Janchi gooksoo, chicken jorim

Janchi gooksoo, or party noodle, is a very simple dish that I can whip up with kitchen staples.
Very soothing, but it has a kick because of the chili (grown in my garden) in the sauce. It uses thin flour noodle called somyun.
By the way, the proper janchi gooksoo will have stir fried Korean courgette et al, but I prefer this version.



Stock
A handful of myulchi (dried anchovies)
15cm X 8cm dried sea kelp
20 cm of pa (Korean leek. It is spicier and slimmer)
4-5 cups of water

1. Lightly toast myulchi in the pan you are going to boil the stock in. Toasting process gets rid of fishy smell of myulchi. When ready, add sea kelp and very lightly toast it as well.
2. Add water and pa. Boil for 15 minutes or longer. The stock should be very light yellowish colour. When ready, strain. Keep it warm.

Sauce
1 Tsp chopped pa or leek
1 clove of garlic, chopped
1 chili (7cm long) chopped or snipped
1Tsp Josun soy sauce. (Or maybe dark soy sauce? It smells similar to Chinese dark soy sauce but Korean soy sauce is darker and richer.)
2 Tsp ordinary soy sauce
1/2 Tsp of Korean chili powder. If you don't have it, try hot paprika powder
A small pinch of ginger powder
A small pinch of sugar
A few drops of sesame oil

Mix all the ingredients together. Let it rest a bit.

Kimchi topping
Kimchi about 1/4 of whole kimchi
Sugar
Ground roasted sesame
Sesame oil

1. Get rid of excess yangnyum (spice, marinade or sauce on kimchi) Slice kimchi into thin strips, about 0.5cm.
2. Add a bit of sugar (depends on your taste), 1tsp of ground roasted sesame and a drop of sesame oil. Set it aside.

You don't need to add anything at all. Kimchi tastes good as it is. For some reason, it tastes better when sliced into thin strips.

Noodle
2 somyun packages. I don't know how to descirbe this, but somyun is usually wrapped in paper ribbons. The diameter of packages are usually 2.5 cm in diameter

1. Cook according to the instruction.
2. Rinse them in cold water.

How to assmeble
1. In a bowl, put noodle. The noodle is cold, so it must go through toryum process. It means that the noodle has to be warmed with soup first. Put a laddle or two of hot stock, stir a bit and put the stock back in the stock pot.
2. Add a bit of sauce and kimch. Serve.





Chicken jorim (braised in sauce)
400g chicken thighs or breast
1/4 cup maple syrup
1Tsp soy sauce
1 dried chili
1tsp grated ginger (or use a piece of ginger and remove it later)
salt and pepper

1. Cut chicken into bite size. Add a bit of salt and black pepper.
2. Heat a pan and add oil. Seal chicken on both sides and let them brown a little
3. Mix maple syrup, soy sauce and ginger. Add it to 2.
4. Add dried chili for kick.
5. Cook until almost all the sauce evaporates.

My so-called "Atkins" Recipes

Since X'mas is a big deal in HK and so is New Year, I've gained 4lbs and the weight went straight to my tummy and thigh (well, buttocks as well but hey!) It didn't quite go to the upper half of my body as I would have preferred so here I am stuck with a dilemma - DO I DIET BEFORE CHINESE NEW YEAR COME ALONG - OR - SHOULD I JUST CONTINUE TO EAT MY HEART OUT (hence none of my jeans would fit me anymore!)?

So my decision has come to this, I'll cut out Carbs and cut down on sugar! I guess I'm really just doing my own version of the infamous "Atkins Diet". Mind you I couldn't resist a slice of pizza and a few mouthful of spagahetti last night and I find cutting out alcohol is insanely hard, well, at least harder than I thought it would be!

So here are a few pieces of recipes to give you some perspective on how well I've been treating myself in regards with my diet!! Please note that the measurement are rough estimate as I tend to just taste my food while cooking and add in anything I think is needed.

Lemon Pepper (Buttery) Garlic Chicken

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 teaspoons butter
• 10 skinless chicken mini-fillet
• 1 teaspoon grounded black pepper

Marinate:

• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 2 teaspoon lemon peel
• 1-2 teaspoon Salt
• 1-2 teaspoon Sugar
• ½ tablespoon mixed herbs
• 1 tablespoon grounded black pepper
• 1 tablespoon chopped Garlic
• 1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon water
• ½ - 1 tablespoon cooking oil
• Little bit of egg white

DIRECTIONS:

1. Marinate chicken fillet, let it marinate for at least an hour or leave overnight. The egg white will keep the chicken tender once cooked.
2. Melt butter in a saucepan / frying pan. Sprinkle with 1/2 tablespoon of the pepper / mixed herbs, then lay the chicken breast on top. Saute chicken breast for about 2 to 3 minutes, then turn to the other side,
3. You may squeeze lemon juice or splash in a tiny bit of white wine onto around the side and saute for another 2to 3 minutes (or until chicken is cooked through and juices run clear). The extra lemon juice / wine is optional.

Tips: adding egg white when marinating meat will keep the meat juicy and tender when cook. But don't use too much otherwise there would be bit of egg white and ruin your dish when cooking.

Salmon Fillet with Lemon Cream Sauce

Ingredients:

• 1 Salmon Fillet
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1-2 tablespoons butter, divided use
• 2 tablespoon fresh minced onions
• 1 small clove garlic, finely minced
• Splashed of white wine (like 1-2 tablespoon)
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice, or more to taste
• 1/8 cup heavy cream

Directions:

1. Heat up olive oil (or cooking oil) and add in butter to melt in a big skillet on high heat sear the salmon, try not to over cook it. Remove and keep warm.
2. Lower heat to medium. Add remaining tablespoon of butter to the pan along with the onions. Gently saute until onions are translucent.
3. Add garlic and saute 1 additional minute, stirring often.
4. Carefully pour in the white wine and lemon juice. Stir and cook until the liquid is reduced by half, about 2 to 3 minutes.
5. Add heavy cream and return to a simmer. Cook another 3 minutes or so until thickened.
6. I've have used capers except I didn't have any so I just shuffled in some finely chopped parsley.
7. Pour lemon cream over salmon and serve.

Tips: Remember to throw in the parsley in the end and turn off the heat in order to keep that fresh green colour.

Steak with Garlic Gravy

Ingredients:

• 1 Wagyu Steak (or use whatever steak you prefer)
• 1 tablespoon Butter
• 1/2 tablespoon Salt
• 1 teaspoon garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons cream
• 2-3 tablespoons water / broth
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon flour

Marinate:

• 1/2 tablespoon of oyster sauce
• 1 teaspoon of sugar
• 1 tablespoon of dark soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon of terriyaki sauce
• pinch of black pepper

Directions:

1. Marinate Steak overnight
2. Melt butter in pan with olive oil, sear the steak quickly to sealed in the juices.
3. Cook the steak on low-medium heat for about 3-5 minutes on each side, depending on the thickness of the steak and how you like you steak to cook. Remove and keep warm.
4. Melt butter in the same pan, (similar when you de-glaze the fat and juices after roasting chicken to make gravy), throw in the garlic and use a spatular or wooden spoon to scrape the sauce pan and stir gently. Add in some broth / water (or even wine if you so wish to). Stir it round for a bit before adding cream.
5. Thicking the sauce with flour and add in salt and black pepper to flavour.

Tuna & Salmon Paté Served with Avocado

When my mum made this, she would actually use fresh salmon, however, don't forget that I'm a student trying to scrape by!! T^T sob sob sob, so I have to buy the canned ones and I had to mix tuna with salmon because even with canned salmon, it is at least double the price of tuna~ Well, at least in HK that's the case!

Ingredients:

• 10-15ml Olive Oil
• 1 canned Salmon and Tuna
• 1/4 onion, finely chopped
• 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
• 1-2 tablespoons fresh parsley, finely chopped
• 20ml whipping cream
• 4 tablespoons of mayonaise (well I uses the Kraft Miracle Whip Light)
• 1 tablespoon tastelemon juice
• pinch of pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. Drained the water from tins, put the tuna and salmon in a bowl and use a fork to break it up.
2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk the whipping cream until it's almost the consistency of whipped cream. Fold in the salmon, mayonaise (or dressing), lemon juice, onion, garlic and season.
3. Serve with Avocado~~ well, if you are on all carbs diet then congratulation, have it with bread!! :P

By the way, my diet didn't go well since I had some crisps and chocolate tonight!! haha~ but I enjoyed all the meat, cheese, cream and butter i've been allowed to have!!

Vanishing oatmeal cookie

I have been planning to do some cookies, and found a nice recipe on the back of Quaker oatmeal box lid -I noticed that when I was having an oatmeal+honey+milk bath-.

Ingredients
1/2 pound (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)
3 cups Quaker Oats (quick or old fashioned, uncooked)
1 cup raisins
*I also added a handful of chopped almonds
Preheat the oven to 175°C .

1. Cream butter and sugar together.
2. Add eggs.
3. Add sifted flour, baking soda, cinnamon to the wet ingredients.
4. Mix oatmeal, raisins and almonds.
5. Drop by spoonfuls on the baking tray.
6. Bake for around 12 minutes until brown.

The cookies were crispy on the edge but soft in the middle. I think it will make nice ice cream sandwiches. If I want to be naugthy, I will make lemony cream cheese frosting instead of ice cream and sandwich it between cookies.
I flattened cookie mixture before putting them in the oven because the first batch was a bit too puffy for my taste.

Chilled Spaghetti (Japanese influence) - Recipe

Ok, so this is not much of an original Japanese-influenced dish, one day you've opened your fridge and figured you'd probably need to make a trip to the supermarket. It's late and you can't be bothered, at the same time you don't exactly feel like abusing your taste buds then what do you do... You have some mint leave, smoked salmon, cheese, lemon, some ham, some dead looking lettuce...you know you won't be satisfied with a sandwich, anyways there's no bread in the house. You just have to get creative~~~ hey, let's make chilled spaghetti! Haha, in fact I've got another version I called "italian influenced", I'm pop the recipe up when I am feeling less lazy. Or maybe when I have sth to celebrate like getting 3.6 for my GPA...(being sarcastic, a British thing, please excuse me if u dun get it). So with this recipe you can just be creative and throw in what you wish as long as it suit your taste!

Ingredients:

• 2 portion of spaghetti (I have a spaghetti measurer, don’t ask…it’s my mum’s!)


• Small pack of Smoked Salmon (the fatter the better)


• Mint leave


• 2 tablespoons Soy Sauce


• 2 tablespoons Balsamic Vinegar


• 1 tablespoon Lemon Juice


• 1 tablespoon Sugar


• 2 teaspoons Sesame Oil


• 1 tablespoon Olive Oil


• 1 tablespoon Sesame

Directions:

1. Boil water in saucepan / pot to cook spaghetti, once cooked (abt 7-8mins) then drained.


2. Cool spaghetti in iced water after cooked then drain, make sure spaghetti is cooled otherwise, please repeat the step by putting it into iced water


3. Then pop it into the fridge for now


4. Sliced Mint leave (about a handful) for later use


5. Sliced the Salmon, put aside for later use


6. Prepare the sauce by putting all ingredients soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, lemon juice, sugar, sesame oil, olive oil and sesame, stir it well until mixed.


7. Take out the spaghetti from the fridge, pout in the sauce to mix, sprinkle on top with mint leave and salmon, mixed the ingredients in as well.


8. Garnish with some more mint leave on top.

The first post of the year

No, I did not make oatmeal. Although my blog is supposed to be a food blog, I could not get myself to cook anything. I am officially ill. I could not go to work on Friday, but crawled to hospital for an injection, medcine and an IV shot (I could not eat anything since 1st Jan). After days of sleeping, I decided to take a hot bath. (I did take showers, if you must know.) Being a former bath-product addict, I decided to make my own with natural ingredients. Oatmeal to soothe, honey to nourish and milk to gently exfoliate my skin. I also added some lavender essential oil because oatmeal, though it is good for my skin, does not have pleasant smell. My skin did feel softer afterwards.

1. Add a cup or 2/3 cup of oatmeal in a cotton bag/bath tea bag. While running the bath, add the bag and let it soak. The water should turn milky.
2. Add 1/2 cup of milk and 1/2 cup of honey.
3. Add 5-8 drops of lavender essential oil.
4. Soak. When your skin begins to feel soft, get sissal or Korean bath mitt to scrub away dirt and worries.

FYI, the plastic gloves in the pic are for my hands after bath. I slathered Jurlique rose hand cream (my favourite in the world) and wore the gloves and took a nap after bath. Bliss.