Kimchi Yaki Udon 韩国泡菜炒乌冬面

 

Another 10 minutes Korean  lunch meal

 

This is another easy and quick meal that I used to rush back from office during lunch time to prepare for myself. Trust me, within 10 minutes, you’ll get to enjoy this delicious fusion of Korean & Japanese Kimchi Yaki Udon a.k.a Kimchi fried Udon noodles.

This recipe uses similar ingredients to the previous Kimchi Noodle soup.  However the ingredients are not cooked in soup base but instead stir-fried. You can use other types of noodles as you like such as egg noodles.

Again you can add a variety of flavor to it by adding slices of meat such as pork, chicken or turn it into seafood flavor by adding prawns and squid or whatever ingredients available from your fridge.

I am very pleased to know that  a few of my FB friends have successfully tried out the simplified Kimchi recipe that I introduced. In fact, they localize the recipe by using chili paste made from local dried chili instead of the Korean Chili powder.  I am glad to learnt that their version of Kimchi is not only hot in taste but also hot in demand!

 

Kimchi Fried Udon

 

 

 

Ingredients:

1 pack of udon ( you can opt for other noodles)

3-4 pcs of fish balls/meat balls/fish cake

1 egg

3 to 4 tablespoon of well-fermented Kimchi with Kimchi brine

 

Seasoning:

1 tablespoon oyster soy sauce (to your taste)
1 tsp. soy sauce (to your taste)

1/2 teaspoon sugar (to your taste to reduce Kimchi sourness)

1 tsp.of Korean chili paste ( for those who like extra heat)

 

For garnishing:
1 tablespoon of Gim ( Korean seasoned roasted dried seaweeds)

or

1 tablespoon of spring onions

Instructions:

1. In a small pot bring a pot of water to boil and add in Udon and add in side ingredients cook for 2 minutes, drained and set aside.

2. Heat up a pan with 2 tbsp. of oil.

3. Add in Kimchi. cooked Udon and fish balls stir fry a while before adding an egg and seasoning and continue to stir fry for 2-3 minutes until well mixed.

4. Dish up and garnish with spring onions/dried seaweeds before serve.

 

韩国泡菜炒乌冬面

主料：

1份乌冬面或任何您所选择的面条/冬粉等

3至4汤匙发酵泡菜以及泡菜卤水

3-4个鱼丸/肉丸/鱼饼

调味料：

1汤匙蚝油, 你的口味

1茶匙酱油,你的口味
1/2茶匙，糖（任选，以降低泡菜酸味）
1茶匙韩国辣椒酱的（对于喜欢额外辣的口味）

配菜：
1大匙，青葱的
或
1汤匙韩国调味的烤海藻

 

方法：
1，把一锅水煮沸，加入米粉，煮2分钟，沥干待用。
2，热油加入发酵泡菜爆香,加入配料炒香
3。再加入乌冬面，蛋，调味，翻炒均匀约3分钟。
4，洒上青葱/干海藻即可上碟享用。

Eggplant with Prawns 香滑茄子虾仁

Welcome to my Malaysian Kitchen
For years, I used to do my marketing at the neighbourhood weekly Pasar Malam (night market). I like to shop there as I can enjoy a variety of local foods while buying fresh and cheaper vegetables, fruits, fish, poultry and meats. Last Monday, I resumed my marketing routine there and was delighted to buy these young fresh eggplants.

For the past 2 years in Auckland we hardly ate eggplants. Not that eggplants were not easily available in NZ but the local eggplants found in NZ had a much firmer texture and not as tasty. Whereas the imported Asian eggplants were expensive in Auckland.

Initially, I was thinking of making steamed eggplants with minced meat. Once I had the eggplants washed and the skin peeled off, I recalled Ming Ray liked to eat deep fried eggplants. Therefore, I changed my mind to try out this stir-fried recipe from Yummy Yummy Hawkers' Fair.

In general, it is preferred to keep the eggplant skin for deep frying, but since I had already removed the skin, I proceeded with them skinless.

Eggplant with Prawns 香滑茄子虾仁 featured in Group Receipes 30/05/2011

Home Grown Dwarf French Beans

Garden to table - Dwarf French Beans

This spring, my landlord decided to redo the backyard landscape which affected my little garden that I had cultivated since last year. I was forced to do dig out all my old plants and started off a new garden. Now, I was so pleased to see my new garden growing so well again. All the vegetables lettuces, herbs and beans seeds that I sowed in spring have grown healthily.

The various dwarf French beans seeds we got free from Ambury Farm, finally flowered and fruited. Other than yellow beans, this time there are two new types of beans that successfully grown in my garden, one of them is dark purple bean (Dwarf Bean – Amethyst) and also flat green reddish beans (Shell Cranberry bean 'Lingua di Fuoco' (Tongue of Fire).

Shell Cranberry bean 'Lingua di Fuoco' (Tongue of Fire)

Yesterday, I harvested some of them. I knew they were still young to pluck but since we are going for a long vacation to South Island, so I couldn't wait to try them thinking they might be too old for us to eat when we return. Regardless their original beans color once they were cooked they all turned into green color, nonetheless they were really crunchy and tasty to eat.

Since only a small bunch of beans being harvested which not enough to make into one dish, I mixed them with broccoli and carrots and came out with this simple fast stir fried mix vegetables dish for our dinner.

Stir fry Shell Cranberry beans n broccoli

Stir fry Shell Cranberry beans & broccoli

INGREDIENTS: (Serves 3)

1 head of Broccoli -Discard broccoli stalks; thinly slice florets vertically
Shell Cranberry beans - slice into 1/3 length
1/4 Carrots - sliced
1 tbsp chopped garlic
6-9 pc prawns cutlets
100ml stock/plain water
3 tbsp Cooking/Vegetable oil
Cornstarch mixture (about ½ tbsp cornstarch mixed with 2 tbsp water)

Seasoning:

1 tsp salt (to your taste)

½ tsp sugar (to your taste)

Chicken stock powder (optional)

METHOD:

1. Give prawns a rinse, then brine (just enough to cover) 5 minutes before cook, drain.
2. Wash broccoli, carrots, beans and sliced.
3. Heat oil on high and sauté garlic till fragrant, add in broccoli, toss a while then followed by Shell Cranberry beans and carrots. Stir to coat all with oil.
4. Stir fry for 2 minutes until beans turn vibrant green; add in seasoning then stock/plain water.
5. Toss in prawn, give a few quick stir about another 2 minutes or until prawns turn pink.
6. Taste test before thicken with corn starch and serve

Stir Fry Water Spinach (Pak Bung Fai Daeng) 酱炒蕹菜 - Featured in Group Recipes

Flying Water spinach?

Water spinach a.k.a. Morning Glory is known as Kangkung in Malay. This vegetable is easily available in South East Asia (SEA) and is considered one of the cheapest vegetables as it thrives naturally with little care. I was surprised to find this vegetable here in Auckland. Recently, the price for this vegetable dropped drastically; I suppose the warm weather of summer is the main factor for the abundance supply of this veggie.

There are a few renowned street foods in SEA which feature this vegetable. Malay Cuisine has a dish called Sambal Belacan Kangkung (Chili Shrimp paste stir fried water spinach). As for Thai the signature dish for water spinach is Pak Bung Fai Daeng (Stir-Fried Red Fire Water Spinach), which is Thai's most popular way of stir frying the water spinach. I reckon the dish must be so ordinary and simple that inspires some of the Thai street vendors to come out with more entertaining idea in stir frying the dish in an acrobatic way by literally "flying" it in the process of serving the dish. You can check out this Flying Morning Glory in YouTube.

 Well, with the electric coil stove in my kitchen, I couldn't fire up my wok in red flame and the kitchen was too small for me to demonstrate the flying dish, yet it still tasted delectable nevertheless. J

Stir Fry Water Spinach (Pak Bung Fai Daeng) 酱炒蕹菜 - Featured for Dec 15th

Stir Fry French Beans with Prawn Cutlets四季豆酱炒虾仁 (Featured in Group Recipes)

Welcoming dinner – Part 2

Stir fry French Beans with prawn cutlets, this was the second side dish that I had prepared as our family guest requested more vegetable dishes. For this recipe, I used Thai bean paste to stir fry French beans. Other than oyster sauce, bean paste is another great choice of stir fry sauce. This again is another fast, simple stir fry dish that can be ready under 30 minutes.

Stir Fry French Beans with Prawn Cutlets四季豆酱炒虾仁

Too bad, my dwarf beans still not in time to be harvested else it would be a good opportunity for me to show off my green fingers other than my cooking skills J

Dwarf beans seedling

繼續閱讀中英对照食谱

Stir-fry Scallops with Gai Lan 芥兰炒扇贝 (Featured in Group Recipes)

Welcoming dinner – Part 1

Since we moved to NZ, we have tasted NZ cockles, mussels and the shellfish next in line that I'm going to introduce are fresh scallops. Back home, I used to cook dried scallops in soups, porridge but seldom fresh scallops. I was told in NZ, fresh scallops were easily available and they were not expensive when on special. For a while, I have been eyeing to have my hands on them.

At last, this week they are on special, 2 dozen of fresh scallops for $12 (normal price at $9/dozen). Other than Abalone, this delectable mollusk too has long been regarded as an exclusive delicacy in Asia. This special offer was just in time for me to prepare a sumptuous welcoming dinner for our guest of honor from Malaysia, Hubby's closest cousin sister, who happened to play the role as 2 generations super nanny taking care of both hubby's first 12 years and Ray's first 5 years from birth.

She was also our Master Chef back home. We all loved her cooking very much. But, now was my turn to play host, so I had to think of something local, delicious to showcase Auckland and what came into my mind was seafood especially Shellfish. After picking her up from the airport Tuesday afternoon, I went straight to grab 2 boxes of fresh scallops for my dinner preparation.

I used Gai Lan (Chinese broccoli 芥兰) to complement the scallops; the sweetness of fresh scallops was just pleasant to neutralize the slight bitterness of Gai Lan. Other than my signature dish, Crispy Roasted Pork Belly, this was what I served on the dinner table that night.

Stir fry Scallops with Gai Lan  芥兰炒扇贝 - Featured in Group Recipes 11/11/2010

 

Welcoming Dinner @ 9/11/2010


繼續閱讀中英对照食谱

Asparagus Thai Style with Squids 泰式芦笋炒花枝

Sawadika, let's do Thai tonight!
Eat and cook with the season, that what I learn when doing my vegetables shopping in NZ. I was taught always choose vegetables that are at their seasonal best and that are the freshest. Asparagus is in season now, so that's what going to be regular on our dinner table for the coming weeks J

Instead of normal Chinese stir-frying with oyster sauce, I switch to Thai style using Nam Pla (fish sauce) for a change. Other than Chinese cuisine, Thai Cuisine is my favourite I can never have enough of them!

Stir- Fry Asparagus with Squids 芦笋炒花枝

Cockles, cockles more cockles 蚶/蛤蜊

Cockles again?

26^th October Monday
The story with cockles continues, I was still left with a bag of cockles and they had been brine in buckets over night. They were still kicking alive when hubby checked on them in the morning. How to get rid of them?

Some for lunch.

Cockles Har Mee

 and some for dinner

STIR FRY COCKLES WITH CHILI, TOMATOES AND CURRY SAUCE

(Featured in Group Recipes website)

Stir-fry Cockles with Chili, tomatoes and Curry sauce

After 2 days of cockles, I suppose I'm done with them for a while. :-P

INSTANT NOODLES WITH COCKLES Har Mee Instant Noodles with Cockles INGREDIENTS: Handful Cockles 4 packets of Instant Noodles Coriander for garnishing METHOD: Place cockles in saucepan and bring water to boil until the shells of the cockles open. Take out the cooked cockles and set aside. Prepare noodles per packet instructions and added in cooked cockles. Garnish with coriander and serve.

STIR FRY COCKLES WITH CHILI, TOMATOES AND CURRY SAUCE 辣椒，番茄酱和咖喱粉炒鲜蚶 INGREDIENTS: 1kg Cockles 2tbsp chili sauce 2 tbsp tomatoes sauce 1tsp mild curry powder 1tbsp chopped garlic Slices of ginger 1tbsp cooking wine/white wine 200ml water Coriander for garnishing METHOD: Heat up wok with oil, sauté ginger and garlic until fragrant Add in cockles, chili sauce, tomatoes sauce, curry powder and water stir fry a while and covered to bring to boil. Once Cockles shell open indicates cockles cooked and ready to dish up. Garnish with coriander 辣椒，番茄酱和咖喱粉炒鲜蚶 材料： 1公斤蚶 2汤匙辣椒酱 2汤匙番茄酱 1茶匙咖喱粉 1汤匙蒜末生姜片 1汤匙料酒 200毫升水 香菜为配料方法： 烧热油，爆香姜，蒜 加入蚶，辣椒酱，番茄酱，咖喱粉和水翻炒一会儿，覆盖以煮沸。一旦蚶壳打开表示蛤熟了，准备上碟。撒上芫荽。

Stir-fry Bean Sprouts with Prawn cutlets 豆芽炒虾球

This is a simple and quick recipe which can be ready in minutes. However, this inexpensive yet vitamin rich  dish is commonly served in Chinese Asian home may look easy to make but might not be easy to master. Good stir-fry bean sprouts are when bean sprouts just nicely cooked with crunchy texture and no raw taste. This dish if overcooked it becomes soggy and not appealing at all. So, the key which also is the foundation to Chinese stir-fry is to heat up wok/skillets on really high heat with hot oil and quickly toss in bean sprouts for few minutes and dish up.

I always like to use gas cooking as it gives the real flame for the fire flavor which vital to create "wok hei" (in Cantonese). But, I cannot have that over here as the rented house we currently stay only has electric coils stove and it takes ages to heat up. L I missed those "sizzling" sound I used to hear when I stir-fry using my gas stove back home in Malaysia.

Stir-fry Bean Sprouts with Prawn cutlets 豆芽炒虾球