Week 4 - Kimchi jjigae

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I was randomly surfing around when I came across kimchi on some random website about health food. Kimchi, also spelled kimchee, is a fermented spicy cabbage mixture from Korea. There's other stuff in there like garlic and onions. It is the most popular side dish in Korea. It is eaten as is and often made into other dishes, like kimchi jjigae, which translates to kimchi stew and kimchi fried rice. According to Wikipedia, Koreans say "kimchi" when getting their pictures taken as opposed to "cheese". Kimchi is also known for being very healthy, as it is full of vitamins, fiber and healthy bacteria from the fermenting process.

I found many different recipes for kimchi jjigae on the web so I took elements from a bunch of them and improvised. Traditionally it is made with pork, but according to a few websites, some people use Spam after the American soldiers brought it there after the Korean war. Other people use bacon. I used an Asian brand of Spam like stuff. I also used tofu, zucchini, garlic, ginger, onion, red pepper powder, a splash of soy sauce, a splash of rice wine vinegar and kimchi from a jar.

The verdict: I decided to try the kimchi by itself before making the soup. When I opened the jar, the smell was a little overpowering and the spices cleared my sinuses. After heating it through, it tasted good, albeit spicy as hell. The soup tasted excellent. It was spicy, but not too spicy and the flavors all blended nicely. I added extra red pepper, but if you don't like spice then leave that out and it won't be too spicy. I would make this again and maybe try different recipes.

Week 3 - Udon

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I have a bad cold this week and I'm feeling kind of crumby, so I decided to make some hot udon soup. Udon noodles are a thick wheat noodle popular in Japan. There were a number of different udon soup seasoning packets, but I decided to go with the traditional shrimp. Scallions are also traditional and is referred to as kake udon. The Japanese put a variety of things in the soup like tempora and fish cakes. The broth in eastern Japan is made with dark soy sauce and is darker than the broth in westerern Japan which is made with light soy sauce. The soup I made was more of a western udon soup. I added chopped scallions and a bunch of shrimp. The verdict: It was very soothing and delicious for a sick person on a very cold January day.

Week 2 - Lotus Root

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I decided to get a little more adventuresome this week. I decided to purchase a lotus root. The lotus root is actually a rhizome which is a horizontal stem that is often underground. This starchy veggie is one of the coolest types of produce visually. It contains lots of hollow tubes inside that look a little like worm holes. When you slice it, it looks kind of like a wagon wheel. Immature lotus roots can be eaten raw with a little soy sauce I've been told. I decided to cook mine.

After peeling and slicing, I lightly fried them with minced ginger and minced garlic in peanut oil. Then I added scallions and a splash of soy sauce. Once the onions cooked a little I added hot pepper flakes, sesame seeds and sesame oil. The smell in my kitchen was amazing. I got the recipe from this web site here. Although my photography skills aren't all that good, mine actually looked like the picture on the site.

The verdict: It was really good. The flavors all melded together perfectly. The lotus root wasn't a strong flavor, but it matched perfectly with the sesame oil, ginger, garlic and onions. It also had the perfect amount of heat. I will definitely make this dish again.

Week 1

Technically this is the second week of the year, but I didn't think of this idea until Monday when I drove past the Asian market. I decided to start off simple until I've done more research. I purchased baby bok choy, carrots, tofu, water chestnuts and a jar of something labeled, "preserved peanut." It is basically peanuts in some sort of soy sauce solution I think (hope). At $2.49, it was the most expensive part of this meal.

I busted out the electric wok and stir fried everything together with peanut oil and some soy sauce I had in the fridge. Then I served it over rice. The verdict: Not too shabby for the first meal. I probably could have used regular peanuts from a jar and it would have come out the same.

A few words about the Asian market

The Asian market is a pretty amazing and scary place. Almost all of the foods are different, even the foods that you may know. Chickens and shrimp still have their heads on them. Many of the fish are still alive and swimming around in tanks. Fruit is pickled. A lot of things look interesting, but the label is entirely in Chinese so you can never really be sure until you buy it. Then there are the things that you know what they are, like bull pizzle (penis) and chicken intestines with quail eggs cracked on top for some reason. These are things that most Americans would find repulsive and would never be found in you average grocery store.

The one thing that I immediately noticed about the Asian market are the prices. Everything is far cheaper! Tofu, while $2.50/lb at the grocery store costs $1.29/lb at the Asian market and even less if I scooped it out of the large barrels they have in there. I saw 2 lb bags of frozen shrimp selling for $6. At the grocery store these same bags sell for about $19. Almost everything is cheaper. Hopefully I will inspire more people to visit their local Asian market. If anyone has any ideas for me or wants to share their knowledge of the Asian market with me, feel free to send me an email.