NuM NuM

Wow, I finally did it - I made Korean food. I'm such a disgrace! I'm sure when Lobster married me he expected many Korean meals in his future. Little did he know the time had finally come for wifey to eat true American food. I'm talkin' chicken pot pie, meatloaf, cordon bleu - all those American-y things I'd only seen in the movies. My do I sound like a foreigner. I swear I was born in this country.

Since I literally ate Korean food for breakfast, lunch and dinner - all day, everyday my entire life, I really have no desire to cook it at home. Of course I couldn't leave well enough alone and just serve a traditional Korean meal with meat, some sort of soup and ban-chan. (side dishes) Nope, I had a fusion Korean bbq taco night. The inspiration came from a dinner we had at the Cindyro's and they were delicious. The tacos were equally well received amongst my friends and everyone enjoyed the new twist. Serve with guacamole and pico de gallo, "Taco Tuesdays" here we come!

*I've made Korean tacos before but I enjoyed this chicken recipe more but used the coleslaw from the old recipe which can be found here.

Spicy Korean Chicken

Recipe from Week of Menus

4 servings

Requires marination of at least 8 hours, overnight is better.
Serves 6-8

2-3 lbs boneless, skinless thighs OR BREASTS THAT ARE POUNDED ½” THEN CUT UP INTO 2” PIECES
1/4 cup Korean chili pepper paste (gochujahng)
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons water
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons white sugar
2 tablespoons mirin (or sake if you can’t find mirin)
1/2 cup onion, pureed (done in a mini prep chopper is perfect)
3 tablespoons ginger
2 tablespoons garlic

In a large bowl, mix all ingredients EXCEPT chicken together. Make sure that the sugar is well incorporatd in the marinade. Wearing gloves (disposable kitchen gloves are perfect for this), use your hand and mix all the chicken into the marinade. Make sure each chicken piece is thoroughly coated and well mixed with the marinade. Try and get the marinade into all the nooks and crannies of your chicken thigh. Cover and marinate for at least 8 hours or overnight.

Heat bbq. The chicken cooks better over lower heat than higher heat as the higher sugar content of the marinade lends itself to burning. Cook for about 7-9 minutes per side over lower heat.

*This does taste best on the bbq grill, but if you cannot grill outside, then use a roasting pan and broil it in your oven - BTW you cannot dry out chicken thighs you can only burn them.

The other day my sister was raving about these tacos she made and how I needed to try them. With all the hype surrounding Korean tacos lately, I was eager to try them. I'd had Korean tacos from Kogi food truck before and wondered if they'd taste the same. It was a good excuse to make something from the motherland and since I live in a half Korean occupied home, I thought I'd give it a go. The verdict: the tacos were pretty good as a whole, but I actually liked them better without the tortilla - makes them carb friendly too :)

The marinade for the chicken tastes very similar to the Spicy Korean Ribs (Daeji Galbi) I made many moons ago. It's a bit spicy and sweet, but not over the top spicy where it makes you break a sweat. The coleslaw actually helps mellow out the spice from the chicken and balances out the flavors really well. This dish was fun to try but next time I make it I would thinly slice the chicken, mix it with some leftover marinade, top it with the slaw and eat it straight up. Easy-peezy!

Korean Chicken Tacos
Adapted from Hankook Taqueria, Atlanta
2 small servings

For marinating chicken:
4 tbs Korean red pepper paste (gochujang, available in Korean markets)
4 tbs white vinegar
4 tbs sugar
2 tablespoons sesame oil
1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breasts

For the vinaigrette:
2 tbs soy sauce
2 tbs white vinegar
2 tbs sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons sesame oil
3/4 teaspoons hot red-pepper flakes (Go Chu Kah Loo – korean red pepper)

To serve:
3 leaves green leaf lettuce, shredded (I used 1 Romaine lettuce)
1 cup shredded green cabbage or other cabbage
1/2 cup diced Vidalia or other sweet onion (I omitted)
1/4 cup sliced scallions
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro
3 burrito-size or 6 taco-size flour tortillas
3 lime wedges

1. For marinating chicken: In a bowl (or sealable plastic bag) combine red pepper paste, vinegar, sugar and sesame oil. Carefully cut small crosswise slits down the length of each chicken breast, being careful not to cut all the way through. This will help the marinade penetrate the meat better, help the chicken cook evenly, and it also looks nice when the chicken is cooked. Add chicken to marinade and slather chicken with it. Cover (or seal) and refrigerate 2 to 4 hours or even over night.
2. For the vinaigrette: In a small mixing bowl, combine soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, sesame oil and pepper flakes. Whisk until well blended.
3. Prepare a grill or heat a large skillet. Grill or sauté chicken until golden brown on all sides and opaque in center; be careful not to overcook. Remove from heat and cut into 3/4-inch dice or slice into thin slices.
4. In a large mixing bowl, combine lettuce, cabbage, onion, scallions and cilantro. Toss with vinaigrette to taste. Place a tortilla on top. Place an equal portion of chicken on each tortilla, and top with a portion of salad. Finish with squirt of lime wedge.

*Next time I would reserve a quarter cup of the marinade and mix it with the sliced chicken after it is cooked. Instead of eating as a taco, put chicken on plate and top with slaw.

For Christmas, Santa a.k.a best wifey in the world, gave lobster a Big Green Egg grill. This contraption is supposed to be a fancy shmancy smoker that will permeate our food with that wonderful charcoal taste we all love. I absolutely heart any and all foods cooked on a charcoal grill. I foresee many many meals from this egg. So really, the gift was for MEEEEE :)

Lobster and I had another cook off the day after Christmas for the fam. This time, we cooked ribs. I made Korean marinated baby back ribs while he made his famous ribs glazed with his secret sop. We don't need to talk about who won this competition. Who cares about contests, there are no real winners or losers. All that matters is you're able to spend quality time with your loved ones over a nice meal. Clearly, I was not the winner...stupid contest! It's only fair that he won since this is considered man cooking and I am a woman, therefore he won by default.

I don't have a recipe for lobster's ribs b/c he just wings it with whatever spices he feels like using that day, but they are always dee-lish. The following recipe is a traditional spicy korean rib dish similar to the one my mom makes. It produces a spicy flavored rib so if you want less of a kick, I would reduce the amount of kochujang. I found the recipe on a random website feturing Korean dishes and I was actually quite impressed because the flavors were spot on. I'm excited to try more recipes from this site to see how they compare to my mom's cooking. I'll be the guinea pig and letcha know when they're num num.

Daeji galbi - 6 servings
Adapted from here

• 5 lbs of pork baby back ribs
• 1 (1-inch) piece ginger root, minced
• 2 onions (pureed)
• 4 tbsp minced garlic
• 1 cup kochujang
• 4 tbsp sugar
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 3 tbsp sesame oil
• 1 tsp black pepper

Cooking Directions
1. If ribs are not separated, separate by cutting meat between the bones. Place in large bowl.
2. Puree onions in a blender as it is easier to marinade and spread on ribs
3. Combine all ingredients except pork ribs in large bowl.
4. Once ingredients are all mixed consistently, rub marinade generously over meat.
5. Cover and refrigerate 5 hours or preferably overnight.
6. Grill ribs over medium-high heat until done, about 8-10 minutes per side.
7. If cooked in an oven, preheat to 350 degrees. Spray cooking spray onto a baking sheet and place the ribs on it. Cook for 1 hour and 45 minutes or until the meat is so soft that it falls off the bone.

WINNER, WINNER, Soon Dubu dinner!!!!

Holy mole, this was actually pretty good if I do say so myself. I can't believe I actually made my first Korean meal today-without any mommy supervision. Sigh...such a disgrace I am. I've blogged about forty American recipes and finally made one from my motherland tonight. Well, at least now I can play catch up! :D

Although my mom is the best Korean cook I know, she never made us soon dubu while we were growing up. Therefore, I had to concede and search the Internet for a recipe. As you can imagine, there are a ton of different recipes for soon dubu with a ton of different variations. Some of the photos didn't look like the right consistency, some were too light in color and some just looked plain scary. Finally my search ended when I found this website. It helped that there was a video too.

After making the soon dubu, this recipe seems more of a method then anything. I found I had to adjust and eyeball the seasoning and amount of broth to the way I like it. Lobster can't handle spicy food...clearly he is not Korean...so I had to tone down the amount of red pepper used. I also increased the amount of fish sauce too. The fish sauce really seemed to help this jigae give it that "Korean" taste. This was my first time using fish sauce, I bought "Three Crabs Viet Huong" brand and it flavored the broth nicely. All in all, for my first time making soon dubu I would say it was a success.

Note: I didn't like the consistency of the soup so I thickened it with a bit of cornstarch. I put one tablespoon of cornstarch and added a little water to help dilute it, then added half a cup of water. I then added it to the soup one tablespoon at a time until it reached the right consistency, which took about four tablespoons. I probably could have done more but I was too chicken and thought it might thicken too much.

**After just eating this I noticed it starts to taste better the longer is sits b/c the flavors start to meld together. If you have time try to make it a few hours ahead.

Soon Dubu Jigae - 2 large servings
12 dried anchovies
1/3 cup of kelp, half onion, 5 cloves of garlic, 3 shiitake mushrooms
100 grams of beef, 1 cup of mixed seafood, 3 shrimp
2 green onions, 1 green chili pepper
2-5 tbs of hot pepper flakes
olive oil, sesame oil, 2 tubes of soon du bu
2 tbs of fish sauce, and 2 eggs

Prepare stock to make tasty Soon du bu:
Pour 5 cups of water into a pot and add 12 dried anchovies after removing intestine part. Add half onion, some dried kelp (about 1/3 cup), 3 dried shiitake mushrooms, 5 cloves of garlic and boil it over high heat.
Approximately 10 minutes later, lower the heat to low medium heat and boil it for another 20 minutes.

Set aside the stock and take out the mushrooms and chop them into small pieces.
Heat your earthen ware (or ceramic pot) on the stove and put 2 ts of olive oil.
Chop 100 grams of beef and put it into the pot and stir it.
Add the chopped shiitake mushroom and stir it.
Add 2 tbs – 5 tbs (1/4 cup) of hot pepper flakes and keep stirring for 1 minute.
*tip:
2 tbs—mild
3 tbs—medium
4 tbs—hot
5 tbs (1/4 cup)—suicidal hot ! : )
Pour 2 cups of the stock you made. It will be sizzling. Add 1 cup of mixed seafood and 3 shrimp.
Add 2 tbs of fish sauce.
Cut the 2 tubes of Soon du bu (soft Tofu) in half and squeeze it out into the pot and break the tofu with a spoon several times in the pot.
When it boils, add 2 chopped green onions and 1 green chili pepper.
Crack eggs and drizzle some sesame oil before serving.
**I did not use any seafood or egg and it was still nummm


Khong Na Mul (Korean bean sprouts side dish)

I used a 8 inch skillet and covered the entire bottom of the pan with bean sprouts. I then added about half a cup of water and sprinkled some salt. Make sure you are not completely submerging the bean sprouts in water, just a little water underneath them is good to help them steam. Let the water come to a boil then put a cover on it and let it steam for about 3 minutes. If the bean sprouts have a distinct "smell" still then they are not ready and need to cook some more. Check to see if the bean sprouts have turned opaque, if not then bring water back to boil and steam for another minute or so. Bean sprouts should still retain some crunch and not be mushy. Season with S&P, finely minced/grated garlic, korean hot red pepper and a dash of sesame oil. Sorry I can't give you exact measurements, but taste as you go. When adding the red pepper the bean sprouts should turn a nice light red hue. Enjoy!!!

**If you would like to make the recipe for the spinach, you can find the recipe here. I forgot to note in the recipe that I also added finely minced garlic too.

Wow, I am just a lean, mean, blogging machine. I've posted five recipes over the span of two days...and they've all tasted really good. I'm getting all my blogs in now b/c I won't be cooking that much before the wedding. Today, I went over to my mom's and we made kim-bap, which is the Korean version of a California roll. The ingredients she uses are rice, bulgogi (marinated beef), yellow radish, egg, and spinach. (In the future I will post a recipe for the bulgogi - so many things to cook, such little time) Today we also put in sesame leaves which added a nice clean fresh taste. But feel free to add whatever you like, sometimes she'll also put in kim-chee, long julienned strips of sauteed carrots or fish cake.

Oooh...ahhh....the kim-bap tower

The only recipe I was able to get was for the boiled-marinated spinach b/c she already madethe bulgogi before I got there. The rice you use with this dish has to be a little seasoned as well or else the kim-bap will taste too bland. My mom season's hers with sesame oil, roasted sesame seeds and salt. The rice should not taste too salty but have just a little bit of flavor. The reason being when you combine all the ingredients together for the kim-bap, if the rice has too much flavor the entire roll will taste salty.

Again, since this is my mother, she eye-balls everything so my suggestion would be to season and taste as you go. The only requirement is that you must buy real spinach packaged in budles. You can't make this dish with those pre-washed ready-pac baby spinach in bags b/c you won't get the right consistency. Enjoy!

Boiled spinach

Bundles of spinach
Roasted Sesame oil (dark colored)
Roasted sesame seeds
Salt
Garlic, finely minced to taste

Fill your sink with water and swirl the spinach around so all the grit falls to the bottom. Drain the water and repeat about two more times or until there is no more dirt coming from the spinach. Bring a pot of water to a boil and quickly blanch the spinach in batches. As soon as the spinach begins to wilt just a little, quickly remove it and run it under cold water. If you let the spinach wilt too much it will become mushy. Then squeeze out most of the water from the spinach and put into a clean bowl. Season with salt, roasted sesame seeds, garlic, and sesame oil and you're done. (I would give each ingredient one good turn around the bowl as a start)

Seaweed soup is a traditional korean soup you eat on your birthday. Technically, my mom says you do not age that year unless you eat it. Since this coming birthday I will no longer be in my twenties :( I am choosing to not eat it for the rest of my life. In Korea, a woman will eat miyeok gook for two weeks straight after she gives birth to promote the health of her and the baby. I don't know if that will be happening for me when I'm preggers, but I have eaten it every year since I was born and it'll be a nice tradition to continue when I have my own little rugrats too.

This is a very healthy soup and you don't have to wait till your birthday to eat it. It warms your tummy on a cold day and tastes great when you eat it with dduk bohk ki (spicy rice cakes) which is what Koreans consider comfort food. I'll be sure to write a post on that one too.

Again, I forgot to take a photo so I got the picture from this site.