Uh-Mook Jorim - Fish Cakes - 어묵 조림

I apologize about the sporadic updates. One of my New Year's resolutions was to spend more time on this blog and hopefully make a mini-cookbook by the end of this year. =P We'll see how that goes since I'm not very motivated to do much these days.

I've put up an uh-mook bokeum recipe up before, and this following recipe is quite similar, only with more liquid. Instead of pan-frying the uh-mook, you're reducing it in liquid. I personally think it has more flavor.

Again, many ways to make the same dish! You can add red peppers, green peppers, carrots, broccoli and whatever else meets your fancy. I didn’t have any of that so I made do with what was available.

Needed:

• 4 Fried Fish Cake pieces
• sauce: 2 TB minced garlic, 2 TB rice wine, 1/4 cup water, 3 TB gook ganjang, 1 TB sesame oil, 1 TB corn syrup, and lastly 3/4 TB of red pepper powder (gochuggaru).
• 1/2CUP onions, 1/2CUP mushrooms, and 1/4CUP green onions

I buy a big bag of uh-mook and leave it in my freezer to use whenever I may need it.



I used four pieces today.



Cut it once lengthwise and then slice it up like so.



Throw the uh-mook into a pan and add the following: 2 TB minced garlic, 2 TB rice wine, 1/4 cup water, 3 TB gook ganjang, 1 TB sesame oil, 1 TB corn syrup, and lastly 3/4 TB of red pepper powder (gochuggaru).



Mix it up well and then throw in about half a sliced onion and continue to let it boil on low heat.



At this point, you can throw in any number of vegetables. If you have red and green peppers on hand add them for extra kick (I didn't have any) or you can add mushrooms, broccoli, or squash. No limits!



Once all the liquid is almost reduced, throw in some green onions and mix it around one last time.



You're ready to serve! Enjoy!!! Hope everyone has a wonderful rest of the weekend! Mother Nature is acting kinda freaky out here in LA isn't it? =P

Veggie Udon - 야채 우동

The following is one of my "cheat" meals, meaning it's not completely from scratch. I make this a lot on lazy Saturdays and Sundays when I don't want to spend too much time in the kitchen.



First bring 3 cups of water to a boil with a strip of dashima.



Here's where I cheat. I add 3 TB of the udon sauce. It's quick, it's easy and tastes a lot better than making the broth from scratch using various seafood.




I have these frozen in my freezer, so I just grabbed it and took out as much as I need.



In a separate pot, boil the udon.



Don't let the noodles boil ALL the way. The reason I like to boil noodles separately is because I want to remove some of the starch by rinsing it.



I used one fish cake, a few thin strips of the pink fish cake, and 1/4 onion sliced...



I had some soot-gat (dunno the English word) so I washed and rinsed some of that for some greens.



After the udon, dashima, and udon sauce has boiled for 5 minutes or so, add the onions and fish cakes. Let this boil for about 5-10 minutes and wait for the broth to thicken.



Throw in the udon and bring to a boil...



Finish it off with the soot-gat! At this point you can add green onions, tempura, gim, egg, anything else you prefer. I didn't have any of those so we ate as is.



Just before eating pour some furikake and ENJOY! Munchkin slurped up his noodles like a champ and said, "Two thumbs up, Mommy!"

Spam Kimbap

On lazy weekends, once in a blue moon I’m crazy enough to make kimbap. It’s literally an all day event!

Once I get started, I sit there and make kimbap all morning and sometimes all afternoon!



And about halfway through the rice, I ended up running out of ingredients for gogi kimbap. So I dug through my pantry and found this can of SPAM.



Cut and fry the spam...



Get some good old American cheese...



I already had eggs from the gogi kimbap.



Put your rice about 3/4 of the way on the sheet. I usually just season my rice with splashes of sesame oil and sesame seeds. You can add sushi vinegar if you’re going to eat it *RIGHT AWAY* but I find that adding vinegar makes the kimbap smelling stale after a few hours. My husband likes to eat it all day long, so I usually skip the vinegar.



Add the three ingredients.



Roll up tightly.



Cut and serve! Honestly, although I love spam the gogi kimbaps blew the spam kimbap outta the water. =P Munchkin refused to eat the spam kimbap and made sure to ask for "gogi kimbap only please." =P At least the MR had something to snack on at midnight! hehe.



Four hours of hard work later! The MR had already taken a container with him in the morning. =P Can you believe almost all that kimbap is GONE now? I live with two men that truly know how to eat! Happy Monday, folks!!!

Yulmoo Kimchi - Version 2.0 - (열무 김치)

I was thrilled to see that the K-market had fresh yulmoo yesterday. I was going to make this last week and the yulmoo they had was old and yucky looking. Good thing I waited.

Ingredients Needed:

• 6 bunches of yulmoo, 1 CUP kosher salt & 10 CUPS water
• 1 TB flour & 1 CUP water + 3 CUPS boiling water & 6 TB red pepper powder, 3 TB fish sauce (I used Ggae nari sauce), 1/3 TB ginger powder, 1 TB minced garlic, 1 TB sugar, 2 TB honey powder, 1 TB salt.
• 1 serrano chile, 1 red pepper, 1 green onion (sliced thinly), some chives, and half an onion (thinly sliced)

Begin by washing your yulmoo and cutting it up into thirds. I used 6 bunches.



Get 1 cup of salt and 10 cups of water and mix it around really well.



Pour that onto the yulmoo and let it sit out for TWO hours...



Meanwhile get 1 TB flour and a cup of water and mix it well.



Add that to the 3 cups of boiling water and let it cook for about 5 minutes.



I then added about 10 cloves of sliced garlic to the mixture. I did this because I noticed last time the garlic still had a harsh bite (and spice) to it. I'm hoping that by kind of 'cooking' it the spice will be gone.



Then cut up the rest of your vegetables. I used 1 serrano chile, 1 red pepper, 1 green onion (sliced thinly), some chives, and half an onion (thinly sliced).



After the paste mixture cools down. Add 6 TB red pepper powder, 3 TB fish sauce (I used Ggae nari sauce), 1/3 TB ginger powder, 1 TB minced garlic, 1 TB sugar, 2 TB honey powder, 1 TB salt. (To see some pictures of these ingredients, click HERE.)



After the two hours are up make sure to wash the yulmoo THOROUGHLY. Wash it at least THREE times. If not, you're going to end up with really salty kimchi. Squeeze out any excess water before seasoning it.



Add the sauce in and mix it around really well.



I then added 1 cup of water. I wanted more of a 'mool kimchi' (watery kimchi) this time. Store it outside in a cool area for at least 3-5 days and serve! =)

Strawberry Jam

The MR's friends came over last week and like true Koreans they didn't come empty handed. =P They brought us a whole box of strawberries (since they knew Munchkin LOVES strawberries). The strawberries were delicious, and although Munchkin does love strawberries, even he couldn't finish the whole box. =) So instead of letting the strawberries go bad and throwing them out...I decided to make some JAM.

I got this recipe from Barefoot Contessa one day while watching her show and ever since I've always made jam at home. It's such a simple and EASY recipe! I thought I would post this up, because we all LOVE pictures, don't we?


First go and get 2 cups of sugar.



One large lemon.



Some strawberries~ BC's recipe calls for 1.5 pints of strawberries, but I found that to be too LITTLE. I think this is about 2.5 pints.



Put the sugar into a pot and squeeze all the lemon juice into there. Zest the lemon in there too!



Turn up the heat (medium) and keep stirring away.



About 10 minutes later the sugar will melt and it will become like this...



Add your strawberries and keep mixing!



Looks delish, no?



Keep it at a low rolling boil for about 40-50 minutes (sometimes even longer). BC's recipe says 20 minutes and I've found that it takes MUCH longer.



Eventually it will start to thicken...



Once it's thickened, turn off the heat and let it cool down.



Transfer it into a container and refrigerate it! You're all done! So easy, huh?