pork & shrimp potstickers (gyoza)

Hello again! It's been two years since I last published a post. (what!!!) Happy Lunar New Year to everyone! Tomorrow I have the opportunity to share my love of cooking with some friends from church. It's been awhile since I last cooked in front of the crowd, so I'm pretty nervous & excited!
There are many ways to make potstickers, so feel free to use your creativity to make one of a kind potstickers.  It's fun to make with your family & friends, too! This is the basic recipe I usually make. Happy cooking!

Ingredients: 

Napa Cabbage - 5 cups chopped finely 
Ground pork - 3 cup **see TIPs
Green onion - 1/4 cup (chopped) 
Garlic - 3 cloves (minced)
Ginger - 1 inch block (minced)
Shrimp - 1 cup (chop - chunks or paste type) **see Prep 

Soy sauce - 2 TBS
Sesame oil - few drops
salt & pepper - 1/2 tsp each 
sugar - 1 tsp

Potsticker/Gyoza wrappers (circular shape)** see TIPS

Water - 1/4 cup
Flour - 1 TBS 

[Sauce]

Soy sauce - 1/4 cup
Vinegar or Rice vinegar - 3 TBS
Sugar - 1-2 tsp
Chili flake (optional) - 1 tsp 

Prep:

1. Wash napa cabbage leafs & chop finely. 
2. Mince garlic and ginger. 
3. Take shells off shrimp, then chop it until it become pasty. I use two knives and chop really fast or you can put in a blender.

How to Cook?

1. In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients (except the wrappers, water & flour). Mix using wooden spoon or I like to use my hands. 
2. Prepare a bowl of water. 
3. On a wrapper, put about 1/2 inch ball in the middle. With your finger, trace the edge of the wrapper with water. Fold in half and pinch at the middle. Starting at the top, make pleats (will take pictures soon). Repeat until you finish all the filling.
4. [Cooking method 1 - Frying] On a frying pan, evenly coat 2 TBS of oil. When it's hot, put the flat side down on the pan, line them up so it makes a nice circular shape. Fry for 3-4 minutes, until the bottom turns brown (you can check by lifting one). Meanwhile, mix 1/4 cup water with 1 TBS of flour. **see TIPS. When it's brown, pour in the water mix and cover to let it steam cook for another 3-4 minutes. When it's done, flip on the plate. 
5. [Cooking method 2 - Soup dumpling] In a pot, boil chicken broth. Add in vegetables like carrots.  When the carrots are soft, add in potstickers and bak choy. Cook for 10-12 minutes. 
6. [Cooking method 3 - Deep fried] In a stainless steel pot, add in 1/2 inch oil. When it's hot, add in postickers **see TIPs. It won't cover the whole posticker, so you need to flip it when one side is golden brown. Serve with Thai chili sauce. 

TIPS

• You can substitute ground pork with ground turkey, chicken or soft tofu. 
• If you can only find square shape wrapper, you can use circular cutter or make into wanton shape 
• By mixing flour and water, it creates a crispy layer at the bottom of the pan
• When deep frying, the best result is using freshly made ones. Watch out when you deep fry thawed ones or frozen potstickers. 
• Asian Marketplace: 
• Pacific Ocean Market (6600 W 120th Ave, Broomfield, CO 80020) 
• H Mart (5036 W 92nd Ave, Westminster, CO 80031)

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.

sauce katsu don

Usually, katsu don is katsu (deep-fried breaded pork cutlet) + egg + onion + rice. This sauce katsu don has sweet & tangy sauce to it. Right after deep frying the pork, you dip it in the special sauce and you have both yummy taste and texture. (This recipe works best with thin pork slices.)

Ingredients:

Thin cut pork - 1/2 pound (0.5cm thick) **see TIPS

Flour - 1/2 cup
Eggs - 1 (or more, beaten)
Panko (Japanese bread crumbs) - 1 cup or as much as needed

[Sauce]
Onion - 1/2 medium (chopped)
Tonkatsu sauce - 1/2 cup
Mirin - 1 TBS
Cooking wine (optional) - 1 TBS
Brown sugar - 1 TBS
Water - 2 TBS
Salt - 1/4 tsp
Pepper - 1/4 tsp

Vegetable oil for frying

Cabbage - 1/4 med (thinly sliced)
Rice

Prep:

1. Cook rice
2. Thinly slice cabbage. Wash, rinse and keep in the fridge until later. 
3. Thinly slice pork. Season with salt & pepper. 
4. Chop/mince onion. 

Cook:

1. [Katsu] Take seasoned thin sliced. Coat it with flour, dip in egg and lightly press on panko (Japanese bread crumbs). Repeat for all. 
2. [Sauce] In a small saucepan, fry chopped onion in 1/2 TBS of olive oil. Fry for 2-3 minutes. Add in rest of the ingredients under sauce. Let it simmer for 15-20 min, until it thickens. 
3. In a stainless steel pot, heat 1/2 to 1 inch of vegetable oil. Test the oil by sprinkle some bread crumbs in and when it bubbles up, it's ready. It doesn't 'deep fry' the whole thing at once, so deep fry one side for 2-3 minutes then turn to the other side and deep fry for another 2-3 minutes or until golden brown. 
4. Take the cooked katsu onto paper toweled plate. 

 Serve:

1. Right before you eat, put rice in the bowl, top with sliced cabbage. 
2. Take the deep fried pork cutlets and dip it in the sauce. Top the cabbage (4-5 slices/bowl). Pour more sauce on top. 

 TIPS

• Pork can be thin slice. If it's very thin, then pile 2-3 slices together as one. 
• You can also use other meat - chicken, beef or ham (or bacon?)

homemade italian sausage

I like Italian sausages, but they are pretty pricey. I usually take the meat out from the sausage casing, so I thought, why don't I just make my own simplified version of Italian sausage? This is 'good-enough' Italian sausage recipe. Hope you will like it!

Ingredients: 

Ground pork - 2 cups
Onion - 1/3 cup (finely chopped)

Italian seasoning - 1 and half TBS
Salt - 1 tsp
Pepper - 2 tsp
Sugar - 1 tsp
Parsley - 2 TBS (fresh) or 1 TBS (dried)
Garlic powder - 2 tsp
Paprika - 1 tsp

Egg white - if needed

Prep: 

1. Chop onion finely (you can also use blender).
2. Mix all ingredients in a bowl. Use your hands and mix until well blended. If it seems a bit too dry, add 1 TBS of egg white.  
3. You can make it into balls or use it as minced version. You can also use it as sausage patties. You can freeze them in a Ziplock Freezer bags. 

Dish ideas:

• Pasta dishes
• Breakfast sausage patties
• Soup/Stew
• Pilaf 
• Grill them with veggies
• Pizza toppings 

 

chinese-style short ribs

We got an awesome steamer from our cousins. It's a must-have for Chinese cooking. This dish can be done in 30 minutes! Easy + Healthy + Simple + Yummy = My kind of a dish!

Ingredients:

Pork short ribs - about 1 lb (1-inch pieces)

Soy sauce - 4 TBS
Sesame oil - 1 tsp
Garlic - 2 tsp (minced)
Ginger - 2 tsp (minced) **see TIPS
Sugar -  1/2 TBS
Chili flakes (or fresh chili) - 1~2 tsp
Water - 2 TBS
Black pepper - 1/2 tsp 

Cilantro - handful (depends on how much you want)
Green onion [optional] - 2 stalks (chopped)

Prep: 

1. Mince garlic and ginger. Chop chili if you are using the fresh one. 
2. Combine ribs with everything except cilantro & green onion. Let it sit in the sauce for at least 15 min (20-30 min).

Cook:

1. Boil water for steam pot. 
2. When the water is boiling, steam for 15 minutes. 
3. Turn off the heat, add cilantro and green onion on top. Cover and let it sit for another 5 minutes. 

Serve:

• Serve right away with hot rice

TIPS

•  You can add more or less ginger and garlic, depending on your taste.

sweet & sour meatballs

There are many recipes for sweet and sour sauce. You can also make it with any meat of your choice. This time round, I tried with meatballs. It turned out pretty good and my daughter loved it -- she loves balls, so it's a fun dish for kids. :) 

Ingredients:

[Meatballs]
Ground meat - 1 and half cups ** see TIPS
Breadcrumbs - 1/4 cup
Egg white - 1
Parsley (dry or fresh) - 2 TBS
Green onion - 1 TBS (chopped)
Salt & pepper - 1 tsp each
Soy sauce - 1 tsp
Sugar - 1 tsp

[Other ingredients]
Onion - 1/2 med (chopped into 1-inch cubes)
Green bell pepper - 1 small (chopped into 1-inch cubes)
Red or Yellow bell pepper - 1 small (chopped into 1-inch cubes)
Garlic - 2 cloves (minced)
Sliced Pineapple - small can (drained)

[Sweet & Sour sauce]
Tomato Ketchup - 2 TBS
Plum sauce - 2 tsp
Rice vinegar - 1/2 tsp
Worcestershire sauce - 1/2 tsp
Oyster sauce - 2 tsp
Sugar - 2 tsp
Corn starch - 1 tsp
Water - 2 TBS  

Prep:

1. Combine all the sauce ingredients in a bowl. Mix well.
2. Cut vegetables, mince garlic and drain pineapple can. 
3. Mix meatball ingredients in a bowl. Use hands to mix - it's fun! Make a 1-inch balls (smaller or bigger, depending on your preference).

Cook: 

1. In a wok, heat 2TBS of oil in a wok. When it's hot, fry the meatballs until they are nicely browned (3-5 minutes). Take it out on a plate. **see TIPS
2. In the same wok, heat 1 TBS of oil. Fry garlic and onion until fragrant (about 2-3 minutes). Add in green and red/yellow peppers. Fry for another 2 minutes. 
3. Add the meatballs in and mix well with onion and peppers. Fry for another 3-5 minutes.
4. Add in the mixed sauce. Uncover the wok and mix the sauce with meatballs and veggies. Simmer for 5 minutes.
5. Add in pineapple slices. Fry for another 2 minutes.

Serve:

1. Serve with rice and Chinese veggies. 

TIPS

• For ground meat, you can use pork, chicken or beef or combination of meat. I like to use chicken and pork. 
• You can also deep-fry the meatballs. Just lightly coat them with flour/corn starch mixture (1:1 ratio) and deep-fry until golden brown.

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. 

butajiru - super miso soup

Do you feel like having only soup and rice? Then this soup got everything you need to give satisfying feeling. It's basically miso soup, but it's loaded with veggies and meat. Buta means pork ('pig') and jiru means soup, so it's translated to pork soup. :) It's also a great 'extra' dish that's easy to make.

Ingredients:

Carrots - 2 med (thinly sliced)
Potatoes - 2 small (thinly sliced)
Pork meat - 1 cup
Shiitake mushroom - 1/2 cup (thinly sliced)
Onion - 1 small (thinly sliced)
Firm Tofu - 1cup (cubed)
Daikon (raddish) - 1/2 cup (thinly sliced)
Green onion -  2 stalks (chopped)

[Pork marinade]
Salt & white pepper - 1/2 tsp each
Soy sauce - 2 tsp
Sugar - 1 tsp

Miso paste - 3 TBS
Water - 3 quarts (5 cups-ish)
Dashi - 2 tsp **see TIPS

Optional addition - 
Gobo (burdock) - 1/2 cup (thinly sliced)
Enoki mushroom - 1/2 bunch (ends cut and washed)
Sweet potato - 1 med (thinly sliced)
Konnyaku (Japanese yam cake) - 1/2 cup (thinly sliced)

Prep:

1. Slice pork and marinade them. Set it aside for 20 minutes.
2. Cut all vegetables in thin slices (julienne)
3. Cube tofu.
4. Chop green onion and set it aside in airtight container.

Cook:

1. Heat water in 4 or 5-quart pot. Add dashi, mushroom and onion. Let it bring to boil.
2. Add in rest of the ingredients, except tofu and konnyaku (if you are adding it). Reduce heat to medium and let it simmer for 15 minutes.
3. Add in Miso paste. Mix well (but not too hard or you'll have mushed potatoes) **see TIPS 
4. Add in tofu and konnyaku at the end and boil for another 5 minutes. Adjust taste. 

Serve:

1. Sprinkle green onion on the soup. Serve with rice. 
2. It also goes well with udon noodle. 

 TIPS

• Some miso paste already comes with dashi inside. In that case, you don't need to add dashi powder. 
• If you are not a big fan of dashi, you can just omit it. It still gives great taste. I will also try to attempt making my own dashi stock someday and post the recipe! [I'm lazy, so I'm not getting around to it yet]
• To avoid getting mushy butajiru,  you can dissolve miso in using ladle - put miso on ladle, get some hot water from the soup and using a spoon or chopstick, dissolve the miso in the ladle.

steamed tofu with pork gravy

It's time for a new recipe! In my fridge, I had tofu and pork, so I thought hmm... what can I do different... This was a trial run. There are few things I would change and I wrote those changes down in the recipes. Let me know how yours turned out! 

Ingredients:

Tofu - 1 block (silken soft)

Ground pork - 1 cup **see TIPS
Chinese sausage - 2 (chopped)
Ginger - 1 TBS (minced)
Garlic - 3 cloves (minced)
Green onion - 2 stalks (chopped)

[Sauce]
Light soy sauce - 2 tsp **see TIPS
Oyster sauce - 1 TBS
Sugar - 3/4 TBS
Salt & Pepper - to taste

Corn starch - 1 TBS **see TIPS
Water - 1 TBS

Prep:

1. Chop Chinese sausage in small pieces. 
2. Mince garlic and ginger.  Chop green onion.
3. Make corn starch slurry - mix corn starch and water. Set it aside. 
4. Take the tofu out from the package and put it on the coriander or paper towel to drain moisture.

[please ignore the sponge bob frozen yogurt on the right]

Cook:

1. Get the steamer going.
2. Heat 1 TBS of oil the wok or frying pan. Fry garlic and ginger until fragrant.
3. Add ground pork. Fry for couple of minutes. Add in Chinese sausage pieces. Fry for another 2 minutes. 
4. Add in sauce ingredients. Adjust the taste. Mix in corn starch slurry. Let it thicken a bit. Turn the heat off. (We like it soupy, but if you like it thicker, add more slurry)
5. On a steam-safe dish, place tofu in the middle of the dish. Steam the tofu for 5 minutes. Pour the pork gravy over the pork and steam for another 5 minutes. 

Add in corn starch slurry and let it thicken

Serve:

1. Sprinkle green onion on tofu. 
2. Serve over hot rice.  

TIPS

• I used thinly cut pork, but it wasn't as kid-friendly. Ground pork pours easier than chunks of meat. 
• Use light soy sauce if you have, but if you don't, just use regular soy sauce 1 tsp (or more if you prefer saltier taste)
• Corn starch slurry doesn't make the soup thick right away, so don't add a lot all at once. Put 1 TBS mixture first and let it thicken a bit.

creamy bow tie pasta with italian sausage

I bought bow tie pasta for $1 (yay for great deals!) and I was looking for a recipe to try out. Allrecipes.com (which is my favorite recipe site -- did I mention this already? it's great!) had this recipe with 1300 plus 4 and half stars. So it has to be good, right?  I did my study on others' reviews and made some minor changes, but the original recipe was a big hit! My hubby loved it! :)

Ingredients:

Bow tie pasta - 1 box/bag (12 oz)

Italian sausage - 1 lbs (sweet or mild)
Onion - 1 med (chopped)
Garlic - 3 cloves (minced)
Italian-style can tomatoes diced - 1 (28 oz) or 2 (14 oz cans)
Heavy cream - 1 and half cup
Salt - 1/4 tsp
Red chili pepper flakes - 1/2 tsp **see TIPS

Fresh parsley - 3 TBS or more (minced)

Prep:

1. Cook pasta to al dante according to the package instruction.
2. Chop onion and mince garlic. Drain excess tomato juice from the can.
3. Take the meat out from the sausage casings and crumbled.
4. Chop parsley and set it aside.

Cook:

1. In a big skillet or wok, heat 1 TBS of olive oil. Add in sausages. Using spatula, break the meat into smaller pieces. Let it brown, but doesn't have to be completely cooked.
2. Add in garlic and onion. Mix and let it cook for 2-3 minutes or until onion is somewhat translucent. 
3. Add in diced tomatoes and heavy cream. Bring to boil, then lower the heat and let it simmer for 10 minutes. Taste and add salt accordingly. 
4. Add in pasta and mix well with the sauce. **see TIPS

Serve:

1. Nice salad and warm rolls will go perfectly with this dish. 

TIPS

• I used mild sausage and didn't add red pepper flakes. It turned out great with great flavor. But if you want some spicy kick, add in red chili pepper flakes! :)
• If you are keeping for leftovers, it's better to pour the sauce over the pasta, instead of mixing all together. Next day pasta will be more soggy and there's not much sauce left.

chinese pork stew with cinnamon sticks

My mom is a great cook and she used to make this all the time. She usually cooks without physical recipes (it's all in her head) so it took me few times to get the taste close enough to my mom's. But of course, my mom's much better than mine. :) 

Ingredients: 

[Pork mini burgers]

Ground pork - 1/2 lbs
Onion - 1/2 small
Bread crumbs - 1/3 cup
Egg yolk - 1
Garlic - 2 cloves (minced)
Ginger - 2 tsp (minced)
Salt & pepper - 1/2 tsp each
Soy sauce - 2 tsp

Onion - 1/2 (cut in cubes)
Potatoes - 3 small (cut in bite-size pieces)
Cinnamon stick - 1 (about 4 inch; or two 2-inch) 
Chicken broth - 2 cups

[Cornstarch slurry]
Corn starch - 2 TBS
Water - 2 TBS

Prep:

1. In a large bowl, mix pork mini burger ingredients. Using your hands and mix well. Make about 2 inch, 1/2 inch thick mini burgers. Set is aside. **see TIPS
2. Make cornstarch slurry and set it aside. 

Cook: 

1. In a wok, heat 2 TBS of oil. Fry the burgers - 2 minutes on one side and one minute on the other side. Take it out from the wok and set it aside.
2. In the same wok, fry onion for one minute. Add in potatoes. Fry for another minute. 
3. Add in chicken broth, cinnamon sticks and cooked hamburgers in the wok. 
4. Let it bring to boil, then lower the heat and let it simmer for 10 minutes.
5. Take out the cinnamon stick(s), add cornstarch slurry, and simmer for another 10 minutes. 
6. Adjust taste (add water if it's too salty).

Serve:

1. Serve over hot rice. 

TIPS

• If you don't have bread crumbs, you can use flour for the hamburgers. 
• If you don't have cinnamon sticks, add in 1/2 TBS cinnamon powder

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.