Best Snack Ever

Kimchee Savory Pancakes

YUM and so easy and so quick.

Ingredients: (makes 2 large pancakes)

one handful or like 2/3 cups of kimchee sliced into thin strips (*very important* the kimchee must be good otherwise the whole thing will taste bad. use kimchee that’s been fermented for awhile and not just recently made)

3/4 cup of Korean pancake flour (any brand is good just make sure it’s something like this one)

1/2 cup of water

1/2 onion sliced medium to thin

1) In a large mixing bowl, mix the flour and water and then add the kimchee and onion. The consistency should be like regular american pancake batter consistency but maybe a little more on the watery side because you want them to get crispy.

2) In a large pan, heat oil enough to coat the whole pan and pour batter to fit the whole pan.

 

3) This is a crispy, fried pancake which calls for more oil than you’d like but it’ll be ok , so when you’re ready to flip over to cook the other side, drizzle some more oil before you flip. It’ll keep it crispy and delicious.

4) Serve with some soy sauce mixed with ponzu or white/rice wine vinegar.

Man up!

I’m attempting to ween Trav off American food and broaden his palate, starting with Korean food. Eating Korean bbq a few times does not constitute as having tried Korean food. There’s so much more than those sweet ribs.

However, I’m having a very difficult time introducing Trav to Korean food and all the dishes that rock my world. A lot of Korean food is spicy but equally a lot of it is not spicy.  It’s a painful procedure trying to get someone to build tolerance to spicy food and I don’t want him to associate spicy foods with pain – he’s got to enjoy the food.

Anthony Bourdain has a great episode that highlights some of the great things about Korea and Korean food on his ‘No Reservations‘ show.

Here’s two typical common side dishes: spicy and non spicy.

Gye Ran Jjim (egg custard):

Ingredients:

4 eggs, beaten

1/2 cup water

2 green onions

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp roasted sesame seeds

There’s about 3 ways to cook this.

Easiest: In a microwave safe bowl add all the ingredients and cook for 5 minutes.

Easier: Steam bath. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, place in a large pot filled with water and boil on high for about 10 minutes, then reduce to medium low and cook for another 5 minutes.

Easy: Heat oven to 450. Bake for 10 minutes, lower heat to 350 and heat for 20 more minutes.

Tofu Kimchi: (this traditionally is served as ‘anju’ (a dish consumed with alcohol, like soju – Korean rice liquor) rather than as a side dish.

Ingredients:

1 block of medium firm tofu

half head of kimchi, chopped

2-3 bacon, sliced into 2 inch pieces

1/2 tbsp of butter

1 tsp of sesame seed oil

1/2 tsp of roasted sesame seeds

1) In boiling water, cook the bacon for about 2-3 minutes. Drain.

2) Steam the tofu or boil it in water for about 10 minutes.

3) In a pan, saute the bacon for about 2 minutes. Then add the chopped kimchee and butter.  Stir fry for about 5 minutes. Add the sesame seed oil stir fry for another 4-5 minutes or so.

4) Cut the tofu into bite size pieces and place the kimchee next to the tofu. Top with roasted sesame seeds.

5) Wrap a piece of kimchee, bacon and tofu to eat mmmm

Sam Gye Tang aka Korean Chicken Soup

This beats Campbell’s anyday!

Sam gye tang which literally translates to gingseng chicken soup is traditionally served in the summer for its nutrients, which replaces those lost through excessive sweating and physical exertion during the HOT & VERY HUMID summers in Korea.

The use of red dates and gingseng is thought to be a complementary combination.  The red dates improve blood circulation and the ginseng helps rid of toxins in your blood. Then there’s the added benefits of the whole chicken.

This is super easy, filling and comforting.

Ingredients:

2 cornish hens or 1 small chicken

5-6 red dates

2 handfuls of whole garlic cloves

4-5 1 inch pieces of fresh ginger

3-4 cups chap sal (glutinous rice) this is different than regular asian rice. it’s sweeter and stickier.

1) Rinse and add cold water to the sweet rice and set it aside.  Let the rice soak up the water.

2) Rinse the hens or chicken in cold water and remove all the giblets and stuff.  Stuff the cavity with 3 cloves of garlic and 2 pieces of fresh ginger in each hen or 5 cloves and 2 pieces of fresh ginger in one chicken.

3) Fill the rest of the cavity with rice and tie shut or use toothpicks to close the cavity.

4) In a large stock pot, cover the hens or chicken with plenty of water.  Throughout the cooking process you do not want to keep adding water because it will dilute the broth so make sure you add enough water and during the cooking process make sure too much water doesn’t evaporate off (this is where adjusted the heat constantly is important). Sorry guys, but you can’t just cover it and leave it be and go do errands

5) Cover the pot  but not all the way – leave a little space open and leave on for 30 minutes on high heat.

6) After 30 minutes, the water should be boiling, using a strainer scoop out some of the fat and gunk.

7) Lower the heat to medium and cover but not all the way for another 30 minutes and flip over the chicken or hens.

8)  Check the water level to make sure not too much is evaporating and strain out any fat.

9) Lower the heat to low and fully cover for an hour. (here you can take a break )

10) After an hour, the broth should be a yellow color. Take the chicken out and add the remaining rice to the broth, bring the heat to medium high, cover and bring to a boil for about 10 minutes or until the rice is cooked.

11) Cut up the chicken and serve with broth and rice.

*Steps 5-9 are important.  You want to constantly check the temperature and the water level to make sure not too much water is boiling off. Try not to add any water, but if the water gets too low you might have to.

**Traditionally, my mom served this with 2 options for flavoring. Salt to personal taste or a soy sauce mixture called yang yum jjang.

Soy Sauce Mixture:

5 garlic cloves minced

4-5 green onions chopped

2 tsps roasted sesame seeds

2-3 tsps of red pepper flakes (this amount will not be spicy it’s ok don’t make this optional it won’t taste the same)

2/3 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup sesame seed oil

Mix well and let the green onions and garlic marinate for at least an hour.

About one tsp should flavor your chicken soup.

Cold Kimchee Noodles (perfect for summer)

This is a great dish during hot summers that’s super easy and super fast. It’s got a great balance of sweet and savory with some spice.

Ingredients:

Somen noodles (2 bundles – serves 2-3)

2 cups of sliced kimchee

1 cup of cucumber, julienned

1 tbsp of roasted sesame seeds

1 hard boiled egg

3 tbsbs of Korean red pepper paste

1 tbsb of sesame seed oil

1 – 1 1/2 tbsbs of sugar

In a bowl, mix the red pepper paste, sugar, sesame seed oil, and kimchee.

In boiling water, cook the somen noodles.  This literally takes less than 5 minutes so keep your eye on it and taste to see if it’s done.

Key: Rinse the noodles in cold, cold water. You can even add ice to a bowl of water to quickly cool it down. Really drain out all the water well and then add the noodles in the kimchee mixture.  Mix all together and taste.  Adjust with more sesame seed oil or sugar if necessary.

Transfer to a bowl and top with sesame seeds, cucumber, and half of a hard boiled egg.  The egg helps offset the spiciness factor.

Japanese Curry

Japanese curry – kare is one of the most popular dishes in Japan and in Korea.  We call it ka lei. It tastes very different than Thai curry or Indian curry but does originate from Indian curry.

If you haven’t had it, get on it. It’s so delicious and so easy to make. Perfect for a cold night when you’re feeling really lazy.

Buy this and buy this brand:

By the way, the ‘HOT’ is not really that spicy so try it.

Anyway, in a soup pot, add some oil and cook bite size pieces of meat. I like to use chicken breast, my mom likes to use beef tenderloin. It’s up to you.

Then add some diced carrots, potatoes and onion. Saute for about 4 minutes.

Then add about 4-5 cups of water and the curry mix.  It’s in a block and you break it into 4 pieces.  Make sure the curry mix gets broken up and mixed in well.

Bring it to a boil and then let it simmer for about 15 minutes.

I think there’s also directions on the back of the box too. In any case, super easy and takes less than 30 minutes. You can attempt to make the curry from scratch but I think the only people who really know how to do that well are like 80 year old Korean and Japanese grandmas, so just use the box.

Serve over white rice. yummmm.  You can put out some soy sauce for people to add if they want to it.

p.s. Trav–I’m so happy you liked this. You’re slowly turning Asian and I love it!

Oxtail Soup (Gori gom tang)

Oxtail soup is a traditional dish in many different cultures: Chinese, Korean, Italy, UK, Ireland, and US (South).  Apparently, Heinz makes a canned version.  Never knew that.

Oxtail is a bony and gelatinous meat.  When you put the soup in the fridge, it turns into jello. I always thought this was so weird growing up when my mom made this.  This dish originated as a peasant dish.  Oxtail is stewed for hours to extract all the fat, marrow and potassium.

This soup is so simple and so delicious.

3 ingredients:

Oxtail (about 12-14 or 4 lbs)

Onion

Garlic

In a big stock pot, add the oxtail and fill with cold water.  Bring to a boil and boil for about 10 minutes.  This process gets rid of all the blood and gross looking stuff.

Take out the oxtail and throw away the water and clean the stock pot. Return the oxtail to the pot and fill with cold water almost to the top. Bring to a boil and simmer partially covered for 3-4 hours.

After about 3-4 hours, add one whole onion, don’t even need to chop and add 2 head of garlic about 20 cloves whole and a big pinch of salt. Boil for another hour.

In the meantime, cook some rice and chop some green onions.

In about an hour, take out one oxtail and poke the bone, the liquid should be a milky color. Take out all the bones and take off all the meat.  Removing the fat, reserve the meat for the soup.

Serve the soup with some green onions and salt on the side for everyone to add as they desire.

Kimchi Jigae (Kimchi stew)

This is one of my favorite all team meals ever. It reminds me of home and tastes so good.

Kimchi jigae is best cooked with older, fermented kimchi. The soup base will taste so much better and will be that much more flavorful. Plus, more fermented kimchi has higher amounts of ‘good’ bacteria like those found in yogurt.

Recipe:

Use about 1/4 pound of pork belly, bacon or some type of pork. SPAM can be substituted here

Using a Korean style dutch oven or just a soup pan, add about 1 tsp of sesame oil, 1 clove minced garlic, and about  1 cup of chopped kimchee and saute for about 1 minute on medium heat.

Add the pork thinly sliced and continue to fry about 3 minutes.

Add about 1 cup of water and about 1/2 cup of the kimchi juice and let it come to a boil. Cook for about 10 minutes and lower to a simmer. (Sometimes, I like to add about 2 dried  anchovies (the same ones used in ‘Traditional Korean New Year Dish’) to add a little more flavor to the broth but this is absolutely not necessary).

Add some tofu and chopped scallions. I like to simmer for awhile with the tofu because I really like the soup to flavor the tofu so I’d say about 15 more minutes on a simmer. Taste and add a little salt or hondashi if needed.

I like to serve with a bowl of rice (of course) and a pan fried salted yellow croaker.

I figured it out!

I figured out why SPAM is so prevalent in Asian cultures and cooking. As I suspected, SPAM was brought over by the Americans during their military occupation in Okinawa, Japan, Korea, Philippines and also Guam and Hawaii. Fresh meat was difficult to get to American soldiers, so during WWII, there was a large use of SPAM. Afterwards, there was such a surplus that natives from each territory began introducing it into their traditional dishes. In Okinawa, Japan, SPAM is so popular that they even serve it in a traditional Okinawan dish called chanpuru (see photo below). South Korea is one of the 3 largest countries to consume SPAM. The other two are the US and UK.

SPAM SPECIAL NUMERO UNO

Kimchee Fried Rice with SPAM (of course )

One of my favorite meals that my mama made me growing up.  She actually used to use pork, and then no meat, and then introduced SPAM into the mix and my dad and I LOVED it.

Tip for any fried rice: Using day old rice is the best. For this use, day old sticky rice. Not long grain.

1) Dice SPAM, almost a whole can for 4 servings, into cubes and saute in a big non stick pot.

2) Once they get a little brown, add about 2 cups of chopped kimchee with 1/2 tbsp of butter. (The key is getting good kimchee, you want to buy ones that weren’t just pickled)

3) Saute the SPAM and kimchee for about 4-5 minutes.

4) Add the day old rice, about 3-4 big heapings and start mixing and frying.  Add a little more butter if the rice looks crumbly and dry.

5) Stir and fry for about 5-8 minutes.  I like to fry the rice a littler longer to make the rice all crispy.

6) Push all the fried rice towards the sides of the pot and make a little circle in the middle.  Crack 2 eggs and slowly scramble.  When they look about cooked, mix everything all together.

7) Add about 2-3 tbsp of sesame seed oil and about 2 tsps of roasted sesame seeds at the very end and mix.

Extras: You can garnish with a few green onions and a fried egg on top if you want.

My mom always served with a mild clear broth type soup. I made miso soup which is super easy so you can serve it with that if you want.

My homage to SPAM

Spam is amazing and I don’t want to hear it from anybody that it’s not. If you eat hot dogs, chicken nuggets, any fast food, you cannot diss on my SPAM. period! It’s my comfort food.

Asian people eat a lot of SPAM and I have no idea why, but we do and we love it. Open up any Korean family’s pantry and there will be SPAM. Japanese too. The McDonald’s in Hawaii has SPAM, egg and rice breakfast meals and for this reason I love Hawaii. well other reasons too, but this helps.

Anyway, I grew up eating SPAM, rice, and egg along with some kimchee of course and it’s my favorite comfort meal.

I have a few SPAM recipes to share and you can try it or you can be lame and use pork or beef instead or you can keep it vegetarian.  Suprisingly, a lot of Korean food has vegetarian dishes contrary to all the Korean BBQ hoopla.

Anyway, it’s going to be a special SPAM series so check back!