Kimchi Fried Rice with Chili-Garlic Sauce and Fried Eggs

So we’ve rolled the clock back and the fact that it’s so incredibly dark all the time is making my body crave carbs and comfort foods. (Particularly bread crusts which I normally don’t care for). Anyways, I have a ton of leftovers in my fridge and what better way to utilize them than to make a homey fried-rice. Normally, fried-rice calls for anything you have left in the fridge but I absolutely urge you to go out and buy some spicy Korean kimchi to make this dish sing: roasted garlic and smokey chili really makes for an amazing bed for saucy stir-fries.

I didn’t have that much kimchi left in the fridge so the proportion of kimchi to rice was off and it wasn’t incredibly spicy but the flavor it imparts was spot on.  And to add to that, I’m not incredibly tolerant of heat (sadface) but I love the smokey flavor of chilis.

Kimchi Fried Rice with Chili-Garlic Sauce and Fried Eggs
2 c. brown rice
1 c. cabbage kimchi, sliced into 1/2 inch strips
1 – 2 tbsp gochujang (a korean red pepper sauce) or chili-garlic sauce or to taste.
3 eggs beaten, and an additional whole eggs per serving
1 carrot, minced
1 leek rinsed and white parts, sliced
1 shallot, sliced
1 garlic, minced
1/4 c. defrosted peas
3 tbsp (light) soy sauce
2 tbsps sesame oil
1 green onion, sliced for garnish
(1/4 lb ground beef or pork, optional)

In a large wok or deep-dish saute pan, saute carrot, leeks, shallots, garlic, and 1 tbsp soy sauce in 1 tbsp sesame oil over high heat. If you are using meat, saute before the veggies until browned. Add sliced kimchi and juices. Stir and incorporate.  Add additional gochujang or chili-garlic sauce if desired. Mix in brown rice and peas. Stir to incorporate. Do not cook too long or rice will become soggy.

Make a well in the center of the rice. Add additional tablespoon of sesame oil and pour egg into well. Wait until it sets a bit before stirring the well. After egg has cooked mostly, incorporate it into the rest of the rice. Remove rice from saute pan and fry whole eggs to desired doneness. Serve over hot rice, garnish with green onions and additional kimchi or chili-sauce.

Green Beans with Tofu and Shiitake Crumble

I went to the pumpkin patch recently and talked to the farmer there about owning and humanely killing my own chicken. He said, get back to me on the 31st and we’ll talk about selling you my chickens. I don’t know if he mentioned showing me how to kill and butcher one but my grandma has done it. I’m excited. If I’m going to eat chicken meat, I should be able to kill it myself or at least watch the process. Granted, I’m being pretty over-confident right now. I’m sure it’s going to totally gross me out and I’ll probably just settle for being happy to eat humanely-killed meat that I didn’t slaughter. WOO! …Or turn out like my dad, who watched my grandmother kill chicken, and now does not eat poultry (only red-meat; my father is a terrible person). Anyways, details about this later.

For the last Meat-Free Monday, I experimented with tofu. Braised Tofu was on sale and I grabbed that instead of extra-firm… but I’m sure that extra-firm will be just fine for this recipe. I thought it would crisp up a little but texturally, the tofu didn’t turn out crispy or chewy like meat, however, the reserved tofu strips were nice and caramelized. But just for reference, using ground tempeh or seitan would definitely be a better soy-protein substitute. Tofu still provides tasty results.

Green Beans with Tofu and Shiitake Crumble
1/2 lb fresh green beans, tips removed, chopped into bite sized pieces
1 large clove garlic, minced
1 inch piece peeled ginger root, grated
4 tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
1 tbsp hoisin or bean sauce
1 tsp mirin or rice wine vinegar
1/2 tsp brown sugar
1 pack braised tofu or extra-firm tofu, ground seitan or tempeh
7 – 10 fresh shiitake mushrooms, minced
1/2 tbsp corn starch with 4 tbsp water
sesame oil
cilantro or green onions for garnish

Start by pressing the liquid from the tofu by wrapping it with paper towels and placing a heavy object, like a skillet, over the whole or halved piece of tofu. Let sit for 10 – 30 minutes then crumble 3/4ths of the tofu with your hands. Chop the rest into strips. Mix crumbled tofu with minced shiitake.

In a small bowl, mix together minced garlic, ginger, soy sauce, hoisin, vinegar/mirin, and sugar. Set aside.

Heat a large wok or deep pan over medium-high to high heat. Add 2 tbsp olive oil or sesame oil and add the reserved tofu strips. Saute until golden brown, flipping only a few times (~5 minutes). Add the green beans with 1/4 of sauce mixture until green bean skins begin to pucker, about 6 – 7 minutes. Keep moving or they will burn. If you feel they are burning too much, add a little water, cover, and steam green beans. Season with pepper. Remove from wok and set mixture aside.

Add another tablespoon of oil and saute the tofu and mushroom mixture until tofu has browned. Add the rest of the sauce mixture and stir fry for a moment until garlic and ginger are no longer raw, about 1 minute. Add cornstarch and water until absorbed or thickened. Add chopped cilantro or green onion, if desired, and toss for a minute.

Spoon crumble over green beans. Garnish with cilantro or fresh green onions. Serve with a bowl of brown rice.

Beef Stir-Fry with Broccoli and Eggplant

I dog-sat for my boyfriend’s parents this weekend. Awesome, in the sense that three ginormous weimaraners are allowed all over the furniture (Aki, my blue girl, came by and helped and even got to sleep on his queen-sized bed with me for a night) but meh because one of the weims gets separation anxiety and before I leave, I have to put them away and everything and calbear sits on me at 6AM to make me feed him (even though he gets fed at 7!)

With limited supplies and time (finals to study for), I needed to make something quick, fresh, and healthy. I did a quick stir-fry. Pretty easy, no? Well, it really is. Broccoli is so good and I had some leftovers from the frittata and I love eggplant. When I was little, my parents would eat sea cucumber (we’re asian) and I never liked the texture– it’s slimey, crunchy, and just weird. In my brain, I somehow thought eggplant was sea cucumber and I never ate it. However, the first time I really started cooking, I cooked Italian and Lidia Bastianich (host of Lidia’s Italy) made such wonderful dishes with eggplant (which compelled me to finally try eggplant parm).

Anyways, so yes…eggplant.

we have a love-hate relationship-- hate here, as he sits on the top of the stairs looking down at me as usual like he be alpha.

Beef Stir-Fry with Broccoli and Eggplant
3/4 oz. Stir-Fry beef, Sirloin beef tips, cut against the grain or firm Tofu (you vegetarians, you!)
2 tbsp reduced-sodium soy sauce
1 tbsp sesame oil
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 tbsp corn starch
s/p
1 head broccoli, cleaned, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed, minced
1 small eggplant or 1/2 a large globe eggplant, chopped
1/3 c. water
1 green onion chopped,  some reserved for garnish
(1/2 tsp garlic-chili sauce)

In a small bowl, mix up the beef and cornstarch. Season with salt and pepper. Stir to coat.

In a wok (or a well-oiled, deep frying pan), heat up the vegetable oil over medium-high to high heat. The idea behind stir-frying is pretty much heat it over very, very high heat, very quickly. You can’t reach the same temperatures as in an actual restaurant but we want to duplicate it as much as possible. Stir-fry beef until just cooked– about a minute. Transfer to a bowl with a slotted spoon and tent with foil to keep warm.

Add another tablespoon of vegetable oil if needed and stir-fry garlic, broccoli and eggplant for about 2 to 3 minutes until garlic is just starting to become colored. Add soy sauce, sesame oil, (and garlic-chili if you decided to use it) and water and stir. Bring to a boil and return meat into the wok. Cook until the sauce is thickened and eggplant is soft. Add green onion and toss for a minute. Serve over fresh brown rice and garnish with more green onion, cilantro, and/or sesame seeds.

Hoisin-Marinated Pork Lettuce Wraps

I often wonder why I don’t cook Asian Food. It’s probably because I can never imitate the flavors of Chinese cuisine at home so I end up throwing together something that’s very “white-washed” in the end. So here’s a quick lettuce wrap that is inevitably not very Asian. It’s a sweet barbecued meat with a bitter, crunchy slaw over a crispy lettuce leaf.  I also added some extra fiber-y warmth with a scoop of brown rice. Typically, I would use Hoisin Sauce in the marinade but I didn’t have any. Whaat? No Hoisin at an Asian House? (I found it later in the back of the refrigerator…)

Anyways, I used something called “Char-Siu” (cha shao in mandarin) which is essentially a sauce made with a hoisin base but with other added ingredients such as 5-spice, soy sauce, and honey so if you find this, you can definitely use it in place of some ingredients I’m going to list. By the way, you can totally use a lean beef for this recipe. In fact, I bought pork on accident! I was going to make shredded pork but got lazy and just cut them in strips.

Hoisin-Marinated Pork Lettuce Wraps

For the Pork
1/4 c. Hoisin Sauce
(1 tsp honey)
1 tbsp mirin
1 – 1.5 tbsp(Lee Kum Kee) chili garlic sauce
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 tbsp grated fresh gingerroot
6 oz. pork center rib roast or beef top sirloin, trimmed, sliced into strips

For the Slaw
(1tbsp water, white miso, rice vinegar, and honey)
1.5 c cole slaw (store bought or homemade: however you roll)
1 finely chopped scallion/green onion

(Brown Rice)
(Crushed Sweet Sesame Pecans– you can find these at Asian Supermarkets, they are Walnuts topped with honey, sugar, and sesame and are crunchy and sweet. If you can’t find it, you can omit it.)
1 Head of Lettuce
2 whole-wheat tortillas (8-inch)
~2 servings, ~300 calories, 40g carbs, 25g protein 8g fat

Combine the hoisin, ginger, garlic, mirin, honey and chili garlic sauce in a bowl. You can exclude honey and hoisin if you have Char-Sui. I like the sweetness of the honey but most of the time, I think hoisin is sweet enough by itself so honey is optional. I’m also really partial to the chili-garlic sauce that Lee Kum Kee makes particularly because it’s very mild with a chili flavor and lots of garlic. It doesn’t have much heat but packs a lot of flavor so if you’re using this brand, go ahead and add more because it’s really not that spicy. (I’m a total baby about spicy things and this is like a godsend).

Add the meat and toss to coat. Let it marinate for at least 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, combine water, miso, vinegar and honey in a bowl. Toss with the cole slaw mix and scallions.

Heat a grill pan over medium-high heat and sear the beef strips until they’re seared on one side (2 minutes). Flip them, and grill until the beef is caramelized (2 – 3 minutes more).

Separate lettuce leaves. Top with a little brown Rice, slaw, crushed walnuts and a few strips of meat. Alternatively, you can go Mu Shu style and wrap it in warm tortillas. Traditionally, Mu-Shu is wrapped in paper-thin flour ‘tortillas’– they are not as heavy or thick as mexican-style tortillas. Usually its some sort of pork with different veggies and the hoisin is used as a sauce on the inside, separate from the filling.