Spicy Chicken Boolgohgi Kebabs For Beer Making Folk...

The Man used to work for a certain well known once-rogue craft brewery, and he still loves to brew beer at home regularly. So yesterday was a brew day for him, and now we've got two big jugs of Belgian Pale Ale bubbling and fermenting in our living room (it was a veritable Fermentation Fest up in here this weekend).

impromptu brewers' dinner

Because brewing a crapton of beer is an all-day and usually outdoor affair, it can easily turn into a little bit of a shindig. And when you've got friends coming over to help you lift big, heavy, lobsterpot-like mash tuns and boil kettles, you certainly can't let them go hungry.

But it's also one of those somewhat regular and casual things that isn't quite like a party for which you plan menus and such. So you dig deep into the fridge and pantry to see what odds and ends you can feed a few hungry guys who are drinkin' beer while makin' beer and their significant others who come bearing potlucky type things later in the afternoon. And you try to space them far enough apart so no one thinks about how the food you're serving them doesn't match because you assume everyone gives as big a crap about the food you're serving as you do.

Let's see... There were corn tortillas and blended pico de gallo fixins, so fresh chips (fried in oil with a little dab of bacon grease) and salsa were put out.

And when the chips ran out there were figs, a small chunk of the Man's homecured brown sugar bacon from last week, a little baby chunk of Parmiggiano and some honey, hence Figs Two Ways:

And then for dinner, since you bought a tray of chicken thighs earlier in the day during your weekly grocery run so they're the only unfrozen protein in the fridge other than the catfish you also bought (the pork bones were placed in the freezer), you make spicy dahk (chicken) boolgohgi aka boolgogi aka bulgogi kebabs because no one doesn't love the flavor of boolgohgi and because kebabs seem to magically make more food out of less meat.

That, some perennially crowd-pleasing crunchy soy slaw augmented with some fish kebabs fashioned from the cod and veg provided by one (pescavegetarian) guest, some pork chops provided by another, a 12-pack of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale and some other beer odds and ends and !Voila!

Impromptu Brewers' Dinner.

Dahk (chicken) boolgohgi (BOOHLgohgee) is usually made spicy whereas the beef kind isn't. But the base of the marinade is quite similar. I like to use thigh meat because the texture, flavor and fat content holds up better to the marinade than breast meat. This recipe is specifically for kebabs, but you could certainly use whole pieces of boneless thigh meat or even the entire thigh if you like, and cooking times will differ.

Generally speaking, I'm not a big advocate of overnight marinating. There are very few proteins that won't cure (essentially turn into ham is the way I like to think of it) under the saltiness of most marinades if left to sit in them overnight. The marinating point of diminishing returns is even earlier on meat that's cut kebab-size (1" to 1.5" cubes). Ideally, I would let this marinate for 45 minutes to an hour, and no more than two hours.

SPICY KOREAN CHICKEN BOOLGOHGI KEBABS
Makes about 12 kebabs
Serves 4-ish

- 12 to 15 bamboo skewers soaked in water for at least an hour before they go on the grill

- 2 to 2.5 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs cut into roughly 1.5-inch *cubes* (to the extent that you can cut chicken thigh meat into cubes, which is to say not really)

If you can't find the boneless, skinless meat, just get a roughly 3.5 pound tray of chicken thighs, remove the skin and trim the meat off as close to the bone as possible. I did, and made my weekly chicken stock from the scraps (only I left a little extra meat around the bone to feed Honeydew).

- 2 Tablespoons minced garlic (about 3 cloves)
- 1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger root (or you could use about 1/4 teaspoon dry ginger powder)
- 1 green onion, finely chopped
- 1/8 cup sugar
- 1/8 cup gochoojahng (Korean red chili paste) aka gochujang (you can substitute with sriracha - not quite the same, but you'll get a tasty result)
- 1/8 cup low sodium soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1.5 Tablespoons neutral oil (like vegetable, canola, grapeseed)

- 1 large onion, cut into 1" pieces for skewering and tossed with 2 teaspoonfuls of oil

1) In a large mixing bowl, mix together all the ingredients except the onion, making sure to incorporate all of them thoroughly.

2) Cover the bowl and set in the fridge to marinate (about 1 hour ideally, and not more than 2). Remember to take the meat out of the fridge about 30 minutes before you're ready to grill.

If you're using a charcoal grill, start your coals about 20 to 25 minutes before you want to grill. You want a gentle, medium low heat over which to cook these kebabs.

If gas, just pre-heat your grill to medium low 5 to 7 minutes before cooking.

3) Skewer your kebabs so they look like this:

6 single layers of onion with 5 roughly 1" layers of chicken skewered between them. As you've probably discovered by now, it's a little challenging to get 1" cubes of meat from chicken thighs, but you generally want a 1" thickness of meat between veg, so you might have to add odd pieces of chicken to the bigger ones to achieve this thickness.

I used only onions primarily because I think it tastes simple and delicious this way. I don't think other traditional kebab vegetables go as well with this recipe. Plus there was soy slaw on the side, which complemented the kebabs quite nicely.

Everyone seems to *LOVE* this slaw.

4) Over a medium low grill, cook the kebabs  about 15 minutes, covered, turning them every 5 minutes.

They should look like this close up:

A little spicy, slightly sweet yet savory and super tasty with some plain steamed rice (I still can't seem to keep most white folk from dousing their steamed rice with soy sauce. :/) and a bite of that slaw.

This marinade, by the way, also works for dwaeji boolgohgi, which is spicy Korean style pork BBQ, and is especially delicious when made with thinly sliced pork belly. I often leave the ginger out when I make that, though.

A spicy/salty/sweet combo that's always a huge hit, and too easy not to try, really. :)

shinae

P.S. Here's the chicken stock:

Before china cap but after I removed the
meaty bones for Honeydew...

after china cap :)

Canh Bun Ca - Vietnamese Rice Noodle Soup With Fish...

"Mama, If you made the snail soup with tomatoes but put fish in it instead, what would you call it?" <send>

<open> "It would be: Canh Bun Ca. Canh: Soup; Bun: Vermicelli; Ca: Fish."

"Is that your literal translation or is that what the dish is normally called?" <send>

<open>"I heard people make this kind of soup. It is not my translation. Usually, we put some kind of vegetables called "rau rut" in it. I saw that vegetable only once in a Vietnamese market. How is Honeydew?"

"Honeydew is a wreck from being left alone at home for a few hours over the weekend so now she's following me everywhere I go. Other than that, she's good. :)" <send>

<end emails>

Canh Bun Ca. (KKANG boohn KKAH).

That's the recipe I'm sharing with you today. Rice noodles in a deliciously layered tomato broth with pieces of white fish poached in that broth (though shrimp would be just as delicious) and accompanied by assorted greens and herbs to be eaten with spoonfuls of noodle and soup for flavor and crunch. Wedges of lime and sambal oelek on the side for added zip and spice (but sriracha would also be tasty).

Truly a hair of the dog antidote for the still and somewhat oppressive heat that visited us yesterday.

By now, you might already know that mine are not the recipes to consult if you want to tell your foodie friends that you made an authentic this or that. We eat all kinds of stuff in our house on a reasonable but limited budget, and I am highly unlikely to keep a stash of rau rut in the produce drawer, or even the lemongrass and tamarind often used to make the bun oc (a similar dish with sea snails as the protein) that is the inspiration for this recipe. Shoot, I didn't even have pork stock on hand last night and used chicken instead.

When I make my knockoff versions of traditional dishes, I aim to approximate flavors and textures as best I can by using ingredients that can easily function in multiple cuisines. The closer I can get to original, the happier I am as a cook. But if I can deliciously satisfy the craving for a dish by hitting all the different notes within a fairly small ballpark, I can be pretty darned happy as an eater.

This dish, while slightly richer, is certainly and strongly reminiscent of bun oc, but it could very well satisfy a craving for bouillabaisse (BWEEyaBAESS) or cioppino (chohpPEEnoh) if you're willing to put a Vietnamese spin on it. ;)

CANH BUN CA (KKANG boohn KKAH)
Serves 4

- roughly 11 oz. of bun tuoi (Vietnamese rice vermicelli) cooked per package instructions, 4 servings of al dente angel hair will work in a pinch, but nothing thicker

- 1.5 to 2 pounds of white fish cut into 1" chunks, or medium shrimp, peeled and deveined, lightly seasoned with salt and pepper

- 1 medium yellow or white onion, peeled and cut into sixths (or smaller if you like)
- 5 cloves garlic, smashed and peeled
- 1 inch segment of fresh ginger root, sliced into 1/8" thick pieces
- 1 Tablespoon neutral oil (vegetable or canola is fine)
- 1 Tablespoon tomato paste
- 1/2 Tablespoon red chili flakes
- 2 pounds tomatoes (beefsteak or plum), peeled and quartered OR one 28 oz. can of whole tomatoes, drained and cut into quarters
- 8 cups unsalted pork or chicken stock (or some combination of stock and water, but try to do at least half stock)
- 3 Tablespoons fish sauce
- salt if needed to adjust seasoning

- a plate of thinly sliced fresh herbs and vegetables to eat with bites of noodle and soup (sorta like the herbs and sprouts that come with pho): lettuce, fresh sprouts and spearmint are typical. Last night, I used red lettuce, green cabbage, green onion, cilantro, spearmint and fresh jalapeno)
- 2 limes, cut into 12 wedges

1) In a large pot, bring 1 Tablespoon of oil to medium high heat and saute the onions, ginger and garlic until the onions just begin to turn translucent, about 3 to 4 minutes.

2) Turn the heat down to medium and stir in the tomato paste and red chili flakes and saute for another minute or so. The resulting caramelized tomato paste gives the soup its color as well as some of the tang you would get from using tamarind.

3) Add in the chicken stock, tomatoes (I used fresh) and fish sauce and bring the soup to a boil.

4) Once the soup comes to a boil, turn down the heat to medium low and simmer, partially covered (leave about 1/2" crack to allow steam to escape) for 20 to 25 minutes. While the soup is simmering, you can boil the noodles, prep the fresh veg, and put the noodles in noodle bowls, about 1.5 cups cooked noodles per serving.

5) After 25 minutes, put the fish or shrimp in the soup and adjust the seasoning, adding a pinch or two more salt if needed. Stir in the fish and simmer until the fish (or shrimp) *just* turns opaque. As soon as it turns opaque, no more than 3 or 4 minutes usually, turn off the heat.

6)  Ladle enough soup into the bowls to to cover the noodles and then some. You want a healthy ratio of broth so the noodles don't absorb too much.

7) Serve with the fresh veg and mint garnish and lime and sambal on the side.

I like to add a squeeze or two of lime and a dollop of sambal to my soup. I also like to add some lime juice and sambal to the mix of greens. It adds brightness and zing to each bite. 

Great hot weather food when you want to sweat off the heat, great cold weather food when you want to warm your belly.

Hope you like.

shinae

Gadgets Schmadgets - Pots & Splatter Screens As Popcorn Poppers...

Say that ten times fast.

To know me and my teeny tiny kitchen is to know that there's no way I'm going to buy a spacemunching unitasker like a popcorn popper. To be honest, I've never used one, and I'm sure there's probably some validity to claims that it produces superior popcorn. But I'm more inclined to think the quality of the kernel has a greater effect on the overall outcome.

space saving popcorn with just a little salt and butter...

I am aware, however, that popcorn poppers have certain features built into them with the very specific task of popping popcorn in mind, but I choose to believe that I can mostly, if not completely, compensate for those features with a little adaptation.

Enter splatter screen and pot - 5 qt. if I'm popping 1/2 cup of kernels (which is the average sized batch), and a 3.5 qt. if I'm making a half batch. I never pop more than 1/2 cup at a time. There just isn't enough surface area on either pot to pop that much popcorn without burning some of it.

BASIC POPCORN

Just

- put roughly a tablespoon of oil per 1/4 cup of kernels into the appropriate-sized pot,
- stir the kernels to coat them in oil,
- cover the pot with the splatter screen instead of the lid,
- turn the heat just past medium, and
- wait to hear the first pop.

Once the kernels start popping, give the pot an occasional and thorough shimmyshake while holding the splatter screen in place to make sure to redistribute the kernels and ensure the unpopped ones are touching the cooking surface. As is the case with popcorn made in any vessel, microwave included, once the frequency of pops slows down and there's more than a slow one-onethousand second lag between pops, remove it from the heat.

All it takes is one burnt kernel to ruin the entire batch.

Once off the heat,

- push the popcorn over to the sides and
- melt as much butter as desired in the middle of the pot which is still hot enough to melt butter, but not to burn popped popcorn. For me, a tablespoon per 1/4 cup of kernels.
- Stir the popcorn to coat with butter and sprinkle with popcorn salt to taste.

The way I make popcorn salt is just to take some table or kosher salt and give it a whiz in my coffee grinder until it looks like an illegal substance. It's much more effective for seasoning popcorn this way than in granular form, but do be careful. It's much denser therefore much saltier per pinch than the stuff you started with.

You can't get convicted for possession of popcorn salt...

The splatter screen as lid keeps steam from accumulating and sogging up the popcorn. The occasional shake ensures rotation of kernels to get a higher percentage popped.

The result is light, fluffy, crunchy, reliable, and space saving popcorn.

If you want to try something deliciously different, try sprinkling some furikake (feu-ree-KAH-keh) on top and make your own Hurricane Mochi Crunch. ^^

Happy popping,

shinae

Bibim Bahp aka Magic Mixed Rice...

We (half) Koreans love to mix crap into our rice.

Brine from kimchi, broth from stew, soy sauce from salted crabs... If it's salty, spicy, pungent, delicious, it goes not only on, under, or with, but literally *into* the rice. We take that wide, flat spoon and mix, fold, and incorporate until every bite, almost down to the grain, is uniformly seasoned. And we love eating our rice this way so much that the concept has given way to its very own title and national dish of sorts:

BIBIM BAHP (BEEbeem BAHP)

aka bibim bap aka bibimbap aka 비빔밥 (that's for the googlebots...)

before mix

Which literally means mixed (bibim) rice (bahp).

after mix

While the general idea of the dish is loosely composed of steamed rice topped with mostly vegetable matter, some meat but not much, and some kind of sauce (jahng), there is a *proper* or *typical* preparation that you'll find at most restaurants that serve it - rice, nahmool bahnchahn made of spinach, soybean sprouts, carrots, maybe even fern bracken (gohsahri), a little bit of boolgogi, fried egg on top, and maht (seasoned) gochoojahng (red chili paste) as a dressing. Sometimes, it comes in an earthenware pot that gets so hot that it browns and crisps the rice on the bottom, and then it's called dohlsoht (earthenware) bibim bahp.

before egg

But here in our little bungalow near the sea, bibim bahp is our go-to meatless meal for those days when we're halfway through that ten pound pork butt from the Meximart and feeling a little pigged out, or there's lots of veg sitting in the fridge and begging to be eaten (nothing like nahmool to make little food out of big veg), or possibly maybe perhaps even when we're purposely being extra healthful with ourselves...

after egg (but before mix!)

Aside from being healthy and tasty, the best thing about this dish is that it's easy and adaptable. You could go to the trouble of making nahmool, or you could make it a raw veg meal (I really like the crunch of finely shredded cabbage, some julienned carrots and cucumber, a little chopped green onion and lettuce for extra roughage), do some combination of the two, maybe add in a little bit of browned ground beef or leftover boolgohgi, do the egg, don't do the egg... The mind boggles with the possibilities.

BIBIM BAHP
Serves 1

So assuming you can

- make rice per package instructions,
- fry an egg sunny side up, over easy, or over medium (whichever way you prefer, but you really should leave a little running yolk),
- make nahmool (recipe here) or just chop up some raw veg, and
- make boolgohgi (marinade recipe here), brown some ground beef or just omit meat altogether,

and put about

- a cup or cup and half of that rice into a large bowl (you'll need the space for all that mixing),
- top it with about a cup of veg in whatever proportions you like,
- top that with about a quarter cup of meat if you choose,
- and finally top all that with a fried egg

the only other useful thing I might be able to share with you here is a recipe for what I think is a tasty maht gochoojahng (which is the seasoned red chili paste that comes with any order of bibim bahp) with which to dress all that mishmashed goodness, about 1 tablespoon and half for one serving of bibim bahp for me, the same, more, or less to taste for you. :)

MAHT GOCHOOJAHNG (aka mat gochujang)

- 1/2 cup gochoojahng (고추장) If you don't have a Korean or general Asian market in your area, you can buy it online from H-Mart or koamart.
- 1+1/2 Tablespoons sugar
- 1+1/2 Tablespoons water
- 1 Tablespoon minced garlic
- 1 Tablespoon toasted sesame oil
- 1 Tablespoon soy sauce

before stir...

Stir all ingredients together until all the sugar is dissolved.

af-... Well, you get the picture.

Super simple to put together and really tasty - spicy from the red chili, a little sweet from the sugar, savory from the garlic, an extra punch of umami from the soy sauce, and a lightly nutty finish from the toasted sesame oil. It's great as a raw vegetable dip when you're feeling a little schnacky, as a seasoning for kimchi fried rice, as a base for spicy pork boolgohgi marinade, and as a dip/sauce for sahngchoo ssahm (Korean lettuce wraps). Lots of mileage for little effort.

One deliciously dressed and composed bite of bibim bahp after another with some of your mom's really good kimchi, and there's no questioning the magic in the mix...

shinae

Tea (And Chicken) For Two...

...and two more.

When efficiency dictates your cooking choices, creating rather than following recipes becomes the order of the day.

It's not because I'm not educated or inspired by other people's recipes - I find that reading both good and bad recipes helps me refine my food ideas. But it's more that my budget as well as the shelves in my new teeny, tiny kitchen can get rather unwieldy when you start buying a bag of this seasoning, a jar of that spice, a bunch of these greens, or a pound of that fruit in order to conform to a recipe.

Tea & Soy Sauce Braised Chicken...

So I read recipes and other food articles and eat out from time to time, not only to keep current, but to inform my palate as to what flavors and textures pulled from existing supply might make delicious sense when pulled together.

I've mentioned before that I'm not much of a purist in the kitchen, but on the other hand, my ideas of fusion are fairly tame and more borne of adaptation and necessity than driven by a desire to push the culinary envelope, so to speak. When I think about it that way, I don't really do fusion as much as makedusion, but so long as the results taste good, it doesn't really matter to me what I call it.

This Tea & Soy Sauce Braised Chicken is a great dish for a weeknight meal or casual dinner party with its budget- and palate-friendly but subtly complex flavor profile; a short, easily subbed and somewhat fused ingredient list; and a beautiful presentation with little fuss.

TEA & SOY SAUCE BRAISED CHICKEN
Serves 4

This recipe goes from stovetop to oven, so you'll need either a large ovensafe pot or pan to go directly into the oven from the stove, or a pot/pan in which to sear and braise the chicken, and an oven safe dish in which to broil the skin.

You could go without the broiling step, and the dish will still be delicious, but you'll miss out on that beautifully crisped and slightly charred chicken skin that I love so well (too much, maybe).

- 2.5 pounds bone-in, skin-on chicken

- 1 teaspoons kosher salt

- 1 teaspoon black pepper

- 2 Tablespoons oil

- 1 inch segment of ginger root, sliced into 1/8" discs

- 1/2 large onion (brown or white), cut into 1/4" slices

- 4 or 5 cloves garlic, crushed

- 1 Tablespoon non-flavored tea (I used oolong, but you could use green or black varieties)

- 1+1/4 cup water

- 1/8 cup Chinkiang or balsamic vinegar

- 1/4 cup soy sauce

- 3 Tablespoons packed brown sugar

- 1 green onion, julienned (or cut in thin strips) and julienned ginger for garnish (and when I say *garnish*, I always also mean *flavor* - I am unnaturally perturbed by the idea of irrelevant and non-integral garnish.)

1) Season the chicken on both sides with the salt and pepper.

2) In a large pot/pan (this one's a 13" saute), bring the 2 Tablespoons of oil to medium high heat and brown and sear the chicken, about 3 minutes per side.

3) Put the chicken aside and saute the aromatics (onions, ginger, garlic) in the pan until the onions just begin to turn translucent.

4) Deglaze the pan with 1/4 cup of water, soy sauce and vinegar, making sure to scrape all the fond (the yummy bits left sticking to the pan after you sear the chicken) off the bottom, and add the tea.

5) Lower the heat to medium low, pour in the rest of the water, stir in the brown sugar, and add the chicken - SKIN SIDE DOWN - and simmer, partially covered (leaving about a half inch crack to allow steam to escape) for 20 minutes. 

Because heat builds and accumulates during the simmering process, it's a good idea to stir the chicken and check the temp once in a while to make sure it's not getting so hot that the chicken and/or sauce are burning and sticking to the bottom of the pan.

6) After simmering for 20 minutes, flip the chicken over, SKIN SIDE UP (this is important, as you need to give the skin some time to dry out before going under the broiler) and simmer another 20 minutes. At this point, preheat the oven to BROIL.

7) Once the chicken has simmered 40 minutes total, take it off the stove top and place it under the broiler so that the tops of the chicken are 3 to 4 inches from the heat element so the skin can char and crisp, about 2 minutes (check after about a minute and a half, and every 10 seconds thereafter - stuff can go from perfectly charred and caramelized to burnt beyond recognition very quickly under the broiler).

8) Plate with the julienned green onions and ginger sprinkled on top.

I served this with steamed jasmine rice, green beans stir-fried in a sweet, caramelized oyster sauce with some garlic, and baby bok choy stir-fried with oyster sauce, garlic and just a hint of ginger. 

A friend said this bok choy is sexy.
Oddly, I'm inclined to agree...

The kids' favorite veg in the history of ever so far...

The girlchild loved the braising liquid so much she had a second helping of rice just to be able to have more of it.

Me, I ate an extra serving of rice just to be able to use it as a backdrop for that gloriously charred, crisp and slightly sweet and sticky chicken skin...

It doesn't happen as often as I might like, but I love it when I come up with something approachable enough for the kids to love and just different, sophisticated and nuanced enough for me and the Man to delight in.

shinae

Matchmaker, Matchmaker...

Make me a match,
Find me a find,
Catch me a catch 
(who'll eat all the weird crap I do and love most of it).

~ Sheldon Harnick

Food.

It sounds like such a petty basis for a relationship.

hwae dup bahp
He loves this stuff.

Unless you almost literally live, eat and breathe it - lots of it and all different kinds - and find yourself spending many, many years of your life with someone who doesn't approach it with quite the same gusto as you do. And you find yourself making two different dinners most nights because you feel like eating something different - maybe spicier, funkier, or more adventurous - than your significant other prefers.

And they find themselves tolerating the mere sight of that fresh uni in the shell and the live abalone that's still writhing, the smell of that ripe kimchi and pungent dwenjahng, and the notion of those braised oxtails and boiled pork bellies, while you're wishing they would rejoice, marvel, and revel in them with you. (And they're probably wishing in return that you would just grill some frickin steak or chicken breast and be done with it already.)

Chicharrones de pollo with an ice cold lager -
one of our favorite snacks.

Three times a day, every day of the life you live together for thirteen years or maybe more...

Then you realize it's no more petty to look for a partner who shares your kind and level of enthusiasm for food than it is to look for someone who agrees with you on how many children to have, if God exists, and whether Michele Bachmann should one day be commemorated on currency or ground up and incorporated into cat food kibbles for export to China.

sahngchoo ssahm (Korean lettuce wraps) with unctuous
pork belly and pungent dwenjahng
He says he could eat this every other day.

And when the Universe sends you someone who approaches all the deliciously weird crap you put in front of him with an open mind, a grateful heart, and an adventurous palate, and all that verve, thought, love and care you put into the food you set before him is not lost, but is rather savored - not to mention the fact that he's just a really swell fella - you can't help but think and hope that you may have finally met your match.

Our mutual droolmaker - uni.

To food as matchmaker, cin cin.

shinae

P.S. I wouldn't really grind her up and put her into cat food. The cats might get Mad Politiciancow Disease.