Tag: easy cooking

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Soba noodle salad with Korean chili paste “gochujang” sauce

korean platter noodles

I miss good authentic Korean food all year round, but there are a few cold dishes that I miss even more when summer hits Hong Kong hard. One of those dishes that I’ve been missing a lot lately is “Jaengban Guksu”, literally means noodles on a plate. It is cold soba served with lots of fresh vegetables and spicy Gochujang (fermented red chili paste) sauce and boiled eggs. Although called noodles, I think what it really highlights is the crunch vegetables. This dish is sweet, spicy, refreshing and quite healthy. The recipe doesn’t require any specific kind of vegetables, you can use whatever you like as long as they bring crunchiness to the dish. Cucumber and carrots are commonly used in Korea, and sometimes we add fruits like Asian pear. Apple will work great as well. I personally love adding as many rainbow color veggies as I can, not only for nutrition purpose but for making things more fun and pretty as well.

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How to use old sour kimchi – Kimchi fried rice

As kimchi started gaining its superfood status, my friends started asking me all sorts of kimchi related questions. And two of the most common questions among them were 1. Does kimchi ever go bad if you keep it too long? 2. What do you do with a few weeks or months old sour tasting kimchi? Continue reading How to use old sour kimchi – Kimchi fried rice

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20 minute meal – Squid ink spaghetti with crab and green chilis

crab chili squid ink pasta

I came down with a terrible flu last week. So terrible that I didn’t even have much appetite (that rarely happens to me), and couldn’t think of what to have for dinner. Fortunately my appetite came back after a couple of days, which I figured as a sign of recovery, and one of the first things I wanted to eat was pasta. In fact, I could eat pasta pretty much everyday, not a problem for me at all. Continue reading 20 minute meal – Squid ink spaghetti with crab and green chilis

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Sweet, sticky, spicy chicken wings with orange & honey glaze

The first thing I do when I come up with a recipe is taking a note on my phone. Then I usually move onto testing it, and make necessary changes. If I decide to post the recipe, I either picture what the dish is going to look like in my head or doodle it out on my sketch pad. I remember finishing all those steps for this recipe months ago. I was ready to work on my post, then my husband and I went to a bar (nice bar, not a trash one) and ordered chicken wings. And oh boy, were they the worst chicken wings we’d ever hadโ€ฆI think they were one of the worst things I ever had to put in my mouth. I just couldnโ€™t get it, who messes up chicken wings? Not only we stayed away from eating any type of chicken wings after that, I couldnโ€™t even hear the word โ€˜chicken wingsโ€™ without having a gag reflex. Continue reading Sweet, sticky, spicy chicken wings with orange & honey glaze

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20-minute meal – Garlic and caper butter with parmesan linguine

Have you ever watched โ€˜Jamieโ€™s 15-minute mealsโ€™ and tried to replicate his recipes?ย ย Unfortunately I was never able to make the dishes from the show in 15 minutes. Well, I amย not Jamie Oliver after all so it is understandable I guess. Cooking technique or the speed is one thing but the most challenging part for me is the space. 15-minute meal is all about having everything ready to go in front of you and thisย includes all the equipment and tools.ย But I simply cannot layout more than 3 pots or pans in my tiny humble kitchen. So speedy cooking for me usually means that I am making 1-2 pot dishes, and pasta is just a natural choice in this case. Continue reading 20-minute meal – Garlic and caper butter with parmesan linguine

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Hangover breakfast โ€“ Kimchi and barley flour pancakes

kimchi pancakes

There arenโ€™t that many things that I like more than Kimchi and eggs in this world. Especially when I am hungover and craving for something rich, spicy and refreshing at the same time. If I come home tipsy and I know that I will be hungover the next day, I head to the kitchen and make myself a Kimchi omelet no matter how late it is. This omelet makes me wake up with a puffy face but it also keeps me from having a splitting headache and nausea. I donโ€™t know whether Kimchi actually cures the hangover or our brains and stomachs are just programmed to think that way but Kimchi is one of the most common hangover cure food in Korea. (As you could probably guess, we eat Kimchi for almost anything). Continue reading Hangover breakfast โ€“ Kimchi and barley flour pancakes

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Spinach, feta and pomegranate salad with lentils

I will be taking my annual spring trip to Korea soon. I normally do this in May because it is the best time to visit Korea in terms of weather and my momโ€™s birthday usually falls in May (her birthday is based on lunar calendar so it changes every year, I am not kidding)โ€ฆAnyways, this means it is time to clean out the fridge and cupboards. I donโ€™t always get lucky with what I find, but this time a bag of organic red split lentils and a gorgeous pomegranate caught my eye, yay! Instead of trying to remember what I was going to do with them in the first place or come up with a fancy recipe I just decided to go with something simple and fresh. Besides, I was a little busy packing… Continue reading Spinach, feta and pomegranate salad with lentils

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Coconut miso chicken breasts with toasted sesame seeds

To be honest, I used to hate chicken breast. I just could not understand why anyone would ever eat that tasteless dry meat. I am a huge fan of fatty and flavorful cuts of meat like pork belly, rib eye and duck breast (with skin on of course), so the idea of having chicken breast as main protein in my meal seemed too boring. It was only last year when I started to care more about eating healthy that I decided to give a go with chicken breast. I had tried as many cooking techniques as I could find for months, but perfectly cooked juicy chicken breast I wanted seemed almost unachievable. Continue reading Coconut miso chicken breasts with toasted sesame seeds

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My version of Sicilian pesto โ€“ โ€˜Pesto alla trapaneseโ€™

I love Italian food. Dare I say I love it almost as much as I love Korean food, and definitely eat as often as Korean food. Although I enjoy cooking Italian dishes, I amย a littleย afraid of postingย my recipes here. Italians are known to be very specific about their food, and many Italian people Iโ€™ve met over the years have proven that. So in order not to disgrace traditional โ€˜Pesto alla trapaneseโ€™ I have read and watched videos of many different types of recipes, from Nigella Lawsonโ€™s to a sweet Sicilian nonnaโ€™s. And after some researching and experimenting, I have come up with my favorite version, which is vegetarian without anchovy fillets and has no raw garlic. I know what youโ€™re thinking, no garlic in pesto?? Believe me I have tried… Continue reading My version of Sicilian pesto โ€“ โ€˜Pesto alla trapaneseโ€™

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โ€˜Tteokbokkiโ€˜ โ€“ Spicy Korean rice cakes with 7 minute eggs

Spicy rice cake, known as โ€˜Tteokbokkiโ€™ is an ultimate Korean street food. Every single one of us grew up eating this and it was the very first dish I ever cooked at home using my little brother as a taste tester. It is still extremely popular anywhere in Korea, where we have countless little joints, street vendors and even one of the streets of Seoul named after it (guess what kind of restaurants you can find there ๐Ÿ˜‰ ). And if you are a foodie planning a trip to Seoul, this area is worth stopping by. Continue reading โ€˜Tteokbokkiโ€˜ โ€“ Spicy Korean rice cakes with 7 minute eggs