Kimbap - Korean Style Rice Rolls - (김밥)

There are many ways to make kimbap and you can pretty much put whatever you want into them. Tuna, kimchi, beef, etc. This is my version of kimbap and it's always a hit in our household.


 
First gather your ingredients. Here I have dan-moo-ji (which is precut for kimbap use), sushi nori (gim), fish cakes, imitation crab, spinach (I cheated and got store-made), carrots, pickles...


 
Get some type of seasoned beef and slice it up thin - again I cheated by using pre-marinaded galbi from the store. You can use boolgogi or even ground beef marinaded lightly in soysauce and sugar.




And lastly some fried eggs and slice it up thinly like so. The key to frying an egg like this is using LOW heat. Just pour the egg onto the frying pan on low heat and leave it there until it's firm and easy to flip over.



Begin by using a mandolin to thinly slice your cucumber.



Do the same with your carrots and lightly sautee it with some sesame oil.



Lightly heat your fishcakes on a frying pan and slice it up thin also.



Eventually you will have your ingredients ready like this...



Get as much rice as you want to use and season it with some sesame oil and sesame seeds and let it cool down to room temperature. You don't want the rice o be hot or else it will just crumple the gim.



After the rice and all the other ingredients have cooled down, create a work station like this...



Start by placing your gim on a sushi roller.



Spread the rice out as thinly and evenly as possible. Leave a little room at the bottom without rice because this makes wrapping it a lot easier.



Add whatever ingredients you have towards the bottom like this.



The MR was kind enough to take a picture from the other side of me wrapping up the gimbap. Fold the empty part over everything as tightly as possible and use the roller to roll up it tightly.



Use your roller to make the roll firm.



When you're done rolling set aside and continue until you run out of ingredients.



I ended up making A LOT of gimbap today. This isn't even all of it because both the MR and Munchkin were eating as I was making it so they probably ate at least 5 rolls amongst the two of them. LOL.



Take a sharp knife and cut it up like this.



You're now ready to serve!!!



I ended up with tupperwares full of kimbap. I'm going to drop some off to my parents at work tomorrow!

Boo Dae Jigae - Base Soup - (부대찌개)

I finally went ahead and made boo-dae jjigae today.

Needed:

• 1/2 can spam
• 3 sausages
• 1 cup dduk
• 1 green pepper and 1 red pepper
• 1/2 small squash
• 1/2 small onion
• 1 cup kimchi and lots of kimchi juice
• 2 mushrooms
• 1 ramen
• sauce: 1 TB red pepper paste, 1 TB red pepper powder, 1/2 TB minced garlic, 1 Tb rice wine, 1 TB gook ganjang, 1/2 TB shrimp jut, 1 TB beef flavoring, 1 TSP salt, 1 TSP pepper
  

First cut up everything you need like so. I used about 3 sausages, 1/2 can of spam, 1/2 small onion, 2 mushrooms, 1/2 small squash, 1 jalapeno, 1 red pepper, and a fistful of green onions.



Add roughly 4 cups of water into a pot and bring it to a boil with some anchovies and dashima. Let the broth cook for about 15 minutes or so until the water is tinted slightly yellow.



Mix together the following: 1 TB red pepper paste, 1 TB red pepper powder, 1/2 TB minced garlic, 1 Tb rice wine, 1 TB gook ganjang, 1/2 TB shrimp jut, 1 TB beef flavoring, 1 TSP salt, and 1 TSP pepper for the sauce and set it aside.



In a pot, add the kimchi and bring it to a boil and saute it for about 5-10 minutes. I used a jungol pot on our dining room table, but if you don't have one just cook it in a large pot on the stove and serve immediately while piping hot.



Then add your spam and sausages and let it cook for another 5 minutes.



Add all your remaining vegetables and mix well.



Throw in the mushrooms last and then add the boiling anchovy/dashima broth from earlier.



Add the peppers and green onions....



Along with the sauce and bring everything to a boil.



Add your dduk...



...and your ramen.



And enjoy as soon as the ramen is done! It's extra spicy so be careful!

PS. You can add pretty much anything to this soup that you have on hand such as tofu, udon, different varieties of mushrooms, etc. Use your imagination and get creative!

Persian Meatballs...

Sorry for the lack of updates again. We've been eating out almost every day this week. I haven't stepped into the kitchen except to make Munchkin some grilled cheese sandwiches. We're going grocery shopping tomorrow, so hopefully I will think of a new post for next week.

Until then....

I will cheat by recycling another post on my other blog~



Get 1 LB. of ground beef and add generous amounts of parsley, mint (lots), cilantro (just a little), garlic and onions. Season it with a dash of salt and pepper. Sorry there are no exact measurements. Just add enough of everything to give the meatballs color like shown above.



Form into little meatballs about an inch in diameter.



Heat a skillet with minimal oil since there will be oil coming from the fat of the meat...



And just cook until done.



Plate it with basmati rice, lavash (flat bread), and some yummy cucumber yogurt!

Cucumber yogurt: Just get plain yogurt and chop some Persian cucumbers and squeeze out all the excess juice. Add it to the yogurt and season with salt, pepper, and lemon juice. I actually added some chopped parsley into the yogurt too and it came out yummy. Next time I'm going to make yogurt with shallots and garlic.

Basmati rice: I like to sautee the rice in LOADS of butter and I add small bits of onion and brown everything. Then I add water (2:1 ratio. 2 parts water to 1 part rice. I use about 1.5 cups rice to 3 cups water) and let boil...when the water is almost all gone, reduce the heat to LOW and cover and let simmer for about 20 minutes until the rice is done. You can even season it with saffron water...which I didn't have the time to do tonight.

Dduk Bbok Ggi - Rice Cakes with Soy Sauce - (간장 떡볶기)

As I've mentioned before, every time I take Munchkin to the K market with me we end up buying a package of dduk. This week was no exception. While you can make dduk gook or spicy dduk bbok ggi, today I decided to make a simple soy sauce dduk bbok ggi for Munchkin to enjoy.

Here's how you can make it at home...



In a cup mix together the following:

• 1/4 CUP soy sauce
• 1/4 CUP water
• 2 TB honey powder
• 1 TB sugar
• 1 TB corn starch
• 1 TB rice wine
• OPTIONAL: dash of beef bullion (pictured below)
  

I was at the K-market the other day and they were selling this powdered beef bullion (Korean style). I normally choose to avoid any beef or anchovy dashida since my Hubby is super health conscious and doesn't enjoy the preservatives packed in those products. But the lady selling this said that it's 100% organic with absolutely no MSG so I thought I would try it out this time.



First take 1 TB of sesame oil and 1/2 TB of minced garlic and saute about 1/4 cup of beef until well done.



Then add the soy sauce mixture to the beef and bring to a boil. Let it boil for about 15 minutes to ensure the beef is nice and tender.



Finally add your dduk (this is fresh dduk) and let it boil for about 5-10 minutes.



Once the liquid is almost gone you're ready to serve and enjoy!

Teriyaki Sesame Chicken - (태리야끼 닯날개)

Sorry for the delay! I've finally updated and posted the step by step for the teriyaki chicken I made earlier this week. Here's what you need:

• 1.5 LBS of chicken drumettes
• 1/2 CUP soy sauce, 1/2 CUP water, 5 TB sugar, 3 TB honey powder, 1 TB sesame oil, 2 TB rice wine, 2 TB corn starch
• 3 TB sesame seeds         
  

First wash and clean about 1.5 LBS of chicken.



In a cup mix the following together:

• 1/2 CUP soy sauce
• 1/2 CUP water
• 5 TB sugar
• 3 TB honey powder
• 1 TB sesame oil
• 2 TB rice wine
• 2 TB corn starch
  

Mix the chicken with the sauce thoroughly and let it sit for about 15 minutes.



Throw the chicken and sauce into a pot and turn up the heat.



This is a picture about 15 minutes later...



Continue to boil on medium heat. This is what it should look like about 25 minutes later...



Keep boiling and making sure to stir it around for about 45 minutes total until most of the liquid is gone and it thickens into a teriyaki sauce.



Throw some sesame seeds on top...



Mix it around and you're ready to serve!



This was Munchkin's dinner.