November 26, 2024

GCH: What’s on Your Plate? Korean Banchans

December 6, 2012 by

Spinach Banchan

If you read my post last week for Dubu Buchim (Korean Pan-Fried Tofu), you’ll remember that a Korean meal has many components:  the rice, kimchee, main dish, and the banchans.  Banchans are little dishes, meant to be shared, and are usually vegetable-based.  Today I’ll show you how to make two very easy banchans:  spinach banchan and a cucumber salad.

For the spinach, you can buy whole spinach, which is the cheaper option, or a bag of washed and trimmed spinach salad – it will cost more than whole spinach, but the upside is that the roots and sand have been removed for you!  This spinach banchan is also a component in several other Korean dishes, including kimbap, japchae, and bibimbap.  (We’ll get to those later!)  For the cucumbers, you’ll want to look for small cucumbers, often called Persian cucumbers.  They have thin skin and very little seedy pulp in the middle.  You could also use a regular English cucumber, or a hothouse cucumber, but you may want to take off some of the skin if it’s waxed or feels tough to you.  Also, the cucumber banchan calls for a pinch of Korean dried peppers.  If you don’t have these in your pantry, you can use crushed red pepper (like the kind used in Italian cooking or on pizza) or even a little cayenne.  It won’t be the same, but you’ll get the idea!

Both of these banchans are best made fresh, and won’t last in the fridge more than two or three days.  Make a batch, cook some rice, and  practice your chopstick skills:  it’s dinner time!

Spinach Banchan

Ingredients:

  • 1 pound whole spinach, trimmed and cleaned, or 1 large bag prepared spinach salad (9 oz.)
  • 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
  • 1 teaspoon sesame oil
  • 1 teaspoon soy sauce
  • 1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds
  • 1 green onion, minced

Directions:

  1. Fill a large pot with water and bring to a boil.  Prepare an ice bath:  a very large bowl filled with ice and water.  When the water boils, add the spinach, and blanch for 15 seconds.  You want all of the spinach out of the boiling water within 30 seconds at the max, or it will be mushy.  Remove from the water and transfer to the ice bath.
  2. In a medium-sized bowl, mix together garlic, oil, soy sauce, sesame seeds, and green onion.  Squeeze the water from the spinach – be firm, but don’t pulverize it!  Add the spinach to the garlic mixture, and using your hands, massage the sauce into the spinach.  (Korean housewives go through more plastic gloves than the school lunch lady.  I just get in there and don’t worry about the gloves.)  Let the spinach marinate in the sauce for about 30 minutes at room temperature.  Taste for seasoning – you can add a tiny pinch of sea salt or more soy sauce if you like.

Cucumber Banchan

Cucumber Banchan

Ingredients:

  • 4 Persian cucumbers, or one large hothouse cucumber
  • 1 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon sesame oil
  • 1 teaspoon rice vinegar
  • 1/4 teaspoon sugar
  • pinch hot pepper flakes
  • 1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds

Directions:

  1. Wash cucumbers, and if you’re not using Persian cucumbers, remove the peel.  Slice very thinly into coins and put in a sieve.  Sprinkle with the sea salt and let sit for 15 minutes.
  2. In another bowl, mix together oil, vinegar, sugar and pepper flakes.  Rinse the cucumber and squeeze out any extra water.  Add to the oil mixture and let marinate for 30 minutes before eating.  Sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Explore, experiment, enjoy! — Dana

Find more recipes from Dana, Korean and otherwise, at Frugal Girlmet!

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GCH: What’s on Your Plate? Dubu Buchim (Pan-Fried Tofu, Korean-style)

November 29, 2012 by

Okay ladies, are you ready to step outside the box?  Time to put on your Big Girl shoes, be brave, and try something new!  This is a recipe called Dubu Buchim (pronounced “Dooboo Boocheem”), which means pan-fried tofu in Korean.  It’s easy, it’s tasty, and it’s a perfect way to get your first taste of homemade Korean food.

If you read my previous post about stocking an International pantry, you may have already purchased a tub of gochujang.  That’s the red pepper paste used frequently in Korean cooking.  It’s hot, fruity, spicy, and complex.  You’ll need it for the sauce.  A little goes a long way if you are new to spicy foods, so when you make the sauce, start with only a teaspoon of gochujang.  Taste it and see if it needs more heat – you may like it so much you’ll want to add a lot more!

One of my favorite things about Korean dining is that, unlike a typical American meal of meat, vegetable and starch, Korean meals  have many components.  Steamed rice is always served, as is some kind of kimchee.  Then there is the protein – either meat, tofu, or fish.  And my favorite part is the banchan.  Banchan means simply “little dishes”, and these are small portions of vegetables and other side dishes meant to be shared: some pickled vegetables, some steamed, some in different sauces, little salads, kim (seaweed), noodles – the possibilities are endless!  Also, a soup is usually served, something light and brothy.  So instead of eating large portions of three things, you get to eat small portions of a dozen different things!

When you make this at home, don’t worry about making twelve different banchan.  Make some steamed rice, open that jar of kimchee you were brave enough to buy (and now try!), and serve with a spinach salad or steamed broccoli.  You’ll be so proud of yourself for trying something new, and may even find a new favorite cuisine!

Dubu Buchim

Ingredients:

  • 1 block firm or extra-firm tofu
  • 2 teaspoons sesame oil
  • kosher or sea salt for sprinkling
  • 1 heaping teaspoon gochujang
  • 2 tablespoons sesame oil
  • 1 clove garlic, finely minced
  • 2 green onions, minced
  • 1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds
  • 1 teaspoon soy sauce
  • 1 teaspoon sugar

Directions:

  1. Drain the tofu, then squeeze it in between two plates to get out even more water.  Press firmly, but don’t crush the tofu.  Cut the tofu in half lengthwise, and then slice each half into eight equal squares so you have sixteen total.  In a large pan, heat 2 teaspoons of sesame oil and cook the tofu until golden-brown and crusty, about 7 minutes.  Flip and cook the other side until golden, about 5 minutes more.  You’ll probably need to do it in two batches.  Remove from heat to a plate lined with paper towels and sprinkle the tofu with salt.  You can be generous with the salt, since the tofu is very mild-tasting.
  2. While the tofu is cooking, make the sauce.  Simply mix the gochujang, oil, garlic, onions, sesame seeds, soy sauce, and sugar together.  The gochujang is kind of stiff, so you are really going to use some muscle to stir this stuff together.  You can do this next to the stove, since the gochujang gets a little smoother when it’s warm.  Now taste it – it should be balanced – not too spicy, not too salty.  You can add more oil or sugar if it’s too spicy.  To serve, spoon the sauce over the tofu.

Explore, experiment, enjoy! — Dana

Find more recipes from Dana, Korean and otherwise, at Frugal Girlmet!

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GCH: What’s on Your Plate? Chicken (or Turkey!) Fajitas Salad

November 22, 2012 by

Happy Thanksgiving!  Chances are, if you live in America, right now you are either preparing the Thanksgiving turkey, eating it, or wrapping up the leftovers!  There are so many great ways to use up leftover turkey, but if you are burned out on your old standbys and are looking for something different, I have the solution to your big bird blahs!

There are two ingredients you may not have in your fridge right now that you need for this salad:  cilantro and chipotles in adobo.  Cilantro, that green leafy herb that imparts a fantastic flavor to many south-of-the-border dishes, should be easy to find in your grocery store.  Make sure you’re buying cilantro and not Italian parsley!  (Trust me, I’ve made this mistake!)  The chipotles in adobo will be in your “ethnic food” aisle at the grocery store.  They come in a small can, a little larger than a can of tomato paste.  These are smoked jalapeño peppers in a spicy red vinegar sauce.  Their smoky, rich taste is incomparable and irreplaceable in many Mexican dishes.  Once you taste them, you’ll never forget them!  They are not too spicy, but provide the perfect kick to everything they touch.  You only need one chipotle pepper in this recipe, so transfer the rest to a Tupperware container and stash them in your fridge – they last for a few months since they are already smoked and soaking in vinegar.  Blend one up and add to your next batch of chili!

Everything else should be easy to procure.  This recipe makes two large dinner salads, or 4 or 5 side salads.  I serve this with chips and salsa, but feel free to supplement with whatever other Thanksgiving leftovers you have handy.  Rolls or garlic bread would be welcome (but maybe save the pumpkin pie for later.)

Chicken (or Turkey!) Fajitas Salad

Ingredients:

  • 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
  • 1 chipotle pepper in adobo sauce (and about a teaspoon of the sauce)
  • 1 large clove garlic
  • 1/2 bunch cilantro (use the upper stems too, but discard the lower, tougher stems)
  • 1/2 cup mayonnaise
  • 1/2 cup plain yogurt or sour cream
  • juice of 1/2 lemon (or more … I like more!)
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon sugar
  • 1/2 large onion, sliced into thin strips
  • 1/2 green bell pepper, sliced into thin strips
  • 1/2 red, yellow, or orange bell pepper, sliced into thin strips
  • 1 zucchini, sliced into thin strips
  • 1 1/2 cups cooked chicken or turkey, shredded
  • 1 avocado, sliced (optional)
  • 2 tablespoons salsa (optional)
  • large bag of salad greens – romaine is best, but regular old spring mix is fine too

Directions:

  1. Toast the cumin seeds over medium heat for a few minutes until they get a little darker and start smelling delicious.  When toasted, grind in food processor or pulverize in mortar and pestle.  (You could use pre-ground cumin, but please look into  buying the whole seeds!)
  2. With cumin in the food processor, add chipotle and a little adobo sauce, garlic, cilantro, mayonnaise, yogurt, lemon juice, salt and sugar.  Buzz to combine.  Taste for seasoning – too spicy?  Add more mayo or yogurt.  Too tart?  Add a pinch more sugar.  Put the dressing in the refrigerator while you cook the veggies.
  3. Add a little oil or butter to a large pan.  Add the sliced onions and sauté until golden, then add the peppers and zucchini.  Cook until hot and tasty (not for too long, don’t let them get mushy!)  If you have any leftovers, these are amazing mixed with scrambled eggs and a little cheese.
  4. To serve:  Lettuce on the bottom, top with hot veggies and shredded chicken or turkey, and dress liberally with the chipotle dressing.  Scatter some avocado over the top, dot with salsa and dig in!

Explore, experiment, enjoy! — Dana

Please visit me at Frugal Girlmet for more unique recipes!

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GCH: What’s on Your Plate? The International Pantry

November 15, 2012 by

Most of the recipes on GCH: What’s on Your Plate are for delicious dishes that may not even require a trip to the store to make tonight.  That might not be the case with my contributions!  If you’ve always wanted to try a Mexican, Korean, or Indian recipe but didn’t know where to start, I’m here with a primer for some basic things to stock in your pantry and refrigerator.

The Korean Kitchen

I am biased:  I love Korean food!  There aren’t any complicated techniques to master (I’m looking at you, French bistro cuisine!) and it relies mostly on fresh vegetables and a few simple condiments.  I highly encourage you to find an Asian or Korean grocery store and try some recipes out.  Here’s what to buy to get you started.

Sesame Oil:  This dark, nutty oil is a base flavor in most Korean recipes.  Any brand is fine, and your neighborhood Safeway or Kroeger may stock it in the Asian aisle.

Soy Sauce:  You probably already have this.  Kikkoman is definitely in your grocery store right now!

Rice Vinegar: A delightfully sweet-tart vinegar that is fresh-tasting and light.  I use it often in salad dressings.

Garlic:  In James Clavell’s classic samurai novel Shogun, the Japanese guards refer to Koreans as “the garlic-eaters”.  They meant it as an insult, which is incomprehensible to me!  Garlic is very healthy for you, and is found in many cuisines around the world.  I mean, imagine Italian food without garlic!  I buy it whole because it’s cheaper that way, but if you don’t want the trouble of mincing it to order, feel free to buy a jar of minced garlic to live in your fridge.

Green Onions:  You know, just your basic green onions.  And unless you’re making dessert, you can almost guarantee a Korean recipe will call for minced green onions.  Thankfully, if you buy them in an Asian grocery, they are going to be shockingly cheap to purchase.  In fact, every Asian grocery store I have been in has fresher vegetables at better prices than the American grocery store.

Ginger:  A common flavor agent in Korean food.  Buy a whole “hand” of ginger, or buy minced ginger to go in your fridge.  Be sure to buy regular minced ginger, and not the pickled kind they serve with sushi.

Doenjang:  Pronounced “den jong”, this is fermented bean paste.  It’s basically a stronger, chunkier version of Japanese miso paste.  This flavors many soups and stews, and lends a meaty, salty savor.  It can live happily in your refrigerator for a good year – after all, it’s already fermented!  When you buy it, read the ingredients – make sure there are no added flavors, like anchovies, and that you’re getting just plain doenjang.  Most brands feature helpful illustrations to help us non-Koreans out!

Gochujang: Pronounced just how it looks, “go chu jong”, this red paste looks scarier than it is.  If you like Sriracha hot sauce, you’ll love gochujang.  It is hot, fruity, sweet, and complex.  Koreans love this fiery paste and will sometimes serve a side dish of whole green onions to dip in gochujang.  That’s a little hardcore for me, but in smaller amounts, it is a tasty and welcome splash of spice.  And to make it easier, doenjang is always sold in a little tan tub, and gochujang is always sold right next to it, in a little red tub.  Don’t worry, you can’t confuse them.

Kimchi:  The iconic dish is the Korean version of sauerkraut – pickled cabbage that will cure any cold!  There are also radish and cucumber versions.  Pick up a jar and see if you like it.  I love it, and I love the huge dose of Vitamin C it gives me.  Koreans eat kimchi and rice with every meal.

Rice:  This is not the Uncle Ben’s variety.  You’ll need short-grain, Japanese-style rice.  Two popular brands are Calrose and Shirakiku.  And yes, it’s supposed to be sticky!

Everything else for your Korean recipes will be vegetables or some meat.  Common vegetables used are zucchini, spinach, carrots, mushrooms, eggplant, cabbage, onion, and bean sprouts.  These should all be purchased fresh, of course, and for the most part, once you have the basic condiments, you can go to the regular grocery store for the other things you need.

Indian Ingredients

Indian food is a delightful way to explore different flavors, textures, and techniques.  It’s also a wonderful choice for vegetarians, or people looking to cut down on meat, since recipes using beans and vegetables abound.  Here are some basics to get you going.

Curry:  As I mentioned last week, curry comes in powder, paste, and sauce form – but I would avoid the sauces, since they are diluted, and you can’t control the salt, heat, or viscosity of the finished product.  Instead, go to your regular grocery store, and look in the spice aisle.  Last time I was there, I counted six different curry powders!  They are all similar, in that they probably contain turmeric, mustard, coriander, and cumin.  But they diverge there, and each has other spices – ginger, cayenne, cinnamon, allspice – in a different balance of flavors.  I recommend that you buy two different brands.  Open them, smell them, and see which you like better.  I have three right now – one is sweeter, one is more bitter, and one is hotter.  I use them in combination, or pick which one goes better with the recipe – the sweeter one for squash or carrots,  the hotter one for meat.  As for pastes, these are more specific and uniform – one brand’s Madras curry paste will be very similar to another brand’s.  I like Madras, as it’s a very balanced mix of sweet, bitter, spicy and hot.  It’s another condiment that doesn’t take up a lot of space in the fridge, lasts forever, and adds a unique kick to everything it mixes with.

Whole spices:  I can’t recommend whole spices highly enough!  Now just to be clear, I’m not a zealot:  please buy ground cinnamon and not sweat and curse over trying to grind down a cinnamon stick for your next batch of snicker doodles!  But if you did a taste-test of prepackaged ground cumin versus whole cumin  toasted and ground at home, you’d go kick that name-brand jar right out of your spice cabinet!  I always have whole cumin, mustard, and coriander seeds on hand.  Believe it or not, Mexican and Indian cuisines share a lot of flavors:  garlic, cumin, onion, peppers, and cilantro, just to name a few.  The cumin will certainly not go to waste if you do any kind of “international” cooking.

Rice:  Sorry, you can’t use Japanese / Korean / Chinese rice in Indian cooking!  But Indian, Thai, and other south Asian cuisines use the same rice: either basmati or Jasmine rice, and you can find both in white and brown varieties.

Everything else in Indian food should be purchased fresh.  Tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, zucchini, spinach,lentils, chickpeas, and green beans are all common ingredients.  Indians also make great use of chicken, so if you cut out red meat from your diet, check the multitude of chicken presentations.
Sorry this was so long.  I just got excited sharing the little bit of knowledge I have of what some people may consider non-traditional cooking.  Now get out there, and be a culinary adventurer!
Explore, experiment, and enjoy! — Dana
For more, visit me at Frugal Girlmet!
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GCH: What’s on Your Plate? – Moroccan Vegetable Stew

November 8, 2012 by

Let me start off by saying, I have NO idea if this stew actually has anything to do with Morocco. That’s what my Mom called it, and since I never saw the recipe written down, I took her word on it and the name stuck. Apologies if you are of Moroccan descent and you don’t recognize this as something you would ever eat!

Whatever you end up calling this, the fact remains that a simple vegetable stew is always a welcome dinner at our house, especially in the fall. The combination of lentils and butternut squash gets all soft and earthy-sweet, while the green beans add texture. The only things besides veggies are chicken broth (or vegetable broth, if you are vegan) and Madras curry paste.

A quick note about curry (and next week I’ll get into more depth): curry comes from the Indian word “kari”, which simply means “sauce”. There is no one kind of curry – rather, there are hundreds of variations, and you can buy prepared curry in powder, paste, or sauce form. In this recipe, I use Madras curry paste, which is pretty mellow and has a good balance of tangy, spicy, and a little sour. Feel free to use any curry powder or paste you like, but not Thai curry, since most of that is coconut-based.

As far as the veggies you use, feel free to add, subtract, or substitute here. I think diced carrots or tiny cauliflower florets would be good, and you could double up on the tomatoes if you wanted to. If you don’t like lentils, try it with a can of chickpeas instead. Have fun with it!

.
Moroccan Vegetable Stew

Ingredients:

  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 1 small butternut squash, or 1 pound fresh butternut squash chunks, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
  • 1 cup lentils, any kind (I used red, but brown or french green work well too)
  • 1 small onion, chopped
  • 1 large potato, any kind, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
  • 1 14-oz. can tomatoes (I like fire-roasted, but any diced tomatoes work)
  • 1 32-oz. carton chicken broth
  • 1 heaping tablespoon Madras curry paste (if using curry powder, use 2 tablespoons)
  • 12 oz. fresh green beans (or frozen) cut into 1-inch pieces
  • salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

  1. Prepare the squash: cut off the peel, remove the seeds, and chop into bite-sized pieces. In a large pot with a lid, heat the vegetable oil, then sauté the squash, onion, and potato for 5 minutes.
  2. Add the lentils and stir to combine, then stir in the tomatoes. Cover with chicken broth – about 1 – 2 cups, just level with the top of the vegetables. Turn the heat to low and let simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  3. Stir in the curry paste and green beans. Make sure the curry gets broken up and doesn’t sink to the bottom of the pot! Add more broth if you need to. Cover and let cook until green beans are just done – you want them to be al dente – about 15 – 25 minutes. If you are using frozen green beans, stir them in frozen, but only cook for 5 or 10 minutes – they shouldn’t be mushy.
  4. Taste for salt and pepper. Add more curry if you like!

If you are a vegetarian, or are making this for Meatless Mondays, serve it with bread and some sliced fruit. You could also make it a side dish, with grilled chicken and a salad. And like most stews, this is even better the next day!

_______________

— Dana Kim (also blogs as the Maven of Make-Do at http://frugalgirlmet.blogspot.com)

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