kimchi jiggae

Ahh kimchi jiggae or kimchi stew, a perfect bowl soothes one's soul during a rainy night or a cold day. The hot temperature coupled with the slight spicyness makes this stew a great comfort food.

Unfortunately, Tony doesn't dig my jiggae too much b/c I don't use tuna. When he makes it w/ tuna, I don't like it at all, so I rather my way than his.

- Older kimchi (stinky! but the older the better!)

- one block soft tofu, cut in cubes

- water

- dashida (beef stock)

- sesame oil

1. Squeeze excessive kimchi juice into a reserve bowl.

2. Chop off kimchi into bite size pieces.

3. Adding sesame oil into pot, sautee kimchi pieces.

4. After about 5 minutes, add water and reserve kimchi juice.

5. Boil 15 minutes.

6. Add dashida and tofu. Stir gently making sure tofu is heated through.

7 If need be, add sugar to taste.

Scoop rice in bowl, add the kimchi jiggae and enjoy! Yaay!

chicken pepper stir-fry

This is a poultry take on the classic Chinese take-out dish, pepper steak. At China Pearl, a restaurant I worked in for 4 yrs, they made an excellent chicken pepper and this is my feeble attempt to recreate it.

- Sliced chicken breast in bite size medallions in 1/4 inch thickness

- one green bell pepper, cored and quartered

- half of onion sliced (i prefer chunks, but i had slivers left over)

- garlic

- vegetable oil

- soy sauce

- oyster sauce

- black pepper

- black bean and garlic sauce

- sugar

- Pinot Grigio (all I had on hand, but if you can, rice wine)

- cornstarch mixed with water (half and half ratio)

1. Add vegetable oil to a hot pan, then add chicken.

2. Once chicken is about 70% cooked, throw in onions and bell peppers.

3. Add a splash of wine for aromatics.

4. Add oyster sauce, black bean sauce, sugary, and soy sauce. Stir well.

5. Add roughly 1/4 cup of water to the pan and promptly cover. This will steam the vegetables partially but still retain the crunch.

6. Remove lid, add in garlic and black pepper.

7. Cut off heat, add the cornstarch+water mixture to thicken the sauce.

Plate and enjoy! The dish I made today came out a wee bit more salty than I'd prefer and less saucy, but then again, I'm not big on sauces. It looked great, smells fantastic, and is begging to be eaten (hubby not home yet!).

Up next, kimchi jigae!

spicy summer noodle

This noodle dish is a Korean version of "bi-bin kook soo" - a sort of cold noodle salad that is typically served during the summer time (for obvious reasons).

To be honest, I was trying to imitate a cold noodle salad that a certain Japanese restaurant served, but I couldn't make it as liquid-y as the noodles absorbed too much of the dressing. So this became an alternative.

- cooled bean thread noodles, cooked and drained

- sliced cucumber, peeled and seeded

- carrot matchsticks

- sesame oil

- mayonnaise

- rice vinegar

- mirin

- sesame seeds

- seasoned gochujang (Korean chili paste)

1. Mix mayo, rice vinegar, sesame oil, mirin well.

2. Pour over noodles, cucumbers, and carrots. Mix by hand well (or chopsticks, as long as the noodles don't break).

3. A few tablespoons of gochujang, mix.

4. Add sesame seeds as garnish.

The result should be a slightly creamy but still spicy noodle dish.

Crabstick Salad

This is a left-over recipe idea. Last night I served a tuna tataki salad (which completely rocked!!!!) and having the salad ingredients, I resorted to a bit of efficiency.

- Green-leaf lettuce, cleaned and roughly chopped.

- carrots, peeled and cut into match sticks

- white onion (barely 1/5 whole) sliced super thinly

- sliced cucumber, peeled and seeds scooped out

- three imitation crab sticks, hand shredded

- fried garlic bits (i used TOO much b/c it's soooo good)

- ponzu sauce (used Kikkoman already bottled)

Layered as followed:

1. Lettuce down

2. Cucumber

3. Carrot sticks

4. White onion

5. Crab

6. Garlic

When about to serve, splash on ponzu sauce. I hate to dress before b/c it will seriously make the garlic bits soggy and the crunch is the best part.

This is a refreshing and cool salad to have; a great alternative to the creamy dressings.

Fishcake stir-fry

Oden - Japanese/Korean name for fish cake that's pressed and fried and served in sheets. Oden is used in stir-frys and soups.

This version is a stir-fry.

- 2 sheets of oden defrosted if previously frozen, chopped in bite size pieces

- half onion chopped

- Korean soy sauce (khang-jang - a lighter sweeter soy sauce)

- garlic powder

- chopped garlic

- sugar

- sesame oil

- dashida (beef stock in dry granule form)

- chopped green onion (optional)

- roasted sesame seed (optional)

1. Throw in onion and sautee in a bit of olive oil - one minute.

2. Add oden and constantly stir to avoid burning - 2 minutes.

3. Add garlic, khang-jang, garlic powder, sugar, sesame oil, and dashida.

4. Stir and quickly shut off the heat.

5. Once plated, top off with chopped green onion and sesame seeds.

The end result is a sweet and savory dish that is very easy to enjoy!

get in my belly!

frequently i cook at home for a few reasons.
1. i like it
2. i like controlling what goes in
3. i *know* what goes in
4. it costs a hell of a lot less to eat at home than OUT
5. healthier (at least that's what i believe)

when i take awesome pictures of awesome dishes, i'll post a recipe to go along w/ it if it is deemed worthy. i want to provide step by step details/pictures, but that's all in due time! in the meanwhile, enjoy the tantalizing pictures as a "preview"

shady m*therf*ckers.

yep...shady m*therf*ckers...i call family.

my mom has willingly taken care of my grandfather (her father) and her disabled brother (my uncle) for over 6 yrs straight and four years previously. my grandfather has 4 other sons who can take care of him..and none of them offered their home. none of them bothered to come visit him once a week or to take him out to eat.

so when g-father decided to go back to the mother country to live out the rest of his days...my 2 shady uncles ganged up on my mom and accused her of kicking out their dad.

note: never had these two men EVER called g-father for a conversation. never had they ever offered to take him out for a while. never had they offered financial assistance for their dad and brother. never had they known what it's like to take care an elderly father, a mentally disabled brother, and a seriously disabled, cardiac-challenged spouse while holding down a full time job as well as cooking and cleaning duties.

these m*therf*ckers should be thanking my mom on their hands and knees b/c she's the one who sponsored their lazy ungrateful spiteful asses over here to the U.S. if it wasn't for her, they wouldn't be "stunting" with their cars or living in their single homes, or even have their kids ever.

i wish no harm on them..i just want karma to kick back in full force. blah!

how do you comfort a mother who feels betrayed and is sobbing helplessly on a chair?

no worries mommy i'm here for you...screw them. they never respected you as an older sister, so when they are caught in a bind, turn a blind eye and focus your energy on you...b/c you deserve time for yourself....love you!!!!