I took half day leave today and decided that I will cook Korean food for my Kim Kim today. Errmmmm.....when I said Korean food, I don't mean I am good at it! Nope....I am not...but I just wanna do it to satisfy my cravings for Korean food! Hahaaaa...
After work, I went grocery shopping at Tampines SOL Mart and NTUC....My plan was to cook 자장면 JaJangMyeon (Black bean paste with noodle) for lunch. However, the Korean supermarket ran out of noodles...괜찮아요. I can cook 자장밥 JaJangBap (Black bean paste with rice) instead. Only managed to reach Kim's place at about 1.30pm...My poor Kim Kim is famished by then..Kim kept coming to the kitchen to see whether lunch was ready a not....
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To save time in marinating, I used luncheon pork instead of pork slices. Stir fried some onions until they turned golden brown. Next, I added the blackbean sauce. Followed by some Zucchini and luncheon meat. Lastly, I added some sugar so that the sauce will not be bitter. |
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| So black.... |
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I should have use any other colored plate instead of black. I won't said its successful because its a bit salty for me. 자장면 or 자장밥 is supposed to be one of the easiest Korean dishes yet I couldn't make it good. What a shame....Therefore, I failed myself in this dish for today ㅠㅠ Nevermind, its ok. I will definitely make it good next time! |
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Rest for an hour before I started preparing for dinner...Dishes for dinner include 김치찌개 Kimchi jjigae, 뚝배기 계란찜 Ttukbaegi gyeranjjim and 시금치 장떡 SiGeumChi JangTteok (Spinach Pancake |
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| I added my Kimchi when the pork looked semi cooked. |
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I added some water to cover the ingredients. Next, I added 1 1/2 tablespoon of 된장 doenjang (bean paste) and 3/4 tablespoon of 고추장 gochujang (red pepper paste). I wish I can add more 고추장 but my Kim Kim will not be able to take it if its too spicy. When the soup started to boil, I added 두부 beancurd and sliced portobello mushrooms. Allow it to simmer at low fire while I prepare 시금치 장떡( spinach pancake). Chopped scallions(spring onions) were added to the jjigae when it was ready for serving. |
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Kim said this looked pretty ^^ I followed the recipe from Aeriskitchen but I added some red capsicum and prawns to make it look pretty ㅋㅋㅋ |
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Actually, I wanted to make cute little pancakes but things happened too fast.....it became a big pancake instead.... |
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| Phew....I managed to flip over successfully ^^ 뚝배기 계란찜 Ttukbaegi gyeranjjim is up next! |
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You need not steam your egg in this black pot(뚝배기). I wanted to use a 뚝배기because I enjoyed the feeling of eating steamed egg from a 뚝배기 when I was eating Samgyeopsal 삼겹살 in Sinchon. I read up some online recipes to cook 계란찜 Gyeranjjim and realised that Korean method of cooking steam egg is almost the same as the Chinese. The only difference should be the ingredients used. Koreans like to add chopped carrots, chopped scallions, chopped capsicum into their steamed eggs. Whereas for the Chinese, we like to use mince pork, prawns or simply have it plain. You can check out Maangchi for its steamed eggs recipe ^^ |
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| Some recipes used anchovy soup in their steamed eggs. I used Kanari fish sauce instead. |
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I used 3 eggs, a little water, 2 tablespoons of fish sauce and a dash of pepper. Beat the eggs well and try to remove the tiny bubbles on the egg surface. Steam the egg for about 5 mins before adding the prawns. |
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I feel it is not necessary to add water because the water created a false impression that the egg is not cooked yet. The chopped scallions were added when the steam egg was almost done. |
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Actually my Kim Kim told me she was not hungry but I saw her sipping the kimchi jjigae non stop while waiting for me to cook the last dish. On a scale of 10, Kim's rating for my food as follows : A) 10/10 for 김치찌개 Kimchi jjigae B) 10/10 for 뚝배기 계란찜 Ttukbaegi Gyeranjjim (Steamed egg) C) 9/10 for 시금치 장떡 SiGeumChi JangTteok (Spinach Pancake Wowww...I thought Kim Kim was being nice to me but she really almost polished off all the food, especially Kimchi jjigae and steamed egg. She would have finished every single bit if we don't have to save some for my sister. Kim kept asking, "Where's my rice??" Hahaaaa...I can see she was trying hard to save her rice for her jjigae. Actually, I have cooked slightly more rice than the usual amount. I never knew Kim likes bean paste soup as this was the first time I cooked "Korean" food for her. I asked her if rice was very precious to her today. She laughed and nodded. The spinach pancake would be better if its hot because it was cold by the time we had our dinner... |
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Something was missing on this table right?? Can you guess what was missing?? 반찬 banchan of course! A Korean meal feels incomplete without 반찬 but its ok for us at this point for time because we only wanted to eat! The smaller plate was for me hahahaa because I had a feeling Kim needs more rice and I was right ㅋㅋㅋ We were eating and watching a Korean variety programme, called something like "Families come home" . The programme was funny and the special guest was T.O.P. It had been a perfect night for Kim and I ^^ The next dish I wanted to try is 돼지불고기 stir fried spicy pork. Well, I am not a good cook but I like cooking. Cleaning up is the only thing that I hate after every session of cooking...because it involves washing up, wiping, sweeping and mopping...That's why I salute all mothers...how can they be doing it in their stride for so many years... It is not easy to cook everyday....after preparing lunch comes preparation for dinner...after dinner is cleaning up. This is aside from the other housechores...half of the day would be spent in the kitchen...Not forgetting there are working mothers as well. Waaa....I think they are wonderwomen! So please spend some of your time helping out your mothers! |
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