Pickled Jalapenos

We ate shabu shabu AGAIN for dinner tonight because it was just SO good yesterday. We had all the left over veggies and one more meat package so dinner tonight was a cinch. Munchkin ate SOOOOO much. Whew! Anyhow, after such a breezy dinner I decided to make a couple of banchans for the week. I've been meaning to make this for a while, but I never had a pickling jar, so I kept putting it off.



The other day the MR and I were at Ikea together and I found these pickling jars for such a great price that I picked up TWO.



This is a simple recipe that my coworker taught me some time ago. Unnie used to bring this into the office so we could all enjoy. I used 3pickles, 5 jalapenos, 8 whole cloves of garlic, 3 celery pieces, and 1 small onion.



Just wash and cut everything into bite size pieces (not TOO thin though) and distribute them somewhat evenly in the pickling jar.



In a pot mix together the following: 2 cups water, 1/2 cup soy sauce, 1/3 cup vinegar, and 3 tb sugar. Bring it to a boil and then turn off the heat and let it cool down.




After your jar is full and the mixture is cooled down.......



Just pour it in and let it sit for a couple of days. You can leave it outside, but with the HOT weather these days, I chose to keep it inside the fridge. It might take longer to ferment, but that's ok for me. I'm not sure exactly how it will taste yet, so don't try this yet! I'm going to do a taste test tomorrow and update this recipe if I find it tastes funny.

Pickle Moochim - (오이 무침)

The hot summer days have been making me crave cold pickles. I made two kinds today. Let's start with the pickle moo-chim first.



I used three Korean pickles today. I think this kind of pickle can be found at any Korean market, but you can use regular pickles if that's all you can find. I just prefer these because the skin is less bitter. I peeled off only half the skin because I like to leave some color and the skin on these pickles tastes GOOD too.



To make my life easier, I just use my trusty mandolin to slice the pickles into thin slices.



Then I sprinkled some salt over it and mixed it around and let it sit there. After about 15 minutes or so, I gave it a thorough washing and let the water drain out.



Then I added 1tb red pepper powder, 1/2 tb minced garlic, 1 tb sesame seeds, 1/2 tb sesame oil, 2 tb vinegar, 1 tb sugar, 1/2 tb salt, and a handful of green onions.



Mix it well and then chill in the fridge overnight and serve. It's the perfect banchan for this summer heat!

Shabu Shabu - (샤부 샤부)

The MR and I couldn't decide what to eat today, so I decided to make some Shabu Shabu at home. It's probably the simplest dinner to make.



You can purchase Shabu Shabu meat at almost any Korean market or even Ranch 99.



I always buy this pre-made sauce that they sell at the K-market.



I take some moo pieces and puree it in my food processor.



Then I just add a little to the sauce and it's done.



Once the sauce is finished, the rest is REALLY easy.



Just wash some of your favorite vegetables and cut them into edible sizes. I used onions, enoki mushrooms, white mushrooms, napa, bok choy and udon noodles.



We left our table top grill at a friend's house, so I used our jungol pot tonight.



Add a piece of dashima and moo into the water and let it boil for a while. The MR said that some people even put in a tablespoon of miso into it too.



Once the water is boiling strongly, start adding your meat and vegetables.



Pick out what you want and dip it into the dipping sauce and enjoy! We reserved the leftover broth because I'm going to make jook with it tomorrow~ =)

Ssam Jang - (쌈장)

Part two of dinner tonight involved the galbi I marinaded yesterday. I wanted to eat it with some homemade ssam jang.



I use 1 Korean pepper (a jalapeno will do too), 1/4 onion, handful of garlic cloves, and some green onions.



I was running low on gochujang, so I decided to recycle the container and I added approximately 2x as much dwenjang (soy bean paste) to it. Let's just say about 3 tb of gochujang and 6 tb of dwenjang.



Then add a couple fistfuls of green onions and chop up the garlic and add that also.



I also chopped the onion and green pepper and threw that in there.



Mix everything together.



Add a splash of sesame oil, about 1 tb of corn syrup, and 2 tb of sesame seeds (not pictured).



You're finished! So easy, huh?



I grilled the galbi from yesterday on our George Foreman and then cut it up into bite size pieces.



I love ssam bap! Red leaf lettuce, galbi, rice, and ssam jang.

Kimchi Jjigae - (김치 찌개)

My husband is quite pleased that I decided to start a food blog because it gives me more incentive to cook. =) The constant question of, "What should I make for dinner tonight?" is quite annoying for me. On the days that I don't want to think about dinner I end up resorting to kimchi jjigae. I'm sure everyone has their own version of kimchi jjigae but I thought I would share my version anyhow.



If I'm feeling particularly lazy, I'll just make it with kimchi, sesame oil, garlic, and water. It still tastes just as good, but today I had some vegetables and tofu (which expires today) to get rid of so I used them as well.



First I heat a dol sot (a pot made of stone) with about 1 tb of sesame oil and then I throw in 3/4 tb of minced garlic.



I cut sam gyup sal (pork bacon?) into small pieces and stir away until the pink is almost all gone.



Then I add some onions.



If your kimchi is really well fermented you don't really need to add gochujang (red pepper paste), but the kimchi I had isn't as fermented as it should be so I added about 3/4 tb of gochujang to make the soup thicker.



Mix around until everything is well coated and done.



Add some kimchi and I also add about 5-6 tb of kimchi gookmool (the juices from the kimchi). I often buy the Cosmos brand from the store.



Add just enough water to cover everything and then add the tofu and mushrooms.



I cook my kimchi jjigae for at least 45 minutes. The longer it cooks, the better it tastes. If you feel that you're running out of water, just add a little more and keep cooking! I finished it off with some green onions and some slices of gochu (Korean peppers).

Galbi Tang - (갈비탕)

Start off by draining the blood from some galbi meat. Just wash some galbi and put into a pot of cold water. Change the pot every 15 minutes or so for about 45 minutes. Normal galbi tang uses the large beef short ribs used for galbi jim, but I just used galbi that I had left aside from marinading earlier today.

Total Cook Time: 3 hours



I love these little tea bags they sell at the Japanese market.



I filled it with 4 whole garlic cloves, a handful of large green onions, and about 15-20 whole peppercorns. If you don't have a teabag, just put everything directly in and sift it out later.



Then I peeled and cleaned a piece of moo.



I put the drained ribs into a pot of water and let it cook for about 5 minutes to get all the guck out.



When you see all this stuff rise to the top, remove it from the heat.



Wash each piece of meat thoroughly and give the pot a nice scrub down also.



Fill the pot with about 12 cups of water and bring to a boil.



Add the moo, the teabag, and the galbi pieces. Let it boil for about an hour.



After an hour, open the lid and remove the teabag and the moo.



Let the beef cook for ANOTHER hour. (2 hours of cooking so far...)



Let the moo cool, and then slice it up into edible pieces.



Marinade the moo with the following........



3 tb of gook ganjang, 1 tsp of sesame oil, 1/2 tb of minced garlic, a dash of pepper, and 1 tb of green onions.



After the meat has boiled for another hour, add the moo. Do a taste taste and adjust flavoring with gook ganjang.



Garnish with some eggs and large green onions and you're done! For some reason the flavor seemed to be lacking SOMETHING today. I'm not sure what it was, so I'm going to do a couple of web searches and see what I might have missed. I'll update this recipe the next time I make it!