Kimchi Jjigae

Now that we have made kimchi, we can use it to make kimchi jjigae or kimchi soup. I forgot to take pictures of the kimchi jjigae i made, but heres the recipe I tried. Proportions are based on single serves so just multiply accordingly.

Approx 1 cup of kimchi
1/2 tbsp of gochujang (korean chilli paste)
1 to 1 1/2 cup water
Meat (beef or pork or chicken)
tofu
vegetables like onion and leek
2 cloves of garlic
1 tsp of chicken stock (my korean friends use this korean beef seasoning I'm not sure what its called)
A little bit of sugar if you like (my korean friends sometimes use coke or sprite instead)

1. Fry garlic and meat till meat is turning brown.

2. Add in veg and kimchi and continue frying. Add in gochujang when veg has slightly softened.

3. add in water, stir and taste. The soup should be on the sourish side, you can add in the chicken stock and sugar to balance out the taste. If you want it more spicy, add in some chilli flakes or chilli powder. As long as it tastes good to you thats fine, do your own fine tuning if you like.

4. Bring to a boil and then lower the heat to allow it to simmer. I like the veg to be soft so I normally cook it quite long. Throw in the tofu at the end, allowing it to cook for a few minutes before removing from the stove.

And there you have your kimchi jjigae! Serve it with rice, or you can cook noodles and throw it in.

Kimchi

Having made quite a few korean friends here in Australia, and seeing that kimchi is expensive here in Tassie, I decided to experiment making my own kimchi when I had free time. The result? Well my korean friends said it's good! So I shall post up the recipe that I used to make the kimchi.

1 Chinese Cabbage
Leek
Spring Onions
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 knob ginger, minced
2 tbsp sugar
1 cup chilli powder (gochugaru)
1/2 cup fish/prawn paste or sauce (I used chinchalok prawn paste)
1 heaped tbsp corn flour
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup salt to 1 litre of water

1. Soak cabbage in salt water for at least 5-6 hours, if not overnight.

2. Remove from salt water, rinse in fresh water 2-3 times.

3. Mix corn flour with water and heat over stove till the mixture thickens. Allow mixture to cool.

4. Add in chilli powder, sugar, prawn paste, garlic and ginger and mix well.

5. Cut cabbage, add in leek and spring onions and pour chilli mixture over the veg.

6. Mix well. I heard that the traditional method requires you to use your barehands. My korean friends say this gives it more flavour. Of course you can always use gloves to leave out the extra flavouring.

7. Store in containers for 3-4 days in cool place, after which put it in the fridge.

Above is me using my barehands to mix the kimchi. Someone commented that thats gross, I shall not mention names. But well, its traditional man! Maybe to add more flavour next time I shall not wash my hands first! Hahaha =X

And after mixing everything together... There you have it! Your own kimchi to wow your korean friends. Haha. Store the kimchi in containers and keep in a cool place for 3-4 days before putting it in the fridge.

Apple Crumble Pie

It's been a long time since I last posted an entry, realised my blog is collecting dust! My bad cause after finishing all my assignments I took a well deserved break. Well, it was a good thing too because I was cooking more and actually fine tuned this apple crumble recipe which I've been wanting to post. I also took the opportunity to make kimchi! I will post the recipe next time though. By chance I think I have made my crumble more delicious, more like those you see at cafes. Not sure if I was lucky or something, I actually just went by agaration (estimation) for the crumble bit.

Apple Crumble Pie

Filling
8 Apples, skinned and sliced thinly
1/2 cup raw (brown) sugar
3 tbsp of flour
cinnamon (up to you)

Crumble
1/2 block Butter, melted
2 cup (approx.) Flour
1/3 cup (approx.) Raw (brown) sugar
cinnamon


1. Skin all your apples, remove the seeds and slice thinly.
2. Mix apples in a bowl with the flour, sugar and cinnamon
3. Lay the mixture on your baking tray or dish, spreading it out evenly.
4. Mix melted butter with flour and sugar. I roughly used about 1/3 a cup of sugar and about 1 cup of flour I think. Basically when you mix the ingredients together it should not be too wet, and should start to get sort of clumpy and crumbly. You can add more flour to the mix if you think it is still too wet.
5. Pour crumble mixture over apples, making sure it is evenly distributed
6. Pre-heat oven to 190 degree
7. Bake for roughly 35-40 minutes


And viola! Yummy apple crumble that is best served with a scoop of ice cream! I used my handphone camera to take the picture so it's not so clear, my apologies for that. But the end result is certainly very very yummy, of my 3 attempts I've tried here in Australia, everyone said this is the best. =) Finished in an instant!

Praties

In the heart of Mowbray you will find Praties, the ideal potato meal. As it's name suggests, this shop serves potato fast food. I'm not sure if we have this in Singapore, except for at delifrance? I'm not really sure.


Anyway they have about 10-15 (cant rem e exact number) different types of potato topping to choose from, in three different sizes. If you don't have a big appetite, don't be big eyes like me. I thought the portions looked small so my friends and I ordered 2 large potatoes and one small serving of nachos. The 3 of us couldn't finish it and had to ta bao (take away). Haha.


This dish above is the rajahs curry potatoes. Was slightly spicy, but tasted more like japanese curry rather than an indian curry. But the taste was still good. My mind's abit fuzzy but I believe the curry contained carrots, potatoes and beef. Lots of filling as you can see from the picture.

The nachos were good too, was served with something like a bolognaise sauce and topped with melted cheese and sour cream. Really sinful man! I wonder if the nachos were like those bought in super markets or home made, but I reckon it's like those in super markets. But still very yummy!

Well, this is probably healthier than regular fast food, but I just wonder how much healthier. The food is good and so are the milkshakes! Thick and creamy, reminds me of macdonalds milkshakes back home when I was young. The ones they serve now are horribly disappointing! Expect to pay something anywhere from 7-12 dollars for a meal, depending on the size of potato and if you order drinks or not.