Budae Jigae

My third dish I cooked to satisfy my craving for Korean food this time was Budae Jigae, another famous Korean army base stew where the typical Korean stew comprises of stuff influenced by Americans when US military came to Korea
It's something like Korean style steamboat where you prepare the soup base and dumping in all ingredients of your choice and eat immediately
Love love this dish! :)

 

Piping hot! Yummy! 

Again, I followed recipe from Seonkyoung Longest

What you need:
(I made half recipe as written below)

For the sauce:
3 tbsp gochugaru (Korean red chili pepper powder)
1.5 tbsp soya sauce
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp rice wine (soju)
1/2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp doenjang (Korean fermented soya bean paste -> can be replaced with miso)
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
30ml water
5 cloves of garlic, chopped finely

For the stew:
1/2 cup kimchi (I used my homemade emergency kimchi)
30g rice cake slices, soaked in warm water for 20mins if frozen
1/4 can spam, slice thinly about 5mm thick
2 hotdogs, slice as preferred
1/4 block of firm tofu, slice thinly about 5mm thick
3 spring onion, cut about 5cm long
50g dangmyeon (Korean sweet potato noodles, soaked in warm water for 20mins)
30g enoki mushroom, discard the root
2.5cups chicken stock
60g dried ramen noodles
a bunch of baby romaine lettuce (I added this)
Method:

1. In a bowl, mix all ingredients for the sauce and set aside

 

 

2. Just before serving, in a shallow and thick bottom pot, arrange kimchi, rice cake, spam, hotdogs, and tofu 

 

3. Place dangmyeon, enoki mushroom, romaine lettuce and spring onion on top in the middle

 

4. Pour over sauce and stock and over high fire for 5mins. Reduce to medium fire and stir everything til well mixed

 

5. Add ramen noodles, stir til cooked and it's ready to eat!

 

 

 

NOTE:

 

Original recipe used other ingredients such as breakfast sausage, baked beans and sliced cheese

I didn't use breakfast sausage and baked beans I do not fancy these two. And I found cheese is not meant to be inside this dish, but then again on the second thought I will try to add sliced cheese the next time I make this dish again, I think should be good :)

 

Homemade Yangbaechu-Kimchi (Emergency Kimchi)

My second Korean dish to fill up my Korean food craving, kimchi!

This is the second time I made kimchi
The first one was also the easier way to make kimchi which is really good. You may view the recipe HERE
Now it's another type of fast making kimchi. It's really good when you are craving for kimchi but do not have the time to make the traditional way. And this tastes really good, too. How amazing it can taste that good without any fermentation needed! Love this! :)

Recipe is from Maangchi

What you need:

1 kg of napa cabbage, cut into half, quarter them then slice into chunks
1 cup water
1/4 cup sea salt

Kimchi paste:
1/4 cup hot chili pepper flakes
1 tbsp sugar
1/4 cup fish sauce
1/4 cup minced garlic
4 stalks of spring onion, chopped (about 1/3 cup)
1/4 cup julienned carrot

Method:

1. Mix water and salt. Rinse cabbage and then soak them in the salted water. Let it soak for 10mins (I left it soaked for 1hour)
2. Mix all ingredients for kimchi paste in a bowl, set aside
3. Rinse the soaked cabbage at least 3 times and drain the water, leave it for about 15mins
4. Mix in cabbage into the kimchi paste and stir well til fully incorporated
5. Store in a container and keep in the fridge, press down the kimchi stack with your fingers to protect them from being exposed to too much air
6. You may consume immediately like salad (it's really good!) or the next day (faster fermentation in room temperature but I kept immediately in the fridge)

I should have doubled up the recipe to fill this container up to the brim!

 

Can't wait any longer to eat this crunchy sour spicy delicious salad! Nom nom nom...

 

 

Japchae

I have been craving badly for Korean food lately, so please bear with me if you always see Korean dishes for the next few posts :)

This time I share with you  a famous Korean stir fry noodles called Japchae
I used recipe from Seonkyoung Longest this time. It's really yummy but a little too sweet to my liking. The next time I cook this dish again I will make it less sweet
Too bad DH and the kids don't fancy this dish, so it's all mine! :)

I forgot to sprinkle sesame seeds!

 

This is a simple recipe but quite a lot of steps in the preparation

Here is the recipe
(I made half recipe as written below)

What you need:

For beef:
250g beef - thin slices (sirloin or chuck tender)
1/2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tbsp soya sauce
1/4 tbsp sesame oil
1/4 tbsp mirin
1 clove garlic, finely chopped

some vegetable oils
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/4 medium size onion, thinly sliced
1/4 red bell pepper, julienned
1/4 large carrot, julienned
3 large shitake mushroom, thinly sliced

For spinach:
a bunch of fresh spinach
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1/8tsp salt (a large pinch)
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1/4 tsp sesame seeds
small pinch of ground black pepper
200g Korean sweet potato noodles

For sauce:
40ml soya sauce
20ml honey (I followed the original recipe 40ml and found it too sweet hence the change here)
1 tbsp sesame oil
1/2 tbsp sesame seeds
small pinch of ground black pepper
more salt, black pepper and sesame oil when adjusting the taste

Method:

***Marinate the beef:
Mix beef, sugar, soya sauce, sesame oil, mirin and garlic, toss evenly and keep aside for at least 10mins - I did for an hour)

***Stir fry the vegetables and beef:
Heat a cooking pan, add in 1 tsp of vegetable oil. Add in onion, add a pinch of salt and stir fry for 5mins. Remove from heat, transfer to a small bowl and keep warm
Add in 1 tsp of vegetable oil in the pan. Add in bell pepper, add a pinch of salt and stir fry for a minute. Remove from heat, transfer to a small bowl and keep warm
Add in 1 tsp of vegetable oil in the pan. Add in carrot, add a pinch of salt and stir fry for 3mins. Remove from heat, transfer to a small bowl and keep warm
Add in 1 tsp of vegetable oil in the pan. Add in mushroom, add a pinch of salt and stir fry for 2mins. Remove from heat, transfer to a small bowl and keep warm
Add in 1 tsp of vegetable oil in the pan. Add in marinated beef and stir fry for 7mins until cooked through and all moisture has evaporated. Remove from pan, transfer to a small bowl and keep warm

***Blanch the spinach:
Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add in spinach and blanch for a max of 10secs. Remove from hot water (don't throw away the water!) and immediately transfer to a bowl of ice water and drain. Squeeze out excess water and then mix spinach with garlic, salt, sesame oil, sesame seeds and black pepper. Set aside

***Make the omelette:
Heat a pan with 1 tsp oil and pour the beaten eggs and make thin omelette. Slice into thin ribbons when cooled

***Cook the noodles:
In the water used to blanch the spinach, add in Korean sweet potato noodles and 1 tbsp vegetable oil. Cook for about 7-10mins according to the instructions. Drain and set aside. Cut if the noodles is too long (I didn't do this)

***Prepare the sauce:
Mix together soya sauce, honey, sesame oil and sesame seeds also black pepper. Set aside

***Assemble the japchae:
In a big bowl, add in noodles and the sauce, mix together until sauce is well absorbed by the noodles. Add in all vegetables and beef, toss gently to combine. Garnish with egg ribbons and sesame seeds if desired (I only garnished with egg ribbons). Serve hot or at room temperature