new sweet and sour pork

This is an original recipe I came up with. I was a bit skeptical when I first tried it (because I just add random things together). But surprisingly it turned out yummy, well at least I think it's yummy haha. My husband said, "hmm interesting... is this new?" I thought he didn't like it, but he kept eating, so I guess it's a 'pass'! Just like other recipes, please adjust the taste to your liking. :)

Ingredients: 

Thin sliced pork (or any meat) - 1/2 pound
Onion - 1 medium
Age (bean curd skin) - 2 cups full (sliced)
Garlic - 2 cloves (minced)

[Seasoning]
Dark soy sauce - 2 tsp
Tomato ketchup - 3 TBS
Sesame oil - 1/2 tsp
Apple cider - 2 TBS
Sugar (brown or white) - 2 TBS
Water - 3 TBS
Salt & Pepper - to taste 

Prep:

1. Combine all ingredients 
2. Slice onion and age & mince garlic. 

Cook:

1. Heat the wok with 2 TBS vegetable oil. Fry onion and garlic for about 3-5 minutes. Stir occasionally. 
2. Add in pork. Fry until pork is half way done, about 4-5 minutes. 
3. Add the seasonings in. Cover and let it cook for 2-3 minutes. Uncover and cook until the sauce thickens and becomes caramelized to the pork. Stir (kind of scoop type) occasionally.
4. Adjust the taste to your liking.**

Serve:

1. Serve with rice and veggies. 

TIPS

• If you want it more sour, add in more apple cider (1 tsp at a time)
• If you want it more sweet, add the combination of 1 TBS of ketchup with 2 tsp of sugar.

leek & honey pork

I only have one or two leek recipes, so I wanted to expand my leek collection. I came across this one and tried it. I should've used a fattier piece of meat, but it turned out better than I expected. :) If you have any leek recipes, please share with me. :)

Ingredients:

Pork - about 1 lbs

[Pork marinade]
Honey - 4 TBS
Cooking oil - 2 TBS
Soy sauce - 1/3 cup
Anise - 1 (med) or 2 (small)
Leek - about 5 inches (thin slices)
Ginger - 2 TBS (minced)
Garlic - 1 TBS (minced)

Prep:

1. Put the pork and all the marinade ingredients in a Ziplock bag. Massage the meat well with the marinade. Let it sit in the marinade (in the fridge) for at least an hour. *see TIPS
2. On a baking safe dish, line it with aluminum foil. 

Cook:

1. Preheat the oven to 375F.
2. On a hot grill or wok, heat 2 TBS of oil. 
3. Take the meat out from the marinade. Transfer the marinade on a smaller saucepan. 
4. Heat the saucepan on low for 5-10 minutes. 
5. On a hot grill, fry the pork 3 minutes on one side and turn for another 3 minutes. It's not cooked all the way. 
6. Transfer to baking dish (on aluminum foil) and pour the marinade mixture on top. 
7. Bake for 10 minutes, turn the meat and bake for another 10 minutes. Cover aluminum foil and bake for extra 5-7 minutes. The marinade should caramelize. **TIPS

Serve:

1. Take out the cooked meat out on a chopping board. Let it sit for 5 minutes. 
2. Slice the meat into desired thickness. 
3. Serve with rice or ramen (like char siu ramen) 

 TIPS

• You can marinade a day before as well. 
• If you don't have oven or don't want to bake, you can just use frying pan or grill. Add marinade to the grill/wok and follow the instructions.

kimchee hambuger

Hamburgers are versatile. You can make it with one type or any combination of ground meat. You can season it any way you like - Asian or Western. You can chop veggies finely and sneak them inside the meat and kiddos won't know it's there!  

Ingredients: 

Ground meat - 3 cups (I used 1/2 beef, 1/2 pork)
Onion - 1/2 med (finely chopped)
Carrots - 1 med (finely chopped)
Kimchee - 1/2 cup (chopped)

Garlic salt - 1/4 tsp (or you can use regular salt + 2 cloves of garlic - minced)
Pepper - 1/4 tsp
Kojujyan - 1-2 TBS (depending on how spicy you want it) **see TIPS
Egg white - 1

[Other optional veggies]
Zucchini - 1/2 (finely chopped)
Mushroom - 1/4 cup (finely chopped)

Prep:

1. Chop onion, carrots and kimchee (and other optional veggies) 

Cook:

1. In a large bowl, combine all ingredients. Using your hands, mix it well. If it appears too wet, add 1-2 TBS of flour or breadcrumbs. 
2. Take 1/2 cup of meat and make it into an oval shape. While you are shaping, toss from one hand to another (my mom always said it gets the air out... so I do it, too. haha)
3. If you are not cooking immediately, sarang wrap it and keep in the fridge until ready to fry.
4. Heat 2 TBS of olive oil on the non-stick pan (medium heat). When it's hot, fry the burgers for 3-4 minutes on one side. Flip to the other side and fry for 3-4 more minutes. 
5. Steam the burgers by adding 2 TBS of water to the pan. Cover and steam cook for 5 minutes. 

Serve:

1. You can serve the burgers several ways - 1) Cheeseburger style (put a slice of cheese on top and heat in the microwave for 30 seconds), 2) Fried/poached egg (I like runny egg yolk over my burger, but I'm pregnant now so... too bad) or 3) use Kojujyan sweet and sour sauce from calamari salad recipe.
2. Serve with rice or bread.

 TIPS

• You can add miso (soy bean paste) Korean or Japanese instead of Kojujyan for milder taste. 

tomato, pork and egg over rice

I couldn't come up with a better title for this post. Any suggestions for a better name? This dish is very simple to make and require only few ingredients. Don't overcook the eggs - runny yolk + tomato gravy makes this dish perfect!

Ingredients:

Thin slice pork - 2 cups
Onion - 1 small (sliced)
Mushroom - 1/2 cup (sliced)

Chicken stock - 1 cup (cube stock or chicken broth)
Tomato ketchup - 1/2 cup
White or Brown Sugar - 2 tsp 
Black pepper - 1 tsp

Eggs - 4
Green onion - 2 stalks (chopped)

Rice - Japanese/short-grain rice

Missing mushroom - sorry!

Prep:

1. Slice onion and mushroom. 
2. Prepare chicken stock if you are using the cubes. 
3. Chop green onion. Set it aside. 
4. Cook rice

Any Asian supermarket sells thin slice pork

Cook: 

1. In a frying pan, heat 1 TBS of olive oil. Fry onion for couple of minutes. 
2. Add thin slice pork and fry for another two minutes. 
3. Add in mushroom and fry for a minute. 
4. Add in chicken stock, ketchup, sugar, and black pepper. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes. 
5. Right before serving, crack four eggs in the pan. Cover and cook for one and half minute.

Serve: 

1. In a bowl, scoop desired amount of rice. Pour tomato-pork-egg on rice. Sprinkle chopped green onion on top. 

sweet & spicy pork chop

There are so many different pork chops out there. I think there's pork chop dish in every cuisine. This one is something I just came up with that turned out great. So I should record it down before I forget what I put in it. If you are craving Asian-flavored meat, I recommend this one. :)

Ingredients:

Pork chops - 4
Onion - 1 small (sliced) 

Garlic - 2 cloves
Ginger - 1 TBS

[Marinade]
Hoi Sin sauce - 1/2 cupSoy sauce - 2 TBS
Kojujyan (Korean chili paste) - 2 TBS
Brown sugar or Honey - 2 TBS
Salt & Pepper - 1 tsp each

Prep:

1. Tenderize pork chops by using meat tenderizer or rolling pin or punching down. 
2. Cut onion into slices. 
3. Grate garlic and ginger. Squeeze out the juice in a bowl. Keep the pieces.
4. In a ziplock bag, put pork, onion garlic/ginger, and marinade. Let it sit in the fridge for at least an hour. 

Before and after marinade (I split into two bags)

Cook:

1. On a grill or frying pan, heat 2 TBS of oil. When it's hot, fry pork chops and onion slices. Fry for 3-4 minutes on medium heat. Don't discard ziplock bag with marinade. 
2. Turn the meat and cook for another 3 minutes. 
3. Meanwhile, combine 1/3 cup of water with the ziplock where pork was in. Pour the water mixture into the meat and 'steam' cook the pork chop for another 3-4 minutes, cover with lid or aluminum foil. Turn occasionally. 

 Serve:

1. Take out the meat and let it sit for 5 minutes before cutting. Pour the sauce on top of sliced pork chops. 
2. We had the pork chop with rice, miso soup and thin sliced cabbage salad & kimchee.

 

roy's style monglian beef

This recipe is from one of my favorite restaurants - Roy's. I still remember the taste of the awesome Mongolian ribs... yummy. Too bad there's no Roy's in MN, but that won't stop me from having little bit of Roy's (at lower cost) at home. This recipe turned out great! My husband loved it. Since we didn't have ribs, we just used beef steak.  I will definitely make this dish again. 

Ingredients: 

Beef - 1 lbs (your choice of cut)

[Mongolian marinade]
Hoisin sauce - 1 cup
Honey - 2 TBS
Chili paste with garlic - 2 TBS 
Garlic - 2 cloves
Ginger - 2 tsp (about the same amount as garlic)

Prep:

1. In a blender, mince garlic and ginger until very fine. Squeeze the juice out a bit (use both juice and pieces)
2. In a Ziplock bag (or in a container), combine beef and Mongolian marinade including garlic/ginger juice and pieces. Let is marinade in the fridge for at least an hour (longer the better!)

 Cook: 

1. Heat the grill (indoor or outdoor) or frying pan if you don't own a grill. Let it heat up.
2. Add about 2 TBS of olive oil on the grill. 
3. When the oil is hot, grill the meat for about 4-5 minutes on one side. (It will appear like it's burnt, but don't worry, it's the good stuff!)
4. Turn the meat and grill for 5 minutes. **see TIPS
5. Turn on the sides if the meat is a thicker cut.
6. When all sides are nicely grilled, use a silicon brush and brush on the rest of the marinade on the meat. Let it cook for another minute or two.

Serve: 

1. Let the meat sit on a cutting board for at least 7-8 minutes before cutting the meat. Apparently it will help circulate the flavor throughout the meat, says the Grill Master (aka my husband). 
2. It pairs perfectly with garlic butter rice - Japanese or short-grain rice is better. 

Let it sit for a while.

TIPS

• Grilling depends mainly on what cut of meat you are using and what 'doneness' you are looking for. The above guideline is for reference. Try grilling one piece first to test it out first. :) 

kimchee jjigae (woo family style)

We love Kimchee jjigae! But if any Korean people eat our kimchee jjigae, they probably say it's not authentic kimchee jjigae. We put a lot of things in the stew - our favorite ingredient is SPAM. I moved to a very cold state, so we will be eating a lot of this in the winter (and other soups, too.) What is your kimchee jjigae like? Please share with me your version of kimchee soup. :)

Ingredients:

Kimchee (cabbage) - 1 cup
Kimchee (raddish) - 1 cup

Water - 5-6 cups
Miso - 1.5 TBS (**see TIPS)
Kojujyan (Korean chili paste) - 1.5 TBS
Garlic - 2 cloves (crushed)
Sugar - 1 TBS
Soy sauce - 2 tsp

Carrots - 2 small (thin slices)
Onion - 1 small (sliced)
Bacon - 3 slices (cut in 1 inch piece)Shiitake mushroom - 6 (sliced)
SPAM - as much as you like (cut in dice)
Chapchae noodle or instant noodle - 1 bundle (**see TIPS)
Tofu (silken/soft) - 1 packet
Green onion - 2 stalks (chopped)
Spinach - 3 cups (or 1 bunch)

[Chicken/pork meatball]

Ground chicken - 1 cup
Ground pork - 1 cup
Onion - 1/2 small (diced)
Garlic - 1 clove (minced)
Panko (breadcrumbs) - 1/3 cup
Egg white - 1
Pepper & salt - 1 tsp each
Soy sauce - 2 tsp
Carrots (optional) - 1/2 small (diced)

Prep:

1. Cut all ingredients and set is aside.
2. Cook chapchae noodle according to packet. Drain & rince.
3. [Meatball] Mix all ingredients under meatball. Make 1 inch ball (toss the ball back and forth using your hands)

Mix all ingredients - use your hands and mix well!

Chapchae noodle

Cook: 

1. In about 4-quart pot, bring water, garlic, miso, and kojujyan to boil. 
2. Add in Kimchee (both kinds), carrots and onion. Boil for 5 minutes. 
3. Lower the heat and add in SPAM, Bacon, Meatball and shiitake. Simmer for 10 minutes.
4. Add in sugar and mix well. Taste the soup and adjust if needed (too salty? add in more water). Simmer for 10 more minutes.
5. If you're happy with the taste, add in tofu, noodle, green onion and spinach. Cook for another 2-3 minutes. 

As you can see, the previous pot was too small to fit everything! :)

Serve: 

1. It goes perfectly with hot short-grain (Japanese/Calrose) rice. 

TIPS

• If you like more kimchee taste, add dashi instead of miso. Miso makes the taste mild. 
• You can use Korean instant noodle or udon instead of chapchae noodle.
• Use a bigger pot - when you add all the ingredients, the pot gets very full.

pineapple coleslaw

We have a pretty decent coleslaw recipe. But one day, my husband said, "it needs some kick to it" and then he took out a can of pineapples and mixed it with the slaw -- it was a big HIT! The pineapple coleslaw tasted much better than the original recipe and it brought back memories from all the awesome food we ate in Hawaii.

Ingredients:

Coleslaw mix - 1 packet [16 oz] (or cabbage 1 small & carrots 2) **see TIPS
Onion - 1/3 cup (diced)
Mayonnaise - 2/3 cup
Vegetable oil - 3 TBS
White sugar - 1/3 (or more for sweet tooth) **see TIPS
White vinegar - 1 TBS
Salt - pinch
Poppy seeds - 1/2 tsp
Lemon juice - 3 tsp

Crushed pineapple - 1 small can (drained)  

 

 Prep:

1. Dice onion and drain can pineapple. 
2. Cut cabbage and carrots if you are cutting your own. 

Diced onion and drained crushed pineapple

Cook:

1. In a big bowl, combine all ingredients. Mix well. Adjust the taste. That's it! 

Ready to mix!

Serve: 

1. Perfect side dish for any BBQ or fried food!

 TIPS

• Coleslaw mix is  very convenient and pretty affordable (about $2). It'll save you time.
• Add 1/4 sugar first, and add more until it's sweet enough for you.

beef stroganoff (japanese style)

Even though I left Japan many years ago, I can still remember the taste of some of my favorite dishes. This is one of those dishes. I don't remember the name of the restaurant or its location, but I vividly remember the taste of it. This recipe reminded me of the old taste I love. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

Beef - 300-400g (thin sliced or chunk meat)
Onion - 1 (sliced)
Mushroom - 2 cups (sliced)
Garlic - 1 clove (minced)

Butter - 3 TBS
Flour - 3 TBS (separate, 1 TBS & 2 TBS)
Ketchup - 4 TBS
Worcestershire sauce - 3 TBS **see TIPS
Beef broth - 400mL (2 cups water + 1 cube beef stock cube)

Milk or heavy cream - 1/2 cup **see TIPS
Vinegar - 1/2 TBS
Sugar - 1 TBS (optional)
Salt & pepper - to taste 

Prep:

1. Cut up (or separate) meat into bite size pieces. Season with salt, pepper and 1 TBS of flour. Set it aside. 
2. Slice onion and mushroom. Mince the garlic.
3. Combine hot water and beef stock cube and melt. 

Cook:

1. In a pot, melt 3 TBS of butter. Stir fry garlic and onion until fragrant. 
2. Add in beef. Fry for another 2-3 minutes. Add mushroom and stir fry for a minute longer. 
3. Add in 2 TBS of flour and mix well with onion/beef. 
4. Slowly add in beef broth. Mix as you go. It should thicken a bit. Let it simmer for 5 minutes.
5. Add ketchup and Worcestershire sauce. Simmer for another 10 minutes (stir occasionally).
6. Add in milk, vinegar, and sugar. Mix well. Taste it and adjust to your liking. 

Stir-fry garlic and onion until fragrant

Add in flour and mix well

Add beef broth gradually

Serve:

1. Serve with butter garlic rice, pasta, or bread. 

TIPS

• If you don't have Worcestershire sauce, you can try tonkatsu sauce. 
• For milk, you can use heavy cream or half & half.