Chili Paste with Fermented Soy Bean Chicken and Fish Cake (湖南豆豉辣椒魚片鷄, Wu4 Naam4 Dau6 Si6 Laat6 Ziu1 Jyu4 Pin3 Gai1)

The combination of chicken and fish cake is another take on recipes using the combination meat and fish together to produce a tastier dish. The fish cakes were purchased at my local Korean market, but any fish cake can be used. The reason for using these particular fish cakes is because they are flat and are easily cut into strips; use whatever shaped fish cake that’s easily available to you. I’ve used fish cakes that are shaped into balls and cylinders in some of my other stir fry dishes. The trick to preparing this dish is to cut all the ingredients to the same size, which makes eating the dish easier and more visually appealing.

Enjoy!

Los Angeles Style Korean Barbeque Beef Short Ribs - L.A. Galbi (L.A. 갈비)

Los Angeles style Korean barbeque beef short ribs, or L.A. Galbi, uses flanken cut beef short ribs and has its origins in Los Angeles’ Koreatown. Flanken cut means the beef short ribs are cut across the bone into thin strips. This cut of beef short ribs is readily available in the USA and differs from the galbi found in Korea (although according to Wikipedia, this style has made it back to Korea).

I made my own sauce for this recipe, as opposed to a store bought version used in my previous recipe, Korean Barbequed Beef Short Ribs (Kalbi). The secret to the marinate is using a whole pear in the marinade (together with Korean Fermented Soybean Paste – Doenjang - and Korean Hot Pepper Paste – Gochujang) which tenderizes the beef. The beef is marinated for at least 48 hours (the longer the better!) before cooking.

Enjoy!

Grilled Gochujang (Hot Pepper Paste) Pork Ribeye Steaks

I used Korean hot pepper paste (gochujang) and hot pepper powder (gochugaru) in a marinade for grilled pork rib eye steaks. The amount of hot pepper powder can be varied depending upon your tolerance for spiciness. The hot pepper paste actually provides more sweetness to the dish than spice, so there’s no need to use hoisin sauce (my usual sauce used in marinades). This is a really easy and tasty way to grill pork chops (or any other meat).

Enjoy!

Doenjang Fish Cake Noodles

This noodle dish uses ingredients from my local Korean market and is definitely not an authentic Korean recipe. Like my previous Korean-style recipe, Korean-Style Pork Belly and Fish Cake Stew (韓燉魚片豬腩肉, Hon⁴ Dan⁶ Jyu⁴ Pin³ Zyu¹ Naam⁵ Juk⁶), the three principal sauce ingredients are Korean Hot Pepper Powder (고추가루, Gochugaru), Korean Hot Pepper Paste (고추장, Gochujang), and Korean Fermented Soybean Paste (된장, Doenjang) – in different ratios with the Doenjang being the principal part of the sauce in this case. The other major ingredient to make this noodle dish is Korean flat fish cake (어묵, Eomuk), which is purchased already cooked and then cut into strips. You can, of course, use another type of fish cake that’s more available to you if you cannot find Eomuk.

Enjoy!

Doubanjiang Pork Stomach with Green String Beans (辣豆瓣酱青豆角豬肚, Laat6 Dau6 Faan6 Zoeng3 Ceng1 Dau6 Gok3 Zyu1 Tou5)

Pork stomach is one of my favorite parts of the pig to eat. Pork stomach or pork tripe differs from beef tripe in that beef tripe is white in color, while pork tripe is brown. The fresh whole pork stomach needs to be cooked and sometimes is available already cooked at Asian markets. While it’s convenient to be able to purchase the cooked version, you need to be careful when buying since the pork stomach is sometimes undercooked, which results in tough, rather than tender, pork.

This recipe is really a version of twice cooked pork using pork stomach, rather than pork belly. My previous recipe, Twice Cooked Pork with Fish Cake and Fuzzy Melon (節瓜魚片回鍋肉, Zit³ Gwaa¹ Jyu⁴ Pin³ Wui⁴ Wo¹ Juk⁶), stir fried thinly sliced pork belly after it had been boiled. The same technique, using pork stomach instead, is used to make this dish. Doubanjiang, a spicy fermented broad bean paste, is the basis for the sauce. Broad beans are fermented with spices and red chilies to produce this paste. The more famous producers are based in Sichuan Province in the People’s Republic of China. Broad beans are not soy beans, so soy bean based pastes does not have the same flavor as Doubanjiang. The Doubanjiang is first stir fried to bring out the flavor before adding and stir frying with the pork stomach. The sauce should look dry, so there’s not a lot of liquid.

Enjoy!

Twice Cooked Pork with Fish Cake and Fuzzy Melon (節瓜魚片回鍋肉, Zit3 Gwaa1 Jyu4 Pin3 Wui4 Wo1 Juk6)

Twice cooked pork is a dish using pork belly and Doubanjiang, which is a spicy fermented broad bean paste. If you search on the internet for a twice cooked pork recipe, you’ll find many variations in the use of ingredients. This particular variation has fuzzy melon and fish cakes. The one common ingredient is Doubanjiang, which can be purchased at your local Asian market. Broad beans are fermented with spices and red chilies to produce this paste. The more famous producers are based in Sichuan Province in the People’s Republic of China. Broad beans are not soy beans, so soy bean based pastes does not have the same flavor as Doubanjiang. The sauce for this dish is the Doubanjiang and it should look dry (meaning that there’s not a lot of liquid).

Twice cooked means that the pork (or other meat) is first boiled and then stir fried. Pork belly is the traditional meat used and it’s ideal to make this dish. The pork belly should still have the skin attached and be a single (or large) pieces, i.e. the pork belly shouldn’t be sliced into pieces before being boiled. The pork belly can be boiled and then refrigerated one day before the dish is to be made. Cut the pork belly into thin slices before stir frying. What’s different about this dish’s preparation is that the sliced pork belly is stir fried in the Doubanjiang, after the Doubanjiang itself is stir fried to deepen the color and flavor.

Enjoy!

Korean-Style Pork Belly and Fish Cake Stew (韓燉魚片豬腩肉, Hon4 Dan6 Jyu4 Pin3 Zyu1 Naam5 Juk6)

I made this pork belly and fish cake stew using three basic Korean ingredients: hot pepper powder (gochugaru), hot pepper paste (gochujang), and fermented soybean paste (doenjang). I am fortunate to live in an area where there is a large Koreatown, so these ingredients (and the fish cakes) are readily available at multiple Korean markets. As with all ingredients, there are multiple brands that can be purchased. My criteria for picking a particular brand of hot pepper paste and fermented soybean paste was what ingredients were used to make them. All the brands’ pastes were made in South Korea and the brand I chose is unknown since the label is mostly written in Korean. I chose this particular brand because it didn’t have any added preservatives or sugar. It was amazing to see that many brands had corn syrup high on their list of ingredients! For the hot pepper powder, it comes in both a fine and coarse grind (I used the coarse), and from my limited knowledge of this ingredient, I picked the brand on sale and in the size that wouldn’t overwhelm me (this is used to make Kimchi, so you can purchase this in 10 lb. (5 kg.) packages and larger!).

Making this dish was a nice change in tastes for me using the Korean pastes and chili powder. The spiciness is controlled by the amount of hot chili powder used in the sauce, while the pastes provide the basic flavor. The amount of hot chili powder probably does not meet the level of spiciness found in Korean dishes, so feel free to increase (or decrease) the amount.

Enjoy!