Japchae - Korean noodle with vegetables and beef

Japchae is a very delicious Korean noodle. I have never had an untasty japchae. Whoever makes it with whatever... doesn't matter. Is there any food like that?

Furthermore, it is so healthy. There are a lot of fresh vegetables. What makes it so distinguished in terms of health is the noodle, which is made of sweet potato starch. This is the only alkaline-forming noodle whereas all the other noodles are highly acidifying.

Ingredients (for 10+ people)
dried sweet potato noodle                   250g
beef                                                     300g
carrot                                                   1/2
spinach salad (Korean style)               1 head
paprika (red)                                        1/2
onion                                                    1
egg                                                       2

to season cooked sweet potato noodle
soy sauce                                             4 tablespoons
sugar                                                    2 tablespoons
sesame oil                                            2 tablespoons

1. Marinate beef with bulgogi sauce - 1 tablespoon of soy sauce, 1/2 tablespoon of minced garlic and sugar respectively and a drizzle of sesame oil.

2. Make Korean-style spinach salad - marinate with salt, minced garlic, sesame oil and sesame seeds after blanching.

3. Cut vegetables into thin strips.
 

4. Pour 1/2 of beaten eggs on a pan (on a low heat) and spread it as thinly as possible. Cut it in half to flip it over.

5. Fry vegetables and beef in the order of onions, carrot, paprika and beef.

6. Put dried noodle in boiling water for 5 minutes. Rinse it off with cold water.

7. Sprinkle sugar over an oiled pan. Add soy sauce when sugar turns brown. Place cooked noodle on the pan and stir it.

8. Put vegetables, beef and noodle in a large mixing bowl. Mix them together with sesame oil.

Bacon, eggs and cheese on a bread in one go

I would like to have bacon, eggs and cheese all together on the of a bread.

But, it is easier said than done. If we use oven to cook an egg and cheese through, the egg turns out to be like rubber. If we continue to cook on a pan, the bottom of a bread tends to is all burned. Finally, I have a solution for this.

Ingredients
bacon                            4 strips      
bread                             2 sheets
eggs                              2                
cheese                          1-2

1. Roast 4 strips of bacon on a pan.

2. Make a ring with two strips of bacon.

3. Break an egg in each bacon ring.

4. Toast a bread on the side.

5. Put the bread on top of the egg with the toasted side down.

6. Flip it over and place some cheese on top.

7. Put a lid on and wait for 40 seconds.

 

Bibimbap (rice with assorted mixtures) from a scratch

We Koreans eat bibimbap to clear up the inventory in our refrigerator. We always have some banchan - side dishes to go with rice. We make them in bulk and store these in a refrigerator for a while.

Sometimes, we are faced with the inventory issue - we keep making them and then forget to eat. Bibimbop is a great way to consume those. Also, most banchan are made of vegetables. So, bibimbap is a highly alkaline-forming food.

However, making it from a scratch (i.e. making each vegetable side dish and frying red pepper paste) is quite a time-consuming job.

Ingredients (for 3 people)
steamed rice                    300g                   
beef                                 300g
young squash                  1                          
carrot                               1
paprika, red                     1/2                      
paprika, yellow                 1/2
spinach                            1 head                
red pepper paste             5 tablespoons
egg                                  1                          
sesame oil

1. Cut beef into small pieces. Keep them in two small bowls. One will go with red pepper paste and the one will be marinated with bulgogi sauce.

2. Make a Korean spinach salad. Blanch it and squeeze water with hands. Mix it with salt, minced garlic, sesame oil and roasted sesame seeds.

3. Cut vegetables into 4-5cm long strips.

4. Fry a beaten egg on a low heat.

5. Pan-fry each vegetable separately on a low heat. Do not brown vegetables.

6. Pan-fry marinated beef.

7. Pan-fry unmarinated beef. Season it with salt and pepper. Add red pepper paste and a little bit of water. Mix all and reduce the mixture to have the right consistency.

8. Draw a draft on rice with spinach and egg strips.

9. Fill out each section with a different color.

How to Make a Really Delicious Pasta Aglio e Olio

I try to avoid gluten as much as possible. Only occasions where I eat gluten are desserts and some pasta with volgole and aglio e olio. 

The reason I like the above pasta is because I make the world's best-tasting garlic-based pasta. Today, I will give you my recipe for capellini aglio e olio.

Ingredients (for one person)
capellini (or any pasta)               70g                 
garlic                                           4 cloves
extra virgin olive oil                     2 tablespoons
peperoncino                                3-4

1. Mince garlic. Do not slice it. Mince it.

I usually mince all 4 cloves of garlic. But, today I will slice one of them and use it as a garnish.

What gives garlic the flavor and health benefits (i.e. anti-cancer property) is Allicin. However, this allicin is a quite unstable thing. You don't get it by just eating garlic. A whole garlic, for instance, has no allicin.

Sliced garlic is barely better than a whole garlic. To develop allicin, you have to mince or crash it. For the best result, paste it.

Further, you have to wait for 10 minutes for allicin to fully develop itself after minced. That is why I mince garlic as a first step for every dish.

In case you put garlic to boiling water, most of allicin disappears after 30 minutes. Thus, it is best to add garlic 15 minutes before you finish.

2. Add two tablespoons of olive oil to a pan. It should be cold oil on a cold pan. Add minced garlic and stir it until golden brown.

3. Sprinkle peperoncino flakes on the pan.

4. Add capellini (boiled for 3 minutes in salted water) to the pan. Have a half ladle of starch water on the pan and mix everything together.

5. Although it is not traditional, grate some parmigiano reggiano on the pasta, which partly replaces salt.

6. Sometimes, I have shrimps, cherry tomatoes and broccoli on my pasta aglio e olio...

 

 

 

...although I prefer a simpler one.

 

 

 

 

Stir-Fried Rice - the Chinese Restaurant Style

Have you tried stir-fried rice at Chinese restaurants? They are so delicious.

But, in case you tried to duplicate this at home, you probably found it difficult. I am so happy to share this little secret recipe of mine with you.


Ingredients (for two persons)
left-over rice                     200g                  
eggs                                 2
green onions                    2                         
shrimps                            9 large ones
soy sauce                        2-3 tablespoons  

1. Keep rice in a freezer if it is still warm

2. Put shrimps in salted water if shrimps are frozen

3. Cut green onions and shrimps

4. Break eggs over rice. Mix them thoroughly with hands. Every grain of rice should be coated with eggs.

5. Drain shrimps. Coat shrimps with potato starch.

6. On a preheated pan, pan-fry shrimps. When they are cooked, remove them from the pan.

7. Add more oil to the pan. Pour green onion pieces on the pan and stir them.

8. Add egg rice to the pan. Stir it for one minute.
If undercooked, raw egg will be tasted. If overcooked, the rice turns rubbery due to egg whites.

9. Drizzle soy sauce in a few areas of a pan.

The amino-acid and suger in soy sauce develop hundreds of nice flavors at the temperate 120-180 degree C. This is why we use soy sauce instead of salt.

10. Put shrimps back to the pan and mix them with the rice.

11. Serve the rice.

 

 

Crispy Squash Pancakes and Carrot Pancakes

There are a lot of versions of squash pancakes in Korea - most Koreans like squash pancakes. However, I was never satisfied with them. I wanted my squash pancakes to be crispy and I finally found a way to make crispy squash pancakes.

This is the best way to eat a squash. When you bite into the squash pancake, you will hear the crispy sound and will be pleasantly surprised by how sweet the squash is.

You may use my recipe below to make any vegetable pancakes. I often make a carrot pancake. This is my favorite way to eat a carrot...

Ingredients
young squash               1                                                         
carrot                            1
potato starch                1/2 cup each for a squash & a carrot  
corn starch                    1 teaspoon
cooking oil                    1-2 tablespoon to wet a dough          

1. Cut a squash into thin strips (use a julienne peeler)

2. Season the above with salt and add one egg white

3. Mix potato starch with corn starch thoroughly.

Without corn starch, the pancake will not hold together. With too much corn starch, there is no crispiness.

4. Mix the above with potato starch until there are some white powder, which is not absorbed by a squash yet.

5. Drizzle cooking oil over white powder and mix it - the oil will come out of the squash while cooked on a pan.

6. Ladle a small bit of the squash dough on a pan and spread it thinly.

7. Turn the squash pancake over when it looks half translucent.

8. Make a carrot pancake in the same method.