제육볶음 ^^

Just finished my dinner and feeling a bit guilty because I ate 1 1/2 bowl of rice...

I am on leave today and happens that I have the mood for cooking 제육볶음 (stir fried spicy pork) for dinner.  Yeah...cooking depends a lot on mood...if the person who is cooking is not in a good mood or not in the mood to cook, the food will not taste nice. 

Today, I have the mood to cook  ㅋㅋㅋ  I used the balance of the pork belly which I bought earlier on to cook 김치찌개 Kimchi jjigae.  However, this time I removed the fatty portion...I defroze the pork and have it marinate with mirin, Korean soy sauce, sesame oil and pepper.  Cover it and leave it in the fridge.

I explored the recipe from Maangchi and decided to do my own method of 제육볶음.    The recipe looks good but I am more used to the Chinese way of frying ingredients such as onions, garlic and ginger first, so as to bring out its fragrance.  Whereas, the recipe combines everything to cook together.  Maybe I will try out the recipe method one day ^^   

First of all, I stir fried some chopped onions and garlic till golden brown before adding the pork belly.   Next I add some chopped green chillies, which I have removed the seeds so that it will not be spicy.

 

Stir fry for a while before adding 고추장 Gochujang (Hot Pepper Paste) and 고추가루 Gochugaru (Hot Pepper Flakes).   Final touch up was some brown sugar and a dash of salt to taste.  My 제육볶음 looked spicy right??   I added a lot of Gochujang and Gochugaru!!    Well, never judge a book by its appearance ㅎㅎㅎ because I chosed "medium hot" for both types of chillies.  Therefore, it is not spicy at all! 

Can't wait to eat this!!  Over here, I have two leaves of veggie, some kimchi cabbage, garlic and two slices of pork belly.  The garlic was bought during my recent trip to Korea.  My mother loves this garlic a lot...I always wonder why Korea garlic is not pungent like the ones we eat in Singapore.   I will never eat the normal garlic that we have in Singpore this way...My breath will stink man.... 

I ate my 제육볶음 with rice too ^^ 

This doesn't look like a Korean meal at all...hahahahaa...

Mother cooked the Cai Xin(Choi Sum), so I placed the veggie and stir fried spicy pork together for the purpose of taking picture!  I think Korean usually will eat one mouthful of the dishes followed by one mouthful of rice.  Do correct me if I am wrong.. 
Besides stir fried cai xin, mother also cooked ginseng soup using Korean ginseng but in her own Chinese method...hahahaa...maybe she wants to compliment with what I am cooking today!

Here comes my second helping ^^   This time I added a little Ssamjang.    According to Wikipedia, Ssamjang  is a thick, spicy paste used with food wrapped in a leaf in Korean cuisine. The sauce is made of  doenjang, gochujang, sesame oil, onion, garlic, green onions and perhaps brown sugar.  Ssamjang is usually eaten with a ssam of grilled meat.

Ssam means "wrapped" and jang means "paste" or "thick sauce." Together as ssamjang they mean "wrapping sauce."

Actually, I am still not used to Ssamjang because I find it a bit salty for my liking...hmmm....어떻게...I still have a big tub left...Although I bought the smallest tub but its a big tub when I am only using a little bit each time!

My mother said, "不错leh".  Waaa....mother seldom praise my cooking!  My sister-in-law said its delicious...hmmm....  정말??    *Happy  ^^ 

Even though my mother and sis-in-law complimented my 제육볶음 but I am not sure whether my 제육볶음 has a taste that is close to the real Korean 제육볶음 a not...because I didn't have the chance to eat it when I was in Korea.  There  were simply too many yummy food waiting for me....

Have not set my mind of what to try cooking next..Now, I just wanna be in Korea ㅎㅎㅎ