Soooo i have many different things in the recipe backlog. I’ve made so much but i thought i’d start off with something simple. It’s Mark’s kimbap! I used to always buy the kimbap on the weekends at the manna store down the street and paid the 7 or 9 bucks for the two rolls. I then thought to myself damn i spend a lot on kimbap. So i thought why don’t i just make my own kimbap!!! I went and bought the ingredients and figured i could actually make like a bunch of kimbap rolls for the same price as 1. So i bought all the ingredients at manna and made them myself.
Here is the end result of my kimbap adventure!
The ingredients i used were very simple
- For the beef
- 1/2 Pound Thinly Sliced Beef (Bulgogi sliced beef)
- 1 tablespoons of grated ginger
- 2 tablespoons of grated korean pear
- 4 tablespoons of soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon of sugar
- 1 tablespoon of minced garlic
- 1/2 medium onion
- For the rest of the kimbap
- Package of Burdock root strips
- Package of pickled radish
- 2-3 carrots
- 3 eggs
- 1/2 tablespoon of mirin
- 1 tablespoon of sugar
- 1/2 cup of frozen spinach
- 2 teaspoon sesame oil
- a bunch of cooked white rice
- a bunch of seaweed sheets
I put the ingredients but for the bulgogi i really just did it by feel. I threw the sliced beef into a big ziplock bag and then threw in all the other ingredients for the bulgogi in the bag and shook it all up. Basically you want a sweetish marinade so that the beef absorbs it all. The grated pears actually contain calpain which is a natural meat tenderizer like in papaya and kiwis. It also adds a nice clean taste. So shake it up and let it sit for a while in the marinade. Remember don’t let it sit too long or it’ll get too soft. While that’s marinating go and prepare the eggs. I beat up the eggs and added mirin and sugar to make the eggs taste sweet. I was going to add some dashi too but got lazy. Basically i was making edo-style tamago but without all the ingredients. So cook and while you cook the eggs fold them so it creates a nice thick rectangle piece of egg. Boil the frozen spinach till it’s done. Then take it out and chill it in cold water. Strain and then mix the spinach with the sesame oil. Slice up all the vegetables so they are nice strips to be put into the kimbap. After the meat has tenderized go and throw the meat and onions in a medium-high heat pan and cook it. I usually just put the meat in and not the juices because more juice will come out of the meat when you cook it.
Now it’s just time to put it all together. Lay the seaweed down on your bamboo sushi roll roller and then spread a thin layer of rice all over the sheet. Don’t put too much rice or you won’t be able to put a lot of ingredients inside. Then lay all the ingredients down in the center of the roll. Put however much of each you like. Then roll it up however style you like rolling it. Voila! Simple Kimbap! You can now feed an army of hungry people! Enjoy!
So Christmas is coming and i thought let’s make some cookies. I searched online and found a nice recipe for molasses crinkles. They are like the ginger snap cookies with that nice spice flavor you get around christmas time. So what could go wrong with Molasses Crinkles? Well Nothing went wrong. Just I realized don’t make cookies that taste just like if you bought them. I made these cookies and thought to myself …. I can just buy the same thing. I should of made something like crazy ooey gooey chocolate chip cookies or something. Though i have to say i do enjoy the cookies especially with some milk but i’m not going crazy over them! Next time i’m gonna make a carrot cake or something like that.
Anyways here are the pics of my little cookie monster adventure
The ingredients for these cookies were
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup vegetable shortening
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter
- 1 cup dark brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 cup molasses
- 1/3 cup sanding or raw sugar for topping
Whisk together the Flour, Allspice, Cloves, Ginger, Salt, Cinnamon, Baking Soda so that everything is mixed together. Start beating together the Vegetable Shortening, Butter and Brown Sugar for about 3-4 minutes in the mixer. When it’s mixed and fluffy add the egg and molasses and keep beating it together. When that has been mixed in lower the mixer speed to low and slow pour in the flour mixture. Keep mixing until everything is mixed together very well.
Preheat oven to 375F. Start rolling the cookie dough into 1 inch balls. It helps to have wet hands when doing this because the batter can get really sticky. After you roll the balls dip one side of the ball into the sugar you have for topping. You want one end to have sugar so when it bakes it is on top. Put these balls about 1-2 inches apart from each other on baking sheets. Put the cookies in the oven for about 8-11 minutes. The longer it cooks the crisper it is. I did around 8-10 and it came out half and half. Next time i might go for about 8 minutes. Anything lower than that and the cookies are still in a ballish shape. So after the time is up take them out and let them cook for a couple minutes. I had to do about 3 rounds of baking because i only had 2 baking pans. It’ll make around 50-60 depending how big your dough balls are…. 
There you go! Molasses Crinkles! Enjoy!
So after a long and stupid messup over at bon appetit my subscription finally arrived. I have to say though that i really like this magazine. Especially the pictures and the recipes. The recipes are pretty realistic and the pictures help guide you to what it should look like and also to give you ideas on how to plate. There are also interesting articles about different spices and such….. (I realize i’m talking about cooking magazines) (If you want to get the magazine look on ebay. It’s super cheap. That’s where i get all my magazine subscriptions like wine spectator, gourmet, saveur and bon appetit)
Soo anywho… I thought i’d do something from the magazine. Something simple, quick and for lunch and dinner…. I picked the Crab and Corn Chowder. I really like corn chowder (especially bacon corn chowder) and i wanted to make. I had most of the ingredients except for .. clam juice and crab… It actually turned out ok. I won’t say super but it was decent and enjoyable, nothing to write home about. I have to say though that i should of throw in some bacon!!!! Bacon always makes food even better!
Here are the pics of my chowder time!
So that’s it. It’s pretty simple to make. Here are the ingredients.
- 1 16 ounce bag of frozen white corn
- 1 cup low fat milk (i use 1/2%)
- 8 ounce bottle of clam juice
- 4 tablespoons of green onions (sliced thin)
- 2 teaspoons minced ginger
- 5 teaspoons of lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons of butter
- 4 ounces of canned crab meat
Start out by separating 1/4 cup of frozen corn on the side. Then bring the rest of the corn and the milk to a boil in a medium pan. Remove it from the heat and cover it and let it sit on the side for 10 minutes or so. Throw the mix into a blender or use a hand blender and puree the mix. Add the clam juice, 1 teaspoon of minced ginger and 3 tablespoons of the green onions and continue blending. I blended it till it was like a thick sauce but you could still see some chunks of corn. Throw the mix back into the pan and simmer it. Min in 1 1/2 teaspoons of lemon juice and mix it around. Salt and pepper the soup and let it sit there on the side keeping warm.
Now take a skillet and throw the butter in it on medium heat. Melt the butter and then add the leftover corn. Let it sautee for a while. About 2-3 minutes or so. Add the leftover green onions, crab, leftover ginger and 3 teaspoons of lemon juice. Stir it all around and let it cook for a little. About a few minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
Put the corn soup in a bowl first then add the sauteed corn and crab on top. That’s it! Eat it for lunch, dinner, xiao ye whatever you want to eat it for. Bon App!
So today i felt like noodles. I was actually going to make lamb chops but i didn’t really feel like doing it. The recipe i wanted to do takes around 45-1hr total. Maybe this weekend but not today. So anyways i went ahead and did the Sirloin Steak with Bok Choy and Noodles. I kinda threw whatever i had together to make this so i didn’t really follow the recipe as it should be. But it still came out good and tasty. I got the Baby Bok Choy from the Farmer’s Market because it looked really good and it was cheap! I’ll be there tomorrow for shizzo! I need to get some more Daikon and Red Radishes and maybe track down some fresh herbs. Hopefully this time i don’t forget the pears so i can make that nice spiced pear dessert.
Here are the pictures of today’s little feast
So the ingredients for this were
- 1/2 Red Onion thinly sliced
- A decent sized Sirloin Steak (enough for me at least)
- A chunk of ginger peeled and sliced thinly
- 1 Red Chili Pepper sliced thinly
- 2 bunches of Baby Bok Choy
- 1 Package of Cellophane Noodles
- 2 teaspoons of Ground Cumin
- A bunch of Shiitake Mushrooms sliced into thin slices
- 1 Cup of Chicken Broth
So basically this is really a simple and quick thing to do. Boil some water and then pour the water over the Cellophane Noodles and set aside for a while. Then season the Sirloin steak with the cumin, salt and pepper and rub olive oil all around. Then heat up your pan/pot really hot and throw in the steak. I kinda didn’t wait and threw in the sirloin steaks before the pan was super hot. So you should sear the outsides of the steak but mine wasn’t really seared more like browned. But after you do that to all the sides of the steak throw in the red chili peppers, ginger and red onions. Let that sizzle a little and move around the pot so the flavors all get mixed together. After a while throw in the Bok Choy, Shiitake Mushrooms and the Chicken broth. (If you happen to have Chicken Stock it would be even better but most don’t have it on hand). Then drain the Cellophane Noodles and put them into the pan/pot and the Stir! Stir! Stir! all around so everything gets the goodness. Take out the Sirloin Steak and slice it into nice slices. Put the noodles into the bowl and then put the meat on top. Bon App! Quick and Easy!
