Korean Bulgogi - Recipe

Well I made the tofu as the appetizer and bulgogi as the main, so here's part two of my dinner tonight! Bulgogi is a Korean beef dish, thinly sliced, and marinated in a soy based sauce that can be found in many Korean and Asian restaurants across North America. One of my favourite burgers is a bulgogi inspired beef patty with lettuce, tomato, onion and cheese, but that's another time.. another story. The dish can either be served in a lettuce wrap with toppings, such as fried garlic, jalapeño or bean pasta, among others, or over rice, like my dinner tonight. The bast way to cook this is hot and fast, either in the frying pan, or on the grill. The beef should be marinated for at least 30 minutes, with several hours allowing for the full flavour of the marinate to be absorbed by the beef. With that being said, we need less talk, more eating, so here you go.

Ingredients:
1 pound of thinly sliced steak
1 yellow onion
1 carrot
3 stems of green onion

Marinate/Sauce
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons garlic
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon sesame oil
sesame seeds and a touch of black pepper

Extras:
1 cup of rice or;
lettuce and any of the following:
fried sliced garlic
fried jalapeño
kimchi
green onion in red pepper paste
or anything that you might find appetizing

Steps:
1) Slice the steak thin or look for the pre-sliced variety in an Asian foods market
2) Add all the marinate ingredients together in a bowl, mix well, and pour over the steak.Set aside in fridge and let marinate for a few hours.
3) Cut the onion into strips and julienne the carrot and add to marinated mixture, stirring well.
4) Prepare rice as directed on package or lettuce wraps
5) Preheat grill top or frying pan and add beef mixture. Stir well until fully cooked.
6) Sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve quickly.

Happy Living!

Deep Fried Tofu - Recipe

With the end of my package of tofu in the fridge, and having had enough stir-fry, I decided to do something with it  before it met its demise. Something easy that I could use as an appetizer before dinner. This past week I've had memory flashes of one of my favourite cheap eateries in Victoria,, BC, Fujiya. Every opportunity I could get I would go there and enjoy the 3 dollar California rolls and 1.5 tofu blocks in a little amber sauce, which made me think, why not recreate one of my favourite dishes.Deep fried tofu is simple and requires limited ingredients.. All you really need is tofu (medium firmness), cornstarch and oil! I like to add a little flavour by adding a soy/vinegar blended sauce, but I would recommend an amber sauce more similar to the authentic Fujiya, if available. The result will be a crunchy outside and soft inside delight. Anyways, enough talking, more cooking.. Here you go!

Ingredients (per serving):

1/4 block medium firmness tofu
1/6 cup cornstarch (or flour if cornstarch unavailable)
Vegetable oil for frying

Sauce:
2 tablespoon soy
1 1/2 tablespoon vinegar

Amber Sauce
1/8 cup dashi stock
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon mirin

Steps:
1) Cut tofu to desired size and place on paper towel. Let sit for 15-20 and dab to remove liquids.
2) Put oil in pan/deep frying and heat to 170degrees C.
3) Roll in cornstarch until completely covered and place in deepfryer until tofu is a light brown. Remove and place on paper towel to remove excess oil
4) If making amber sauce, add sauce ingredients to pot and bring to a boil.
5) If making soy/vinegar sauce, add ingredients and set aside.
6) Arrange tofu on plate and pour sauce over.

And that's a simple deep fried tofu everyone!

Happy Living!

The Champ is Back - Momofuku Spicy Cold Noodles - Recipe

So I'm back! Its been way too long, I know, but I got lazy. I bought a new Canon 60D so thought I'd change up the flavour of the blog a little bit, add my two cents on some issues and share my photos and travel experiences (the few that I have). Anyways, todays recipe is a new favourite of mine.. Spicy cold noodles w/sausage, spinach and honey roasted almonds. If you've ever been to Momofuku in NYC, this might look a little familiar. Well that's because it is. This time I used arugula and honey roasted peanuts because of availability, but in the past having used the spinach and almonds, it makes a bit of difference.. And yes I am aware that my recent posts have all been of the Asian variety.. Its because I only seem to take pictures during this.. .I assure you though that I have a wide meal palette. To the recipe we go!!

Sauce:
2 tablespoons vegetable Oil
2 teaspoons sesame oil
2 tablespoons rice vineger
2 tablespoon teriyaki sauce
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon grated ginger
1 tablespoon sirachi (or more/less if you like a little extra/less heat)
1 teaspoon hoison sauce
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Ingredients:
1 - link of sausage
200G - udon noodles
handful of spinach
1/2 cup - honey roasted almonds (again add more if you'd like)


Steps:
1) Cook the udon as prescribed on the package. Rinse with cold water several times until the noodles become cook. Set aside.

2) Make the sauce by adding the ingredients above. Mix well and pour over the noodles, stiring well to coat. Put in the fridge to cool down.

3) Cook sausage on the frying pan until done.

4) Take the noodles out of the fridge and plate by adding the cooked sausage, spinach leaves and honey roasted almonds.

That's it! A simple dish and oh so tasty! If those pictures don't make you hungry, go see a doctor immediately, there is something wrong with you..

Let me know if you have any questions and I'd be glad to clarify.

Happy Living!

Recipe - Authentic Pad Thai

In keeping with my Southeast Asian theme over the last week (see Pho Mi 99), I decided to make an Authentic Pad Thai recipe that I had gotten a loooong time ago. Ive always loved to eat pad thai, but whenever I made it just got one of those shitty jar Pad Thai sauce, which really just doesn't do the trick. So I decided, why not.. There aren't really many ingredients in here that are too hard to find, and in fact, you probably have or are capable of getting the majority of them within a couple of blocks radius of wherever you are. It ended up being capable of easily filling three people up and having left overs for two lunches the day after. Anyways, please try this because, in my opinion, it was the closest thing to Thailand I'm ever gonna get..

Ingredients

300g (10 oz) rice noodles
3 tablespoons oil
1 tablespoon garlic - chopped
1 tablespoon dried shrimp (can use fresh, although you may want to use more than 1 tbsp if fresh)
1 cup tofu/chicken
3/4 cup full sized shrimp or prawns
6 tablespoons chicken stock or 1.5 cans of chicken broth
2 eggs - beaten
3 tablespoons roasted peanuts (or more if you like lots)
1/4 cup chives
1 cup bean sprouts
1 lime - cut into wedges

Any other fresh vegetables you want to add

Sauce

3 tablespoons sugar (raw sugar or brown sugar)
3 tablespoons fish sauce 
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 tablespoons tamarind juice (find at any Chinese food store)
Steps

1. Put the oil in a wok (or large frying pan) and fry the garlic, dried shrimp and tofu/chicken until the garlic turns golden brown (and chicken is cooked if you use it).

2.Let the rice noodles sock in water for about 5-10 minutes

3.Add  noodles to the wok. Keep stirring over high heat while adding the chicken stock a bit at a time until the noodles are soft (if you run out of chicken stock and the noodles are not yet soft enough, add water).

4. Turn the heat down and add the sauce. Stir well to combine.

5. Next add the eggs and stir-fry until they are cooked and well combined with the noodles. 

 
6. Add the vegetables (bean sprouts, chives) and the peanuts.

7. Stirfry to combine, then put on a plate. 
8. Garnish with lime wedges and more peanuts.

9. It adds a bit of a different (and nice) taste to squeeze a little lime juice on the phad thai before eating.

Recipe: Korean Rice Balls

When I created this blog, I had yet to actually prepare any meals and pictures, so I will be back tracking a little bit what I have. This summer after graduation I decided to take a little time off and travel Korea and Japan. Needless to say, the food is amazing. In Seoul, I had the opportunity to attend a cooking class put on for Korean students that would be attending western universities and wanted to learn a few basics. I was only there for the one class (they put on six), but heres what I took out of it. Unfortunately, I forgot to grab the recipes for these meals, so my first post will be pictures only. I know, I'm as disappointed in myself as much as your are. First up are rice balls filled with red pepper paste (gochujang) and tuna... Extremely simple. You wouldn't want to eat this as a full meal.. but a great snack they make.

Rice Balls

Ingredients:

Sticky Rice

Korean Rice Seasoning

Canned Tuna

Gochujang - Red Pepper paste

Make the rice as specified on the package. A safe bet is usually 2 parts water, 1 part rice. 

Form the rice with your hand into a flat patty about 1/2 an inch thick and the size of your palm. Take a small scoop (maybe 1/8th of a can) of drained tuna and an even smaller scoop (pea sized) of the red pepper paste and place them in the middle of the rice patty. 

Wrap the edges of the rice around the filling and form into a ball shape. Make sure the rice fully covers the filling.. If your having trouble or didn't use enough rice, feel free to just add a bit more to complete the ball.. Finish this off by rolling the ball in the rice seasoning.. 

And enjoy:)

Finished Rice Balls

Unfortunately thats really the only thing I can remember, but here are some of the other things that we made.. Bulgogi, another rice dish and Japanese curry

Bulgogi

Bulgogi and rice mixture

Japanese Curry