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 ^_^

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 ^_^

Kimchi jjigae

I typically always do a vegetarian kimchi jjigae, but you can make it with pork, or fish and seafood. Here is my simple and basic recipe:

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup of kimchi (and its juices)

2-3 tablespoons of gojijjang (red pepper paste)

1/2 teaspoon of gojujadu {red pepper flakes)

4-5 cloves of garlic, minced

1 green onion

1 package of Tofu

1 package of Enoki Mushrooms

Instructions: Put the minched garlic, chopped kimchi and its juices into a pot, and add 2 cups of water. When boiling, add the gojijjang, and simmer/boil for 25 minutes. In the meanwhile, cut the tofu into squares, and cut and clean the enoki mushrooms. Add them to the stew and stir, sprinkling the gojujadu over the tofu. Cover and simmer for another 10 minutes, and at last adding a cut green onion on top. Serve piping hot with rice!

Ingredients!

These are the ingredients for panfried tofu! I made it again recently and I liked how it all looked out as raw ingredients :]

Here is the original recipe blog post --

[http://nomadichimee.blogspot.com/2010/09/panfried-tofu-with-spicy-sauce-dubu.html]

Spicy Shrimp

If you're using frozen shrimp, make sure they've been defrosted and drained before marinating.

Ingredients:
About 1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon rice wine
2 cloves garlic, minced
One 1-inch piece ginger, minched
Juice from 1/2 lime
1 teaspoon Korean chile powder (gojugadu)

Instructions:
Put the shrimp in a large bowl. Add the soy sauce, red wine, garlic, ginger, and lime juice and combine. Sprinkle with the chile powder and toss.

Place a large pan on a preheated grill/stove. Add the shrimp and cook, turning, until they've turned pink.

Serve hot with rice and other side dishes.

Duk bok ki (Spicy Rice Cake)

[I added ramen noodles to the mix to make it a more filling meal.. but that doesn't make it very healthy..!:{ BUT I wanted to add the tasty dish anyway :]

2 lbs. rice cake (can be found at the Korean market)
1 cup water
2 Tbsp sugar
1 Tbsp. red hot chili paste (gojijjang)

2 Tbsp korean red pepper flakes (gojugadu)
1 tsp minced garlic
Half 1 onion, chopped
2 scallions, chopped
2 boiled eggs (always use free-range, organic, hormone/steroid free if you can!)

Put the rice cake in cold water for about 15 minutes to soften. Hard-boil the eggs, de-shell them and put to the side. Put 1 cup water in a large saucepan. Add sugar, red chili pepper paste, and garlic. Bring to a boil and boil for about 5 minutes. Put the rice cake and onion in the pan and continue to boil for 10 minutes. Add chopped scallions and continue to biol for 2-3 minutes. Add the cut egg on top. Serves 5.

Bibimbap!

Ingredients:

• Cooked rice
• bean sprouts
• a bunch of spinach
• 2 small size of zucchinis
• 1/2 a pound of bulgogi (marinated thinly sliced rib-eye beef)
• 1 small carrot
• eggs
• soy sauce
• hot pepper paste
• garlic
• sesame oil

Recipe:
Arrange everything on a platter.

1. Cook rice. You can use a rice cooker or a stainless pot.
   
2. Next, you need to prepare a large platter to put all your ingredients on. Rinse your bean sprouts 3 times and put them in a pot with a cup of water. Add 1 ts of salt and cook for 15 minutes. Drain water and mix it with 1 clove of minced garlic, sesame oil and a pinch of salt.
   Put it on the platter.
3. Put your spinach in a pot of boiling water and stir it for a minute. Then rinse it in cold water a few times and squeeze it lightly. Mix it with a pinch of salt, 1 ts of soy sauce, 1 clove of minced garlic and sesame oil. Put it on the platter
4. Cut 2 small size zucchinis into thin strips, sprinkle them with a pinch of salt, and then mix them together. A few minutes later, sauté them in a pan over high heat. When it’s cooked, it will look a little translucent. Put it on the platter
5. On a heated pan, put some oil and 200 grams of thinly sliced rib-eye (bulgogi) and stir it. Add 4 cloves of minced garlic, 1 tbs of soy sauce, 1/2 tbs of sugar, a little grounded black pepper, and sesame oil.
   Put it on the platter.
6. Cut a carrot into strips, sauté it for 30 seconds and put it on the platter.
7. prepare eggs with sunny side up.
8. Put your rice In a big bowl, and attractively display all your vegetables and meat. Place the sunny side up egg on the center.
9. Serve it with sesame oil and hot pepper paste.
10. Lastly, mix it up and eat!

(Tak Toritang) Korean Spicy Chicken and Potato Stew

I made this awesomely authentic Korean dish for dinner tonight.. and it was unbelievable how easy and delicious it was! Is definitely one of my favorite dishes.. I love Korean food so much ^_^

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 pounds chicken drumettes (I used Nature's Choice! Hormone and Steroid Free:)
  
• 3 red potatoes, cut into large chunks
• 2 carrots, cut into 2 inch pieces
• 1 large onion, cut into 8 pieces
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/4 cup soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 3 tablespoons hot pepper paste (gojijjang)
• 1-2 Hot chili peppers
  

Directions

1. In a large pot over medium heat, mix the chicken, potatoes, carrots, onion, sugar, and garlic. Pour in water and soy sauce, and stir in sugar and hot pepper paste. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, and simmer 45 minutes, until chicken juices run clear, vegetables are tender, and liquid has thickened. Add cut hot chili peppers on top.
   
2. Serve with white rice.
   

Panfried tofu with spicy sauce (Dubu buchim yangnyumjang)

A spicy Korean vegetarian dish that is yummy in the tummy.

Ingredients:

• Package of tofu (about 15oz) [I prefer soft tofu over firm so I went for the soft]
• soy sauce
• hot pepper flakes
• sugar
• green onion
• garlic
• sesame oil

1. Slice the tofu into bite size pieces (¼ inch thick rectangles). You should get 10 pieces. Towel off each piece with a paper towel.
2. Heat a pan with 1 to 2 tbs of vegetable oil. Add the tofu and lower the heat. Cook over low heat about 5-7 minutes.
3. When the bottom of the tofu looks golden brown, turn it over and cook another 5 minutes.
4. Transfer the cooked tofu to a serving plate.
5. Make your sauce in a small bowl by mixing these ingredients:
   1 clove of minced garlic, 1 chopped green onion, 1 ts hot pepper flakes, 1 ts sugar (or honey), 2 tbs soy sauce, and 2 ts sesame oil
6. Spoon the sauce evenly over the tofu.
7. Serve with rice as a side dish