Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Dak Gochujang Bulgogi (Korean Spicy Chicken Dish)



Gochujang is a spicy Korean hot chili paste that used widely in Korean cooking. While paying for the smallest tub I could find, I saw the lady behind me with her two giant size Gochujang tubs, I mean GIANT tubs, man. I was wondering whether she open a Korean restaurant?

After seeing Cooking Ninja's Gochujang Bulgogi, I told her I need to buy myself Gochujang so that I can try this dish of hers. I made a little twist and made mine into dak gochujang bulgogi ~ Korean spicy chicken dish. This was the first time I cooked a dish using this method. Frying without oil and with all the marinade until the chicken was cooked. This dish was sweet and spicy and tasted pretty good. However, my hubby took a tiny bite and won't touch the dish again. I wonder whether the color put him off or what? I asked him why he didn't like this dish and I received a silent respond. So, until now I am still clueless. Well, nevermind, more for me! ;)

Sunday, July 29, 2007

My Simple Rojak



Rojak is a Malaysian salad. The sauce is mainly made of shrimp paste, chili and belacan. I named it my simple rojak because of the limited ingredients, I only had jicama and seedless cucumber. I used the ready-made rojak sauce from CKC and it was delicious as it tasted very authentic and a wee bit spicy. I topped mine with extra ground peanuts and toasted sesame seeds.


Want a bite of my jicama?

P/s It definitely need "grilled you char kway", fried tofu, mango, pineapple and green papaya to make it more "shiok"! But I have none yet very tham jiak (glutton) and thus this "bor liao" (simple) version. :P

Friday, July 27, 2007

Bean Threads Noodle



I would love to introduce my readers to this bean threads noodle. It was made with mung bean starch, potato starch and water. It tasted a lot like the Korean Jap Chai noodle (made with sweet potato starch) with the chewy texture and transparent look. This noodle was introduced to me by my Chinese neighbor and I have since hooked. This is good serving it cold, in soup or stir-fry. I haven't tried it in soup yet because I like to serve it cold with fresh vegetable.



Method:

1) You need to boil the noodle until cooked. Set aside.

2) Then, stir-fry the chicken or pork (marinated with soy sauce, pepper, sesame oil) with garlic & carrots until cooked, dish out and set aside.

3) Thinly sliced the seedless cucumber, lettuce and prepared the cilantro.

4) In a big bowl, add in noodle, fresh veggies (3) and (2), mix well. Then seasoned to taste with soy sauce, Chinese black vinegar, salt, sugar and sesame oil. Toast well.

5) Garnished with toasted sesame seeds. Serve as is.


This is how the package looks like. Of course other brand works fine too.

Thursday, July 26, 2007

Sundubu Jjgae (Korean Spicy Bean Curd Stew)



Sundubu Jjgae is a Korean thick and spicy bean curd stew. Traditionally people crack an egg on top of the stew before serving, many still do it now. Some serve this stew with clams, clam juice, seafood, onion, enoki mushroom and other vegetable. This stew is normally served boiling on the table over a hot fire in a Korean pot.

I came to love this soup while dining in a Korean restaurant. I just love the spiciness of this soup and the flavor of Gochujang. The silken soft tofu with the Gochujang made me want to drink this stew non-stop. This stew is especially good while eaten during the cold winter days because it will just warm up your body instantly. Therefore, it will be my favorite soup to cook during winter. What a surprise, my hubby loves this soup too!


Wednesday, July 25, 2007

Product Review: Delimas Stir Fry Sauce

I have been invited by Ray, the founder of mytasteofasia.com to do product review on Delimas brand. I gladly accepted his offer because as a Malaysian, I love to help out a fellow Malaysian and to introduce delicious and easy to prepare Malaysian food to other Asians around the world. This paste is handy for a busy mother who just doesn't have time to do it from scratch. Or for working parents who just dead tired from a day work. Even for a novice cook who wants to impress her friends.



I was cooking for a friend who is moving to Boston and she requested a spicy Malaysian dish. What a better way to try my Delimas stir-fry sauce on the shrimps that I was intended to cook.



This is how the package looks like. It tasted like the authentic Malaysian Sambal Prawns and quite spicy.

Below is what I did:
Ingredients:

16 extra large prawns
6 cuttlefish balls, cut each into 3 slices (or you can use cuttlefish or squids)
A handful of green peas
1/2 small yellow onion, sliced
1/4 yellow bell pepper, sliced
1/4 orange bell pepper, sliced (or red/green bell pepper for colors contrast)
1 package of Delimas Stir Fry Sauce


Method:

Heat oil in a wok. When heated, add in prawns and cuttlefish balls, stir well. Then, add in the stir-fry sauce and the rest of the ingredients except peas. Stir to mix well, add a little water if need to. Lastly add in the green peas, give it a quick stir and serve hot.


Another way of cooking it:



One packet of sauce is a lot and thus I saved some to make this Sambal Green Beans. I added dried shrimps, sliced shallots and a wee bit of fish sauce. This sauce will be good for shrimps and petai too! Kind of a all-purpose stir fry sauce.

Monday, July 23, 2007

Chai Tau Kuih My Way



Blur_mommy, you got it right! :) Great guess!

Even though I called this dish Chai Tau Kuih but there is no Chai Tau (radish) in this. I used my leftover rice pudding from the wah kuih, cut it into cubes, added some scallion, bean sprouts, chai por, shrimps, garlic, eggs and some of the leftover topping for the wah kuih to come out with this. The sauce for this dish is simple, just dark soy sauce, soy sauce, sugar, chili paste and white pepper.



Haven't had this for a long time, so this dish was very satisfying. As you can see, I made it quite spicy too! Next time I can probably just make the rice cake to make this dish. Since it has wheat starch in it, the shape holds up really well during stir-frying, it won't turn mushy and soft. One thing though, I need to do better with my eggs, should have stir-fry the eggs first, take it out and add in later since my eggs seem to be missing from all the stir-frying (and I want to see big pieces of fried eggs!).