Pork and Kimchi Soup Recipe

It is spring but days are still overcast and cloudy not to mention colder than I remembered during this time of the year! Nothing makes me feel better than sipping a hot bowl of wholesome soup - I thought kimchi soup would be a good alternative as it is also spicy! Of course, watching the actors in my current Korean drama cooking and eating it all the time might be also influencing my sudden cravings!

Kimchi is a staple food in Korea - and kimchi can consist of cabbage, cucumber, carrots and a myriad of other vegetables pickled in salt, garlic and fermented fish paste (usually). The flavour of kimchi is rather strong and might be overwhelming to some at first, but I have definitely grown to love the flavour and kimchi soup is delicious and heartwarming to say the least. In addition, this recipe does not require a long boiling time but just under 1 hour. In traditional Korean soups, minced garlic may also be added which is really quite different from Chinese soups, or at least Cantonese soups - I don't think one usually adds garlic to the best of my knowledge.

The vegetables in the soup are not set in stone - you can be creative and use whatever you have in your fridge (within reason of course). Cooking is really a fun thing to do, experiment a little and you might just come up with something you love!





Ingredients:


4 tbsps worth of kimchi
2 heaped tsps of kochujang (Korean chilli pepper paste)
2 tsp of kochukaru (Korean chilli pepper powder)
2 carrots, chopped
2 green onions, sliced diagonally
1/4 slab of tofu, cubed
1 tsp minced garlic
Soy sauce, to taste
1/2 Chinese (Nappa) cabbage
1/2 onion, sliced
1/4 pound of pork, sliced or cubed
3 cups of water


Method:


First, blanch the pork in boiling water to remove impurities, remove from water once the surface turns white. Discard water. Using the same pot, fill it with 3 cups of water, bring to a boil. Now add the vegetables except for the green onions, kimchi and blanched pork. Bring to a boil again and simmer at medium heat for about 30 minutes. Now, add the kochujang, kochukaru, green onions, tofu and garlic. Bring to a boil again, and simmer for another 20 minutes. Add soy sauce to taste. Serve hot with rice.

Chawan Mushi Recipe (Japanese Steamed Egg Custard - 茶碗蒸し)

I have always been a huge fan of 'chawan mushi', which literally translates to 'tea cup steam' - the egg custard is savoury instead of sweet and is traditionally served as an appetizer at Japanese meals. The texture of the egg custard is much lighter than that of its' Western counterparts due to the absence of heavy cream and milk.



For an 'ideal' cup or bowl of chawan mushi, the custard has to just barely be set, and should be silky and light in texture, a 'holey' appearance is a definite faux pas. The egg custard is simply a mixture of lightly beaten eggs and bonito stock seasoned with some soy and sake. The ingredients used in the custard allows for a lot of creativity, this time I merely used crabsticks, mushrooms and green onions. It is customary to have chicken, shrimp, mushrooms and gingko nuts in the chawan mushi - however, as always, do improvise and tweak the recipe to your liking.



This is a very easy dish to make at home, this was my first attempt as well and you just have to remember not to overcook the steamed egg (much like Chinese steamed egg), do not overload the cups or bowls with ingredients (no more than 1/3 of cup/bowl) and to beat the eggs lightly so as to lessen the bubbles in the mixture. The silky smooth and flavourful egg custard was a delight to my senses - try it at home, it's not difficult I promise!



Ingredients (4 servings):
2 stalks green onions
4 shitake mushrooms (quartered)
2 crabsticks (cut to bite-sized)

Custard:
2 1/2 cups bonito stock (dashi)
1 Tbsp light soy sauce
1 tsp mirin
1/2 tsp salt
3 eggs

Egg custard mixture is strained through gauze

Method:
Heat the bonito stock, then season with the soy sauce, mirin and salt. Let cool to room temperature. Now, lightly beat the eggs and add the cooled bonito stock while stirring lightly. Strain the egg mixture with some gauze (as pictured) into a separate bowl.

Separate the ingredients into the bowls


Now, prepare your steamer (I used my bamboo steamer) - divide the ingredients above into the 4 cups/ bowls and gently ladle the egg custard mixture into the cups/ bowls. I did not have the traditional chawan mushi cups which come with covers, so I made some 'covers' out of foil. This is to avoid the condensed moisture in the steamer from dropping back onto the custard.

Ladle the egg custard mixture onto the ingredients


Steam the custard over high heat for about 5 minutes or until you see the top layer turn whitish. Now, turn the heat to medium low and steam for another 15 minutes or so. To test if the egg is set, insert a toothpick gently - if the liquid runs clear, it is done. Serve hot or chilled depending on weather.

Cod Fish Soup Recipe

Being a huge fan of soups, I felt like having a piping how bowl today but did not have the patience for my usual slow-boiled soups that require a boiling time of at least 4 hours. So, recalling that the husband just caught some cod fish not too long ago, I decided to make fish soup - most of the time fish used in Chinese soups is first fried with ginger to eradicate the 'fishy' smell in the soup. This soup is a result of my experiment today and I am quite pleased with the results, easy and definitely tasty.



The soup only required about 1 hour of boiling and I just used ingredients that were available in my fridge, it's always fun to experiment with cooking when you have the inclination and always good too to use up ingredients in your fridge. I have to say that my fish soup did not taste 'fishy' at all, the taste of the fresh cod married well with the onion, corn and shitake mushrooms. Do give this a try when you feel like having a different and less cooking time kind of soup. This soup will be perfect served with rice.



Ingredients:
2 cod fish fillet, pat dry and marinate lightly with salt
2 shitake mushrooms (soaked if using dried ones)
1/2 onion, quartered
1/2 corn on the cob, sliced
3 pieces fresh ginger
3 cups chicken broth
1 tsp of sake
Salt, to taste
Few drops of fish sauce



Method:
Firstly, pan-fry the fish fillets with the ginger till almost cooked. Meanwhile, boil the chicken broth in a separate pot, once it boils, add the onion, corn, mushrooms and the fish fillets into the pot. Bring to a boil again, turn the heat to low, and add the sake. Boil for about 45 minutes to 1 hour, add salt to taste. Finally, add the fish sauce before serving.