Sunday, July 13, 2014

Kimchi Rice Roll (Kimbap)


The Korean Drama of Year 2014 - "My Love from the Stars" is a big hit in South East Asia Countries. The Korean food wave begin again in the whole region. Every lady in my office was telling me, who & who went for Korean food during the weekend. Heard someone saying they went for the fried chicken & beer, Korean BBQ, Kimchi pancake...etc.

Hmm...........when come to Korean food, I believe the 1st thing come into most of our mind is Kimchi. How can I make something very quickly that can fix my Korean food craves? Simple & easy, I need a quick fix.. So I decided to make Kimchi Rice Roll (Kimbap).

Good quality Kimchi need to strike a balance in between - sourness, saltiness & spiciness.I choose my favorite store bought Kimchi - Chongga - Poggi Kimchi (made by using the whole napa cabbages).
The positive point in buying the whole cabbage Kimchi is we can cut it into the size we want follow the recipes requirement.We can cut the Poggi Kimchi in long strips for the rice roll. Remember to drain the poggi kimchi before cutting.

Ingredients for 4 servings:
Simple Sticky Rice:
400g of Japanese rice or Korean rice (Fat short grain sticky rice)
50ml of sushi rice vinegar

Method:
1) Soak the rice for at least 30mins- 1 hours.
3) Rice to water ratio is normally 1:1.3
4) Cook the rice in rice cooker follow the white rice cooking instructions.Once the rice cooked, do not open the rice cooker immediately, let it sit for a while & cool down in the rice cooker for 30 mins. Then, mix in the sushi rice vinegar. Then, cool the rice further to room temperature. You can choose to use fan to make this faster.

Ingredients to assemble the Rice Roll;
2 Japanese cucumber , remove seeds, cut into long strips
Some Poggi  Kimchi cut into long strips. Remember to drain the juices of kimchi. Too much liquid is no good.
1 pkt of Seaweed sheet (usually come in 10ea)
Divide the cool white rice into 4 or 5 portion equally (each portion is about one bowl of rice)

Method:
1) Lay the seaweed sheet on the sushi mat, then lay one portion of the rice on the seaweed roll.
2) Use a fork to flatten the rice evenly on the seaweed sheet. Leave 1 cm at the end of the sheet.
3) Lay 2 strips of cucumber & 1 strips of Kimchi  on the rice at one edge. Put extra 1 strip of cucumber will make the flavor even better.
4) Roll from the edge firmly until the end. Press firmly when finish rolling.
5) Then cut the rice roll using a sharp knife.

Feel free to try with other ingredients for more variations e.g. eggs roll, crab sticks....etc. Enjoy!

Tips: How to keep the seaweed sheets to stay crispy for next round? The secret is to keep it in the freezer. Use a zipper bag to seal the balance seaweed sheets & keep in the freezer.

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!


Sunday, March 2, 2014

Stir Fry Drunken Prawn Chinese Style



After Chinese New Year, no doubt I have put on some weight. That is very common when you have no hesitation to munch on the delicious cookies. It is Okay. Just need to do the Korean famous aerobic dances to burn away the calories.

However, I am very happy  this new year. We have great family gathering, we have more little babies to join our family this year. By itself, it was already a very good news.

We can't do without prawn in CNY, almost every Chinese family will cook a prawn dishes in their reunion dinner. It has a prosperous meaning - Siao Ha Ha which means laughter.

I choose to cook this Stir Fry Drunken Prawn Chinese Style. Super simple & fast to cook.

Ingredients:
A:
400g fresh prawn (wash & peeled,remove the green/ black intestines by slitting a cut behind)
1 tbsp of sliced gingers
1 tsp of sliced garlic

B:
1.5 tbsp of Xiao Hing Wine ( or Chinese Rice Wine)
1 tsp spoon of soya sauces
0.5 tsp of Chicken stocks (optional)
250-300ml water
pinch of salt
pinch of pepper

C:
1tsp goji berry
1tsp spring onion


Method:
1) 1tbsp of oil to heat up the wok, add in the garlic  & ginger, add in the prawn, stir fry for 20 secs.
2) Add in the premix ingredients B into the prawn mixture & simmer it for 2 -3 mins with medium high heat.
3) Last in the goji berry & spring onions for 10 secs.
4) Serve immediately with steamed white rice.

Thursday, December 26, 2013

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year 2014!

I would like to take this opportunities to wish all my blog readers Merry Christmas & Happy New Year. Stay Happy & Healthy in this coming new year -2014 ! I am very thankful that you have been enjoying reading my blog.

I will also continue my journey to be a better cooking/baking mummy to create wonder"food" memory for my kid. In the eyes of all kids, their mummies are great cooks. All food are made with loves.

p/s Bake some little cupcakes to celebrate this Christmas. My kid enjoy decorating it.

Monday, December 2, 2013

Spicy Stir Fried Sambal Prawn Malaysia Style

Most Malaysian who love spicy food & seafood will enjoy this cuisine- "Sambal Udang". "Sambal Udang" means chili sauces + prawns = perfect combination. It goes really well with rice. My sister can eat two big bowls of rice when I cook this. This is a "short-cut" method by using the spicy seafood sauces that I have bought from the mushroom farm in Tanjung Sepat.  You can buy any ready made Sambal sauces for seafood from the store. And I will also attached a simple Sambal sauces recipes that you can make from scratch. Ta-da.......................looks delicious?


The secret sauces:


Super Fast Stir Fried Sambal Prawn for 2 servings:
Ingredients:
350g prawns (washed, cleaned, peeled)
2 cloves of garlic sliced
1 big red onion sliced
2 tbsp of sambal seafood sauces
1 tbsp of vegetable oil
1/4 cup of water
Decorations: sliced chili (optional)

Super Fast Method:
1) Heat oil to brown garlic with the sambal seafood sauces, let it simmer for a while about 1 min & you can smell the spiciness in the air.
2)In the prawns & sliced red onion, stir fry for 1 mins, then add in 1/4 cup of water let it simmer with high heat for 2 mins with lid on. Then, sauteed it for a while until the water is fairly dry. Prawn cooked very quickly.


Alternatively, you can make your own sauces from scratch.

Homemade sambal seafood sauces (Malaysia style) recipes:
Blend the below in blender with some water (minimal)
20ea of dried chili (cut the dried chili by using a scissor & pre-soak a while will help it to blend nicer)
10ea shallots (cleaned)
2 cloves garlic
1 knob of ginger

3 tbsp of vegetable oil
1 tsp of sugar
Pinch of salt

Method:
1)Heat the oil, pour in the blended chili paste in the oil let it simmer for a while with medium small heat. You can see the chili paste being heated in the oil. Keep stirring so that it will not burn. Then, add the sugar in with a pinch of salt.
2) You can add the prawn, red onion & water to let it simmer for a while to become fairly dry.

Tips: You can also add 20ea of petai in this recipes. It taste great too.