Korean Fish Stew - Authentic and Fast

Fancy some exotic and easy to prepare? - presenting Korean Fish Stew

When it comes to cold weather, nothing beats a warm spicy soup for winter (and a good sleep after the warm meal). To describe the flavor, it taste spicy, sweet and sourish, but what makes it matter is the ingredients that you put in.

To prepare this dish, it took me somewhat 10 - 15 minutes, and it serves 4. To serve this dish, you will need the following ingredients,

The ingredients

a. 750 ml of water

b. 1 packet of Chongga Fish stew base

c. 200 gm of Kaktugi kimchi (white radish Kimchi)

d. 4 - 6 slices of fresh mackerel (about 1 - 2 inch thick)

e. 2 stalk of green onion (or spring onion), cut into length of 2 inches

f. 1 onion, vertical cut (just like how you would cut an orange)

g. 100 gram of enoki mushroom (if you are using other mushroom, please cut into length size)

The steps are as follows

a. Boil 750 ml of water in a pot and empty the entire fish stew base and the Kaktugi Kimchi into the boiling water and stir well

b. Once the stew base boils, put in the mackerel into the stew and let it boil for 4 minutes over medium heat

c. Add in the green onion, mushroom, onion and let it cook for another 3 minutes over medium heat

e. Done! - that is approximately 10 minutes

Masterclass tips 1 - getting consistent results

a. Kaktugi Kimchi can be bought quite easily, we recommend Chongga brand because it is the number 1 brand in Korea, from our experience, it delivers very consistent quality, even if you can do it yourself, the quality will differ from batch to batch.

Masterclass tips 2 - delivering restaurant grade results.
a. If time is not an issue, get about 100 gm of watercress, Chongga Stew tofu (comes in a pack of 210gm), add the tofu with the fish, and add the watercress with the onions, it delivers restaurant grade result.

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Stir Fry Spaghetti with Kimchi and French Bean

If you are asking, what is stir fried spaghetti, the answer is simple, in Chinese cuisine, we stir fry practically everything, from rice, noodles, rice noodles, vermicelli and anything that is noodle like.

For me, the concept of frying spaghetti started some what in the mid 90s while I was living in London. The reality about frying spaghetti, it is more difficult to break, hence the texture maintains very well. Spaghetti accepts the taste and flavour of other ingredients pretty well.

Now, how did this fried spaghetti with Kimchi comes around? - practicality, spaghetti is a noodle with the best texture, Kimchi - high in flavor and you can kick out the flavoring and seasoning.

Okay here is the ingredients (This serves 2 adults heavy eater, or 2 adults light eater with 1 child)

Ingredients
a. 220 gm of spaghetti
b. 1 table spoonful of cooking oil
c. Onion, chopped - about the size of an egg
d. 100 gm of french bean, cut into 1 cm length
e. 150 gm of minced pork + marinade with 1 tablespoon full of Chinese soy sauce (please refer to masterclass tip 1)
f. 120 gm of kimchi - Chongga brand
g. 3 table spoonful of Kimchi sauce - Chongga brand


How it's done (it took me about 20 minutes to complete this for my wife and daughter)

a. Half fill in a wok pan with water and bring it to boil (I normally while waiting for the water to boil, will chop the onion, and prepare the kimchi)
b. On another pan, heat up the oil, and put in the chopped onion (once the onion begins to sizzle - it's hot enough)





c. Add in the pork, and stir fry till it's almost cooked entirely - be sure to stir it up, lest the mince meat will become meat balls

d. Add in the french bean and stir it well - then add the Kimchi (please refer to masterclass tip 2)

e. Add the spaghetti - By now, the spaghetti would have been near al dente (almost cooked)

f. Add in the Kimchi sauce - 3 table spoonful is what I term as just good, you may add more for more spiciness (but if you really need spiciness - add a chili, but this is not necessarily)








g. Stir it up! to be sure it's totally cooked - take a scoop!

h. Done!

Masterclass tips 1 - Soy sauce, more than meets the eye
a. Korean, Chinese and Japanese soy sauce have different aroma and taste, Chinese soy sauce is saltier, in many sense, it can be used to replace salt. Korean and Japanese soy sauce tends to be sweeter, works very well for dipping and stir fry.
b. For Chinese soy sauce, there are a few different type, thick and regular, the thick soy sauce in general is good for caramelising and marinating (for stew based ingredients)

Masterclass tips 2 - Keep the nutrition, especially when cooking for the family
Why fry the Kimchi towards the end? - easy, Kimchi is one of the healthiest food as voted by Men's health magazine, it is packed with beneficial amino acids and enzymes, prolonged cooking in general diminishes the nutrition quality, hence, adding the Kimchi towards the end of cooking is a good way to maintain the nutrition.

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Spicy Kimchi Omelette with Bacon Sandwich

A nice breakfast is only 10 minutes away, and uses 4 ingredients (minus the bread). I did this on a Tuesday morning at about 6:30 am because my daughter wanted a heavy breakfast in anticipation of a long day.

For this super easy breakfast (serves 3), you will need the followings

a. 3 eggs
b. 1 small onion (somewhat bigger than an egg)
c. 3 tablespoon full of Kimchi Sauce
d. 3 slices of bacon

The method is as follows

a. Sliced up the onion, horizontal cut
b. Break the eggs, and mix the onion and the kimchi sauce (just as in the pic)

c. Heat up the pan, fry up the mix

d. Done! (less than 10 minutes)

Serving method

a. On the bread (preferably toasted), spread a layer of butter
b. Lay the bacon
c. Lay the ommelete (cut into sandwich size)
d. Ready to eat!

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