lobugast

“Your momma’s so dumb, someone told her that it was chilly out side, and she went out with a bowl and a spoon in her hand!”

…….

Okay, sorry.

I have been trying to use the canned and dried food that I’ve been storing for the armageddon.  Here’s the chili that I’ve “winged” yet again, using chickpeas, red beans, and bulgur as majors.  I looked at 101 Cookbooks for tips, but just worked it what I had.  I’ve been putting lot of carrots in everything, because I am afraid that my vision is getting worse by day.  I have no idea if that will help anything at all, but I figure it doesn’t hurt to try.  (If by any chance you are reading this and happen to be a doctor, or a nutritionist, please let me know if my efforts are futile, and if so, what I should do instead.  Thank you.)

This chili became our meal for a good part of last week, and as they say, it did get better everyday, and each time I found something to add.  It was a little sad when I found myself scraping the bottom of the pot toward the last day of its existence.

Speaking of chili, I’d like to finally dedicate a short moment of my time in honor of Ben Ali, the owner of Ben’s Chili Bowl in Washington DC who passed away last month.  His chili were some of my first ever, and the best.  Having spent my early teen years as a young vegan going to punk rock shows in DC, Ben’s Chili Bowl was the only place to grab warm, vegan friendly grubs after thrashing around the capital late at night.  Here’s to you, Mr. Ali.

Days that I want 콩나물국 (soy bean sprout soup) include rainy days, days I don’t feel like getting out of bed, simply crappy days, and pretty much all other days.  I have talked about bean sprouts before, but I am making another note, because really, it’s only recently that I have started to cook with soybean sprouts, and the possibilities are seemingly endless.  My mom used to make me the soup when I was sick, with a lot of red pepper flakes.  It’s something I’d never ask for.  In fact, I don’t know if I have ever met anyone who would name a mung bean sprout dish as their favorite.  But like the best things in life, you will never get sick of it.  When done right, its flavors are minimal yet complex and homey, and it doesn’t stand out, but it accompanies everything perfectly.

Wash and pick through a generous amount of soybean sprouts, and boil it so that some of the sprouts can be used for the soup, and the rest for banchan. Too much water will take away the distict flavor of the sprouts.  And sudden change in the temperature and the steam will bring out a weird fishy flavor, so it’s best to either keep the lid on the whole time with low heat, or leave it completely off for the entire duration.  This will make more sence once you start cooking. 

My dear garlic press finally broke, after 5 years or so and I have yet to replace it.  For now, I am sticking to my mom’s favorite method which is to crush the cloves with the back of the knife.  A lot of people use anchovies or oysters to enhance the flavor of the base, but for the soup, I like it plain, without anything else.  I love the flavor of the sprouted bean, and a bit of garlic.  So the image above are the most important ingredients of today’s menu.

I found this lady Maangchi’s site a while ago, and I absolutely love her videos. If you like quirkly, experienced ladies, or have any interest in Korean cooking at all, her site is a must.  And I guess my thing really is to just show pictures and make little notes for myself, which isn’t the most helpful to everyone.  So I will just refer you to her video on how to make bean sprout soup!  Like I said, the fish-y things can be left out or substituted with kelp.

And here are my two bean sprout dishes. The soup, and the muchim.

I am guessing that soy bean sprouts has some protein, but as a vegetarian, I try to maximize my intake of protein and calcium with every meal.  Pan-fried tofu is a fast and fool-proof way, and this is how most Korean people eat tofu at home.  We don’t always do all that crazy fancy stuff that you see in American vegetarian restaurants.  All you need is oil to grease the pan, and salt to taste.

Maybe one day I will learn to cut perfect squares of tofu.

As you might have gathered from my raving in the last entry, I’ve been craving simple home cooked Korean food like mad ever since. So I decided to make my own banchan for the week.

The climate of Korea is similar to the North Eastern region of US, Western Europe, and parts of Japan North of Tokyo. So while the types of vegetables grown in each part of those places vary, generally, any vegetables some what native to those regions work fine in making banchan. For instance, kale or Swiss chard are not something often used in Korean cooking, but the flavors work just fine with its palate in my opinion.

There are, however, certain thing that I consider ‘staples’.

From left, rice seasoning, sesame seeds, red pepper paste on top of the tub of dwenjang (Korean miso), crushed dried red pepper, sesame oil, and soy sauce.*

Now the rice reasoning is not really consider a staple or even Korean really, but I really like to sprinkle it on stuff. Other important ingredients are garlic, onions, dubu (tofu) and in my kitchen, seaweed.

These are 2 kinds I always have in the freezer. Kelp (dashima, 다시마) on the left can be found in most better grocery stores. It comes in really handy when making broth as a vegetarian. And on the left it laver (ghim, 김). It’s the sea weed you roll sushi with. My mom always brings heaps of these things from Korea so I never run low. This too, can be found commonly. You can toast it lightly on a pan, and crush and sprinkle it on top of rice, or other banchan.

So there you have it.  All the ‘specialty items’.

Oh, and the top image is the result of my 1 1/2 hour labor tonight!  I know that might not be that long for more ambitious cooks, but to me that’s like, 5 hours.  But I enjoyed every moment of it.  I marked each items here so you can see what they are. And after a dinner for two last night, I still have enough to keep!

Gamja Jorim (Spicy Braised Potatoes)

• Chop the potatos evenly in cubes and throw it in a pot with some water, and bring to boil.
• When it starts boiling, pour the water out leaving some to cover 1/3 of the potatoes.
• Mix pepper paste, onions, a little bit of sugar, pepper flakes and soy sauce in the remaining water, and continue cooking on medium low heat until the potatoes are tender and the liquid mixture is reduced to paste like sauce.
• Season with a little bit of sesame oil and serve, topped with chopped scallions and sesame seeds.

Ghim Muchim (Marinated Laver)

• Break, or cut some sheets of dried laver to small pieces.
• Pour enough water in an empty bowl to cover about 1/3 of the seaweed in volume.  Add about a spoonful of soy sauce, sesame oil, vinegar, crushed garlic, thinly chopped scallions (I ran out of it, so I used leeks instead), sesame seeds, and some sugar and/or pepper flakes depending on what you like.  Mix thoroughly.
• Add the liquid mixture to the seaweed, or vice versa.  The seaweed will reduce its volume significantly.

Sigumchi Dwenjang-Gook (Spinach Miso Soup)

• Fill a pot about 2/3 full with water and a couple sheets of Kelp, bring to boil.  It can simmer as long as you need.  Take out the kelp (and chop and use it for stir fry or salad).
• Dissolve as much white/red/or mixed dwenjang (miso;  된장) in the broth as you’d like, and add cubed soft tofu.  Chopped green chili peppers, scallions, or onions can also be added.  Bring to boil again.
• Reduce heat to medium and add some spinach and crushed garlic.  Cook until the spinach is tender.
• For those of you who can read Korean, I really enjoyed reading about 시금치 된장국 here. The recipe looks great too.

*All these can be found in your local Korean or Japanese grocery stores.  There are a lot of different brands and varieties of each items, but the Korean word for organic is 유기농, and they’re usually marked on the packaging.