Comforting, Spicy Korean Gojuchang Tofu Stir Fry

I was inspired to make a dish like this by a small Korean cafe named "Jiki", where I often go on days where I haven't been able to prepare a lunchbox. I have tried and loved many of their hot food dishes, but they have a spicy tofu and vegetable one that is just out of this world. I didn't have a recipe for this so it isn't exactly like Jiki's but it was very tasty nonetheless. 

Korean food is, for me anyway, warm and comforting - perfect for an icy winter's day. I will definitely adventure further into Korean cooking - one of the wonderful things about living in England is how we have all these opportunities to pinch traditions from other cultures. People settle here from all over the world and, in becoming Britons themselves, broaden our own culture and variety of experience. 

In my case it's always about the food! Ok, sometimes it's about the clothes too. Plus it's fun to celebrate new feast days. Actually, Koreans celebrate a lunar new year as well as the traditional Gregorian one and personally I am all up for dressing in Hanbok, learning to play Yut Nori and eating Tteokguk next Jan 31st if anyone else is...

Ok, so first thing first, cut a block of firm tofu into sizeable cubes and heat up a good glug of toasted sesame oil in a frying pan. When the oil is really hot place the peices of tofu in and, after a minute or so, turn onto another side - keep doing this until the tofu is crispy all over, it really doesn't take that long. Empty out onto kitchen roll and leave to cool.

To make up the sauce mix together 2 tbsp Korean Gochujang paste, 2 tbsp soy sauce, 2 tbsp mirin and 2 cloves of minced garlic.
   
Prepare your vegetables by chopping a whole bunch of spring onions into about 4 lengthwise and a lump of ginger (as much as you like, go by preference - I put loads in) into thin slices, put the white parts of the spring onions and the ginger to one side.

Alongside the green parts of the onions, slice some mushrooms, a bell pepper and add some beansprouts - this will work with any veg though, use what you have available and cut into a size that will cook quickly.

When you are ready, reheat the pan still containing the sesame oil from cooking the tofu and, when hot, add the white onion and ginger. Cook until visibly softened before adding the rest of the vegetables and cooking until everything is almost done. Finally, pour in the sauce and stir through thoroughly - you only need to cook the sauce until it's hot and the raw edge to it has gone, it doesn't take much time.

* Note - if you are greedy like us, and not veggie, you can add in some cooked, peeled king prawns at this point. They go really well with the tofu and the spicy sauce. I actually think this sauce would be great with meatier vegetables like aubergines, chicken or even chunky white fish - it's very versatile.

Serve hot, with plain rice and kimchi.

 

Balinese Style Stir-fried Curry

This was inspired by a Balinese curry recipe I found in Rick Stein's Far Eastern Odyssey. My dinner didn't end up resembling the original too much, it was pretty tasty though. 

This does involve a fair bit of slicing and dicing, so maybe one for a quiet evening rather than when you're in a rush. It fed two for dinner with enough left over for lunchboxes the next day.

So, step one, thinly slice a purple onion and as much garlic as you like. Step two, dice two large or 4-5 ordinary tomatoes, a fat thumb of ginger and as much fresh chilli as you like. Step three, slice an aubergine into big bitesize peices.

Finally, step four, skin, de-bone and dice a couple of chicken legs (or buy pre-prepared chicken leg meat, or just breasts) and lightly coat with a little cornflour. That's it, all the tough prep work is done!

Get your rice on to cook - I can really recommend getting a ricebot (aka electric ricecooker, preferably with a delay timer function). My favourite rice for steaming is Japanese short grain.

Heat up a large frying pan on the hob with a little sesame or vegetable oil and fry the chicken peices until you can't see any pink on the outside, then add the aubergine and continue to cook until the chicken is cooked through and the aubergine is softened but still has a little bite to it. Take them out of the pan and put to one side.

Reusing the same pan, add a little more oil and stir fry the onion and garlic until softened, then add the tomatoes, ginger and chilli along with a smidge of shrimp paste. Give it a couple of minutes before adding the chicken and aubergine back to the pan, along with a massive pinch of lime leaves, a big squeeze of lemon juice, 2 tbsp of soy sauce, a decent scraping of palm sugar and a splash of water. 

Five more minutes in the pan at most and it should be ready, mix in a big handful of coriander and serve with a nice mound of steamed rice and, if you like it, some hot chilli sauce.

  

Bento Box: Pepper & Beansprout Stir Fry, Maki Roll, Cucumber Pickles

A bento is basically just Japanese for a packed lunch, but there is something really special about the way bentos are put together. The variety of ingredients, the visual presentation... all of it makes lunch something to look forward to, more so than even the tastiest of leftovers.

I got the "Just Bento" cookbook (based on the well known website) for my birthday and I love it. My maki roll was a bit squiffy, I think I over-packed it, but it was a really exciting lunch anyway. The quick pickle recipe is from "Everyday Harumi".

This bento has 3 homemade sections and two bought. The kamaboko is bought as-is, just taken out of the freezer in the morning to defrost over the course of the day, ready to make up the bento the night before you're going to eat it. You can find out a bit more about kamaboko from this earlier post.
The adzuki and edamame bean salad was one I bought on a whim in the supermarket because it looked nice and I've got a weak spot for beans.

Homemade Cucumber Pickles
These are easy peasy and ready in as little as 3 hours of marinating time. First peel a cucumber and cover it in salt then, over the sink, rub the salt into the flesh. You'll see droplets of water coming from the cucumber, keep squeezing and massaging it for a few minutes, then rinse in fresh water and pat dry.


Deseed and finely slice it and pop it into a baggie or other non-reactive container. Pour 100ml shoyu (Japanese soy sauce), 100ml rice wine vinegar, a few drops of sesame oil, a couple of tablespoons of chopped ginger and two tablespoons of sugar over the cucumber and give it a good mix. Put in the fridge for at least 3 hours before eating, but they'll be tasty for a good couple of days after.

Pepper and Beansprout Stir Fry
Slice half each of a green, yellow and red pepper (or whatever you actually have), plus a large spring onion and a big handful of beansprouts. Heat up some oil in a frying pan and stir fry the veg.


Towards the end of cooking, season with some soy sauce and any other ingredients you commonly like in your stir fries - I used a splash of sherry, a little sugar and crumbled in the corner off a vegetable stock cube.

Prawn & Cucumber Maki Roll
I think the technique of rolling maki is going to take a bit of practice to get right, but it is really very satisfying to make, whether it comes out perfectly or a bit squiffy as mine did.

First, cook up your rice - this should be shortgrain, preferably Japanese rice but I used to use pudding rice and the outcome was generally excellent. Then put a tablespoon of rice wine vinegar into a glass or wooden bowl and tip the hot rice in as well. I had an accomplice to fan the rice as I mixed the vinegar through it but I guess it's doable with one person. Keep fanning and stirring for a few minutes until the rice starts to become sticky, you can mix up to a second tablespoon in as well if you have the time, but you don't want the rice to be wet, only sticky.

Lay out a sheet of dried nori or lava seaweed onto one of those sushi mats (or a bamboo placemat) and layer the rice over the top. A cup of dried rice made enough cooked rice for two maki rolls.
Along the centre, lay strips of cucumber and spring onion, followed by a mixture of finely chopped prawns, mayonnaise, salt, pepper and chilli powder. Then lift up the edge furthest from you and slowly roll the square towards you.

When you come to cut the maki into circles make sure you do it with the seam facing down, that'll help it stay together as you cut.  

Spicy beef with Chinese pancakes & wasabi mayo

I was a bit lost as to what to make for a tasty Saturday night dinner. I knew I had a couple of beautiful organic rump steaks in the fridge though, so I flicked through a few recipe books and happened past a spicy beef stir fry recipe in Ching He Huang's Chinese Cookery. She suggested that it could be served with traditional chinese pancakes but didn't provide a recipe, so I went searching on the nets and found one on BBC GoodFood, which I adapted to my tastes. The pancakes were relatively simple in this recipe, although I did see more complicated ones.

I used a cup of mostly plain flour topped up with wholemeal, plus a teaspoon of caster sugar and 100ml of boiling water to bring it together. I kneaded it for a bit and then covered it in clingfilm and left it to rest for a while.

I then patted down my rump steaks with kitchen paper and sliced them, across the grain, quite thinly. I heated up a dry frying pan and added a couple of tbsp of cumin, one of dried chillies, a large pinch of salt and lots of freshly ground pepper. When they smelled wonderful I took them off the heat and coated the beef in them.



I settled down and de-podded my broad beans - all picked fresh from the garden which makes me smile, I've never grown broad beans before and these look great! A quick blanching for a few minutes and they were easy to shell. I also made up some wasabi mayonnaise, using 3 tbsp of mayonnaise, 1 tsp of wasabi powder, 1 tbsp of water and seasoned with caster sugar and a little salt. I chopped up fresh cucumber to go with the meal.

Then it was back to the pancakes, these are much easier than I thought they were going to be and came out perfectly first time. The dough needs to be divided into eight little balls, then two at a time, squish them a little flat and then brush one with sesame oil. Place a second one on top and, coating with flour, roll the two together until they form one really thin pancake. Keep going until you've made four.



Heat up a dry frying pan until very hot, then lay a pancake in for a minute, flip it and cook for another minute. Switch it for another pancake and while that one's cooking, find the seam where the two peices of dough were rolled together and pick them apart to make two wafer thin pancakes. Pop them onto a plate, under a damp teatowel. When you've made all the pancakes put them, still wrapped in the damp towel, into the oven on it's very lowest setting.

Back to the spicy beef: heat up a pan with a couple of tablespoons of oil in and stir fry the beef for a couple of minutes. Add 3 tbsp of light soy sauce and a teaspoon of shaoxing rice wine or sherry. When the beef is almost cooked, add a few sliced spring onions, the shelled broad beans and some chopped coriander.


LINKS
Ching He Huang's Website
BBC GoodFood Homepage