Cheat's doenjang jiggae

I'm really not into miso soup.. but the korean version is nice!

I made tofu and vegetable bean paste stew/soup, doenjang jiggae, for fatty hubby today. He's been feeling a bit under the weather and I thought something warm and soupy would make him feel better ^^.

Basically, to make doenjang jiggae, you need soybean paste or doenjang, which is similar to the chinese taucheo or the japanese miso. It's not expensive, and is widely available in the supermarts and the korean marts. I noticed the smell of doenjang is not as strong as the chinese taucheo, and it looks darker too. It is also not as salty ^^ that's really good! i like!

Anyways, this is my first time making doenjang jiggae. And I don't really have the ingredients as per the recipe (^^||).. so I tweaked it to suit what I have. I think my version is pretty good too. (^^)

Doenjang jiggae (adapted from my favorite little korean cookbook, korean favorites) ~ serves 4

2 liters water
40g dried baby anchovies
6 tbsp korean soybean paste, doenjang
1 tbsp korean hot chili bean paste, gochujang
3 potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 onion, diced or sliced
1 zucchini, sliced
6 fresh shiitake mushrooms, sliced
1 green chili, chopped
250g soft tofu, dubu, cubed
1 spring onion, cut into lengths

1. Bring water to a boil. Add anchovies, boil for 5 minutes and remove from stock.

2. Add doenjang and gochugaru to boiling stock. Add potatoes, onion, zucchini, mushrooms and chili, and simmer till vegetables are tender.

3. Add tofu and spring onion, and simmer for 1 minute. Cover the pot and serve after 2 minutes.
  

This recipe actually calls for a base stock of dried baby anchovies.. but since I had none, I just replaced with some pork meatballs (cut to small pieces) to make stock ^^. Then I added doenjang and gochujang.. and onions, japanese cucumber and soft organic tofu. So simple and easy, yet tastes good and not at all salty! (^^)

Fatty hubby loves this jiggae! I'm happy (^^)

One dish, many meals

You didn't think I'd really slave over dinner, did you?

You guessed, right! Tonight's dinner is leftover cooked minced beef from the bibimbap dinner, 2 nights ago.. in spaghetti sauce (ready-made, of course). I feel rather clever about this (^^||).. And fatty hubby is no wiser.. He didn't make the connection with the weird beef sushi too (^^).

And since we needed some veg, and fatty hubby loves soup, I decided to make a simple soup out of spinach and egg. Just add 2 tbsp of soy sauce and some salt to season. And you have a healthy, clear soup ready.

fatty hubby's favorite, spaghetti bolognese 

Believe it or not, I still have a portion of cooked minced beef left.. so watch out for my next "one dish, many meals" creation.. soon (^^)

Cheat's bak kut teh

I'm getting really good.. at cheating dinners! (^^)

And this is how you do it.. just make soup.. one that comes with prepacked ingredients! How easy can this get, right? Anybody can make bak kut teh.. with a prepacked mix. All you need to have is meat, garlic, canned mushrooms (optional), soy sauce, dark soy sauce and salt to season (^^). Put everything into boiling water and boil for at least 1-1 1/2 hours. So easy, right?

This is my first time making bkt, and I chose this brand, Mo Sang Kor from Klang. Previously, I bought a cordyceps soup mix of the same brand, which turned out quite well, after I took out the herbal pouch, of course (^^). Anyways it's me.. it's not a problem with the herbs/brand. I just don't take to strong herbal stuff that well. 

So how did the bkt turn out? Absolutely superb! The soup was nicely robust and full of flavor! Just the way piggies and I like it. Oops, did I mention I used only half the ingredients in the pack.. and the usual garlic (less too) instead of black (?) garlic.. and I used slightly less meat than recommended.. Actually, I was afraid that the soup might taste too strong of herbs if I used the full mix. Anyways, this really worked out well.. I have the perfect soup! (^^) And I still have ingredients to make another batch of soup!

 

And to balance the meal, I stir-fried spinach with 3 pips of garlic and seasoned with a bit of salt. I recommend the use of a good quality ceramic non-stick wok or pan (consider Neoflam), so that you don't have to use a lot of oil for stir-fries or cooking.. I really think that's important. Look at how beautiful and green the veggies turned out.. minus the oil (^^). And this, coming from a not-so-good cook..

I really enjoyed today's dinner. A teeny-weeny (??) bit more effort than usual.. but really fantastic result (^^)!

A robustly perfect soup enjoyed by all, baby pig included!

Easy chinese cabbage soup

An easy soup for one.. or two.

I'm on my own today. So it's going to be something really simple for dinner tonight. Here's my take on chinese cabbage or napa cabbage soup.

Easy chinese cabbage soup (recipe for 2)

1 medium sized chinese cabbage, cut to own preference
50-100g minced meat (depending on preference)
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp oyster sauce (optional)
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp mirin / chinese rice wine (optional)
a pinch of corn flour (optional)
1 - 1 1 /2 cups water

1. Marinade minced meat with soy sauce, oyster sauce, sesame oil, mirin and corn flour.

2. Add chinese cabbage to boiling water. Mix in marinated minced meat. Bring soup to a boil.

3. Turn down fire and let soup simmer till cabbage is softened for about 25-30 minutes.

Another easy one-pot meal. A simple dinner where I get both my greens and protein. It's light and refreshing.. try it! You can have it on its own, with rice, or even add noodles to make it a really ONE-pot meal!

Delicious! Even fatty hubby thinks so too (^^)

Easy hot 'n spicy tom yum seaweed soup

Hot and spicy ~ perfect on a rainy night.

Fatty hubby's been asking for this one-pot soup for some time. And it's not anything special. Just something I whip up when we feel peckish in the middle of the night. All you need for this soup are simple, basic ingredients you probably already have in your kitchen.

Hot 'n spicy tom yum soup (recipe for 2)

1-2 tbsp tom yum paste (use your favorite)

Chili powder (season to your taste)

a pinch of salt

Seaweed (whatever you have ~ dried or seasoned, ready to eat)

2 eggs

1-1 1/2 cup water

Mix tom yum paste, chili powder and seaweed to boiling water. Add eggs last. Season with salt.

So easy, right? Anyways, to make it into a proper lunch or dinner dish, a one-pot meal - just add some greens, meat, mushroom or whatever you have in the fridge or freezer. And that's what I did.. added spinach and meatballs for last night's dinner. Yummy! And so easy! Another cheat's dinner (^^)

Hot, spicy and piquant! Fatty likes (^^)

Cordyceps soup

I'm really not big on soups. And definitely not chinese herbal soups.

But fatty hubby is. He was practically fed nutritious soup daily by his mama, till he married me. And I don't do soups.. Anyways, while I was out shopping with a friend at a chinese medical hall cum supermarket, we came across this bag of readily assembled herbs to make soup. All you need to do is the add meat and a nutritious soup is ready for consumption. So I thought I'd make some for fatty.. and myself too, since I felt faint twice yesterday. Probably, low blood pressure again..can do with some nourishment, I think.

Unfortunately, the cordyceps soup is not my cup of tea.I really don't like the smell and taste of most chinese herbs. Mum didn't use much of chinese herbs in her cooking and not growing up on such things, haven't exactly endeared me to these kind of ingredients. Though the cordyceps was ok (it doesn't have much smell or taste), the herb sachet smelled horrid. I couldn't stand the smell and took it out of the soup almost immediately after putting it in!

Anyways, no worries. I added grated ginger, minced garlic, yamasa soy sauce and mirin to the cordyceps soup and VOILA! we have a yummy soup that tastes a teeny weeny bit of bak kut teh soup. A delicately sweet (added loads of pork spare ribs) nourishing soup for fatty hubby and me!

Fatty likes! So do I!