoo, planning our trip took us the whole day last week during the time when we had a big paper coming up. That was ridiculous. We can find so many ways to procrastinate on our studying. Izz baddd :/
Since we have no time for elaborate meals...(exam is next friday OMFFFG), we're eating a lot of kimchi and rice and leftover stuff. Soo I present you Kimchi fried rice. Probably the most simplest thing to make ever.

Kimchi Fried rice - 김치볶음밥

A runny egg is a MUST

Ingredients:
1. 2 cups Leftover rice (or make new rice that's kind of dry)
2. 1 tbsp sesame oil
3. 1/2 onion diced
4. 2 cloves garlic
5. Meat - any kind really - Sometimes I use tuna if I feel like eating healthy, but here we used pork belly (sam gyup ssal)! Sounds like myocardial infarction :(
6. 1/2 zucchini
7. 1/2 cup kimchi and 6 tbsp of the juice (OLD kimchi)
8. Pepper and korean chili powder
9. stalk of green onions
10. 1 egg

In a frying pan, heat up some olive oil and sesame oil and fry up your onions, garlic for a few seconds and then add in your meat (or no meat). If you're using tuna, add it with your rice at the end.

Toss in the zucchini (or any vegetable like diced carrots), and a minute later add in the kimchi and juice. You can add in 1 tbsp of korean chili paste for an extra spicy kick or add 1 jalapeno.
Add a few turns of that pepper mill and 2 tsps of korean chili powder.
After everything is pretty cooked/fried, add in your rice and break it down

Once the rice turns a lovely red color you're done! or you can add the green onions if you like them cooked into the rice.
Place some in a bowl and top with an overeasy egg.
NOM NOM NOM

We ate it with some seaweed and even more kimchi. Can't have enough of that stuff!

-meebs-