Tasty Meals At Home

If I was stranded on an island and was allowed only one kind of meal for the rest of my life, I would choose my mom’s kimchee jjigae (김치 찌개). Kimchee jjigae, aka kimchee (kimchi) stew, is an incredibly easy dish to make, but it is also an incredibly difficult dish to make ‘right.’ This is my rendition of my mom’s kimchee jjigae…I got to admit, it isn’t as good as hers, but it comes darn close!

Things You Will Need:

kimchee (very fermented!!)
sliced spam (you can substitute this with pork)
pinch of hon dashi
1/2 spoonful of sugar
1 1/2 cup water
oil
sliced green onion for garnish

As you can see from above, you don’t need that many ingredients to make this stew. This stew is meant for you to enjoy and appreciate the flavor of kimchee, so make certain to get yourself some good fermented kimchee. I usually buy mine at a Korean grocery store, and just keep it in the fridge for a good 2-3 weeks and let it ferment. If the kimchee is too fresh, I can bet that you will end up with a flavorless and bland stew.

Well fermented kimchee will leave your tongue with a somewhat soury taste. It will also appear slightly more opaque than fresh kimchee.

What to Do:

1. I like to cook my stew in a traditional Korean stone pot, but feel free to use a regular ol’ pot at home. Drizzle a little oil in the pot over medium heat.

2. Get a large spoonful of kimchee and put it in the hot pot.

3. Saute the kimchee for a good five minutes. When I say saute, I mean saute, don’t leave the kimchee in one place for even a second! Hey, it’s a good work out!

Note: If you are using pork, we would recommend cooking that first before the saute of kimchi.

4. After the five minutes, you will notice your kimchee getting dry, and the oil gone. At this time, get a large spoon/ladle, and get about 3 spoonfuls of kimchee sauce from your kimchee container and pour it into the pot. Continue to saute for another 3-5 minutes.

5. Add in the sliced spam (or pork) and continue to saute for another minute.

6. Look for the texture of the kimchee. I personally like my kimchee to be buttery soft so that it practically falls apart and melts in my mouth. The kimchee should begin to look translucent.and wilted..this is what you want:

7. Now add in the H2O!

8. Add in a good pinch of hon dashi.

9. Add in the sugar. Adding in the sugar will leave you with a somewhat sweet-tangy tasting stew, which is what my mom is famous for. If you do not want this, feel free to skip this step.

10. Now, close the lid, and simmer for a good 15 minutes.

11. Garnish with the green onions and you are DONE. Enjoy!!!! -H

This was our first recipe on tastymealsathome. It was originally on our previous page. We are going to shut that page down, so we will transfer the few more recipes onto this page. Enjoy!

We are huge crab lovers. Take us to a seafood buffet, and you’ll find us in line for the crab legs even before we set foot in the restaurant (yes, we can teleport when crab is involved).

Anywho, we made our first crab cakes today, and they were a HUGE delicious success–meaty chunks of lump crab with lemon juice…yummy!

They are easy to make at home, and will certainly be a crowd pleaser.

Here is the recipe for the delicious crabcakes:

What you Need:

Olive oil
1 cup small diced onions
1/2 cup small diced celery
1/2 cup small diced green bell peppers
Salt and pepper
1 tablespoon chopped garlic
1 pound lump crabmeat, cleaned and picked (canned or fresh)
1/4 cup chopped green onions
1/4 cup grated Parmesan Cheese
2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley leaves
3 tablespoons mustard
juice of 2 lemons
2 eggs
1/2 cup of mayo
1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon hot pepper sauce (we used Tabasco)
1 1/2 cups fine bread crumbs

optional: cayenne, paprika, garlic powder for seasoning

For the Sauce/Topping:

2 parts mayo
1 part mustard (we mixed yellow and whole dijon)
minced garlic
lemon zest and lemon juice

What to Do:
Heat the olive oil in a medium pan over medium heat. Add the onions, celery, and peppers and season with salt and pepper. Saute for 5 minutes and add the garlic and continue to saute for 2-3 minutes.

Remove the pan from the heat and cool for 5 minutes. In a medium mixing bowl, combine the crabmeat, green onions, grated cheese, parsley, mustard, and juice of 1 and half lemon. Mix to incorporate. Set the mixture aside.Fold the cooled sauteed vegetables into the crab mixture. Add the Worcestershire and Tabasco sauce at this point. Fold 1/2 cup of the mayonnaise and 3/4 cup of the bread crumbs into the crab mixture and mix gently but avoid breaking up the lump cake.

Portion the filling into patties, about 1-inch thick:

Pour olive oil or you can use butter into a saute pan on medium heat. Dredge the cakes in the seasoned flour or seasoned bread crumbs. Gently fry the cakes in the oil and for 3-4 minutes on each side, check occasionally for brownness - this depends on your heat.

Remove the cakes from the oil and drain on a paper-lined plate.

….and Tada!!!! You are Done! Serve it with a fresh salad, and you have a lovely meal:

Have Fun Cooking!

Following our duo of shrimp, here is a duo of chicken: Western Hot Wings and Korean Hot Wings. Korean hot wings (양념 치킨) consist of many flavors: spicy, tangy, and sweet…think… a fusion of the western hot wings and honey bbq wings. Best of both worlds, right?

Before we get started we must apologize for we lost half of our pictures. We made this a couple months ago and meant to post it up earlier, but got caught up with other things…well, enough excuses! These two recipes are too good to not post up, so we will try our best.

Let’s go!

1. Western Hot Wings

Things You Will Need:

chicken wings, drumsticks
flour
corn starch
hot sauce (we used Louisiana Hot Sauce)
butter
oil

What To Do:

Before we start, we will have to fry the chicken. After that, we will use the fried chicken and mix them in the two sauces. Here is a quick how to on how to fry the chicken. If you still feel lost, it might help to refer back to our fried chicken recipe posted on our previous site: www.tastymealsathome.blogspot.com. Be aware though, we omitted the buttermilk and spices in the dry mixture in this current recipe.

Cut the wings/drumsticks (we had bought the kind that had the wings and drumsticks still intact…save yourself time, and do go buy the ones that are already separated), remove the excess fat, wash and pat dry.

Dip the wings into flour/corn starch 1:1 mixture, make sure not to get too much breading on them. Fry them until they are golden brown.
In the meantime, make the hot sauce: Simply add 1/2 bottle of louisiana hot sauce + 1/2 stick of melted butter in a bowl.

When the hot wings are done frying, place them onto paper towels to remove excess grease and then slide them straight into the hot sauce mixture.

You are Done! The following is a picture of our hot wings plus a few that we didn’t coat…and we decided to further shorten our lives by using the leftover oil to fry up some onion strings! If you want the recipe for the onion strings, please let us know.

2. Korean Hot Wings

Things You Will Need:

4 tbsp Korean hot pepper paste
4 tbsp ketchup
2 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp cooking wine
1 tbsp mirin (optional)
2-3 cloves minced garlic
1/4 cup minced onion
salt and pepper
1/2 cup water
sesame seeds

What to Do:

Saute garlic and onion in oil over medium heat until the onions are translucent. Next add in the hot pepper paste, ketchup, mirin, sugar, cooking wine, and 1/2 cup water. Bring to a boil and then simmer for 10 - 15 minutes. Salt and Pepper to taste.

Next, take sauce off heat and mix the fried chicken into the sauce.

You are DONE! Sprinkle on some sesame seeds for presentation. Super Easy, huh? These are usually served with a side of sweet Korean radish cubes. Yummy!