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.

Kale Kimchi

Inspired by my cousin Sujin, I recently made an improvement to the kale kimchi recipe.  I simply added both daikon radish and regular small red radishes and slice them half rounds instead of julienned.  Also used red Russian kale instead of curly kale.  (the radishes were salted for 20 minutes and rinsed before being added to kimchi paste)
Red Russian kale is slightly more bitter which reminds my of chong gak kimchi.  (baby daikon radish kimchi with the greens)  I personally prefer the red Russian kale over the curly kale.

Kale Kimchee

Kale is the new black.

I decided to make a kale kimchee recently, kale has become extremely popular everywhere and I thought why not.
The recipe is just like making a regular cabbage kimchee except that kale does not need to be salted.
It also takes much longer to ferment.  Kale is a very dense and dry green a lot like collard greens.
Few pointers.
* Roughly chop kale in to bite size.
* Remove the vein.

Recipe.

Ingredients
1 bunch of kale.  Roughly chopped and stem and large vein removed.

1/2 Daikon radish. Julienned

1 bunch of chopped green onions. 

Kimchee paste
1 whole garlic peeled and roughly chopped
2 inch piece of ginger peeled and roughly chopped.
Korean pepper flakes. 1 cup. depending on hot spicy you like it.
1 large Korean pear or 1 pear and 1 apple peeled and roughly chopped
1/2 onion roughly chopped.
1/4 cup of sugar
*2 tbsp cup of fish sauce (preferably 3 Crabs brand)  If not using fermented shrimp use 3 tbsp.
*3 tbsp of fermented shrimp.  (optional, they are hard to find, only sold in Asian markets)

Add all the ingredients and puree them in blender or food processor till it
becomes and paste. Should be slightly watery paste. Taste. It should taste like good kimchee.
Add the julienned radish and chopped green onions and kale.

Here is the important part. Use you hands. ( I wear rubber gloves)

I put the kale kimchee inside plastic bag then in the a large container.  It can make the container smell and the smell is hard to get rid of.
Leave it on kitchen counter for 1 week
Refrigerate for 2 week.
It should be ready to eat once it is refrigerated.
Gets better as it ages.

Kale and kimchee fried rice

I've done kimchee fried rice on this blog before but this time I've added sautéed kale to the mix.  I just wanted to show how versatile and delicious kale can be.

Kale Mac and Cheese

My grown up version of Mac and cheese.  Still cheesy, creamy and delicious.
Enjoy.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup of cheddar cheese
1/2 cup of monterey jack cheese
3 tbsp of butter
1 tbsp of olive oil
2 stalks of leeks chopped
1 clove of garlic chopped
4 stalks of kale vein removed and chopped
1/2 box of pasta  (whatever you like – I used Fusilli)
2 cups of milk
1 tbsp of flour
1/2 tsp of dry mustard
1/2 tsp of cayenne (Omit if you don't want it spicy)
pinch of nutmeg  (please use from whole nutmeg)
salt and pepper to taste.

Boil water for pasta, and cook the pasta 'til al dente.
In a large frying pan, heat 1 tbsp of butter and olive oil.  Be cautious not to burn the oil and butter.
Add leeks and heat 'til softened, about 5 minutes, add garlic saute for couple more minutes.
Add kale , salt and pepper, sauté 10 minutes till it's wilted. Make space in the center of the pan and add remaining butter and melt.  Add flour and mix well with butter.  Add milk stir till it comes to boil and thickens.  Lower the heat and add the cheese and stir til the sauce is nice and cheese.  Add pasta stir well make sure everything is incorporated.  Now is good time to taste to make sure it's well seasoned and salt and pepper if need it.  Pour everything in to a casserole dish, sprinkle the top with Parmesan cheese and bake in a 375 degree oven for 30 minutes.  Let cool before serving.

Here are some photos of cooking process.

Korean Fish egg stew. Agi Jhim Korean

Spicy fish eggs with lots of veggies.

Tomato Pie

Inspired by Chaiwalla cafe in Salisbury CT.  This is a delicious and unusual savory pie.Buttery biscuit crust with cheese and tomato filling. 

Crust
2 c flour
1/2 c butter (1 stick) Very cold.
4 t baking powder
3/4 c milk (adjust for biscuit-dough consistency) Very cold

Mix in food processor or by hand. Divide in half, for bottom and top crusts.
Chill in the refridgerator for 30 minuetes or more.
Filling
2 pounds fresh roma tomatoes, peeled and sliced
(squeeze all excess liquid from the tomatoes then let the water drain in a colindar, also ad 1tsp of salt
to help more draw out more liquid)
chopped basil, chives, or scallions
1 1/2 c sharp cheddar
1/3 c mayonnaise
2 T lemon juice

Roll bottom crust on floured surface and line 9" pie plate.
Mix all the ingredients less 1/3 of the cheese.  pour in to the crust and top with remaining cheese.

Roll out remaining crust. Cover pie and pinch the edges to seal. Cut steam vents.
Bake at 400 for about 30 to 40 minutes. Just want to make sure the crust is golden and the filling warm.  If not serving directly from the oven, re-heat before serving to melt the cheese.