Kimchi Jiggae / Kimchi Stew

This is by far my favorite Korean dish.  Spicy, savory, hot and addictive.  Kimchi stew is a very common, humble everyday dish enjoyed by every Koreans.  You can make it with minimal ingredients or add meat, seafood, even more veggies of your choice.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cup of chopped kimchi and kimchi liquid, preferably older kimchi

1/2 medium size onion chopped

2 tbsp Gochujang or more if you like it spicy  (Korean red pepper paste)

1/2 of package of tofu, cubed.

*4 oz of pork chopped to small pieces.   (I used pork stew meat) 

2 cups of water

1/4 cup of chopped scallion.

2 tsp of canola oil

1 tsp of sesame oil to drizzle at the end

Directions

Add oil to pan, saute onion till its translucent.

Add pork, saute till no longer pink

Add Kimchi and Gochujang.  Saute incorporating everything.

Stir in water and tofu and bring to boil.  Lower the heat and simmer for 15 minutes.

Add chopped scallion and drizzle with sesame oil and serve with steamed rice.

Serves 2

*Pork is traditional but you can certainly add any meat.  or none if you prefer.

Kimchi Fried Rice!!!!!

The ultimate Korean comfort food.  My mom and my grandma used to make this for me after school.

Every Koreans have their own version.  Some use butter, some add some leftover meat, some even use lunch meat,  (Spam is always good)  additional vegetable and etc.  This is very basic version.  Add to it whatever turns you on.

Recipe

1 cup of kimchi with some of the juice.  ( I use Kitchen shears to cut kimchi in to small bite size)

11/2 cup of left over rice.

1 fried egg

1 scallion chopped

1 tbsp of canola oil.  (I prefer canola over olive oil.  less flavor.  Most Korean dishes are finished off with drizzle of sesame oil which has a very strong flavor and aroma.

Splash of soy sauce.  (Its like salt, add to taste.)

drizzle of sesame oil.

Directions

On a non stick frying pan heat canola oil.

Add kimchi and let it fry till kimchi is toasted looking.

About 5 minutes.

Add rice and stir well and cooked thru.  6 to 8 minutes.

Add splash of soy sauce and drizzle of sesame oil.

Garnish with scallion move to plate or bowl.

Finish off with 1 fried egg on top.

Its great with miso soup on the side.

Korean pork BBQ/Daeji Gui

 I am big fan of pork.  This is my favorite pork dish.  It's also delicious as a sandwich.

Ingredients.

1 Pound of Pork thinly sliced.  (I used pre sliced pork shoulder available at Korean Market)
* To thinly slice any meat, freeze the meat for 20 minutes or until firm and slightly hard. This should make it easy to slice

1/4 Cup of gochujang.  Use more if you like it spicy  (Korean red pepper paste)
1/4 Cup of soy sauce
1 1/2 Tbsp of rice wine vinegar
1 Tbsp of sesame oil
1/2 Inch of ginger grated
3 Garlic cloves finely chopped
2 Tbsp of sugar
1/4 Tsp of black pepper.
1/4 Cup of green onions for garnish.

Mix all the ingredients together well and marinate in the refrigerator for 1 to 2 hrs.
Grill on a med/hot charcoal grill for 2 to 3 minutes each side or until it cooks.
Serve with steamed rice, red leaf lettuce, and other popular Korean side dish of your choice.

* If you are wondering about my grill in the photo, it's a bakers rack for cooling cookies and cakes.
It works great for vegetables as well.  It keeps your food from falling into the charcoal between the wires.