Korean Spicy Stir-Fried Squid (Ojingeo Bokkeum)

Ojingeo Bokkeum, Korean spicy stir-fried squid is one of my favorite dish to order in a Korean restaurant.  I also like the octopus version.  However, sometimes the dish we ordered turned out super sweet or just too sweet for my taste, so I intend to make it myself.  The one I had was served on a bed of raw cabbage, I thought that was an excellent idea in the sense that juices would come out from this dish and flavored the raw cabbage.  Downside was of course they used lots of cabbage hence the dish looked like a great serving size but in fact half of it was the cabbage.  I also liked that they added Korean rice cake in it and gave this dish an extra chewiness.  I would have added rice cake if I have some on hand but since I didn't, I used the Korean fish cake instead.

I didn't make my sauce too sweet nor too spicy as my girls shared this dish with us.  Surprisingly Edda, my little girl loved this dish a ton!  She said it was delicious and asked me to make it again.  She is also a fan of my kimchi pancakes, even requested to save some for her lunch box the next day.  :-)

Happy Thanksgiving!!

I want to wish all my readers a Happy and Safe Thanksgiving!  Go ahead and indulge all the great food and dessert on this special day.  Just worry about losing the weight after the New Year.  :-)  For those who will be shopping for Black Friday deals, have a fun time shopping and hope you will be getting what you wish for.

Chicken, Zucchini and Shiitake Mushroom

My new found love, fresh Shiitake mushrooms!!   We have been enjoying the dried Shiitake mushrooms for ages but recently I spotted some fresh Shiitake mushrooms and being one that never tasted a fresh Shiitake mushroom before, I was eager to give it a try.  I was pleasantly surprised by the fragrant of this fresh mushroom as it had the same earthy, smoky flavor as the dried ones and oh so delicious!  It also more meaty in texture than the white button mushroom and has more potent antioxidant, L-ergothioneine that helps the body to fight off free radicals.  It also has a compound called lentinan that keep the immune system strong and resistant to infection and disease.  Lentinan can also protects against cancer as the studies shown that it has the anti-tumor effect by slowing or reversing the tumor growth.  Not to say it also a good source of protein, iron, vitamin C, dietary fiber and contains vitamins and minerals such as selenium and potassium just to name a few.  I am totally in love with this fresh Shiitake mushroom and hence it will be my mushroom of choice when I go shopping in the Asian market.  But since I am also one that voted for variety of food in my family diet, I would buy other variety of mushrooms too like oyster mushroom, enoki mushrooms, king oyster mushroom, crimini, portobello, beech mushrooms and etc.

I will be sharing this easy recipe with you in the next page which turned out to be surprisingly delicious!

Tofu Knots with Mushrooms

This is another of my meatless vegetarian meal.  I loved these cute baby dried flower mushrooms that I bought in Malaysia.  Since it's so small, I could just serve it whole.  It is great for presentation too!  I have seen this baby mushrooms here too and it is not cheap.  Wish it is cheaper though!  Anyway, the tofu knots and mushrooms in this dish will soak up all the flavor of the stock and you can serve this with rice or porridge.

Herbs Scallops

Scallops are actually good for cardiovascular health as it has Vitamin B-12, omega-3, magnesium, potassium, selenium and lots of nutrients.  Not to say it is also high in protein, low in saturated fat and cholesterol.  Seafood have iodine in it so scallop, calamari and shrimp are actually a good source for me to get some natural iodine besides seaweed.  These seafood have higher monounsaturated fat (increase HDL) and lower saturated fat (decrease LDL) so eating these seafood should be helpful for the heart, but in moderation of course.

I read that table salt (refined salt) is toxic because it has been bleached and rid of all the natural vitamins and minerals essential for the body to function properly.  And your body needs salt in order to function properly as well as important nutrients such as magnesium and potassium which were found in natural unrefined salt (there are lots more nutrients in tiny amount).  So, I will be buying unrefined salt from now on such as natural Mediterranean sea salt, natural sea salt and natural Himalayan rock salt to season my food.  I will get my natural iodine from seaweeds such as wakame and hijizi, and some seafood.

Matcha Mochi Cake with Sweet Potatoes/Yam

 

Why green tea you asked?  It's simply because I adore the Redman green tea powder, it's so fragrant and make your baked good vibrant in this beautiful green color.  I made sure I bought some when I went back to Malaysia few months ago. There is no substitution for me!  Not disappointed, my house smelled like green tea when this was baked and this mochi cake really fragrant packed with green tea smell.  If you just want a plain matcha mochi cake, just omit the sweet potatoes.

The texture of this mochi cake is sticky and chewy with the fragrant of green tea and sweetness from the sweet potatoes.  My next experiment will be with taro mochi cake, wait til I get my hands on some taro!