Category: Korean
Gochugaru Salmon with Crispy Rice-Yet Another Eric Kim Winner

Gochugaru Salmon with Crispy Rice-Yet Another Eric Kim Winner

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Another winner from Eric Kim, NYTcooking columnist, cookbook author, and writer.  Like many of his recipes, this one is very approachable, comes together quickly, and packs a one-two punch of flavor and texture.  The first time, I didn’t bother making the crispy rice.  MISTAKE.  The salmon and glaze are delicious but the crispy rice pushes it to the next level.

I have made so many of his recipes that I have an index of his recipes included in my post about his delightful pound cake.  If you love Sara Lee’s poundcake, you’ll love his version.  Here is the Eric Kim Hall of Food, so far…

Links are included for the ones I have written notes for so far.  One day, I will get through all of them, I hope.

Back to the Fish

Cooked rice-Make this dish when you have leftover rice.  Instead of making fried rice with it (come on, everyone makes fried rice with day-old rice), plan on making the crispy rice cake for this recipe. Short grain is stickier so works well for the rice cake.

The Star- 4 fresh salmon fillets, skin on.  Salt and pepper the fillets and fry until the skin is nice and crispy.  Try not to overcook the salmon,  it’s fine when slightly undercooked.

Before the fish gets sauced,  pan-frying for nice crispy skin.  Imagine that generic video everyone does running a knife over the skin to prove how crispy it is…yep.

The Sauce-pantry staples except for perhaps Gochugaru which is Korean chili pepper flakes (coarse ) or powder (fine). It’s spicy, smokey, and sweet. Find it at most Asian Supermarkets, definitely at H-Mart and Ranch 99. I recommend doubling the sauce, it’s that good.

The sauce comes together quickly. Key ingredient.  Allow it to come to a boil to caramelize the sauce.

Add cold butter to create a delicious, smooth, creamy emulsion.

Crispy Rice- Adds time and work to the dish, but it is so worth it!  The crispy rice adds a textural element.  The rice soaks up the flavor from the oil left in the pan from the fish.  Delish!

Serve this with sliced cucumbers, pickles, fresh kimchi, any banchan, or blanched spinach.

Enjoy!

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Gochugaru Salmon With Crispy Rice

Another winner from Eric KIm, NYT Cooking columnist and author of Korean American. Gochugaru Salmon with Crispy Rice. Quick, Easy and Delicious
Course dinner
Cuisine Asian-American, Korean-American
Keyword crispy rice, gochugaru, maple syrup, quick and easy, Salmon
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 16 minutes
Servings 4 servings

Ingredients

  • 4 skin-on salmon fillets 6 ounces each
  • Kosher salt such as Diamond Crystal
  • Black pepper
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil I use peanut oil
  • 4 cups cooked white rice preferably leftover rice, and short grain which is a bit stickier so it stays together

Sauce

  • 4 teaspoons gochugaru powder or flakes is fine
  • 2 tablespoons maple syrup
  • 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
  • 2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, kept whole

Garnish & Sides

  • Toasted sesame seeds to sprinkle on fish when done
  • Sliced cucumbers or pickles for serving (optional)
  • Any Banchan you like, kimchi, potato salad, spinach your choice

Instructions

  • Season the salmon on all sides with salt and pepper. Heat a large cast-iron or nonstick skillet over medium-high. Add the oil and sear the salmon fillets skin side down until the skin is browned and crispy, 2 to 5 minutes. The salmon will begin to turn pale coral as the heat slowly creeps up the sides of the fish; you want that coral color to come up about two-thirds of the way for a nice medium-rare.
  • Carefully flip the salmon and cook the second side until the flesh feels firm, another 1 to 2 minutes. When you press it, it should not feel wobbly. Transfer the salmon to a plate skin side down and keep the pan with the rendered fat over the heat.
  • Add the rice to the fat in the pan and spread in an even layer, packing it down as if making a rice pancake. Reduce the heat to medium and cook until the bottom is lightly browned and toasted, about 5 minutes. You should hear it crackle.
  • Flip the rice like a pancake, using a spatula if needed. You may not be able to flip it all in one piece, but that’s OK. Cook until lightly toasted on the second side, another 1 to 2 minutes. Go longer if you want crispier rice, but the trifecta of crispy-chewy-soft tastes wonderful.
  • While the rice is cooking, stir together the gochugaru, maple syrup, rice vinegar and 1 teaspoon salt in a small bowl. Set aside.
  • When the rice is done, divide it evenly among the plates. In the now-empty pan, add the gochugaru mixture and cook, stirring constantly, over medium-high heat until it bubbles up and reduces significantly, 15 seconds to 1 minute. It should look pretty sticky.
  • Turn off the heat and add the cold butter, stirring with a wooden spoon or tongs until fully melted and incorporated into the gochugaru mixture. Pour this glaze over the salmon and serve with cucumbers or pickles.

Notes

You can find gochugaru, or red-pepper powder, at Korean or Asian supermarkets or online. Store in the freezer, it lasts a long time without degrading.
I use a non-stick skillet that doesn't brown or crisp food like a cast iron pan.  It may take significantly more time to brown and crisp rice.
Jjim Dak (Korean Braised Chicken)

Jjim Dak (Korean Braised Chicken)

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Brrrrr… getting chilly out there.  While I love summer, I do look forward to winter.  As the temperature drops I start dreaming of dishes that warm the body and soul.  Soup bowls and spoons that have languished on the shelf all summer are now front and center, waiting to be filled.  Soups, rice bowls, stews, nabes,  dumplings, noodles, and casseroles are always in the winter rotation.  Comfort food with a capital C.

Some of my favorite casseroles or soups don’t require hours on the stove, this is one of them, Jjim Dak or Korean Braised Chicken.  Jjim Dak is a hearty chicken, vegetables, and glass noodle dish that comes together in an hour.  It’s flexible in terms of ingredients (which mean any veggie you have hiding in your crisper is fair game), and filling due to the addition of potatoes and glass noodles.  A TikTok video for this dish caught my attention so I headed to my favorite Korean recipe site, http://Koreanbapsang.com.  A quick search of her site and bada bing, bada boom…I found her recipe for Korean braised chicken.

Let’s get to it…Bowl Food is Soul Food

This is a very flexible recipe. The foundation is chicken, potatoes, carrots, onions, mushrooms and chili.  Braise the chicken in soy sauce, oyster sauce, a bit of sugar and mirin.  This is an easy one-pot meal that comes together quickly and is guaranteed to chase the chilly weather away.

Use chicken thighs or drumsticks, preferably bone-in and cut into large bite-size pieces.  You can use boneless but you run the risk of overcooking the chicken while braising the vegetables.  You can find cut bone-in pieces of chicken at most Asian markets.  If you cut it yourself make sure to rinse the chicken after chopping for bone fragments.

Veggie So Many Choices, So Little Time…Cause I’m Hungry

Traditionally, this dish has the usual suspects, carrots, potatoes, onions, and scallions.  Feel free to add whatever you like and it will be divine.  I added mushrooms, Korean radish, and Korean radish leaves (so excited when I saw the tops on the radishes at the market).  Hands down yummy.  So add whatever you like, including KALE (nooooo, can’t believe I wrote that).  Cut the veggies in smaller bites due to quick cooking time.  In fact, if using boneless chicken, I would dump everything in at once and not cook the chicken first.  Make it in advance, if you can, to let the flavors develop.

The glass noodles take this over the top.  They add texture, flavor (the noods suck up the flavor from the sauce, chicken and veggies-yummo) and substance to the dish. You can find mung bean noodles or glass noodles at most Asian stores.  Do not confuse it with rice noodles or vermicelli.  Pre-soak noods to soften, drain well before adding.

The sauce ingredients are readily available. Use  Korean soy sauce or Kikkoman which are a bit more similar to each other than Chinese soy sauces.  I could go down a rabbit about soy sauces…. Oyster Sauce, as always, my go-to is Lee Kum Kee with the lady and boy in the boat label.

Don’t forget the bap 🍚!

There you go, a delicious one-pot meal.

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Jjim Dak

Braised chicken with assorted veggies, perfect for dish for chilly nights
Course comfort food
Cuisine Korean
Prep Time 20 minutes

Equipment

  • Prep Time
  • 20minutes mins
  • Cook Time
  • 30minutes mins
  • Total Time
  • 50minutes mins

Ingredients

The Stars

  • 1 medium-sized chicken cut up (2.5 to 3 pounds of cut pieces)
  • 3 ounces sweet potato starch noodles dangmyeon, 당면
  • 2 medium white or yukon gold potatoes about 10 ounces
  • 1 medium carrot 1/4 inch slices on diagonal
  • 1/2 medium onion cut in half and sliced 1/4-inch thick
  • 3 - 4 mushroom caps rehydrated dried shiitake or fresh shiitake, white, or baby bellas
  • 2 scallions
  • 2 - 3 dried whole red chili peppers optional, mild use 1
  • 1 - 2 fresh chili peppers or jalapenos optional
  • 2 tablespoons minced garlic
  • 1 teaspoon grated ginger

Braising Liquid

  • 1/2 cup soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoons oyster sauce If unavailable, use more soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoons rice wine or mirin
  • 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar if unavailable, use regular sugar
  • 3 to 4 tablespoons corn syrup Korean jocheong (rice syrup), Oligodang (oligo syrup), or 2 to 3 tablespoons honey Adjust to taste or agave would probaly work
  • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Finishing

  • 1 tablespoon sesame oil
  • 1 teaspoon sesame seeds

Instructions

  • Soak the starch noodles in warm water for about 30 minutes while preparing the other ingredients. Drain well before using.
  • Clean chicken and cut into small to medium-sized pieces.
  • Cut the potatoes in chunks (about 1-1/2 inch), soak them in water while preparing the other vegetables. Cut the carrot (1/4-inch slices), mushrooms, and onion into bite-sized pieces.
  • Add the chicken pieces to a large pot. Pour 3 cups of water over the chicken. (You should reduce the amount of water if not using the noodles.) Add the sauce ingredients except sesame oil and seeds. Bring it to a boil over high heat, uncovered, and continue to boil for about 10 minutes. Skim off the foam.
  • Add the potatoes, carrot, mushrooms, onion, dried whole red chili peppers, garlic and ginger. Cover, and cook for 8 to 10 minutes. There may still be a lot of liquid, but the potatoes and starch noodles will soak up a lot of it.
  • Stir in the green chili peppers (if using), and glass noodles. Continue to cook, uncovered this time, for an additional 3-5 minutes. Stir in the sesame oil. Garnish with sesame seeds, scallions. Serve immediately.
Roasted Chicken & Croutons with Fish-Sauce Butter-Sheet Pan Magic

Roasted Chicken & Croutons with Fish-Sauce Butter-Sheet Pan Magic

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I couldn’t help but tweak Eric Kim’s Roasted Chicken with Fish-Sauce Butter title.  I added Croutons to the title because… lets be real, the croutons are the star of this dish.  It reminds me of Roti Roti, a food truck fixture in the Bay Area.  A simple winning formula of chickens roasting on a spit, dripping all that deliciousness onto a bed of potatoes below it.  Well, that’s this dish but with bread and your own oven.

First, roast chicken thighs on a sheet pan (the operative words for an easy meal) in a 450-degree oven.  This gives you crispy skin chicken and a pool of deliciousness aka SCHMALTZ on the pan.  Then toss flakes (yes flakes, more on that later) of bread onto the pan and smoosh it around so it soaks up the chicken fat.  Shove it back into the oven, and fifteen minutes later those bread flakes have morphed into golden, crunchy, umami bombs.

It’s Soooo Good

I divide the dish evenly between me and the hubsters, he gets the chicken,  I get the croutons, yep, 50-50 all the way.

Let’s talk flakes.  You can use any bread you like, sourdough, milk bread, or my favorite, ciabatta.  The key is to tear the bread so you get shards or flakes.  Cubes don’t cut it for this dish, not enough surface area. Try to tear or split the bread to form flakes for ultimate crispness.

The rest is easy-peasy.  Place chicken on a sheet pan, and season with salt and pepper.  Go easy with the salt as the fish sauce has salt. Drizzle olive oil on the chicken and flip each piece around to coat each piece.  Roast for approximately 25 minutes.  I prefer bigger pieces of chicken so the skin crisps without drying out the chicken.  Pull the chicken out, there should be a nice puddle of schmaltz in the pan.  Add the croutons to the pan and toss the bread in the chicken fat.  Slide the pan back into the oven to crisp the croutons and finish the chicken.  If the chicken is cooked through before the croutons, pull them out and continue to bake the croutons.

Meanwhile…

While the chicken and croutons are roasting, make the Fish-Sauce Butter.  The sauce is genius, easy to make, and delish with just four ingredients, fish sauce (I use 3 Crab Vietnamese Fish Sauce), lemon juice, brown sugar, and BUTTER.  Reduce the first 3 ingredients to a syrupy consistency.  When the surface of the sauce is covered with bubbles, turn the heat off and add the chunk of COLD butter to the pan and swirl to create an emulsion.

Leave the chicken and croutons in the pan, drizzle some of the sauce on the chicken and croutons, garnish with cilantro and green onions, and bring the pan to the table.  So easy. Serve the remaining sauce on the side. If you want to be fancy, transfer chicken and croutons to a serving platter.

Accompaniments?  Rice, double carb, is always yummy, or I like serving it with mashed cauliflower.  Another winner from Eric Kim.  Sheet pan magic happening here.

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Roasted Chicken and Croutons with Fish-Sauce Butter

From Eric Kim via NYTCooking, roasted chicken thighs, toasty croutons, and a scrumptious, quick sauce made with Vietnamese Fish Sauce, brown sugar, lemon, and butter. The perfect weekday meal.
Course dinner, Main Course
Cuisine Asian-American
Keyword brown butter, Chicken thighs, croutons, fish sauce, oven-baked
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 35 minutes
Servings 2 servings

Ingredients

  • 4 bone-in skin-on chicken thighs (about 2 pounds)
  • Kosher salt such as Diamond Crystal and black pepper
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • ¾ pound bread crusts removed, bread torn into bite-size pieces about 4 cups;
  • 1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon fish sauce
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • 3 tablespoons COLD unsalted butter kept in one piece
  • Cilantro leaves with tender stems for serving
  • scallions or chives, chopped garnish for serving

Instructions

  • Heat oven to 450 degrees. Pat the chicken dry with paper towels and season lightly with salt and pepper. (The fish-sauce butter is plenty salty, so don’t overdo the salt here.)
  • Arrange the chicken skin-side up on a sheet pan and drizzle the oil over the chicken skin, coating it evenly.
  • Roast until the chicken is light gold and the sheet pan is a pool of hot, rendered chicken fat, SCHMALTZ, about 20-25 minutes.
  • Take the sheet pan out of the oven, scatter the bread around the chicken. Using tongs toss gently to coat in the chicken fat.
  • Place the pan back in the oven and roast until the chicken is golden, crispy and sizzling (you’ll hear it), about 15 minutes.
  • While the chicken roasts, combine the brown sugar, fish sauce and lemon juice in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Cook, occasionally swirling the pan or stirring the sauce with a wooden spoon, until it bubbling vigorously and the mixture has reduced by about half, 2 to 3 minutes.
  • Turn off the heat and add the butter, constantly swirling the pan or stirring with a wooden spoon, until all of the butter has melted and incorporated into the fish sauce mixture. It should be a heavy syrup consistency.
  • To serve, scatter the cilantro and scallions or chives over the chicken and croutons. Spoon some of the fish-sauce butter over each chicken thigh, reserving some to add to each plate for dipping the chicken and croutons while eating, so yummy.

Notes

Roasting chicken thighs in a hot oven is a hands-off way to achieve two of life’s greatest pleasures: crispy skin and golden schmaltz. And you want that chicken fat because it will crisp hand-torn bread into croutons. A bold but balanced fish-sauce butter that you whip up on the stovetop while the rest of the meal takes care of itself in the oven, takes this over the top. Be sure to start with cold butter; the gradual melting of the fat helps thicken the sauce without breaking it.
After making this dish...go get his cookbook, Korean American, another winner.
Chewy Black Sesame Rice Cake #CakeforTimmy

Chewy Black Sesame Rice Cake #CakeforTimmy

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I first made Eric Kim’s Chewy Black Sesame Mochi Cake after a “Bake-a-long” with him, a perk for purchasing his book, Korean American. I was on a “mochi-bender”, if a recipe called for sweet or glutinous rice, I made it.  His cake is not only made with mochi, it has black sesame seeds.  I LOVE sesame seeds in any form, game on.

Bake-A-long

For those of you who #1 Have read this far down, #2  Pretty darn observant…yes, the Bake-A-Long was quite a while ago.  While I loved the sesame flavor and texture of the cake, not gonna lie, the cake was pretty sweet.  Eric seems to have a pretty high sugar barometer.  I made a mental note to file it away in my brain to try again with a smidge less sugar.

52 Reasons To Try It Again

For all the evils of social media (I say this with a half chuckle) the best thing about it has been finding my peeps.  Finding folks with similar interests that I would never in a million years have connected with if not for Facebook or Instagram. A virtual community that shares a common interest.  Groups like Food52’s Cookbook Club on Facebook (yep, you need to use FB) where folks like you and I can share recipes, reviews, and kitchen adventures.

Each month features a new (or old) cookbook, which, if you are like me, a cookbook addict, probably have or are in the process of getting.  It gives me that little shove to open up that cookbook and try it.  It’s also a great resource for tips and reviews for many of the recipes.

This month the selected cookbook is Korean American by Eric Kim.  Which reminded me that I haven’t made anything from it in a while.  Time to tweak that Chewy Black Sesame Rice Cake again.

Oops, I Did It Again.  But as Muffins

I decreased the amount of sugar in the recipe and made muffins instead of a cake.  Kinda like having my own personal dessert.

Sweet or glutinous rice flour is not to be confused with rice flour.  Sweet rice is much stickier than rice flour.  They are not interchangeable.  Koda Farms sweet rice is known as Mochiko and is pretty easy to find especially at Asian grocery stores.

Black sesame seeds can be found at most grocery stores in the spice section.  Asian grocery stores will also carry sesame seeds in larger quantities and not quite as expensive.  You

To reduce the sweetness cut sugar by 1/4 to 1/2 cup.  I cut it by 1/2 and it was still sweet enough for my taste. You may have to play with a little.  The time between making the original recipe (full sugar load) and when I made the muffins with half sugar taxes my memory as to whether the texture was different

The batter is fairly runny and pourable.  Very doable as a cake or muffins.  Shorten baking time to 20-25 minutes if making muffins.

Looking for something just a little different, gluten-free, and delicious, look no more, it’s right here.

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Chewy Black Sesame Rice Cake

A delicious, dense, chewy, sesame flavored cake from Eric Kim
Course Dessert
Cuisine Asian-American
Keyword Black Sesame Seed, cake, chewy, ERic KIm, Mochi
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour

Equipment

  • 1 9 inch cake pan or
  • 1 12-cup std muffin pan

Ingredients

  • Cooking spray or butter and flour with plain rice flour

Eggs and Tings'

  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 cup sugar (it's pretty sweet, I use 1/2 cup)
  • ¼ cup honey mild
  • ¾ teaspoon kosher salt

The Wet Stuff

  • 1 cup whole milk
  • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter melted
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract yes, 1 TABLESPOON
  • ½ teaspoon toasted sesame oil

The Crunch

  • 4 tablespoons toasted black sesame seeds divided equally in half

The Dry Stuff

  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 8 ounces (227g) glutinous rice flour aka mochiko or sweet rice flour NOT plain rice flour

The Finish

  • Powdered sugar for serving

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 350°F. Mist an 8-inch round cake pan with cooking spray or buttered and dusted with rice flour.
  • In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, honey, and salt until fluffy and pale yellow, about 2 minutes. Whisk in the milk, vanilla, melted butter, and sesame oil until combined. Ain't gonna lie, I use my mixer on medium speed.
  • Using a mortar and pestle (or a coffee/spice grinder), pulverize 2 tablespoons of the black sesame seeds into a rough powder. It should smell very fragrant. Add this sesame powder, along with the remaining 2 tablespoons of whole black sesame seeds, to the bowl with the egg mixture, followed by the baking powder and rice flour. Whisk to combine, then carefully pour the batter into the greased cake pan. This part you can do by hand or machine.
  • Bake until the top is nicely browned and cracked slightly (this is a good sign), 50 to 60 minutes. You can also insert a chopstick or toothpick into the center of the cake, and if it comes out clean, then it’s done.
    For muffins, fill a 12-cup muffin tin that has been buttered to 7/8 full. Bake for approximately 25 minutes.
  • Cool completely before dusting with the powdered sugar and slicing into wedges to serve. The cake will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
Cold Noodles with Tomatoes (Tomato Triple Play)

Cold Noodles with Tomatoes (Tomato Triple Play)

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I have taken over tomato duties from the hubby who has given up on becoming an urban farmer.  We just haven’t had any luck with turning our garden into a summer veggie paradise.  My bounty from 5 tomato plants so far has been a grand total of 4 tiny red orbs 🤦🏻‍♀️

FORTUNATELY, we have a wonderful farmer’s market in town.

My haul from last week’s farmer’s market included a variety of cherry tomatoes including Bronze Torch Cherry Tomatoes (pictured on the right above) from Live Earth Farm in Watsonville. We have been buying Live Earth produce since my kids were toddlers and they’re in their twenties now!  The Bronze Torch Cherry Tomatoes are simply AH-MAZING.  Sweet, tomatoey, delicious.

Tomato Trifecta

I am a big fan of Eric Kim.  He writes regularly for New York Times Cooking and just published a wonderful cookbook, Korean American.  It is hands down one of my favorite books. His recipes are easy and delicious and his writing is even better.  You can also find him on YouTube making many of his recipes, he’s funny, personable, and charming.  I went to his book signing at Omnivore Books in SF, fun, I’m such a food groupie.

I love his Grape Tomato Quick Kimchi which I make all the time.  Serve as Banchan (side dish-pictured on the right above) one day and as a sauce over noods the next day.  It is downright delicious.  As soon as I saw his Cold Noodle with Tomatoes recipe I jotted it down on my MAKE ASAP list.  It is so easy and incredibly delicious.  It should go on your list too.

Start with cherry tomatoes, slice them in half, and sprinkle with salt.  Let the tomatoes sit in the bowl while you put together the rest of the dish.  No need to use a strainer as the juices from the salted tomatoes become part of the broth.  Mince garlic, get out the rice vinegar, soy sauce, Dijon mustard, and sesame oil, and toss it all in a bowl along with the tomatoes.  Next, add cold-filtered or bottled water to the bowl (use water that tastes good).  Add diced scallions, and slices of radishes (the little red ones) or cucumbers to the broth. Set the broth aside.

Here’s the Hard Part

How to cook your somen.  DO NOT COOK YOUR SOMEN while you are getting the other components together. Make the broth and set it aside.  Focus on the noods so you don’t overcook them.  For somen (thin Japanese wheat noodles), start with plenty of unsalted water.  Somen has salt in it. If you use too little water, the noods will absorb too much water because of the salinity. Watch them like a hawk, and stir them with chopsticks or tongs while cooking to separate the noodles, this takes 3-4 minutes TOPS.  Remove from heat, rinse thoroughly under cold water and drain well.

Before serving, twirl noodles into a bundle and place them in a bowl.  Add crushed ice to the tomatoes and pour it over your noodles.  Garnish with additional scallions and sesame seeds.  It’s so refreshing, the perfect summer meal.  Carnivores, feel free to add shrimp or chicken or half of a hard-boiled egg.   Serve asap on a hot summer day.  Sooooooo good.

BONUS,  Ottolenghi’s Charred Tomatoes and Cold Yogurt.  Yes, my trifecta of tomato recipes.  Tomatoes, roasted with thyme, cumin seeds, lemon, and garlic,  served over yogurt or Labneh. It’s my go-to party appetizer, especially in the summer.  It’s “lick the bowl clean” good.  A showstopping, easy dish.  Make it, you’ll thank me.

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Cold Noodles with Tomatoes

Refreshing, delicious, and easy to prepare, Eric Kim's Cold Noodles with Tomatoes
Course noodles, one bowl meal, pasta, Soup
Cuisine Asian, Asian-American, Korean
Keyword cherry tomatoes, Cold noodles, Cold Noodles with Tomatoes, soup
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 5 minutes

Ingredients

The Star

  • 2 pints ripe cherry tomatoes halved
  • 2 teaspoons kosher salt (Diamond Crystal)

The Noods

  • 12 to 14 ounces somyeon somen, capellini or other thin wheat noodle

Soup and Seasonings

  • ¼ cup rice vinegar
  • 2 tablespoons soy sauce Kikkoman, Sempio 501 or 701 or LKK Premium Soy
  • 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
  • 1 large garlic clove finely grated
  • ½ teaspoon Dijon mustard
  • ½ teaspoon toasted sesame oil
  • 2 cups cold filtered water or bottled water of your choice.
  • 1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds

The Garnishes

  • 2 radishes thinly sliced, or cucumbers work in a pinch
  • 2 scallions thinly sliced at an angle
  • 2 cups crushed or cubed ice

Omnivore Options

  • cooked shrimp or shredded chicken
  • hard boiled eggs, but not too hard-boiled lol

Instructions

  • In a large bowl, toss together the tomatoes and salt. Let sit until juicy, about 10 minutes.
  • Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cook the noodles according to package instructions, drain and rinse under cold water. Set aside. See post for how to cook somen noodles.
  • Add the vinegar, soy sauce, sugar, garlic, mustard and sesame oil to the tomatoes, and toss with a spoon until well combined. Stir water into the tomatoes and sprinkle the surface of the broth with the sesame seeds, radishes and scallions.
  • Right before serving, add the ice to the broth. Divide the noodles among bowls, and ladle in the broth and any unmelted ice, making sure each serving gets a nice sprinkling of tomatoes, radishes, scallions and sesame seeds.
Jangjorim (Soy Braised Beef 장조림)

Jangjorim (Soy Braised Beef 장조림)

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I have a total backlog of recipes I want to share with you and this one is top of the list.  I have made this as many times as I have made Eric Kim’s Quick Grape Tomato Banchan or Ottolenghi’s Charred Tomato and Cold Yogurt (so good) and that is saying a lot.

Do You Banchan?

Jangjorim or Soy Braised Beef can be served as banchan (those yummy little dishes that come with every Korean meal) or as a topping to a rice bowl or in a bento box.

I’m not a salad lover. Well, let me rephrase that, I’m not a salad maker…so much trouble.  But banchan? Worth the trouble, I’ll make a batch of each, keep them in the fridge and pull ’em out for lunch and/or dinner.  They go with everything, rice, noodles, or sammies.  Want a little funkiness in your grill cheese, add kimchi (김치).  Want crunch and spice in your noodles, add spicy cucumbers (오이무침).  Pickled or braised veggies go so well with rice, maybe that’s why I like them.

Koreanbapsang’s recipe for Jangjorim is my starting point.  First step, make the stock to cook the meat.  The stock includes onions, scallions, garlic and Korean radish (mu,무).  The radish gives the dish sweetness, I save the radish to serve with the Jangjorim.  It’s delicious.

Shank-alicious

Next, cut beef into cubes and simmer in the stock.  Use brisket, flank, chuck, or my favorite, shank.  Shank is both flavorful and economical, win-win.  For those not familiar with shank, it comes cut crosswise into pieces with the bone in the center.  Remove the meat from the bone and cut it into pieces. Throw the bones into the cooking broth for extra flavor.  I’ve also used pork shoulder or butt as a substitute with nods of approval from the fam.  After simmering, remove the meat and place it in another pot along with 2.5 cups of the original stock and add the seasonings.  Reserve the radish.  Cook meat on medium heat for approximately 20 minutes.  Then add shishito peppers, boiled, peeled eggs, kelp (optional), and the reserved radish. Cook for another 10 minutes or until meat is tender.

Shishito peppers can be a bit spicy, so if you have little kids or big kids that are spice averse, use bell peppers or Anaheim peppers, and cut into manageable bite-sized pieces.  Cook eggs as you would six-minute ramen eggs.  Chill eggs thoroughly before final braising to avoid overcooking the eggs.  Normally, the eggs are hard-boiled but jammy eggs are my jam.

Jangjorim can be served at room temperature to warm as banchan or over rice.  The meat can be shredded or sliced.  It’s so flavorful, a little bit goes a long way.

I love this dish and hope you will try it!

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Jangjorim (Soy braised Beef)

Jangjorim or Soy braised Beef, adapted from Korean Bapsang, is a delicious Korean side dish that works well in a bento box too!
Course Meat, Side Dish
Cuisine Asian, Korean
Keyword Banchan, Korean, shishito peppers
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour

Ingredients

Da Stars

  • 1.5 pounds shank meat or beef brisket you can sub pork shoulder or butt
  • 10 to 12 Shishito peppers or other fresh green peppers Use less and cut into halves if using large peppers
  • 3 boiled eggs* peeled

Da Stock

  • 1/2 medium yellow onion
  • 2 stalks scallions white part only save green parts for garnish
  • 6 ounces Korean radish (about 1/4-1/3 of one radish) mu, cut into big chunks
  • 7 cloves garlic
  • 3 slices thin ginger about 1-inch round
  • 1/2 teaspoon whole black peppers or ground peppers to taste

Da Sauce

  • 5 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoons soup soy sauce guk ganjang, 국간장 (or use more regular soy sauce)
  • 3 tablespoons sugar
  • 3 tablespoons rice wine or mirin
  • 1 piece 3-inch square dried kelp substitute a bay leaf

Instructions

  • Cut the beef into 2-inch chunks. This recipe is very flexible. You use brisket or flank. I love beef beef shank which is very economical. It has great flavor and texture. You could even use pork shoulder or butt. Delicious!
  • In a medium pot, bring 8 cups of water and Da Stock ingredients to a boil. Cover and continue to boil for 5 minutes over medium-high heat.
  • Drop the meat into the pot. Bring it to a gentle boil, and remove the scum. Reduce the heat to medium. Boil, covered, for about 30 minutes.
  • Remove the meat. Strain the cooking liquid into a large bowl, and then add 2.5 cups of the liquid back to the pot. (You can save the remaining broth to make a soup or stew later.)
  • Add the meat and sauce ingredients to the pot. Bring it to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to medium, and boil, covered, until the meat is tender and the sauce is reduced to about ⅓, about 20 minutes. You can cook longer if the meat is still not tender enough.
  • Add the optional dried kelp, peppers and eggs and continue to boil for about 10 minutes. Discard the kelp, and transfer everything else to an airtight container for storage. Cool before storing in the fridge. Shred the meat and pour some sauce over to serve.
  • Optional: Serve the radish and onions with this dish! Normally, the meat is shredded, and served with shishito peppers and eggs.

Notes

Refrigerate in an airtight container. It will keep for a week. If you want to keep it longer, boil the meat and sauce again after a few days.
The meat will become hard in the fridge. You can soften it by leaving the shredded beef out at room temperature for 20 to 30 minutes, or microwave for about 20 seconds to soften.
Meat & Tofu Patties Wanja-Jeon

Meat & Tofu Patties Wanja-Jeon

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From a historical perspective, who was the OG that took a hunka meat and decided to grind it up?

It was GENIUS

I mean, think of all the foods you love that start with ground meat?  Top of the list, duh, BURGERS.  Followed by Italian SAUSAGES, Spaghetti and MEATBALLS,  Sloppy Joes, ragú, chili, and meatloaf…  In Asian cuisine you have,  Steamed Pork Patty, Japanese Soboro, potstickers, momos…toppings for rice bowls, quick soups, dumplings…I could grind on but you get the meat of it.

Dinners were always delicious at my Auntie Lil and Uncle Stan’s house.  A blend of Korean and Hawaiian dishes that made my mouth water.  My favorite dish was Auntie Lil’s Beef and Tofu Patties, her version of Wanja-jeon, 완자전.  Kind of like bite-sized flattened meatballs she called mini-burgers.   Add tofu and carrots to make the jeon moist and tender. Then season with sesame, onions, garlic, and soy sauce and finally dip in flour and egg then fry to a light golden color. Freakin’ delicious.

Ultimately, consumed at a torrid pace by…me.  Unfortunately, I never asked her for the recipe so to re-create Auntie Lil’s Wanj-jeon, I turned to a couple of my favorite Korean food sites, Korean Bapsang and Maanchi.

Where’s the Beef…Patty

Wanja-jeon can be made with beef or a combination of beef and pork. I might try some ground chicken in place of the pork, but for now let’s stick to the OG version, BEEF. I did try 50:50 beef: pork and didn’t feel there was a big difference. Finely dice or mince the carrots, onions, garlic, and scallions.  Drain and press the excess water from the tofu (very important, no soggy patties for us) and smoosh it up.  Add soy sauce and sesame seeds and oil. Lightly mix the ingredients together.

Set aside two bowls, fill one with the flour and the other for the eggs.  Beat the eggs in a shallow bowl and set them aside. Use a two-tablespoon ice cream scoop to make balls and lightly flatten each.  Dip each patty into the flour and place it on a pan or platter.  When you have floured all of the patties, it’s fry time. Heat a non-stick pan over medium heat and add the oil.  Place your bowl of beaten eggs near the pan.  When the pan is hot, dip each patty into the egg mixture and carefully place it in the pan.

Fry over medium-low heat, the patties should be a light golden brown and firm to touch.

Serve Wanja-jeon warm or room temperature.  I like to serve the patties with a dipping sauce that has a little sweetness and kick.  Enjoy!

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Wanjajeon (Pan-fried Beef and Tofu Patties)

Korean Beef and Tofu Patties, known as Wanja-jeon are delicious two bite morsels that are delicious as an appetizer, and perfect for Bento box lunches. Kids love them!
Course Appetizer
Cuisine Asian
Keyword beef and tofu patties, Korean Snack, wanjajeon
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Servings 4 servings

Ingredients

The Patty

  • ½ pound ground beef or mixture of pork and beef
  • 4 ounces of tofu squeeze out excess water and smoosh
  • 3 tablespoons chopped onion, yellow or white ~1/4 of an onion
  • 1-2 garlic cloves (1 tsp) minced
  • 1 green onion finely chopped
  • 2 tablespoons chopped carrot minced or finely chopped
  • 1 large egg slightly beatened

The Patty Seasonings

  • 1 tsp kosher salt
  • ½ teaspoon soy sauce
  • ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 1½ teaspoons toasted sesame oil

The Dredge & Fry

  • 2 eggs
  • 2 to 3 tablespoons all purpose flour
  • 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 1 tsp roasted white sesame seeds, crushed optional

Dipping Sauce

  • 2 tbsp soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp rice vinegar
  • 1 tsp granulated sugar
  • 1/2-1 tsp Gochugaru or crushed chili flakes
  • 1 tsp sesame oil
  • 1 tsp green onions, finely diced
  • 1/2 tsp garlic, minced
  • 1 tsp toasted sesame seeds

Instructions

Patties

  • Combine ground beef, pressed tofu, onion, garlic, green onion, carrot, 1 teaspoon kosher salt, soy sauce, ground black pepper, sesame oil, sesame seeds if using, and 1 egg in a bowl.
  • Mix well by hand until the mixture gets a little sticky.
  • Divide the mixture into ~16 equal pieces. A 2-tablespoon ice cream scoop makes easy work of this. Shape each into a ball between your palms, then flatten into 2-inch patty about ¼ inch thick.
  • Dip each patty into flour, coat well but shake off the excess. Set each aside on a platter. Dredge all the patties at once and place on a platter or tray.

Fry Time

  • In a bowl beat 2 eggs, add a pinch of salt.
  • Heat a large nonstick pan over medium-low heat. Add some oil and tilt the pan to spread it around.
  • Working in batches, dip each patty in the beaten egg, making sure to coat all of the patty, and place in the hot pan, one by one.
  • Cook for about 1-2 minute until the bottom part turns light golden brown. Flip it over and cook for a few more minutes until the bottom part turns a little crunchy and light golden brown.
  • Patties should be firm to touch when done. I cook the patties in two batches in a 12-inch pan. Clean the pan between batches. Serve the patties warm or at room temperature. Leftover patties are perfect in bento boxes.

Dipping Sauce

  • Combine all ingredients, stir well.
  • This is an all-purpose dipping sauce that can be used with dumplings, meat patties, Korean pancakes and jeon.
Stir-Fried Pork Belly and Bean Sprouts

Stir-Fried Pork Belly and Bean Sprouts

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I created 3jamigos to chronicle our family’s food adventures, recipes, and stories, for my kids.  In college, I often called home to ask my dad how to make homestyle Cantonese dishes I grew up eating.  Dishes like fuzzy melon soup, congee, and steamed pork patty, were the connection to my family, a sure-fire remedy to my homesickness.  Things have come full circle, I’m now on the receiving end of the “how do you make…?”.  When I come across a simple and delicious dish, and I think the kids would like it, I make a mental note to put it on 3jamigos.

Soul Food

The OG meal to cure homesickness! Corn Soup, stir-fried anything green, Steamed Pork Patty with Salted Eggs, and Steamed Chicken with Chinese Sausage, and Mushrooms.

Soul food for my family is Cantonese food (Roots, Baby), but over the years has expanded to other Asian cuisines.  Nowadays, you are just as likely to find Bulgogi, Japchae, and Teriyaki on our dinner table.  My latest find is the cookbook,  A Common Table by Cynthia McTernan, it speaks to the melting pot we are.  Absolutely one of my favorites. It’s beautifully written, gorgeously photographed, and filled with delicious user-friendly recipes.  I have also come to depend on blogs and websites for Korean, Vietnamese, and Japanese recipes that are now part of the family meal rotation.

This quick and easy, Stir-Fried Pork Belly with Bean Sprouts has become a family favorite.   Adapted from the blog, Korean Bapsang, it is a quick meal on a busy weeknight.  A couple of minutes of prepping and cooking is all it takes.  Before you know it you’ll be sitting down to a bowl of steaming hot rice topped with a generous scoop of yummy pork and sprouts…yep, bowl food is soul food.

Check It Out Now-Sprout Soul Sistah

Slivers of pork belly stir-fried with bean sprouts, onions, and scallions seasoned with soy sauce and oyster sauce, it’s simple and delicious.   Use thinly sliced pork butt or shoulder instead of pork belly if you like. Thinly sliced beef is also an option.  IN A PINCH, use regular thick-sliced bacon.  This would add that characteristic smoky flavor of bacon, which would be okay in my book 😉.

Sprouts

The only thing you need to know about the bean sprouts for this recipe…don’t overcook them!  Keep them crunchy!  That’s it, folks.  Make sure you pick sprouts that are white and shiny, with a nice yellow tip.  I also threw in a thinly sliced, de-seeded Serrano or Thai pepper, for a little spice.

Enjoy!

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Stir-fried pork belly and bean sprouts-Samgyupsal sukju bokkeum

A quick and easy stir fry of pork belly and bean sprouts.
Course Meat, One dish meals, Vegetable
Cuisine Asian, Korean
Keyword Pork Belly
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes

Ingredients

  • 8 ounces thinly sliced/shaved pork belly or other thinly sliced pork or beef
  • 1 tbsp sesame oil
  • 10 ounces bean sprouts
  • 1/4 medium onion thinly sliced
  • 2 teaspoons minced garlic or 2 -3 plump garlic cloves
  • 2-3 scallions or 2 ounces garlic chives cut into 1 inch segments, if they are large, cut in half lengthwise first
  • 2 tablespoons soy sauce or oyster sauce Use 1 T of each
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 fresh red chili pepper, deseeded and sliced thinly

Instructions

  • If you are using pork belly, cut each slice into 1 inch segments, for other meats thinly sliced into bite sized pieces
  • Give the bean sprouts a quick rinse, and drain. Thinly slice the onion, and cut the scallions (or garlic chives) into 2-inch pieces.
  • Heat a large pan over high heat. Add the sesame oil to the pan and then the pork, stir-fry quickly until no longer pink.
  • Add the onion and stir fry briefly 30 seconds. Add bean sprouts chili pepper (if using) and scallions, continue to stir fry until the bean sprouts have wilted slightly but are still crunchy.
  • Add the soy sauce and/or oyster sauce, garlic, sugar and pepper to taste. Stir-fry quickly. Season with salt to taste if necessary. Serve with a big bowl of rice (although this would go well with noods too). Enjoy!

Notes

You can find a variety of extra thin cut meats in your local Korean/Asian markets.
If you want to thinly slice the meat yourself, freeze the meat until it's firm, but still sliceable. With a sharp knife, slice the meat as thin as you can.
Mayak Eggs to Momofuku Eggs-Eggtraordinary

Mayak Eggs to Momofuku Eggs-Eggtraordinary

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Originally this post was going to just be about the latest Korean craze, Mayak Eggs (마약계란).  Tik Toks, Reels, IG Stories, folks “egging” everyone on to try Mayak Eggs.  The eggs are cooked Ramen Style (we’ll get into that later) and soaked in a bath of soy sauce, sweetener, chilis, garlic, and green onions.  Yep, pretty darn tasty, a flavor explosion of sweet, salty, spicy, and garlicky.

Egg-a-Licious

Ramen Style eggs are cooked in a pretty specific way.  Bring water to a boil and carefully drop your eggs in the boiling water. Let them boil for 6 minutes before immediately plunging them into an ice bath to stop the cooking.  The end result is a soft-boiled egg, where the egg white is cooked through but still tender and the yolk is just beginning to set around the edges. The center of the yolk is oozy, unctuous, and scrumptious, perfect in a bowl of ramen.

I have a confession to make…

I didn’t cook my Mayak Eggs this way.  A couple of years ago, (you all know I LOVE kitchen gadgets right? Donut pan, meat grinder, Instant Pot….) I bought an egg cooker.  Yep, a good for only one thing gadget, cooking eggs.  So I used it for my Mayak Eggs.

Well, I am not going to tell you to go buy an egg-cooker (don’t do it) so I needed to make Six Minute Ramen Eggs for myself.  I still had Mayak Eggs in the fridge so I decided to make Dave Chang’s Momofuku Ramen Eggs.  His recipe was part of Food52’s 10 all-time favs, so this was an easy call.

6 Things You Need to Know

  • Both these recipes are incredibly EASY.
  • Both are riffs on a soy sauce-based brine to flavor the eggs
  • Plan to make them in advance as the eggs need to sit in the brines for awhile
  • Mayak means drug in Korean.  Yes, they are addicting-that good
  • The longer the eggs are left in the brine the more color and flavor they will absorb

I saved the best for the last…

  • The hardest, most frustrating THING will be peeling those damn eggs!

Key points before the deep dive into the unappealing task of peeling.

Do You Mayak?

The sauce for the Mayak Eggs is delicious on rice or noodles. The soy sauce and sweetener (you can use corn syrup, rice syrup, or honey) balance each other so it is okay to leave the eggs in the brine/sauce to store.  The aromatics, garlic, chilis, scallions pump up the flavors in the sauce and take the eggs to a whole new level.  Absolutely delish.  Mayak Eggs can be served as a banchan (side dish) or as a topping on a bowl of rice (my fav) or noodles.  I tossed one in my bowl of Congee, along with a splash of the sauce this morning.  Delicious.

For less spicy eggs, de-seed and/or de-vein the chilis or reduce the number of chilis.  You can definitely play with this sauce and make it your own.  Add a little fish sauce for a briny flavor or a Ponzu instead for citrus notes.  Go crazy, it’s all good.

Dave is a Good Egg

Momofuku Eggs are closer to a traditional ramen egg. Not only great with ramen or Udon, but also delicious as part of a rice bowl like Taiwanese Pork Belly Rice Bowl or Buta no Kakuni (Japanese Pork Belly) or Simple Minced Pork Bowl.  The brine is salty.  Marinade your eggs for no more than 4 hours and use a low-sodium soy sauce.  Once made, the eggs can be stored sans sauce in an airtight container.  For a sweeter egg, add another tablespoon of sugar.

It’s the Big Egg…Here’s the Hard Part…Peeling

The goal is to end up with a smooth, pristine, beautiful egg…after peeling it.  The eggs are a little softer than a hard-boiled egg adding another layer of difficulty. Peeling without leaving little divots in the eggs, not an easy task.

  • Boil enough water such that the water level is one inch over the eggs.
  • Add 1 tablespoon vinegar and 1 teaspoon salt to the water. ( I see just as many recipes that don’t include this-optional)
  • When the water comes to a boil, carefully lower the eggs into it.
  • For the first minute of boiling, stir the eggs around the pot, this helps center the yolk.
  • Boil (not crazy boil, gentle rolling boil) for 6 minutes for a runny yolk, an additional minute for a jammy egg.
  • Have an ice bath ready to transfer the eggs into.
  • Allow eggs to cool for 5 minutes in the ice bath.
  • Crack the eggshell by tapping on it with a spoon.  Carefully peel the eggshell off along with the membrane between the shell and egg.  It helps to peel the egg in water or under running water.
  • Invert your teaspoon so the bottom is facing you, and slide it under the eggshell and membrane, lift the spoon to separate the shell from the egg.
  • Rinse any shell fragments off eggs and place them in brine.  Done!
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Mayak Eggs

Delicious and easy, Mayak Eggs are the perfect rice or noodle bowl accompaniment
Course Appetizer, Main Course
Cuisine Asian, Asian-American
Keyword appetizer, egg, Mayak eggs, momofuku egg, ramen egg
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 6 hours
Servings 6 servings10

Ingredients

Cookin' Da Eggs

  • 4-6 eggs room temperature
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 1 tbsp white vinegar

Da Marinade

  • 1/2 cup soy sauce I use Sempio 701 Soy Sauce for this dish
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1/2 cup rice syrup corn syrup or honey
  • 3 garlic cloves chopped
  • 3 to 4 green onions chopped
  • 1 green chili chopped (optional)
  • 1 red chili chopped (optional)
  • 1 tbsp sesame seeds

Instructions

Cookin Da Eggs

  • Heat enough water to cover 6 eggs by 1 inch in a pot. Add salt and vinegar and bring it to a rolling boil. Using a slotted spoon add eggs to water. Cook the eggs for 6 minutes for runny yolk or up to 10 minutes (Nooo, don't do it!) for hard-boiled eggs. While eggs are cooking, make a water bath of ice and water in a medium-size bowl. When the eggs are done, Immediately transfer them to the ice water bath. Cool for 5-7 minutes before peeling.

Da Sauce (marinade)

  • Combine soy, water, and sweetener and stir to blend. Add garlic, green onions, chilies and sesame seeds, stir.
  • Peel the eggs carefully without damaging them (easier said than done) and place in an air-tight container. Pour the sauce mixture over the eggs, cover and store in a refrigerator for at least 6 hours to overnight before serving.
  • It will last 5 to 7 days in fridge!
  • Drizzle with sesame oil! Serve with hot steamed rice.
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Momofuku Marinated Ramen Egg

Momofuku 6-minute eggs perfect topping on ramen or by itself as a snack
Course Appetizer
Cuisine Asian
Keyword egg, ramen egg
Prep Time 5 minutes

Ingredients

  • 6 tablespoons warm water
  • 1 tablespoon sugar addtional tablespoon for a sweeter egg
  • 2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
  • 3/4 cup soy sauce low-sodium or Tamari
  • 4-6 large eggs

Instructions

  • In a medium bowl, whisk together the water and sugar to dissolve the sugar, then stir in the sherry vinegar and soy sauce.
  • Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Carefully put the eggs into the boiling water and cook for exactly 6 minutes and 50 seconds, stirring slowly for the first 1 minute. Meanwhile, fill a large bowl with cold water and ice. When the eggs are done, transfer them to the ice bath.
  • Once the eggs are cool, (5-7 minutes) peel them in the water. See notes above.
  • Transfer the eggs to the soy sauce mixture and marinate in the fridge for at least 2 hours and up to 4 hours, making sure they are completely submerged or occasionally rotate eggs.
  • Remove the eggs from the sweet and salty marinade. You can save the soy sauce mix for another round of eggs, if you wish. Refrigerate eggs in a tightly sealed container.