Yook Gae Jang Broth

While undergoing my latest treatments, our family decided to stay at my parent's house so that we can take advantage of the extra help with Munchkin and the YUMMY food. No matter that we've been married now for close to seven years, the MR will still say that my mom is undoubtedly a better cook than I am. I don't take any offense (not REALLY) since my mom has had a 30 year head start on me. Plus, I agree with him - my mom is truly the best cook. ;)

One of the MR's favorite dishes is yook gae jang. I have always been told that my yook gae jang is pretty good (not to toot my own horn or anything, but my FIL declared it awesome! keke) but the MR says that my mom's is way better than mine.

While staying at my parent's house, I finally learned the key.

The KEY is in the broth!

After boiling and discarding of the impurities in the meat, my mom then makes a beef broth with the following: lots of whole garlic cloves, a couple of whole peeled onions, a peeled sprig of ginger, some dashi-ma, and even moo. She boils this broth for about 2-3 hours before separating the stock from all the other stuff.

Only after creating the perfect, hearty stock does she move onto shredding the meat and adding all the other ingredients you can read about on my previous post. I fell asleep before watching her add the other ingredients, so I have no idea how much of what she actually uses. =P

So helpful aren't I? =)

In any case, the result was a happy MR and a wonderful meal for our whole family. I've been battling a little nausea, so I haven't been able to taste the final product but the MR assures me it's better than mine. =P

On a random note, I can't stress the importance of a strong support network when going through something like cancer treatments. Just being able to sleep in during mornings and not worry about Munchkin getting fed and sent off to school is such a huge relief.

Despite everything I'm going through right now, I'm so incredibly thankful. I'm thankful for my family, I'm thankful we have PPO insurance that allows me to see pretty much any DR I want, and I'm thankful for everyone who reads this blog and sends me little messages of encouragement.

I'm truly horrendous at replying to emails and following up on comments, but please know that I read each and every one. I'm absolutely humbled by the people who are committed to donating to ACCRF just because I posted about it and asked.

Thank you. Truly.

I've been asked about a cookbook for a while and quite honestly - I just haven't had the time or energy. But upon learning of my recurrence, I'm more committed to getting something made soon. If not for the general public - at least for my little Munchkin.

At the end of the day, I only keep up with this blog so that Munchkin can look back and remember his mom's cooking.

Andong Jjim Dak–Andong-Style Chicken

 

While in Korea, my cousin made a delicious chicken recipe for me that I immediately asked her about.  Of course she didn’t give me exact measurements, but I copied her dish to the best of my abilities and I think it came out pretty well.  I have to admit though that my cousin’s tasted better.  Maybe it’s just me, but I always prefer someone ELSE’S cooking to my own.  =P

Although I had half a defrosted chicken in my fridge, I felt a bit unsure about using it since it had been in my fridge a few days.  =/  So I threw it out and went about bought some chicken today.  Better safe than Salmonella.  =P

 

First, give your chicken a nice bath.  I used four drumsticks and three boneless thighs.  This was enough to feed two kids and two adults.

In the pot, add the following:  1 CUP water, 1/3 CUP soy sauce, 3 TB minced garlic, 1 TB oyster sauce, 1 TB honey powder, 1 TB brown sugar, 3 TB rice wine, 1/2 TB of sesame oil, dash of ginger powder, and a dash of pepper.




Grab some jujubes.




Throw in the dates once the water starts to boil…

I had some dried red peppers so I added those as well.

Meanwhile, get some glass noodles ready.

I also added some green and red peppers.

Add some dae-pa (large green onions).

Add some onions and potatoes.

Let everything cook for about 20 minutes…

And then add the glass noodles and let it cook until the noodles are done.

As soon as the potatoes and noodles are done – you’re ready to serve!

Enjoy!

Spicy Chicken Gizzards – 매운 닭똥집 볶음

I started this recipe a couple weeks ago, but never had the time to finish up the post. I’ll attempt to finish it now from my memory.  =P

 

I’m reusing the pictures from my older post on Fried Chicken Gizzards because I completely forgot to take pictures during this stage.  Basically, cut your gizzards up wash in some flour/salt and then boil it for about 10 minutes to rid of all impurities.

 

 

Meanwhile, get your sauce mixture ready.  1TB red pepper powder, 1TB red pepper paste, 1TSP sesame oil, 1/2TSP sugar, 1TSP soy sauce, and a handful of green onions.

 

After the chicken is done boiling, add the sauce mixture to it and mix well.

 

Let it sit for about 15 minutes to allow the flavors to coat the gizzards.

 

Then throw everything onto a hot pan with some garlic cloves and onions and you’re ready to serve!  Enjoy~

Chicken Porridge with Vegetables

I haven’t made this type of jook in so long…since Munchkin was a baby?   

Ingredients Needed:

• 1 small chicken breast
• 1/2  CUP white rice, 1/2 CUP sweet rice
• 6 CUPS of various chopped vegetables
• 1 can vegetable broth
• 1 32 OZ box of chicken broth
• 2-3 CUPS water

 

We are a small family of three, so we hardly ever eat whole packs of any type of meat.  As soon as I get home from the grocery store, I saran wrap each individual breast filet and then store them in a large Ziploc bag with the date on it.  Whenever I need chicken, I just pull out however many breasts I need.  It makes cooking easier when you don’t have to defrost the whole pack of meat at once.

 

Begin by washing and rinsing equal parts white rice and sweet rice.  This was about 1 CUP total.  Let it sit in the water for a few hours to soften up.

 

 

Meanwhile, prep all the veggies you want to use.  There is no *measurement* for this part so use whatever you have on hand.  I also added some squash but forgot to take a picture of it.

 

Bring a pot of water to a boil and throw in the chicken and let it boil for about 10 minutes to rid of all the impurities.

 

Then rinse the chicken under cool water and just chop it up into small pieces and set it aside.

 

Now you can start chopping away at your veggies.  If you have a food processor, by all means throw it in there.  But I actually prefer to just CHOP, CHOP, CHOP.  There’s something therapeutic about standing in a kitchen and chopping away.  I started making this porridge after midnight yesterday and I was actually able to complete my MOH speech (in my head) that I have do next March.  LOL.

 

I then chopped some broccoli and threw that in there as well.

 

Some mushrooms…

 

Carrots and potatoes…

 

Start the porridge by placing the cup of rice & sweet rice mixture into a pot.

 

Then add one whole can of vegetable broth and bring it to a boil.

 

Once it starts boiling…

 

Throw in all your vegetables and the chicken pieces!

 

At this point, start adding some chicken broth a little bit at a time.  I ended up using all 32 OZ. PLUS an additional 2-3 CUPS of water. 

If you are going to feed this to a baby, skip all the store bought broths and just substitute with anchovy broth, real chicken broth or just plain old water.  I’m proud to say that Munchkin grew up eating this stuff and to this day, he’s still a pretty good vegetable eater.  =)  I would alternate with different meats and veggies, but pretty much I used the same concept for all his baby food.  I pureed everything when he was younger and after he started getting his teeth, I started to make his jook into a chunkier consistency.

 

Anyhow, just keep letting it simmer while stirring constantly so it doesn’t stick to the bottom. 

 

After about an hour and a half - it will get this nice, soft porridge consistency. 

 

I wasn’t sure how soft the food had to be for the person this porridge was made for, so I pureed two batches and left two as is.

 

 

Jook~ with chicken and a load of vegetables pureed for easy consumption.

 

Even though he’s no longer a baby, Munchkin will still devour this stuff.  This was his breakfast.

 

Tada!  It’s the perfect dish for infants or for someone who might have difficulty chewing.  You can substitute the chicken for beef, you can use a different broth, you can add a variety of different vegetables.  Some other veggies I use are edamame beans, corn, or even spinach.  Get creative! 

Spicy Chicken BBQ – Dak Galbi – 닭 갈비

I had all the ingredients for Dak Galbi conveniently on hand, so I decided to give it a go tonight.  I was going to save this post for later, but decided what the heck - I’ve been on a blogging binge eh?  =P

 

Ingredients Needed:

• 2 small chicken breasts - I buy the thin breast filets at Ralphs and saran wrap each individual breast and store them in bags in the freezer – I will take a picture one day.
• 1/2 onion – you can use a whole onion, I just had half an onion lying around.  =)
• 1 small sweet potato
• 1 CUP of dduk
• handful of mushrooms
• 1 jalapeno
• handful of garlic cloves
• handful of chopped green onions
• 1 CUP of noodles (optional)
• sauce mixture: 1/2 CAN of chicken broth (save the leftover broth for later), 2 TB soy sauce, 1 TB minced garlic, 2 TB red pepper powder, 2 TB gochujang, 1 TB honey powder (or substitute with sugar), 1 TB rice wine(purely optional), 2 TB ketchup

 

I had an old bag of jjol-myun lurking in my cupboards, so I decided to use it up for this recipe.  If you don’t have noodles, no worries.  Just skip this part.  I like boiling my noodles separately so that I can wash the starch away before adding it into the main meal.  You can totally just add the uncooked noodles straight to the dak galbi if you want though.  No biggie.

 

Next, ready your veggies and dduk.  I used 1 small sweet potato, 1/2 onion, 1 large mushroom, handful of garlic cloves, 1/2 head of cabbage, and a cupful of dduk.  Feel free to add any other veggies you might have such as carrots or squash.

 

In a small bowl mix together the following:

• 1/2 CAN of chicken broth (save the leftover broth for later)
• 2 TB soy sauce
• 1 TB minced garlic
• 2 TB red pepper powder
• 2 TB red pepper paste (gochujang)
• 1 TB honey powder (or substitute with sugar)
• 1 TB rice wine (purely optional)
• 2 TB ketchup

If you have any questions about any of the ingredients, please take a look at KOREAN COOKING 101.  I often get questions about certain recipe ingredients, and if I don’t reply (sorry!) – it’s probably already on Korean Cooking 101. =P

 

First add the sauce and veggies into a pot (I have a jungol pot, but I was too lazy to bring it out today) and let it cook for a little bit.

 

Add your cut up chicken breasts next and then mix everything thoroughly.

 

Meanwhile, cut up a jalapeno and throw it in there as well with some green onions.

 

At this point, I poured in more chicken broth.  I probably could have gotten away with only a little more, but I hate wasting things so I poured in the rest of the can.  =P  It was probably a bit too much, but oh wells.  Anyhow, at this point throw in your noodles!  Your noodles are already cooked, so just let everything simmer together for about five minutes and you’re ready to serve.

 

Voila~  The MR and Munchkin both devoured this tonight and it was a nice change from our normal routine.  I hope you enjoy it as well!   Whew, I’ve been on a posting rampage today. 

It must be time for another scan soon.  ;)