Vegetable Bulgogi

This is by no means authentic and was inspired by a number of posts and pins on social media.

Let’s start with the sauce:

  • 2 Tbl brown sugar
  • 3 Tbl tamari or soy sauce
  • 1 Tbl rice vinegar
  • 1 Tbl sriracha
  • 1 clove garlic, chopped
  • 1 tsp perilla oil or sesame
  • 1-2 tsp Korean red pepper flakes
  • 1/2 tsp ginger—I used 1/2 tsp powdered

Mix them all up and put aside until needed

For the veg (for about 3-4 servings):

  • 2-3 carrots chopped into cubes (i quartered the thick sections and halved the thinner)
  • 1 onion chopped
  • 8 ounces mushrooms chopped
  • 1 eggplant (I used 1 graffiti eggplant and I think that was perfect)
  • 1 cup of chopped walnuts
  • 1 clove garlic

In 1 tsp coconut oil I sautéed the carrot, onion and garlic until the carrot was somewhat soft

After sauté it gets removed from heat

Then in 2-3 TBL olive oil (you could certainly use something more neutral but that’s what I had on hand when I realized the coconut oil I used wouldn’t be enough), sauté the eggplant until the cubes are semi soft then add the mushrooms and walnuts and sauté until mushrooms are cooked and eggplant is fairly soft and add back in the carrot and onion.

Give that a quick mix and stir in the sauce and I turned off the heat and let it sit covered for about 10 minutes so the veg had time to absorb the flavor

On the side I had a cucumber salad, kimchi and soy sauce sprouts. The green beans are blanched and splashed with rice vinegar, lemon juice and a little soy paste.

Advertisement

Korean Sauna Deviled Eggs

I have loved Korean saunas since my friend introduced me to one in 2011. It happened to be WiSpa at the edge of KTown on LA. I was hooked. Sadly there are none here in the desert so we have been deprived since moving. In a random recipe search for something else I found Korean Sauna Eggs which apparently are common snack at the cafes in the saunas that I had missed out on.

I started a batch last night using data from all the recipes I found rolled into one. The trick with these guys is that they are pressure cooked for 1, 2, 3, or 4 hours depending on level of brown nutty good ness you want. I had these blue eggs on hand which I put in the instapot for 2 hours on pressure and let the pot naturally release when done and then just through them into the fridge. With the eggs in the instant pot you need two cups of water and 2 tsp salt

If you have never made eggs in your instapot, one of the joys is the ease in peeling.

Peeling batch one and you see the second batch coming out of the pot
My first batch after peeing.

Yep. These aren’t bad. This is how they turn out. they peel like a dream and have a brown color with nice nutty flavor.

I decided these would turn into deviled eggs that I would flavor based on their heritage.

Korean red pepper flakes (just a dash), some seasoned soy paste (1/2 tsp), and about 1TBl kimchi. Mix it all up.

Fill your eggs and chill. I garnished with a tiny piece of kimchi and a dab of sriracha.

This were so much better than I planned. The nuttiness of the egg and the soy paste marry perfectly.

I’m making these again

Nabak Kimchi

I haven’t made Nabak Kimchi aka Water Kimchi in like a decade…it’s more liquidy, less funky than your typical Napa kimchi you see around.

I started chopping the vegetables—I used daikon for the radish, carrot, green onion, napa cabbage, 1/2 an Asian pear, and garlic.

The daikon and Napa have been rubbed with salt

Added the other veggies to sit with the salt

Meanwhile I steep some gochugaru in a strainer in 10 cups of water and some salt.

Once wilted the veggies go into the jar. To be joined by the gochugaru “tea”

Where it sat for 4 nights and 3 days on the counter. To relocate to the fridge and get sampled.

I ended up using the following:

  • The inner yellowish leaves from one medium head of Napa cabbage
  • About a four-five inch slice of daikon cut into squares
  • 2 Tbl gochugaru
  • 1/2 Korean pear
  • 1 medium to large carrot
  • About an inch slice of ginger
  • 3-4 green onions
  • Garlic to taste 4-6 cloves
  • About 8 cups of water
  • 2Tbl salt to run the veggies and 2 Tbl for the water/gochugaru mixture

This experiment was inspired by this water kimchi recipe

This is definitely a repeat. It’s been years since I made this from scratch and I really enjoy it’s lightness.

The Lazy Gastronome

Myung Ga Tofu and Koren BBQ, San Bernardino

We headed east to visit the Riverside Farmers Market and the Mattel Store. After all of that and some failed auto repairs at home we found a Korena spot on Yelp that we had to try because they are not a dime a dozen in our new neighborhood.

Slipped in a regular strip mall is Myung Ga

It has all the usual suspects on the menu Soon Doo Boo, Ramen, Kalbi, Cold Noodles, Kimchi Fried Rice, etc

Hite has been reborn as Terra but they are out so I had a Cass. My first time with Cass. It’s fine…not as lite as I think of Hite…

The Banchan were pretty typical—daikon slices in soy sauce and jalapeño, kimchi, slightly ferment sprouts, a great spice cucumber pickle, and a pasta salad (the latter is not unusual but always confusing).

I opted for the Bibimbop with tofu…and make it hot at your own past sauce

Jim opted for the Tofu Stew with added Oyster..mild side with the ubiquitous bowl of rice

Overall this place is solid and we will return…

Korean BBQ Oyster Mushrooms

Following on the success of the bbq pink mushrooms sandwiches, I thought my bag of mixed oyster mushrooms would be fantastic for Korean bbq mushrooms. i was kinda’ right. The pinks crisp up nicely but the other varieties aren’t a so crisp loving but they mostly get there

Following the other recipe. They were minimally spiced for this part, then when done I tossed them with some Flatiron Asian blend peppers, tamari, fish sauce, acid league’s liquid kimchi, liquid smoke.

Served it up with rice, butter lettuce leaves, kimchi, rice vinegar pickled daikon. I loved the mushroom marinade sauce so much I tossed it onto the broccoli rabe as well.

We made perfect wraps with the lettuce, mushroom and kimchi and I made reasonable pantry/fridge panchan

On the 87 day of safer at home dinners i planned…

…to make eggs. Then i said, breakfast for dinner. Then i said sauerkraut and eggs. I googled that and actually found recipes but it led me to kimchi and eggs…..which ended up as kimchi pancake. Am i the only one that falls down that recipe rabbit hole?

So we had kimchi pancake

It was my first try so by no means perfect but this tasted YUM!

I googled korean squash and found something resembling this

I wanted something fresh so i grabbed an heirloom tomato and made a quick dressing of lime ponzu and mayo…it worked

Kimchi saurkraut

So i bought some kimchi saurkraut (which is yummy by the way….its saurkraut with kimchi seasonings), and had no idea what to do with it.  My reference is saurkraut wih potatoes and sausage.

So thats what i did.  White rice, potatoes in tamari and shrimp sausage. I basically used a shrimp burger recipe and shaped it as sausages, rolled in foil, froze to firm up and baked them.

My grill gets korean

I wanted to grill.   I was thinking how we grill kimchi at korean bbq….somehow i didnt get grilled kimchi but i got kimchi, grilled soy things, grilled rice cakes…


I made some sprouts and cucs as sides:


Since my partner is allergic to sesame…i made it with hot chili oil and gochujang and salt


Found this recipe online…quick marinade.  Salt sugar and coconut vinegar and i threw in a few pepper flakes and garlic

The rice cake marinated a bit in kimchi

Soy ginger dressing on the eggplant

Bok choi with hot oil


It all gets grilled



Homemade kimchi on the side



Yum

Kimchi and me

Jim bought me a new cookbook after we heard the authors on the radio


Amongst the treasures was a doable looking kimchi recipe.


And after a trip to the korean market and the farmers market i went to it:


Salted soaked and drain my veg…

Then combined the flavor:

Korean red pepper flakes

Tamari (gluten free soy sauce–aka soy sauce made with so not wheat)

Gochujang

Plus some rice wine vinegar, garlic and ginger


And there she sat for a day at room temp, then six in the fridge.


And today we are making


Stinky tofu will ferment at room temp for 48 hours. Then it will get fried…so monday is probably rice and stinky tofu night

Meanwhile, i totally made another batch of kimchi, and have a jar saved from batch 1 for kimchi fried rice during the week.