Sunday, April 27, 2014

Super Delicious Kimchi Pancakes (Kimchi Jeon)



A lot of people loves Korean food including myself. Why? Because it is delicious & actually it is easy to make. It is also healthier because Korean use very little fats or vegetable fats in their cooking compared to the South East Asia country who love to use  palm oil or coconut oil. We love our rich flavored Nasi Lemak. However, Korean love to use sesame oil in their cooking. The heat properties in the sesame oil is very suitable to use for a cold country like Korea.

Ingredients to make 4 servings:
1 cup of all purpose flour
0.5 cup of water (approx-you can adjust to add 2-3 tbsp of water if needed)
1 cup of chopped Kimchi
3 tbsp of Kimchi juice (important to give the pancakes the appealing red colors)
1 tsp of salt
1 tsp of sugar
3 tbsp of chopped red onion
3 tbsp of chopped spring onion ( I love the spring onion in my pancakes)
Some shrimps or squids. (optional)

Method:
1) Mix all the ingredients above & let it sits for 10 mins.
2) Use a non stick pan on medium high heat to fry this pancake.
3) Heat 2 tsp of oil in the non stick pan, let the oil coat the whole pan, pour the flour mixture on the pan & use spoon to spread it evenly.
4) Cook it for 1-2 mins until the bottom get brown, then turn it over to cook for another 1-2 minutes, you can lower the heat if needed.
5) Don't get your eyes off the stove when frying the pancakes, it can burn easily. Continue to fry the pancake batter by batches.
6) Cut into bite size & serve hot.



Tips: You can fry with more oil to get crisper pancakes, fry in smaller batches (2-3 tbsp spoonful batters).
Tips: You can fry with non-stick pan with lesser oil to make big round pancakes (just like a mini size of pizza) & cut it into bite size before serving.
Tips: You can try flying with pancakes with leeks, dry shrimps, crab meats, mushrooms ...etc to customize your family favorite pancakes.

As recommended by friends on the choice of Kimchi to be used in making this Korean pancakes. Good quality Kimchi makes super delicious pancakes. My kid love this "Chongga Mat Kimchi", the no.1 leading brand of Kimchi in Korea. Whenever we do our grocery shopping during the weekend, she will automatically highlight to us that it is time we need to replenish the Kimchi stocks.


Saturday, April 19, 2014

Stir Fry "Short Tail" Noodles (老鼠粉) with Minced Meat - Malaysian Style


I like to cook noodles on weekend evening. It is fast, less mess & quick clean up. We just need to wash 3 bowls & 3 chop sticks. No other reasons for a working mum who want more rest on the weekend. Mummy also need a break sometimes, I always tell my girl that if she insists on I should cook a full course dinner. This is her full course dinner definition: three dishes & one soup serve with rice, a typical Asian dining. Here comes the Stir Fry "Short Tail" Noodle 老鼠粉 with Minced Meat.

You can get these fresh short noodles  from the local wet market or supermarket. This is quite a common fresh noodles in South East Asia especially Malaysia & Singapore. It is just one type of fresh rice noodles but shorter in length. If you can't find this, just replace with any fresh rice noodles e.g. flat rice noodles.

Ingredients (3 Servings):
600g Short Tail Rice Noodles
200g Bean Sprouts
200g Minced Meat (marinated with 1tsp oyster sauces)
Some sliced fish cake (kid loves this)
2 tbsp Minced Garlic
1 egg

Sauces Mixture:
500ml of broths ( or 500ml of water + 1tsp of chicken stocks)
1 tbsp of dark soya sauces
1 tsp of soya sauces
Pinch of salt
Pinch of pepper

Method:
1) Fry 2-3 tbsp of vegetable oil with minced garlic.
2) Add in minced meat & fish cakes, continue stir fry for 2-3 minutes.
3) Add in noodles & continue to stir fry 1 min.
4) Add in the sauces mixtures, let it simmer for about 2mins, add in the bean sprouts.
5) Keep stir fry to avoid the noodles stick on the pan.
6) Last in the egg & stir in quickly before off the fire.
7) Serve hot.

Friday, April 18, 2014

Stir Fry Hokkien Black Noodle Malaysian Style

I always missed the food that bring back the old memories. It just feel so good & warm when thought of  the great time when we spends so much time sharing street food with all the siblings. Now that I have my own family, I would also like to create great memories for my kids. Believe me, it always starts from the kitchen. I noticed young children always like noodles. That is the first food they crave before starts to eat rice.

Ingredients:
600g Fresh Hokkien Noodles
150g Lean Meat cut into strips
150g Prawn (I did not use & replace with sliced fish cakes)
100g Pork Liver ( this ingredient make a huge different in this dish, very old school)
200g Choy Sum ( some additional cabbage & bean sprout is fine too)
3 cloves of minced Garlic
1 tsp spoon of Grated Dried Flat Fish Powder  (左口鱼-optional if you don't have)

Sauces:
3 tbsp Soya Sauces
1-2 tbsp Dark Soya Sauces ( I like my noodles dark)
Pinch of Pepper
400-500ml of Chicken Broth (can replace with plain water with 1 tsp of chicken stocks)

Method:
1) Heat 2 -3 tbsp of oil &  fry garlic.
2) Add in lean meat, prawn, pork liver & stir fry.
3) Add in all the sauces & let it simmer.
4) Add in noodles & continue stir fry. Do not put lid on.
5) When the noodles is almost going to dry up, add in the choy sum & stir fry. The vegetable is going to cook in just 1-2 mins.
6) Just before switch off the fire, add in the grated dried flat fish powder.

Enjoy!