Clay Pot Basil Pork Sparerib and Fish Ball (砂煲紫蘇魚蛋豬排骨, Saa1 Bou1 Zi2 Sou1 Jyu4 Daan6 Zyu1 Paai4 Gwat1)

I bought a clay pot recently and used it to make this dish. Clay pots need to be prepared before using for the first time to prevent cracking. I used this website for advice: Clay Pot Use and Maintenance Tips at Chinese Soup Pot. Since the pork spareribs take some time to cook and to cook the dish all at once, the other ingredients used were chosen to hold up to the cooking time (the green onions and basil leaves are added after cooking is complete).

The pork spareribs are placed into the clay pot first after being stir fried. Since the pork spareribs are in contact with the clay pot during cooking, the meat gets an added flavorful crust that cannot be obtained by just stir frying. I’ve seen some recipes where the browning is done in the clay pot, rather than a wok, but using high heat with a clay pot can crack it, so I used the wok for browning. Another advantage of using a clay pot is that it also serves as the serving dish and keeps the contents hot.

Enjoy!

Slow Cooker Korean Beef Short Ribs (갈비찜, Galbijjim)

I modified the Slow Cooker Galbijjim (Korean Braised Short Ribs) recipe found at Korean Bapsang to make this dish since I had never made this before. It all started out when I found beef short ribs at my local Asian market, and since I’ve been using more Korean ingredients in my cooking, I wanted to make a dish using these ingredients. This is by no means a traditional Korean recipe, and it turns out I didn’t use any of the Korean sauce ingredients to make this dish. I did use a pear in the marinade as a tenderizer and marinated the beef for 48 hours. One thing I like about this version is that the marinade is also used to make the dish and there’s no need to brown the beef short ribs before cooking in the slow cooker. Using a slow cooker is certainly not the traditional way to make this dish, but it certainly makes it very easy. For some reason, I forgot to add the Shiitake mushrooms when I made this dish, but they are included in the recipe.

Enjoy!

Grilled Gochujang (Hot Pepper Paste) Chicken Breasts

Like the Grilled Gochujang (Hot Pepper Paste) Pork Ribeye Steaks recipe, I used Korean hot pepper paste (gochujang) and hot pepper powder (gochugaru) in a marinade for grilled chicken breasts. 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). Sake is also used in the marinade in place of my usual Shaoxing wine.

Enjoy!

Doubanjiang Beef Tripe with Bell Peppers (辣豆瓣酱青椒牛柏葉, Laat6 Dau6 Faan6 Zoeng3 Ceng1 Ziu1 Ngau4 Paak3 Jip6)

This recipe is really a version of twice cooked pork using honeycomb beef tripe, rather than pork belly or stomach. My previous recipes, Twice Cooked Pork with Fish Cake and Fuzzy Melon (節瓜魚片回鍋肉, Zit³ Gwaa¹ Jyu⁴ Pin³ Wui⁴ Wo¹ Juk⁶) and 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), thinly sliced pork belly or pork belly is stir fried after it had been boiled. The same technique, using beef tripe 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 beef tripe. The sauce should look dry, so there’s not a lot of liquid.

Enjoy!

Basil Shrimp Chow Mein (紫蘇蝦炒麵, Zi2 Sou1 Haa1 Jan4 Caau2 Min6)

Fresh basil leaves add a nice flavor to this shrimp chow mein recipe. Some oyster sauce is added to the sauce to further enhance the taste of this dish. The sauce is absorbed by the noodles, so the dish is a “dry” chow mein without a much liquid.

Enjoy!

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!