Bibimbap - Mixed Rice with Vegetables

Whenever I travel, I always like to observe what is the eating culture of that particular country. I love to pick up a few cooking tricks or recipes from the locals.  In fact, I find that Korean are very pragmatic. Their regular food is so practical & easy to prepare. Though Korean food is not made with expensive raw material like the Chinese (especially Cantonese food- expensive fish,  abalone, crab, lobsters, expensive sea cucumber..etc). But I still think their food is quite healthy& good. Besides, we do appreciate the simplicity of their cuisine. When I prepare the Bibimbap,  I feel like I am making a very similar Chinese dishes - 擂茶，which is also made with different variety of vegetables.

I will provide the authentic bibimbap recipes here. You will find some of the ingredients I use is slightly different because we use whatever raw material that are available in the fridge. Just be flexible & create your own Bibimbap. You can sneak in some of your family favorite vegetable or etc..... As you can see, my kid favorite fish cake is in her bibimbap. Feel free to adjust the amount of vegetables. There is no hard & fast rules.

Ingredients:

Pre-prepare cooked rice

Handful of bean sprouts

Handful of spinach

1-2 stick of celery

6 pcs of shiitake mushrooms

250g of ground beef or pork

1 carrot

2 eggs with spring onion

Soy sauces

Hot pepper paste  (Korean Gochujang)

Garlic

Sesame seeds

Sesame oil

Vege oil 

** Options my sneak-in ingredients:

Some stir fry fish cakes

Some stir fry onion with pork strips

Some bell pepper

Some cucumber with gochujang

 1) We need to cook all the ingredients separately & arrange on the plate for easy assemble on the later stage.

2) Bean sprouts -cook it in a pot of hot water + pinch of salt for about 2-3 mins. Drain & mix with 1 clove of garlic & sesame oil.
3) Spinach -cook in a pot of hot water + pinch of salt for about 2-3 mins. Drain & mix with a tsp of soy sauce & sesame oil.
4) Celery -stir fry with vegetable oil + garlic in high heat for about 1-2 mins.
5) Mushrooms - Slice it & stir fry with vegetable oil + 2tsp of soy sauce + 1tsp of sugar. Add sesame oil.
6) Ground beef- stir fry ground beef with 2 cloves of garlic +2 tsp soy sauce + 1tsp sugar + black pepper + sesame oil.
This is what I have observed , in Korean kitchen, they add sesame oil to almost any dishes. Sesame oil is a very important ingredients in Korean food.
6) Carrot - stir fry carrot with 1 garlic + vegetable oil.
7) Eggs- pan fry eggs with spring onion & cut into strips.
8) Prepare a bowl of cooked rice. It is the fun time to assemble the bibimbap.

 9) Get everything ready. Prepare a chopstick to arrange the mix vegetables. I find it easier to use chopstick.

10) Assemble the assorted vegetables nicely on top of the rice. Display your proud moment & present it to you guest.

This plate belongs to my 7 years old, she make a big fuss because I spend too much time arranging the vegetables. It was almost 8pm & she is creaming for dinners. She make a big fuss & tell me next time mummy can cook this dishes but mummy need not arrange it so nicely. That's is because she is too hungry.

To enjoy Bibimbap, serve with a bowl of pipping hot seaweed soup. Yummy~

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Classic Butter Tea Cakes with Cherry

Last week, I craved for the Classic Butter Tea Cakes (with cherry). So I decided to make one for our Sunday afternoon tea break. It taste exceptionally good with coffee. This is a very simple & easy recipes, it can be made using electric hand mixer. It is very suitable for beginner in baking. Do give it a try. It is very nostalgic to to bake a butter cake in ring tin. In fact, it was quite popular in the 80s.

Classic Butter Cakes Recipes:
125g butter
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs (beaten)
1 tsp vanilla essence
200g glace cherries ( or prune cut into small pcs)
2 cup of all purpose flour
2 tsp of baking powder
1/2 cup of full cream milk

Method:
1) Preheat oven to 175'C.
2) Ready a round 18-20cm ring tin. Use butter to grease the pan. Lay a baking paper at the bottom. It helps to remove the cake easily when the cake is done baking. You can also bake this cake in a loaf pan.

3) Beat butter with sugar until fluffy. It will turn light & creamy.
4) Add eggs one by one until the mixture is well combined.
5) Add cherry in to the mixture. Use a spatula to mix it in.
6) Fold in shifted flour alternately with milk. Can flour divide into 3 portions for easy mixing.
7) Mix until just combined. DO NOT over mix. I notice most of the time, people easily over mix the batter & the cake become tough.
8) Bake for about 30-40 mins until the inserted skewer come out clean. If the skewer come out clean, it means the cake is fully baked to perfection.
9) Let it rest for about 20-30mis, then only remove it from the tin. It tastes best on the day itself.
10) You can keep the classic butter cake in the refrigerator for 1 week or 1 month in the freezer.

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Stir Fry Spaghetti with Olive Oil

This is my another quick & fast recipes to cook up something in the kitchen to fill up three hungry tummies. Yeah~! Stir Fry Spaghetti  with Olive Oil to the rescue. You can consider this a vegan recipes too because it doesn't contain any meat. This is a very delicious stir fry pasta.

Ingredients (2 serving):
200g Spaghetti
3 tbsp good quality Olive Oil
4 cloves of garlic
1 tsp chili flakes
Season with Salt & Pepper
Some Basil leaves (slightly cut into thin strips)

Retain some pasta water - 1/4 cup

Some smashed bread crumbs
(optional :you can use croutons, pls refer  -http://fabulouscake.blogspot.com/2011/02/delicious-croutons-for-salad.html. Just smash the croutons in a plastic bag with roller pins)

Method:
1) Cook pasta according to package instructions. Cook less than 1-2 mins or slightly below al-dente because we need to stir fry it later. It will become al-dente after stir fry.
2) Heat olive oil with small fire together with the garlic & chili flakes. Let it soak in the oil to cook for 5 mins, we need to infuse the olive oil with garlic fragrance. Keep an eye on the pan so that it doesn't burn. You just need to brown the garlic.
3) Turn to middle fire, add the smashed bread crumbs, stir fry to 30 seconds, then add in the cooked pasta. Stir fry quickly.
4) If the pasta is too dry, you can add some water  to stir fry it for about 1 mins. In the mean time, season the pasta with salt & pepper, basil.
5) Must serve warm. Enjoy~

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Simple Oriental Pork Chop

If you prefer something light & easy for weekday dinner, this is a good recipes. It is so easy to prepare & my kid love this pork chop so much. It tastes exceptionally good with a bowl of white rice.

You just need to marinate the pork chop one day ahead in the refrigerator. Then, pan fry it until it is thoroughly cooked. Normally, I will do the marinate & get my hubby to pan fry it.

Marinates for 2 servings:
3 pcs of pork chop ( get the butcher to recommend the best cut for pork chop)
2 tsp of light soy sauces
1tsp of sugar
1 tsp of Shao Xin Wine (Chinese cooking wine)
Some pepper
1 tsp of ginger juice (optional)

Method:
1) Marinate overnight in refrigerator. 
2) Heat 1 tbsp of oil in the non stick pan, then lay the pork chop & pan fry it accordingly.
3) It will depend how thick is the pork chop, the thicker the cut, the longer it takes to pan fry it. You will be able to tell when it is cooked by looking at it.
4) Let the pork chop rest for about 20mins before serving because it will keep the pork chop moist.
5) Enjoy~~

My kid love lean meat, therefore I use the lean meat to make those pork chops. Personally, I prefer to use the regular "pork chop" cut that have some fat on it. It tastes better that way. Keep the fat when pan fry it. Discard the fat when serving it.

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How to Gut a Markerel?

A lot of people think that gutting a fish is very difficult. Actually it is not as complicated as you think. Let us show you how to gut a Markerel. Markerel is quite an easy fish to handle if you want to make fish paste especially in oriental cooking. You can get quite a lot of flesh from this fish. It can be made into fish cakes or stuffing.
1st thing 1st, we got to prepare the tools & wash the fish clean with tap water. Use a paper towel to dry it.

2nd- Cut the fins off.

3rd- Slice from the back of the fish.

4th- Slide the fillet knife from head until the tail.

5th- Now, do the same on the fish belly.

6th- Slide the fillet knife from the end of the tail.

7th- Continue to separate the flesh from the fish bone.

This is how it looks like.

8th - Do the same on the other side of the fish

9th - Use a spoon to remove the flesh from the fish bone. This is a very effective way.

10th- It is all done. Left the skin & bone behind.

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Tomato & Alfalfa Sprout Salad

 

What to prepare on a busy weekend dinner? Occasionally, I don't feel like cooking too much. If I really on a rush, I will just prepare one main dish with white rice & a salad for dinner. The secret ingredient is the Japan Sesame Dressing. This is a a healthy & delicious salad combo that I would like to share - Tomato & Alfalfa Salad.

Ingredients (2 servings):

2 big Tomatoes

Handful of Alfalfa Sprout 

Japanese Sesame Dressing 

Method:

1) Cut the tomatoes into slices, arrange it nicely on a round plate.

2) Put a handful of Alfalfa Sprout in the middle & drizzle with some Japanese Style Sesame Dressing.

3) Enjoy~

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How to Make Noodles from Scratch?

As long as we have all purpose flour at home & a pasta machine. We can make fresh noodles any time. We just need a few simple ingredients & the whole family will have fun doing it. My kid just love to help & getting her hand dirty whenever we make noodles from scratch. You  can cook noodle soup or stir fry.

Recipes for homemade fresh noodles:

Oriental noodles:
500g all purpose flour
200-230ml water 40'C-50'C (use warm water can make very Q noodles)
Pinch of salt

Pasta/ Eggs noodles:
500g all purpose flour
200-230g whole eggs
Pinch of salt

Method:
1) Mix all the ingredients together & knead for 5-8 mins by hand or use a bread machine to do the job. I choose to use my machine to do the job.
If you think that the flour mixture is too dry, do add extra water (10-30ml, 1tsp by 1sp). If you think that the flour mixture is too wet, do add extra flour (pls add 1 tsp by 1tsp). Reason being, different brand of flour has slightly different water absorption ability.
2) Once all the ingredients come together, do let it sit for 15-30 mins ( please cover with cling film to prevent the dough from drying) .

3) Divide the dough into 6 portions. Use the widest pasta thickness setting to roll the dough one by one. You can roll about 2 to 3 times for each dough.  You can fold the dough when rolling. In fact, it gives better texture to the noodles. Remember to flour the surface of the dough individual so that it would not stick to the pasta machine. Don't worry about the excess flour, once it is in boiling water, it will rinse it off automatically.

4) After rolling the dough on the widest setting, you can move on to the next thinner setting, then even thinner setting (whichever up to your personal liking). There is no hard & fast rules.

5) Finally, cut the noodles into strips - wide or thin.

6) Boil a pot of hot water & cook the fresh noodles for 2- 3 mins. To know if the noodles is cooked or not, I always pick one from the boiling water & eat it. You will know next time once you have calibrate the timing.

Tips: If you are going to stir fry the noodles, please under cook the noodles (not more than 2 mins) because it will stay AL-dente after stir fry. Only pop in the fresh noodles after the water boiled. From there, we just need 2-3 mins to cook the noodles. Please note that time varies if you put too much noodles into 1 pot of water. Have fun.

That's the stir fry noodles that we cooked on one of the weekend dinner. Enjoy the outcome of your hard work. We deserve it.

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Stir Fry Roast Pork

I know this is such a simple dish & anyone knows how to do it. The reason why I would like to share my grandma recipes is to remember the good old food that we used to enjoy when I was a kid. Recently my kid ask me a very funny question, so next time when she grown up & want to cook the same thing again, where can she refer to? The 1st thing come across my mind is - my blog. I showed her my blog & she is OK with the idea.

Ingredients:
3-4 cloves of garlic (sliced)
few slices of gingers
Roast pork belly
1 tsp vege oil for stir frying
2 tsp of soy sauces (oriental)
1 tsp of  dark soy sauces (oriental)

Method:
1) Heat oil to brown the garlic & ginger. Do not burn the garlic & ginger. You don't really need much oil because oil will oz out from the roast pork belly.
2) In the roasted pork belly which is already cooked, then add the soy sauces & dark soy sauces. Quickly stir fry for 1-2 mins & it is ready to serve. If it is too dry, you can add a little bit of water.

Tips: You can also use this recipes for steamed chicken. It tastes good as well.

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Perfect Summer with Cold Noodles - Korean Style

This cold noodles is really pleasing especially during hot hot summer ( one of the K-pop popular song...). It is really appetizing & easy to make as long as you have the ingredient available. Even my 7 years old enjoy this as much as I do. It is good that she is not a picky eater & she love to explore different cuisine.
The best things is it can be ready in 15 minutes. Simplicity make life easier.

Ingredients for 2 servings:
200g thin wheat noodle  (Korean style)
* you can use any other thin wheat noodle available, soba is also a good choice.
Method: Cook the noodles according to package instruction, run it through cool water, then finally run it through ice water. Drained.

The yummy sauces with vegetable:
Vegetables:
Cucumber thinly sliced
Carrot thinly sliced
Any greens salad leaves thinly sliced ( lettuce, cabbage or even alfalfa sprout)
Kimchi thinly sliced (optional)
Seaweed for decoration

Sweet & spicy yummy sauces:
2 tbsp gochujang
2 tbsp vinegar (prefer rice vinegar)
1 tbsp shoyu
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp sesame oil
some roasted sesame seed

Method: Just mix all the sauces together & pour on top of the noodles & vegetable.

Use your creativity with this sauces, add more gochujang if you you like spicy. Need a kick, you can add some garlic or chili powder. You like it less sweet, reduce the sugar.  You can add hard boiled eggs or any Korean pickle to make it more authentic.

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Moist Chocolate Cake

This is a humble moist chocolate cake. Simple & Easy to make. I just make a very simple ganache cream to decorate it & it taste super delicious. I am very sure anyone who love chocolate cake will love this recipes.

Ingredients:
3 eggs
320g caster sugar
150g butter
175ml butter

Sieved the below dry ingredients:
225g Flour
60g Cocoa powder
0.5 tsp Salt
1.5 tsp baking powder
1 tsp soda bicarbonate

Chocolate ganache:
200ml whipping cream
200ml chocolate

Method:
1) Grease a round cake tin 20cm & preheat oven to 175'C.
2) Whisk eggs & 160g sugar until thick & set aside.
3) Beat butter & 160g sugar until fluffy & add in the above eggs mixture.
4) Fold in all the dry ingredient & alternate water to stir well.
5) Bake for about 35-45 mins until the inserted skewer comes out clean.

6) Cool the cake for at least an hour & then only cut the cake into half.
7) In the mean time, prepare the ganache. Just melt the chocolate & whipping cream in water bath.Water bath means cook a pot of water & put a bowl on top of the water to melt the chocolate & cream. Do not use direct heat. Let the ganache cool down or chilled a little in refrigerator & beat until light.
8) Spread the ganache between the layer of the cakes & cover the top layer.

Enjoy the super moist chocolate cakes with your family.

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Simple & Delicious Fried Tofu

Today I am going to show you how to make a simple meal with just tofu. Tofu is lean, it is great if you are on diet. Personally I enjoy tofu very much just like the Japanese do (hahaha....). Simple doesn't mean plain. It can be delicious, it depends how we cook it. Sometimes, I do feel very proud especially when my kid ask me to cook the same dishes again & again. I have a "nickname" my kid used to call me when she was 4 years old - mummy is a "cooker". Guess she must be thinking, anyone knows how to bake is a "baker" & anyone knows how to cook is a "cooker".

When we make this tofu, please do not choose those type of very soft tofu. It is more difficult to handle if you use tofu that is too soft (usually you can just serve it right from the packaging). Choose tofu that is firmer, I prefer to use pressed tofu which has a harder skin on the outside but it is soft (not too soft) in the middle. You can even choose those harder tofu for this recipes, it will still taste good. The only different would be the texture.

Recipes (1 serving):
1 box of pressed tofu
corn starch
Salt
Pepper
Kitchen towel

That's all the ingredients you need.

Method:
1) Cut the tofu into half & pad the tofu dry. Make sure it is really dry. Then, cut the tofu into bit size pcs.
2) Scatter some corn starch on a plate, season with salt & pepper-> flour mixture.
3) Coat the tofu with the above flour mixture.
4) Pan fry it with vegetable oil until the tofu turned golden brown.
5) It will looks just like the below pics. You can serve just like that.
If you think this is too plain, you can make some special shoyu sauce for dipping. See below.

 Shoyu dipping sauces:
1 tbsp of Japanese shoyu ( you can use any other soy sauces if you don't have Japanese shoyu )
1 tbsp of drinking water (because we are not cooking the sauces)
0.5 tsp of grind ginger paste
0.5 tsp of grind daikon paste (optional)

Method: Just mix the above together. Ready to serve. It wouldn't take long when we serve this on the table. I particularly like the crispy tofu skin & soft tofu in the middle. Enjoy.

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