Dead easy Kimchi Jjigae (aka soup)

Sour, spicy, hot…..bursting to tantalize and challenge your tastebuds with every sip.

Drool no more....this is a damn easy soup to make!!! SERIOUSLY.

All this time, when I ordered from the restaurant or drool over KBS stars sipping hot spicy soup and the other star complimenting what how great a ‘cook’ s/he was, held the perception that it was difficult/complicated to make. Now that I know it is SO EASY to make, can satisfy my cravings anytime now!! Er, not to mention cheaper and also better/tastier in the sense can add any ingredients you like. For some strange reason, never enjoyed the taste of the beef or chicken served with the soup ordered at the restaurant.

The main ingredient is of course kimchi (spicy fermented cabbage) and the rest of the ingredients is whatever you like – meat, tofu, mushrooms, glass noodles, imitation crab stick, fish balls, seaweed, seafood etc.

Best to use homemade stock if you can (tastier mah) but if you don’t have any, can use water and add some seasoning cubes.

In a saucepan or earthern pot (which is how they traditionally serve this), mix together and bring to boil some stock, kimchi (older kimchi will add more depth and flavour to this soup) plus its juice, other ingredients of your choice – for me, threw in some tofu, carrots, mushrooms, fish cake, fried bean curd and seaweed. *yeah I know I was greedy adding so many things but hey, its great way to clear the fridge* Glass noodles would have been great, perhaps I'll do that with the leftovers. Slurp….a complete and satisfying meal on its own, eaten together with some rice.


Slowly simmer away and adjust the taste at the end to suit your preference, ie. add a little salt/soya, dash of sesame oil or Korean hot pepper paste (Gochujang) if you want it spicier. Still not enough chilli hot oomph….phew so keng ah…..throw in a few chilli padis to up the spiciness lor!! Personally didn’t find this brand of Gochujang spicy at all even though the colour is so fierce and fiery red! But I was a little warm (but not perspiring sweaty hot) after a couple of bowls, definitely a great dish for winter.

This is what the Gochujang looks like. They come in various sizes (this was the smallest one I grabbed).

What can I say, this is really super SHIOKadelicious.

So if you get a craving for kimchi chijae, now you know you can whip one up easily in your own kitchen :)

Bench notes - Not surprisingly, the soup actually tasted much better the next day with all ingredients soaking in the flavours!!! Add more kimchi next time - about 1:1 ratio with liquid.

Snapshot

Er, this is my improtu breakfast gluttony - Teh-O kau with a piece of curry puff and pangang nasi pulut.

A little bored with toast, cereal, yogurt, fruits or oats?

What I like about living in Malaysia is the ease of getting a wide variety of yummy local delicacies anytime and anywhere. They are not as cheap as they used to be (living cost indeed has risen, pity the salary hasn't) but still cheaper and definitely more authentic than those available overseas.

Malaysians living overseas, drool your heart out!! Ha ha ha....well hope at least I succeeded in making you hungry or just a little home sick *you know who you are*

But of course when you do come back to visit, you have greater spending ability.

Sigh….can’t have it all.

Home is where you make it to be.

Banana Muffins

D bought a big bunch of bananas and we were struggling to finish it quickly as they all were quite ripe at the same time.

Chance upon a tasty 10 min banana bread from bentopet's blogsite.

Looking at the recipe, it was more like a quick muffin recipe than 'bread' to me so here's my adaptation. Its an easy recipe, all you need is a fork and a splatula to mix the ingredients by hand.

Recipe

Makes 12 muffins

2 eggs
130g ripe bananas (without skin)
60g unsalted butter, room temperature
110g brown sugar (more if you have sweeter preference or if bananas taste a little bland)
210g all purpose flour
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp cinnamon powder
Pinch salt
1 extra banana sliced for decorations (optional)

roasted chopped nuts (optional)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees and grease muffin tray.
2. Sieve all dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside.
3. Place all wet ingredients including sugar in a bowl and mix until well incorporated including mashing the bananas.
4. Fold in flour into wet mixture.
5. Spoon mixture into muffin tray and bake for about 20 min or until golden brown.
   
   
   
6. They were soft and tasty served warm.
   
   
   

Bench notes, if using only 2 egg yolks, add extra 4 tbsp milk.

Nice long Raya break

Had a relaxing long weekend. Almost a week in total since Hari Raya fell on a Sunday :)

As you guessed, was super reluctant to return to work by the end of it, haiya so fast leh * sob* But bills must be paid and so dragged myself out of bed and was very happy the traffic was super clear, ha ha people must still be away. Well I'm not complaining *big grin*

We didn't do much, ie go anywhere. With the H1N1 pandemonium, we have been reluctant to go anywhere. Think many people also share this thinking.

Managed a short trip to Pahang to visit an Aunty last minute (sorry Kel for missing our meet-up - but glad the weather was great unlike a few of the previous wet days which were perfect for a late sleep in :) ).

Manage to see two movies with MP - er, all kiddies of course - UP and G-Force. UP was nice but thought it was probably a little too adult for small children with all the hidden meanings, etc. Didn't realize the "G" from G-Force stands for gunnie pig. From the trailers, thought they were hamsters! Still don't know the difference. Anyway, it was entertaining and managed to trick the grandparents into coming too, ha ha.

Also spent some time surfing the net at cafe's with free WiFi.

Master Prince gets very excited and totally absorbed with his online games - whole body moving and everything, leg thumbing/shaking PLUS extra own sound effects - chew, chew, chew-chew-chew, eeeeeeeeeow, come on, go go go etc!! Glad the cafe music is loud enough that I do not feel too conscious - although I do get a few occasional amused smiles from nearby tables when the volume of his voice gets louder!! Lolz

Update: As for how the house renovations is going....we are now renovating on weekends. Yep, weekend builders, er....renovators!! At this 'slow' rate, not exactly sure when we will 'finish' and move in. Guess even after the official move-in there will still be lots to do, TIME (lots of it) will make it home-y!! Btw, for those interested - HomeDec is next weekend, great place to get ideas etc. We still need to look for a reasonably priced mosquitoes netting. So far the ones we liked are a little pricey. But hiya they are such a necessity here right? Just absolutely get so annoyed when mosquitoes manage to get into the bedrooms and disturb our peaceful slumber!!!!

Have a good weekend.

Bentos #248 & 249

Bento #249

Another speedy bento - Round onigri with some fish fingers, endamame, tomatoes, broccoli, carrots and stewed mushrooms.

Boxing simple bentos cos I've temporarily stored most of my bento tools away.

Bento #248

Since Halloween is around the corner (end of October) I've noticed a few 'monster' bentos in other blogsites that I frequently visit.

This is my poor attempt without much tools - ha ha. Used giblets for the eyes. I'm rather surprised MP actually likes eating giblets. Actually M tricked MP by saying its 'chewy octopus'. Yes M has away with MP that I somehow don't, perhaps that's one of the pros being the grandparent!

Oh...in the bento is a heart-shaped (but looks more triangular) onigri with some stewed chicken, carrots, broccoli and leftover egg patties.

Bento #247

Another 'simple' no frills bento. Kind-na stashed my bento accessories away except for a few simple items.

In this bento - Flower shaped onigri with pan fried fish, meat patties and some stir fried vegetables.

Bento #246

A super quick one as MP was already late for his activity. Er, if you didn't notice with the extra large chilli, this bento is for me. Could have added some picks, baran or even faces to make it 'cuter' or even an extra tau-fu-pok to turn it into a butterfly (maybe) but NO TIME - rush, pack, GONE!!

In this bento - Yong tau foo, kim chi, korean seaweed side dish, another korean anchovies and peanut side dish with mangoes for dessert. There is a Korean grocery shop in Desa Sri Hartamas called 'Lotte' (how original huh?) - they sell fresh homemade kim chi and its shiokadilicious!! Its quite spicy too with a slightly heavy garlic flavour - I just love it!!! :)

HEAPS better than the poorly made kim chi sold in pasar malam which taste SUPER vinegar sour and also the cabbage doesn't taste that fresh, pre-cut into small bits unlike the one I got in Lotte which is packed whole with the heart (well if you get the smaller tub then it might be cut in the centre into quarters but still 'whole' - much better presentation).

*How not to get cravings for Korean food especially watching the actors stuff their face in all situations and nodding so appreciatively the great taste!! Talk about effective food commercials, they do it so well and naturally - ha ha*

Baba gounash and Pita bread

Made this a while back.

I just love baba gounash and made some with Jude's recipe.

Use the Japanese round brinjals if you can, not the skinny light purple ones (which I am told are ideal for curries).

Baba gounash are best eaten with pita bread. Will post the pita bread recipe later. They are pretty fast and easy to make compared to other bread recipes.

REMEMBER to roll them out thinly before baking them....

....otherwise you will NOT GET 'POCKETS' in your pita bread!! Confirmed this in my 2nd attempt (no pix) when the dough were rolled thinly before baking them and got pockets!!

No 'pocket's on my first attempt but nonetheless they were fantastic with the dip (accompanied with a glass of wine)!!!

If you can't wait for me to type up the pita bread recipe, you can also refer to Jude's recipe here. She also includes valuable TIPS on getting 'pockets' which I hope she doesn't mind me reiterating here.

• To get the pockets in your pita, let the dough form a skin to help trap steam and puff the dough into balls. After dividing, form the pieces of dough into tight balls, pinching the bottom to seal. Rest for at least 15 minutes to relax the gluten, roll into thin rounds, and let the disks rest undisturbed for another 15 minutes before baking.
  
• Roll the dough thinly, at most 1/8-inch thick. Let the dough rest for 10-15 minutes to relax the gluten if it keeps springing back into shape.
  
• Try to get the dough as round as possible so it can puff into a ball more readily. Liberally dust the counter and rolling pin with flour to prevent sticking and help the dough spread out more evenly."

Bento #245

Erm, stretching the definition of 'bento' a little here.

Plating the food instead.

On this plate - Cubed onigri rice mixed with furikake, steamed chicken, cod fish, omellet and cherry tomatoes. Surprisingly MP suddenly taken a keen liking to these small tomatoes - maybe its because they look so cute?? *well done anyway*

Bad kharma

It started out like any ordinary weekend with us waking up a little later than work days.

Saturday is a busy time for me as I play driver chauffeuring Master Prince from one activity to another. Believe me all the running around and waiting adds up!!

Tried squeezing in an hour to clean up some of the dust at the new place. Was horror struck to discover that I had accidentally locked my car keys in the boot of the car together with my handbag. Fortunately my mobile was in my pocket but it was annoying as I had to track back to the current house to find the keys to the bank to get out the car spare keys from the bank. Don’t ask me why we keep the car spare keys in the bank – think it was DH’s idea. Anyway, word of advise – KEEP SPARE KEYS SOMEWHERE EASILY ACCESSIBLE not in the bank!!! With fingers crossed hoping that the banks were opened half day as some only open on alternate Saturday. As timing would have it, this had to happened on the Saturday that they were closed. *bummer*

Tried calling DH but no luck – his battery was flat and had switched it off to conserve battery to make emergency calls. Even though he was outstation and probably couldn’t help, was hoping for some consolation.

No choice, decided to call D-A-D who rang his mechanic friend but his friend couldn’t assist immediately as his co-workers hadn’t arrive at the shop yet.

Contemplated for a while outside the bank before finally deciding to walk to my parent’s place and wait for the mechanic to call. By the time I reach there, I was very thirsty and dreaded the lectures ahead of me!!

As I gathered my breadth back, I suddenly recalled the broken automatic car switch at home which I had stopped using a while back as the cap had cracked. Quickly, I tracked back to my house to get it with fingers crossed that it still works. Got it and then tracked on further back to the new place. Yes I had a ‘super dose’ morning walk exercise that morning (btw the soles of my feet were aching by the end of the day). Held my breadth as I tested the button. Didn’t work 100 meters away, walked closer hoping for some sign keeping pressing harder– phew, the signal worked!!! Good timing too since I had to rush off to pick up MP for his next activity!!

Later that afternoon, DH and I went to inspect the new place. Haiyoh guess what? I bungled the new grills and we couldn’t open the door!!! The new door uses a special key which looks like a screw and opens anti clockwise (most doors opens clockwise). Apparently, I didn’t turn the lock back properly before dislodging the key causing the whole lock to jam up!!! After a few calls to the door installer, the lock smith was called in about 7pm (it was getting dark and my new place had no electricity).

After an hour feeding mosquitoes, sweating and fumbling in the dark with the mobile camera light as the only source of light, we had no choice but to break the grills. The efforts damaged our 1-day old new grills! Needless to say DH was damn pissed off with me but cooled down (a little) when he realize how finicky the new door key was. For simplicity I think we should opt for a normal key lock but DH still insist on it even though I told him it is probably another time bomb before this happens again after all this could happen again to anyone unfamiliar with the locking and unlocking requirements of the new lock!!

Ok the damage on the door isn’t really that bad but still hurts since it is still NEW mah but the permanent dent will remind us of this incident each time we open the door.

Dropped DH home first as I had to grab something from my parents place. By the time I came home only to discover that MP had polished off my dinner!!! He usually prefers the pan crusted pizza which I ordered for him but don't know why that night he decided to have the thin crust instead leaving me the reminants of the fat breaded pizza (DH had earlier wanted to go out so I had only ordered for the both of us for a pizza and movie night but with the late incident he had no mood to go anywhere)!!! :( Famished, I was too bushed to bother with anything else.

SIGH…let's just say that I couldn’t wait to get to bed to leave the rest of the day behind me.

Its Sunday now and though it poured heavily in the afternoon, thankfully no similar repeats of yesterday’s incidents!!!

Lui Cha or Ham Cha

With the holidays school and public, been busy. Also CIMB Perfect Livin was around end of last month so even busier trying to find a bargain or two. With Hari Raya promotions, even more reasons to shop around. Hm, to be honest, am getting a little restless at night thinking of the $$$ we've been racking up. NOT looking forward to the month end bill :( The plan of just buying 'essentials' is never ending!!

Anyway, DH and I enjoy lui cha once a week and we usually buy it from a coffee shop at Chow Yang. With the number of vegetables for this dish, I find it too tedious to prepare it. Besides this one taste pretty good and without the hassel. They also sell a 'spicy' version but I haven't tried it before.

All you have to do is to mix the 'green tea paste' with some hot water and mix it in with the rice. Alternatively you can eat them separately. I do a combination of both, mixing some soup with the rice and also have additional soup in a separate bowl.

I still vividly remember my first introduction to this dish.

We were invited to a family friend's house for dinner and was presented with a big noodle bowl and told to scoop a spoonful of all the vegetable dishes on the table and believe me, my parent's friend really filled the table with a vast array of dishes. By the time I tossed in the last condiment being the peanuts, I was very concern by the large amount of green vegetables in my bowl. Not only that I was told to pour in some green soup and give it a quick mix before eating.

It started ok until my parent's family insisted that we refill with more vegetables after a few mouthfuls (customary wor???). I did it once out of courtesy but since the food in my bowl wasn't moving, I tactfully avoided any further refills which was a good thing since I barely finished it and also was nursing my tired and aching jaw with all the chewing.

Needless to say, it was an eventful first experience.

Taste wise it is rather unique, a little green (but heaps much better than wheat grass) and perhaps need some getting used to but honestly I really enjoy it and find it tasty.

Updated: The name of the corner coffee shop.

For more reads about this Hakka dish read here, here or here.