Shrimp & Tofu Pad Thai

Ingredients: 

(For the chile paste)

- 2-3 red fresno or serranto chiles, (i kept the seeds and it made it super spicy)

- 2 shallots, chopped

- 4 cloves of garlic, chopped

- 1/2 lb dried flat rice noodles 1/4 (6mm) wide

- 2 tablespoons canola oil

- 1/4 cup fish sauce

- 3 tablespoons tamarind paste

- 2 tablespoons dark soy sauce

- 2 tablespoons chopped palm sugar (can use dark brown sugar as a substitute)

- 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

- 1/2 lb shrimp (prawns) peeled and deveined

- 1 1/4 cups mung bean sprouts

- 1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth

- 1 package of tofu

- 2 tablespoons chopped dry-roasted peanuts

- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro (fresh coriander)

Place the noodles in a bowl and add hot water to cover.  Let stand for 5-10 minutes.  Drain the noodles and set aside.

To make the chile paste: in a mortar or mini food processor, combine the chiles, shallots, garlic, and 1 tablespoon water and process or grind with a pestle until a thick paste forms.

Ingredients: chopped peanuts, scallions, lime, cilantro, and the chile paste

After you de-shell the shrimp, put them in cold water and let them soak.

Add a little vegetable oil and scramble an egg on low-medium heat.

In a large wok or frying pan, stir-fry the tofu with the egg. (be careful not to break the soft tofu into bits!)

After removing the egg and tofu mixture,  turn the heat over high heat, and warm the oil.  When the oil is hot, add the chile paste and saute until fragrant, about 10 seconds.

Stir in the fish sauce, tamarind paste, soy sauce, palm sugar, and lime juice. Add the shrimp and saute just until they turn opaque, about 1 minute.

Add the noodles to the pan along with 1 cup of the bean sprouts and the broth.  Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low, cover, and cook, stirring the mixture 2 or 3 times, until most of the sauce has been absorbed, 5-7 minutes.

Transfer the noodles to a warmed platter.  Top with fresh bean sprouts, cilantro, scallions, chopped peanuts, and slices of lime. Serve and enjoy!

Bibimbap! 2nd edition.

Here is the original post that I previously did on Bibimbap for a more detailed explanation of how to make it- but I took some better photos of the ingredients and process, so figured I should add them :) The best thing about bibimbap is that you can always mix it up- and try different ingredients for their various flavors and textures.

This time the ingredients I included were:

- shitake mushrooms

- bean sprouts

- zucchini

- squash

- spinach

- carrots

- sesame seed leaves

- bulgogi beef (thinly sliced marinated beef: 1 lb marinated with 2 tablespoons of soy sauce, 1 tablespoon of sesame seed oil, 1 tablespoon brown sugar, 1 tablespoon grated garlic, 1/2 white sliced onion, green onion/scallions, 1/2 teaspoon black pepper)

- egg

- gojujang (of course:)

- sesame seed oil

- garlic

- green onion/scallions

-sesame seeds

First make sure you start by soaking the dry shitake mushrooms for at least 30 minutes (unless you get the fresh ones!)

it's pretty simple and basic: you slice the vegetables: zucchini, squash, shitake mushrooms and carrots into thin small pieces and sauté each individual ingredient with a little bit of garlic and sesame seed oil, except for the bean sprouts and spinach- which you boil until they are cooked. you then flavor them by adding a little bit of freshly grated garlic and chopped green onion/scallions.

[so... i stopped taking photos because i got too preoccupied with cooking..]

To set it all up you add some rice at the bottom of a bowl, add a little bit of each ingredient on top, and put a sunny-side up egg on top. add a splash of sesame seed oil and a heaping big spoonful of gojujang before you mix it all up. Now you can sweat veggies :)

mapo tofu. (my koreanized version)

I made spicy mapo tofu yesterday- and typically I use a pre-packaged sauce packet, but I didn't have any so i came up with my own sauce and it came out delicious:)

Ingredients:

- 1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger

- 1 1/2 tablespoon grated garlic

- 1 lb ground pork

- 1 package of tofu (soft or firm, however you like it:)

- 4 chopped green onion/scallions

- 1-2 cup of rice

sauce:

- 1 tablespoon soy sauce

- 2 tablespoon gojugadu (korean red pepper flakes)

- 1 tablespoon gojujaang (korean red bean paste)

- 1 1/2 tablespoon miso or bean paste

- 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

- 1 tablespoon dashida (korean beef stock)

- 3/4 cup of water

Directions:

1. Start to sauté and cook the pork with the garlic and ginger. It should probably smell delicious :)Add the ingredients to make the sauce

2. Pre-mix the sauce in a separate bowl- and mix well until the chunks are dissolved.

3. Add the sauce mixture into the sautéed pork and let some of the water evaporate.

4. Add the tofu (cut into small squares) and about 3/4 cup of sliced scallions and stir, while keeping on very low heat- and continue to simmer so that the juices penetrate into the tofu pieces!

5. Add rice to the bottom of your bowl/plate.

6. Spoon the mapo tofu over the rice, and add freshly cut scallions/green onions on top. It will be spicy and hot! Enjoy ^_^

"Korean" Harry Potter Roasted Hen

I got this simple roasted hen recipe from "The Unofficial harry Potter Cookbook" and I modified it by adding lemons and Korean hot red pepper flakes. The recipe called for cooking it for 45 minutes... But in reality it took about 3 hours.. O_O (*correction: that's because I used a frozen hen. Don't do that. Wait till it defrosts. I was too impatient;)

Ingredients:

- 1 pheasant or hen (I used a cornish hen)

- 1 onion, sliced into 1/4-inch-thick slices

- 2 celery ribs, cut into chunks

- 2 carrots, cut into chunks

- 1 potato, cut into chunks

- 4 cloves of garlic

- olive oil for brushing on the hen

- salt and freshly ground black pepper

- red pepper flakes

- 1 cup water

- 1/2 a lemon

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degree Fahrenheit. Lay the onion slices in a roasting pan and scatter the celery, carrots, potatoes, and garlic cloves on top.

2. Rinse the hen in cold water and pat it dry with paper towels. Place the pheasant in the roasting pan, breast side up, wings tucked under. Brush the olive oil over the hen and sprinkle it with the salt and pepper. Pour the water into the roasting pan.

3. Put the pan in the oven and roast for 45 minutes, or until the juices run clear. (AND then i saw that it wasn't cooked throughly so I flipped it over, stabbed into the meat everywhere so the juices would go inside, squeezed the lemons over the hen and layered them on top of it, basked the juiced over the hen, and continued to roast for another 45 minutes. I did this every 20 minutes for the next hour (so three times). And finally, at 4am (it was a night project) the roasted hen was complete and ready to eat. All of the flavors from the juices soaked into the meat- you could taste the celery, carrot, lemon, garlic, and the little hint of spice. It was delicious.

SOON DUBU JIGAE!! (Spicy seafood and tofu stew/soup)

This is by far one of my favorite dishes ever. Its tasty, spicy, seafood bitty, soupy and easy to make.

Ingredients:

- 1 cup (or more) seafood mix: I used one from the Korean store that included scallops, shrimp, mussels, and calamari ^___^)

- 2 1/2 tablespoons gojugadu (korean hot pepper flakes)

- 1 tablespoon dashida (powered beef stock)

- 1/2 teaspoon salt

- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

- 2 tablespoon sesame seed oil

- 5 cloves of chopped/crush

ed garlic

- 1 green onion/scallion

- 1 large jalepeno

- 1 packet of soft tofu

- 1 cup of water

- 1-3 eggs

First put the seafood mix in water and soak for about 15 minutes. Chop up the raw ingredients such as the garlic, scallion, jalepeno, etc. Then in a hot-pot, (I used a stone hot-pot) add the sesame seed oil under high heat. After it starts to smoke, add the red pepper flakes and stir to make a deep red pasty mixture. Drain the seafood and fry the seafood bits into the red paste along with the garlic. After about 2 minutes, add water and bring to a boil. Add the dashida (beef and/or anchovy stock), salt, pepper, jalepenos and soft tofu. Let it all boil for about 4-5 minutes. Add the green onions/scallions. Turn off the heat and bring the entire pot to the table, then crack the eggs into the top. Swirl around the egg, (or let the eggs poach, whichever you prefer:)

And then you have delicious Soon dubu jigae. Serve with rice.

I stopped taking step-by-step photos because I got too excited chopping and cooking. But long story short, I served the soon dubu jigae along with saang-gilsal, pork-belly Korean BBQ. To add into the saam (lettuce wrap) I mixed chopped scallions with a little bit of sesame seed oil, soy sauce, sesame seeds, salt and red pepper flakes. (pictured last) YUMMMMMM ^_^