Sundubu Recipe

Last night was dreary and cold so Issay and I decided to cook up some Sundubu, his favorite Korean dish.

Sundubu consists of lots of Korean chili powder, clams, some pork or chicken, and mushrooms.

I based my recipe off of the one I found at My Korean Kitchen.

I used:
2 tbsp of Korean chili powder
1 tbsp oil
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 chicken breast, cut into thin strips
1/2 onion, minced
2 sheets of konbu (dried seaweed)
1 1/2 lbs of live clams
2 cups hot water
1 pack of firm tofu, cut into 1 inch cubes
1 pack enoki mushrooms, cut into pieces
1 pack oyster mushrooms or button mushrooms, cut into pieces(we used shitake but the taste was a bit too strong)
2 stalks of green onion, minced
1- 2 tsp salt to taste
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp crushed black pepper

Soak the clams in a bowl of water with a tsp of salt so they spit up the sand for about 30 min. Drain, wash, and set aside. Soak the konbu in 2 cups water for 30 min. Reserve the water and cut up the soft konbu into thin strips.

Stir fry chili powder and garlic in oil till fragrant. Add the chicken and onions and stir fry till lightly browned. Add clams and stir fry. Add the hot water and water from konbu and bring to a boil.

Add the tofu and konbu and boil for a minute. Then add the oyster and enoki mushrooms and boil for a minute. Add green onion, salt, soy sauce, sesame oil, and black pepper. Boil for another minute. Serve over hot rice.

Before serving, crack a raw egg into the bowl and mix into the soup to make it creamy! Perfect for a rainy day.

NhuLan's Bakery Bahn Mi Sandwich Review

Restaurant Review

NhuLan's Bakery
2612 W Lawrence Ave
Chicago, IL 60625-2921
(773) 878-9898

Issay and I heard about Nhu Lan from our Viet-American friend Freedom, who informed us that the bakery has freshly baked bread and delicious fillings. We trekked all the way to Lawrence and Western by bus in order to test his theory that the sandwiches were superior to our beloved Ba Le Bakery on Argyle and Broadway.

As soon as the sandwiches arrived by the teenage waitress at our table, we knew Freedom was right. The bread was fluffy and steaming hot. The center oozed with freshly cut BBQ pork. Because there was less bread, the sandwiches left us feeling satiated and comfortable, instead of over full as we normally felt from Ba Le's overly crusty sandwiches. Not only that, but the price was a little cheaper.

It will definitely join our weekly taste test of Chicago's finest restaurants from now on.

Asian Eggplant, Green beans, and Onion Stirfry

It's Eggplant season and once again my wonderful sister has gifted me with home grown Asian eggplants. Asian eggplants differ from regular European varieties in that they are smaller, longer shaped, and tastes much sweeter and firmer when cooked. I had just one eggplant and some green beans and was going to cook two separate dishes when I decided to combine the two of them together. I threw in the onion to bulk up the dish and provide an additional layer of flavor.

Ingredients:

1 Asian Eggplant (make sure it's firm and not blemished)
1/2 lb of green beans, both ends snapped
1 medium onion (any variety) or 2 shallots
1 tbsp Chinese fermented bean sauce, regular or spicy (spicy variety is good)
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 tsp chili sauce (optional)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp crushed pepper

Chop the eggplants into wedges. Do this by making a horizontal first cut, then rolling the egg plant so that the horizontal cut faces the opposite direction, then cut in the opposite direction again. If you get confused, just cut the eggplant up into 1 1/2 in chunks. Cut the green bean into 1 inch sections. Slice the onions into thin strips. Heat up 1 tbsp oil in a wok or deep pan and then toss in the garlic and onions when the oil is hot. Begin stir frying. Add the eggplants. Wait till the eggplant begins to wilt then add the bean sauce, chili sauce, salt, and pepper. Add the green beans and then continue to stir fry till the eggplant is nice and soft. You might have to add a little water (1 tbsp) if the eggplant dries out all the oil. Stir fry til the egg plants are soft and the green beans still crisp. Serve with hot rice.

Adventures in Yogurt Making

So I've been kind of addicted to Fage's Greek yogurt, which tastes super creamy but comes in non fat version as well. At almost $5 a tub for about 2 cups volume, it was a little expensive. I've started adding more dairy to my diet lately and find myself craving milk, possibly from all the exercise and healthy diet I've engaged in. The question was how to go through a whole gallon of milk without letting it spoil.

Then I thought... why don't I make yogurt?

I looked up how to do it and it was ridiculously simple.

I used:

4 cups skim milk
1/2 cup commercially available plain yogurt
a plastic sieve
Large tupperware
Hot water
A cooler

Basically to make yogurt, I first boiled milk to separate the proteins and make it easier for the bacteria to digest. I boiled the milk until bubbles formed, then let it cool to 115 F. In a cooler lined with a bit of aluminum foil on the bottom, I placed 4 large tubs of hot, just boiled water.

I mixed the commercial yogurt in a little bowl with a small amount of the cooled boiled milk. Then added the slurry to the rest of the milk and stirred well. In the cooler went the closed tupperware of the milk, nestled between the hot water containers. Closed the cooler and 6-8 hours later I had yogurt.

Since I wanted a thicker yogurt I used the plastic sieve (don't use anything metal or you'll kill the bacteria!!!) to strain the yogurt in the fridge. What was left was a thick, almost cotttage cheese like yogurt that tasted very mild in comparison to the commercial version. Since I like a bit more tang, I will probably let the yogurt culture a bit longer next time, maybe 10-12 hours.

Super easy. Cost me less than a dollar for a medium sized tub of yogurt (the gallon of milk was only $1.59). Try it and you'll have tasty home made yogurt too!

George Foreman Recipes: Chicken Teriyaki and Babaghanoush

Cooking always makes me feel better. After the rough day yesterday, I felt better when I tasted my teriyaki chicken for lunch. You can do a lot of things with a George Foreman Grill, which sits unused at most people's houses. I use it quite often nowadays to save time when cooking.

Home Made Teriyaki Chicken

1 whole chicken breast, cut into inch thick filets
1/3 - 1/2 cup soy sauce/ low sodium soy sauce
1/3 cup water
1 tbsp mirin (Japanese sweet rice wine)
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp honey
1 tsp salt (optional)
1 tbsp grated ginger
1 tbsp chopped garlic

Combine all the sauce ingredients until mixed. Add chicken. Refrigerate for at least 1 hr. Place on preheated Foreman grill. Grill with lid down (do NOT press on the grill) for 2 minutes. Flip chicken and tilt slightly for cross hatch grill marks. Lower lid and grill for another 1 minute. Chicken should be done when it smells nice and the center feels firm. If it's squishy just grill for another minute. Remove from grill and let cool for 2 minutes so juices can recirculate. Serve with rice or salad!

Babaghanoush - Middle Eastern Eggplant Dip

1 lb egg plant cut into 1 inch thick slices
3 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp tahini (sesame paste)
2 tbsp garlic
1- 2 tsp salt
1 tbsp olive oil

Rub eggplant slices with oil and some salt. Lay down 2 pieces of egg plants at a time on the grill. Lower lid and grill until one side starts getting soft, about 2-3 minutes. Flip and tilt slightly for grill marks. Remove when eggplant looks cooked through. Place into a bowl with plastic wrap on top so eggplants can steam and the skin can be easily peeled off. Finish grilling the rest of the egg plants. Remove all the skin. In a food processor combine all the ingredients including the grilled egg plants. Puree. Serve warm with pita bread, veggies or crackers. If you put it in the fridge just microwave 30 seconds to warm. Enjoy!

Lecso! Hungarian Pepper Stew

Previously posted August 2009 on my Facebook:

Last night I decided to make some Lecso, a Hungarian veggie stew in order to use up all the banana peppers my coworker brought.

I followed the general recipe on About.com. It came out really tasty considering I went for the low fat version by first sauteeing chicken breasts, removing them, then sauteeing the veggies in the left over oil. I think that next time I will first sautee up some bacon. Use a LITTLE of the bacon fat and the chicken oil to fry the veggies to give it a smoky taste. Then crumble up the bacon to stir into the stew.

Piotr was very against the idea of using bacon in Lecso so if you like you can use polish styled sausages and keep it low fat by just adding a small chunk that's been finely diced.

http://easteuropeanfood.about.com/od/hungarianvegetagbles/r/lecso.htm

Try this recipe with some crusty garlic bread and a nice dry red wine on a cold night and you'll love it. If it's not thick enough you can take an egg, beat it, temper it with some of the sauce, then use the egg to thicken the stew when you turn off the fire. It's super tasty with the egg!
Updated about 2 weeks ago · Comment · Like

Pressure Cooker Chicken and Veggy Soup

Originally posted May 2009 on my Facebook:

Went crazy today at the grocery store over the beautiful fresh produce. And still spent less than $15! Anyway I used my trusty pressure cooker and was thankful it didn't take off into space even though I totally stuffed it passed the "do not exceed this mark" line in the pot... I know someone is shaking his head as he is reading this so I'll pretend not to notice.

I used these veggies but you can totally add other ones like bell peppers, cauliflowers, mushrooms etc. And you can use other types of meats.

Veggies:
1 eggplant
1-2 red skinned potato
1-2 zucchini
4-5 stalks celery
1 carrot
1 onion
1 ear of fresh corn, raw
5-6 (lots and lots) of garlic
5-6 ripe tomatoes (I used half vine ripened and half beefsteak) or 1 can whole stewed tomatoes
4 tbsp tomato paste
1 beef/chicken bullion cube (or just a cup of chicken or beef stock. Omit the water mentioned below!)
1 tbsp dried basil or some type of italian or french herb mix that you like
1 cup hot water

2 pieces of whole chicken breast (I did bone in breasts which I cut off and then tossed in the bones to add gelatin to the soup)

Cut eggplant in half length wise. Rub salt on it and place face down on paper towel to drain out bitterness for few minutes. Chop int 1 inch pieces. Chop all veggies into 1 inch pieces. Mince the garlic. Quarter the tomatoes. Brown every thing. I did onions with garlic separately from the other veggies. Add the veggies to the pressure cooker. Shave the raw corn into the pot. Brown the whole chicken breasts. Add to the cooker. Add the fresh tomatoes, bullion cube, herbs/spices and water (no need to stir, will mix together when pressurized).

Close pressure cooker and bring to pressure on high until gauge rocks. Let gauge rock for 8 minutes. Cook in sink, depressurize, open and stir. At this point if you could not fit in other veggies (I had 4 more tomatoes to add), I added them and returned the pot to the stove. Close pressure lid and cook on high until pressure gauge begins to rock. Take off and cool.

Fish out the whole chicken breasts and cut them into bite size pieces or shred them. Add them back to the soup. The soup should be naturally creamy from the half melted potatoes and the melted eggplants.
If you want it to be more of a chowder, add 1/2 cup of half and half or evaporated condensed milk. But I like mine natural.

For the vegetarian version just cook the veggies with 2 cups of veggie stock and then toss in tofu or maybe some vegetarian sausages.

Don't be tempted to add more than 1 cup of water since the veggies will release their water under pressure and contribute moisture.

Enjoy!

Chinese Meat Ball Soup - AKA Lion Head Soup

Originally posted May 2009 on my Facebook:

I grew up eating this soup and it is so easy to make I wanted to share it with my friends. The end product is a light broth infused with the sweetness of Napa cabbage and the flavor of the meatballs.

Serves 4-6

You'll need for the meatballs:
1 - 1.5 lbs of ground pork
2-3 cloves minced garlic
1 cup of chopped green onions
3 tbsp salt
2 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp soy sauce
2 eggs
2 tbsp corn starch
1/3 tsp sesame oil (optional)

For the broth:
1 large head of Napa cabbage, chopped into 4 inch pieces
Salt to taste, 1-2 tbsp
3 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp sugar

Optional: pieces of soft or medium firm tofu, which will puff up luxuriously in the broth

Put 4-6 cups of water in a large pot to boil. When the water hits boil, put in the cabbage and reduce to medium heat. In a large bowl, combine all the meatball ingredients until well mixed. Keep mixing depending on how firm you want the meatballs to be. The more you mix the more elasticity will develop and the harder the meatballs will be.

Heat some oil in a large skillet and prepare to brown the meatballs. I make mine about 2.5 inches in diameter but my mom used to make them 3-4 inches! Hence the name lionheads. But since the smaller meatballs brown better, I suggest the 2.5 inch size. Don't go smaller because then it loses that nice mouth feel of biting into a large meatball floating in sweet broth.

Wet your hands! This is important or the meat will sticking to them! Scoop up the meat and gently but quickly squeeze it out of the top of your fist through your thumb and index finger. This gets rid of air bubbles. Pat the meat blob into a ball and place in skillet. Turn after one sde is brown. Toss the browned meatballs into the pot of cabbage broth. Add the remaining broth seasonings and tofu. Bring back to high boil and reduce to low heat. Cook for about 20 minutes.

Serve with rice! We used to love mixing in the rice as a kid into the broth!

You can sub turkey or chicken for the pork. I don't recommend beef because that would make the broth too rich and fatty. It's meant to be a "clean" broth. Great for when people are sick.

Pressure Cooker Chicken Pot Pie

Originally posted February 2009 on my Facebook:

I got a lovely new pressure cooker cook book by Toula Patsalis from Issay so I decided to make chicken pot pie last night. It was perfect for the cold weather. I didn't have fennel and just added a spice mix with tarragon in it. Here's my version of the recipe:

Suggesions:
You can make this a top and bottom pastry pot pie instead of just a top crust. Just line the bottom of the pan with more pie crust or apparently the Pilsbury crescent rolls work too according to online recipes. I'd say you'll have to increase baking time to 25-30 minutes instead of 15 so you can probably shorten the pressure cooking to 4 minutes.

Another possible sub is to make the top crust with a bunch of pilsbury biscuits, which would make this a chicken n biscuits recipe.

Serves 6 people EASILY

You'll need:

2 cloves garlic, minced
1 onion, diced
1 cup of celery, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1 cup carrots, cut into 1/2 inch
2-3 waxy skinned potatos, cut into 1/2 inch
5-6 chicken breasts, cut into 1 inch cubes
8 oz button mushrooms, roughly chopped
2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 bay leaf
1 tsp tarragon
1 tsp ground fennel
1 tsp thyme
1 1/2 cup chicken stock
2 tbsp sherry
1 tbsp lemon juice

1 cup frozen peas

For the Roux, mix the following together:
1 cup of warm milk
2 tbsp room temp butter
2-3 tbsp of flour or potato starch

Pastry

1 17 oz package of frozen puff pastry or 2 pie crusts. If you make your own pie crust, make it for a 13x9 in dish.

Start by sauteeing the garlic, onion, celery, carrots and potatos for 2 min. You can do this in the pressure cooker or in another pan. I used another pan because i didn't want the food to stick. Add the chicken breasts and sautee 1-2 min just till outside slightly browned. Add the mushrooms, salt, pepper, herbs, chicken stock, sherry and lemon juice. Stir and seal the pressure cooker lid. Wait till cooker reaches pressurization and cook on high pressure for 6 min.

Cool immediately in cold water bath. Open up and cook until the mixture reaches back up to boil. Boil 1 minute then add roux and cook for about 1-2 min till thickened.

Pour the chicken mixture into a 9x13 casserole dish. Top with the pie crusts and use a fork to seal the edges. Bake for 15 minutes. Serve! Really good with corn bread or biscuits. :D

Easy Steamed Chinese Meat Balls

Originally posted February 2009 on my Facebook:

I seem to be posting lots of recipes lately. But it's all because I've been cooking at home more often. Here's a super easy recipe for when you want a fast tasty dinner.The meatballs are pretty low fat and should be golf ball sized.

You'll Need

1- 1/12 lb ground pork (you can sub in ground turkey too)
1/3 jar of Chinese Pickled Cucumbers, minced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 stalks of green onions, minced
1 tsp rice wine (or mirin)
2 tbsp pickled cucumber liquid

For sauce:
3 tbsp soy sauce
1/3 cup water

To Make:

I usually just toss all the vegetables to be minced into my food processor before add the pickled cucumber, garlic and green onion to the pork. Add in the liquids and mix in a large bowl. Make sure you mix in one direction only to create chewier meatballs.

Make the meatballs by placing about 1 1/2 tbsp of the meat mixture in the palm of your hand and then squeeze the meat through the opening between your thumb and index finger. This gets rid of air bubbles. Then shape the blob into a ball. Place on a lightly greased dish. Pour on the sauce mixture. Make sure the dish is at least 1-2 inches deep to hold the liquids.

Prepare a steamer. If you have a small steaming rack that would fit on the bottom of a large pot, it would be perfect. Just fill the pot with water up to the top of the steaming rack and place the dish with the meatballs on top. Cover the pot with its lid and cook on high for 15 -20 minutes or until meatballs are firm.

If you don't have a steaming rack, you can use one of those vegetable steamers that has holes and just make a little aluminum foil tray for it or use a pie tin (something light weight) to hold the meatballs. I tried the foil trick for steaming fish and it worked like a charm.

Serve over hot rice. Enjoy!

Chinese Stir Fry Pepper Beef

Another one of my favorites for a fast and healthy dinner.

You'll Need:
1 clove garlic, sliced
1/2 lb of beef tenderloin or sirloin, thinly sliced into 1 inch strips (I bought the really thin steaks from the Mexican grocer next to my house). Should be less than 1/4 inch thickness.
1 small onion, sliced
1 zucchini (optional), sliced
1 tbsp red wine or some sort of dark cooking wine
1 Bell Pepper (red, green or yellow), sliced into 1 inch strips
3 tbsp Chinese black pepper sauce (in Asian grocery isle)
1 tbsp corn starch mixed with 1 tbsp water.

Heat up the wok or pan. Drizzle in some oil. Toss in garlic and fry until aromatic. Remove garlic. Toss in steaks and stir fry until lightly browned (keep the beef moving in the pan a all times). Make sure it's not cooked all the way. Remove and reserve with garlic. Add the wine and then toss in the onions and zucchini first. Stir fry till golden. Add bell pepper and keep stir frying till everything becomes tender. Add the beef back in. Add pepper sauce and stir fry till everything's cooked through. Add the corn starch liquid and stir till sauce thickens.

Serve over hot rice! Enjoy. :)

Pressure Cooker Chinese Braised Ham Hocks

Originally posted February 2009 on my Facebook:

This is my grandma's recipe. I refer to it as the Chinese Ossobuco, with pork shank used instead of veal shank. To clarify, the shank is the foreleg section of the animal, not the thigh (ham) or the feet. I prepared this in a pressure cooker, which really sped up the cooking process. If you don't have a pressure cooker, the cooking time would be doubled in a regular pot or a lot longer in a crock pot (which you could then leave unattended).

You'll Need:

2 lbs pork shank with skin intact (but no hairs!), cut into big hunks
2 pieces of sliced ginger with skin on
3 stalks of green onions chopped into 3 sections (minus bulb)
1/2 bottle (1 cup) of oyster flavored sauce (made really with mushrooms...)
1/3 bottle (1 cup) of Shao Shing Cooking Wine
1 cup of water
1 piece of rock sugar (garlic clove sized)

To make:

Chinese ppl always parboil meat prior to braising to clean it. Boil water and place meat into water for 1-2 minutes. Pour off the dirty water. Dry off the meat.

Heat 2-3 table spoons of oil in the large cooking pot you're going to use. Lightly crisp the meat with skin side down. Remove when skin is golden and crispy and reserve on the side. In same pan, drop in the ginger and green onions and let them infuse the oil. Pour in the oyster sauce, wine, water and rock sugar, mix until combined. Let the mixture come to a boil and then add the browned meat back into the pot.

If using a pressure cooker, close the lid and let the pot reacher proper pressure. With my pot, I let the pressure gauge rock for 55 minutes. Then I removed the lid and turned the flame on high to reduce the liquide by about 1/3. The end should be dark brown and glossy gravy over tender meat.

If you're using a regular pot. Follow the same instructions except let mixture come to boil, introduce the meat, reach boil, then reduce to smallest simmer for at least 2 hours covered tightly. After 2 hours, check the meat. It should be falling off the bone. If not, continue cooking. If tender, reduce liquid on open flame.

Best served hot with sauce over steamed rice or thin Chinese noodles (maybe even soba?) with a side of steamed bok choy.

Enjoy!

Pressure Cooker Chicken Cacciatore

Originally posted December of 2008 on my Facebook account:

I'm taking a break from the evil Prismacolor markers to provide you with a short review of my latest purchase: a 6 Quart Presto Pressure Cooker.

Bought from Amazon for under $50 and free shipping, the cooker delivered a delicious meal of Chicken Cacciatore in under half an hour, not including prep time. I placed a whole chicken cut into serving pieces with the rest of the ingredients into the cooker, shut the lid, and turned the burner to high. The cooker took about 15 minutes to get to the right pressure, at which point the detacheable pressure gauge on top began to rock. I turned the heat down to medium and set the timer for 8 minutes according to the recipe, and took the pot off of the range promptly after the timer was up.

After the pot cooled off in the sink of cold water and the pressure locking pin dropped (about 5 minutes), I opened the pot to savory chicken falling off the bones and all the vegetables perfectly tenderized. Absolutely amazing! All the ingredients and flavors in the pot melded together in under half an hour. Great investment for people on the go who like to prepare healthy meals fast.

Easy Chicken Cacciatore

1 whole chicken, cut up (remove all the skin or some skin to reduce the fat)
1 onion, sliced
2-3 stalks celery, sliced
1 large carrot, diced
1 eggplant, peeled and chunked (it melted completely into the sauce!)
1 can italian diced tomatos
1-2 fresh tomatos (optional)
2 tsp salt
2 tsp oregano
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 - 2/3 cup white wine (I put in the entire sample sized single serving bottle from the supermarket)

1 can tomato paste (reserve for later)

Place all the ingredients in the pressure cooker. Lock on lid. Cook on high flame until pressure gauge begins rocking. Reduce to medium heat, make sure gauge keeps rocking. Time for 8 min. Remove from burner into sink of cold water. Wait till pressure pin falls. Remove pressure gauge. Open lid carefully. Remove chicken pieces from liquid. Add can of tomato paste and stir. Cook sauce till thickened. Pour over chicken and serve over rice or pasta (orzo!!!). Enjoy! :D

My Food Blog!

I finally decided to start a food blog after I realized I've posted a ton of recipes on Facebook and there was no comprehensive place to see all of them. I want this blog to be about my love of food and my love of life. I will review restaurants, post recipes, tag other blogs, and have open forums about cooking on this site. I hope everyone will enjoy this!