Miso Cod

Ingredients
1 lb cod
2 tablespoons miso paste
2 tablespoons hot water
2 tablespoons sugar (i used brown)
1 tablespoon sake (i used real sake, not cooking sake)

Mix marinade ingredients together in a small bowl.  Mix it together until the chunks are gone and it is smooth.  I like coating the fish in a plastic bag rather than a container so the marinade coats all sides of the fish...

 

I leave it in the fridge overnight to marinade.  Before I left for work in the next morning, I just flipped the bag so the other side would marinade more too.

Then at night I took the fish out of the fridge.  I put it in the oven on broil for about 18 minutes and flipped it half way there.  I threw some mushrooms on there too towards the end to cook with the fish.

FIsh and zucchini Fillet

Mix together two eggs with a little salt and pepper together in a bowl.
In a separate bowl, add some flour to use to coat the fish and zucchini.

I used about 1 pound of cod fish.  I cut the fish into thin strips.

 

Heat up your grill pan with some olive oil.  Once it's ready, coat your fish with flour on both sides first.

Then coat both sides with the egg mixture

 Fry the pieces on the stove and cook both sides.

 

I ended up cutting up some zucchini and frying them together as well...

 

Put them on your plate with some soy sauce for dipping

Kalbijeem 갈비찜

Ingredients
4 strips of kalbi, short ribs

1 cup soy sauce (i use low sodium)
2 tablespoons sesame oil, changkeelum
2 teaspoons of honey powder
2 teaspoon of minced garlic
2 tablespoons sugar (i use brown sugar)
dash of pepper
1 chopped scallion

Cut the kalbi strips in between the bones.  Then soak kalbi strips in water for about 30 minutes to drain out the blood. 

In the meantime, mix together marinade in a pot.  Pot should wide enough so most of the kalbi can fit on one layer and tall enough (about 3 inches available between kalbi and top of pot).

Start to coat each piece of kalbi in this marinade and arrange on the bottom of the pan

I leave mine in my fridge to marinate overnight. The marinade should cover most of the meat piece of the kalbi pieces.  After the marinade overnight... pull out your pot and add water so the level of it goes about one inch above the meat.

 

Start to cook it on high heat to get the water boiling. As soon as it starts to boil, bring it back down to low heat so it's just popping a couple bubbles here and there...  

I let it cook for about 3 hours on low heat.  Then after that I add in my vegetables.  Feel free to add whatever you want - I put in chopped potatoes, chopped mushrooms, sliced onions, sliced carrots. Cook it with the vegetables about 1-2 hours.  Then plate your kalbeejeem! I use a strainer to took the meat / vegetables out of the liquid (basically it's all the fat you just boiled out!). 

Dump out the rest of the liquid but try to pour it directly into the drain. Since it's fat, it's slimy and gets your sink gross.  I'd just rinse the pot with water, but then use a paper towel to dry it first to get the fat off.  If you use your regular sponge, it's basically add the fat to the soap and make you sponge have grease stains everywhere!  Then wash your pot after it's dried the regular way...

Back to the food!  Plate your food and enjoy!

Jakok Bap

Ingredients
Brown rice
Sweet brown rice
Hukmi rice (black)
Mixed beans

I mix together about 1/3 brown rice, 1/3 sweet brown rice, 1/3 mixed beans

 

You can buy mixed beans at a grocery store, any kind you like

Also mix in some black rice to your mixture

 

I keep mine in an airtight container next to the regular white rice

 

Before you cook it, it's better to soak the rice mixture in water for a couple hours.  I would try to do atleast 4-5 hours, overnight is OK.  Rinse it out, and then before you cook it add in a little more water than you would with white rice (mine goes above my knuckle when my hand is on the rice).  I cook it using my "semi mixed brown" setting on the rice cooker.  

Definitely a healthier way to eat rice!

Penne A La Vodka

Ingredients:
1 lb Penne pasta noodles
1/2 onion chopped
1 tablespoons minced garlic
1 teaspoon red chili flakes
3/4 can (28 oz) tomato sauce
2 italian sausage
4-6 tablespoons cream
2 tablespoons vodka


Put some water aside to boil the pasta noodles.  Once boiling add the noodles cook. Remove from the heat and leave to the side in a strainer.


Heat up some olive oil in a pan and add in the onions, italian sausage, garlic and chili flakes together. i didn't have sausage this day so you won't see it in the pictures, but that's what i usually add in there as well.

 

Next mix in the tomato sauce and mushrooms to the mix... 

 

Mix everything together for about 2 minutes on low heat. Then add in 2 tables spoon of cream to the mix for around 3 minutes. Add in 2 tablespoons of vodka and stir around.

 

Cook for about 2 minutes stirring occasionally.  Add in 2 more table spoons of cream and mix on low heat for 3 more minutes;

Now taste the sauce to see how you think about it. Some people like it a bit sweeter, so you can add 2 more table spoons of cream if you like.

Add in the noodles to this sauce mix and blend together. Taste the sauce and adjust as you want (more pepper for spice, cream for sugar etc).

And then enjoy your pasta!

Meat Lasagna

Ingredients:
Half onion, copped
1 lb ground beef
1 teaspoon garlic powder
26 oz tomato sauce
mushrooms, chopped
1 teaspoon oregano
1/2 cup water
1 cup cottage cheese
1/3 cup parmesan cheese
1 egg beaten
1 teaspoon oil
1 teaspoon salt
shredded mozzarella cheese
9 lasagna noodles

Steps:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees for baking

Cook chopped onions, ground beef (i use organic) and garlic power in some oil (i use olive) in a pan.  Cook until meat is a little bit over medium cooked.

Next, mix in the tomato sauce (i used the crushed tomatoes belows), mushrooms, water and oregano and mix together

 

 

While this is cooking, in a separate bowl mix together the cottage cheese, parmesan cheese, egg, oil (i use olive), and salt together.

Get your lasagna pan ready. The mix I have is for a pan holding 3 lasagna noodles per layer (so noodles are side by side, all edges touching the pan) and 3 layers tall.

Coat the lasagna pan in some oil.  Then start the layers!

Put 1/3 of the sauce mix from the stove in the lasanga pan

Put 3 noodles side by side

1/3 of sauce mis

3 noodles

Cheese mix from above

Remaining 1/3 of sauce

Top everything with a thin layer of mozzarella cheese

  

 Pop this in the oven for about 20 - 25 minutes.  Take a taste at one of the corners to see if the noodles have been cooked. Once they have, take it out and let it cool down. I put it on the counter with some foil on top loosely.

Letting the lasagna cool down helps "put" the whole thing together so it won't crumble.
This is one of those dishes that are great the day of but also any other day. Just pop it back in the oven to reheat and it's still very yummy!!!

Bibimbap 비빔밥

Yes, I know bibimbap is basically throwing random things together and eating it, but this I think just makes it a bit yummier =)

You can make this dish with any veggies you like! And also throw in some bulbogi too (see previous post for recipe).

This was a good, healthy, quick meal for those days when me and the Mister get home late from work and can't eat until 9pm.. we are starving, but don't want take out.

I didn't have alot of veggies when I took these pictures so excuse the lack of ingredients =)

Heat up a pan with some olive oil and throw some mushrooms and onions to cook... Again, if you want to add additional veggies like carrots, broccoli etc feel free.... anything that needs to be cooked before you start mixing...


Next throw in any veggies that don't really need to be precooked on it's own... I put in spinach (blanched the spinach with dash of salt, then drained and added some a little salt, sesame oil) and kongnamul. Then add in your rice - I have two servings here:



Mix everything together on low heat. Just keeping an eye on the pot and mixing things around every once in awhile, I cooked some bulbogi on a separate pan. Then I added it to the pot with everything along with a bit of the juice from the bulbogi pan:

Then add about 1 1/2 tablespoons of kochujang


I then add about 1 teaspoon of sesame oil, or changkeelum. Mix everything together leaving it on low heat. In the meantime, I fried two eggs on a separate pan. Once the eggs are ready, plate your bibimbap mix, add some crushed kim, and the egg on top and you're done! I keep the sesame oil at the table to add for taste while eating too

Marinating bulgogi 불고기

Ingredients:
Sliced bulgogi
1/2 cup of soy sauce
1 tablespoon of sesame oil, changkeelum
Ground black pepper
1 teaspoon of minced garlic
Chopped scallions
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon honey powder

I did this serving for one person. I like using low sodium soy sauce and brown sugar - but feel free to use regular soy sauce and white sugar. You can also substitute sugar for Sprite / Asian pear too!

Mix together all the ingredients except for the meat. I put mine in a container so I can marinate it over night. The longer it's marinated, the better it is!
Yes my picture is sideways. Like I said in my other post, I am computer illiterate! I do not know how to rotate it the right way hahaha!

I had some scallions left, so I chopped all of it up, and put it in a container to use the next day
Takes up less room in the fridge and makes it easier the next time you need scallions!

Next, mix in your raw meat with the marinade. I'm a bit paranoid so I always wear disposable gloves. You can pick them up at any Asian grocery store.

Make sure everything is coated with the marinade. Feel free to toss in onions and mushrooms as well....



I kept mine in the fridge overnight to get all the marinade to soak in...

You can cook and eat the next day! Or you can cook it and freeze it in a ziplock to keep for a rainy day...

Ojinguh banchan

I am very computer illiterate. I do not know how to use, obtain, set up a Korean keyboard so please excuse my Konglish!

I only started cooking when I lived alone abroad. I learned most my recipes from my mom and the others I read on the internet and after a couple tries, everyone starts to add their little twist to it.

This is one of my husband's favorite side dishes, or banchan.

Ingredients:
Dried ojinguh
2 tablespoons of kochujang
5 tablespoons of water
1 tablespoon of brown sugar
1 teaspoon of minced garlic
2 tablespoons of corn syrup, mulyut
red pepper flakes, kochukaru
2 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil, changkeelum

I personally like this brand of kochujang:

You can use any type of sugar you like, but I like using brown sugar for the taste. The corn syrup you can buy from any Korean grocery store




Heat up your pan or pot with a little oil (i like to use olive oil). Then mix together all the ingredients above except for the dried ojinguh on low heat, letting it simmer for a couple minutes until everything has blended together


Then add your dried ojinguh to the mix


Mix everything together so the sauce covers up all the dried ojinguh


Let it simmer on low heat for about 5 minutes while you mix everything together every once in awhile. You should taste it to see if you want it more or less spicy. I personally like it kind of spicy, so if you taste it and it's too hot, just add some more water, or more ojinguh and it should help solve that problem...

Once you get it to the right "spiciness" let it dry for a bit, and then voila you have some yummy ojinguh for a bit!