Kimchi Fried Rice with Roasted Garlic Chicken Sausage

Woo. I'm starting vacation after this 24 hour call! Although we've been wanting to travel far far away, we're unfortunately stuck close to New York. We were planning to visit my parents this week in LA, but California has been doing poorly with COVID so we've had to cancel our flight. Also unfortunately, our hospital policy on travel is super strict for residents :(  We're at least going to the Pocono Mountains for a much needed relaxed visit!

I wanted to post this classic Korean home meal, which I've made time and time again. This time with Alfresco Chicken Sausage! I don't usually put protein, but because these dinner sausages are already cooked, it is such a breeze to slice and put it in. There are so many flavors! I used roasted garlic, which has a sweetness to it that works very well with Kimchi. I definitely want to try the Spicy jalapeño sausage next time for some extra heat!

 Kimchi Fried Rice with Roasted Garlic Chicken Sausage

serves 4-6

1 stalk green onion, finely chop
2 tbsp vegetable oil
3 Alfresco Chicken Sausages, sliced
2 cups ripe napa kimchi, chopped into small pieces
2 tbsp kimchi juice
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp brown sugar
1 tbsp Korean chili pepper powder
1 tbsp gochujang (Korean chili paste)

3 cups cooked rice, cooled
3 tsp sesame oil
sesame seeds
roasted seaweed (optional)
fried eggs

1. In a large frying pan, heat cooking oil on medium flame and stir fry green onion (just the white/light green part) and the sliced sausages
2. Once the sausage is browned, add the kimchi plus a some juice, gochujang, soy sauce and sugar and pepper powder. Stir-fry over low heat until kimchi is slightly soft
3. Add cooled/cold rice and break it up to thoroughly to incorporate the kimchi sauce. You can add more kimchi juice if it seems a little dry
4. Mix in the green part of the spring onions and drizzle in sesame oil
5. Place in a bowl. Garnish with fried egg, sesame seeds and crushed seaweed flakes!

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Parmesan French Toast with Garlic Balsamic Mushrooms

I decided to make a special brunch for my fiancé this weekend. Yes, the bf is now a fiancé as he popped the question last week 😲. Well... it was a long time coming since we've been together for 8 years now. But the proposal and effort was cute, even if he fuddled so much that I essentially knew what was going on and what he was trying to do! :) Anyway, he's more of a savory dish person but also loves french toast. I made this french toast that has a delicious parmesan crispiness on the outside with sautéed mushrooms. And then it's even more elevated after I added a poached egg for richness! SO GOOD. It will definitely be part of the weekly rotation!

Parmesan French Toast with Garlic Balsamic Mushrooms

Serves 4

Parmesan French Toast
2 eggs
1/4 cup Grated Parmesan cheese
1 tsp balsamic vinegar (Original Balsamic Vinegar of Modena)
1/4 cup half & half
4 slices challah or aloha bread (I bought from Trader Joe's)
pinch of salt and pepper

1. Whisk egg, parmesan, balsamic vinegar, half & half and pepper in a shallow dish. Soak both sides of your bread well 
2. Heat up frying pan at low-medium heat with 1/2 tbsp of butter and fry french toast until golden brown on both sides

Garlic Balsamic mushrooms
10oz mushrooms (I used a mix of oyster and white mushrooms)

1/4 diced onion

1/2 tbsp butter

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp minced garlic

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

2 tsp soy sauce

salt & pepper 

1. Heat butter and olive oil in a frying pan on medium fire. Sweat onions, garlic and then add in mushrooms. Sauté until softened (about 2 mins)
2. Stir in balsamic vinegar, soysauce, and a pinch of salt and pepper
3. Garnish mushrooms over french toast with chopped spring onion and a drizzle of balsamic!

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Animal Style Waffles

One of the first things to do when I get to LA is to have an In 'n' Out burger... and eat Korean BBQ. I think I can say yes to both :D Yes, I'm in LA, but I'm going to be chained to my desk studying here :( So this is my last post until next month! Here's an In 'n' out animal style rendition of waffles.

You have a crispy pressed tater tots waffle base, topped with American cheese, caramelized onions and that signature sauce (which is probably just thousand island dressing haha). Aaaaand a poached egg over it of course!

See you guys in a month!!

Animal Style Waffles

makes 1 waffle

12-15 tater tots, defrosted
1/2 small onion
1-2 slices of American cheese
1 tbsp ketchup
2 tbsp mayo
1 egg

1. Very thinly slice yellow onion into half moons. Heat a small frying pan with a little oil. Toss onions on low heat and let it sit for a while. It takes A LOT of patience for it to become limp and caramelized. Stir occasionally for about 30 minutes (or longer...who's counting?)
2. Bring to boil some water in a small pot to poach your egg in. Poach it and take it out with a slotted spoon and lay it on a piece of kitchen towel. Set aside
3. Now, heat up your waffle iron. Line up defrosted tater tots side by side onto the gaps in the iron and press down. It'll take longer than usual...but make sure it's nice and golden brown when you take it out
4. Top immediately with slices of american cheese so that it can melt on top. Add the caramelized onions and then mix ketchup and mayo together in a small bowl and drizzle that on top
5. Place the poached egg over it and season with pepper. 

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Rabokki - Ramen + 'Tteokbokki' (Korean Rice Cakes)

Sorry for being so absent lately! I thought I was going to post a lot during the break, but I've been quite busy with the fam and went snowboarding for a few days in the mountains, so I had zero internet. I came back home a few days ago with about 100 new emails. Of course, most of them were junk mail :( . Since, I'm in LA now, all I do is go to Korean supermarkets and eat everything I see. The thing I love about Korean food is that it can be so simple, cheap and quick to eat and so UNFUSSY. I always get the spicy dishes and that warms me up! Although, in this LA weather, I could be outside in shorts and eating ice-cream :D

This recipe is pretty popular in Korean households and on the streets. You'll find every block in Seoul with a cart selling Rice cakes or "tteokbokki". Here, I've added ramen to it so tteokbokki + ramen = Rabokki. It's hot and spicy with all sorts of interesting textures from rice cakes to ramen to fish cakes, so it's also super fun to eat. A while back I made a "white" and cheesy version of rice cakes too. But, this winter I'm craving something red hot. Hope you guys have a happy new year filled with lots of delicious noms!

Rabokki - Korean Rice Cakes + Ramen

serves 3-4

1 pack ramen
120g rice cakes, used for ddeukbokki (usually in the refrigerated section ~ about 2 cups)
1 sheet fish cake
1/4 cabbage
1/2 yellow onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 jalapeño, diced (optional, but I like the extra heat)
1/2 stalk leek, diced (or use 1 stalk of green onions instead)
1 boiled egg, peeled

Sauce
3 cups water
3 tbsp gochuchang, Korean chili paste (or more for a spicier taste)
1 tbsp gochugaru, Korean chili pepper
2 tbsp soy sauce
1-2 tbsp sugar
1/2 pack ramen msg packet
pinch of pepper

1. Slice onion into thin half moons, about 1/2inch thick. Cut cabbage the same way about 1 inch thick. Fish cake can be cut into any way you like. I like them in triangles, but you can cut it into strips. You don't have to buy the sheet kind, since they also come in spheres, oblong shapes etc... They are the same as the Japanese kind called oden. 
2. Mix the sauce ingredients into a paste (the bottom half of the ingredients except the water) and set aside
3. In a large frying pan (that has high walls), or a medium sized pot, saute onions, garlic and jalapeños until onions are slightly translucent. Add sauce paste and water. Stir and let it come to a boil. Once it boils, add the rice cakes and cook for about 5 minutes and the rice cakes should soften
4. Add cabbage and fish cake next and let simmer for a few more minutes. Break ramen in half and add to the pot. Try to push it deep into the sauce so it can cook evenly. Once the noodles have loosened some, add the diced leek or green onion and boiled egg. 
5. Simmer until noodles are al dente (or at the consistency you like). Sprinkle sesame seeds and serve. 

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Seafood Soft Tofu Soup - Haemul soondubu

Every time I finish an exam I promise myself I will get soooo much sleep and hibernate for 2 days... I NEVER do! I think I get too pumped and relieved afterwards, that I feel like jumping up and down like a caffeine-crazed hamster. Because I don't get to cook or bake as much during rotations, I almost always start my studying-free weekend by wreaking havoc in the kitchen. I start pulling out all the bowls, spoons and pans. Flour is flying everywhere. My heart is pounding from the adrenaline and I can't manage to think straight. "Should I crack the eggs first? Should I mix the dry stuff first? Where are my spices?" I imagine I look like a headless chicken running in circles in the kitchen while head bopping to Korean pop music :P

Now I'm pretty mellow :P since it's about 1am here. I don't really have a post to put up, but I wanted to share something I eat on the reg. I always crave hot and spicy soups and soondubu has got to be one of my faves. I keep a huge batch of soup sauce (recipe below) in the freezer and it doesn't freeze up or become a hard block. It actually stays paste-like and all I have to do is drop a spoon in boiling water (just like making miso soup). The lighting wasn't bad that day and I snapped one picture, because I prefer my soups hot :P! Ok I'm so going to sleep now.. after I fold up two months of laundry I piled up on my bed :'(

Seafood Soft Tofu Soup - Haemul soondubu

serves 2-3

8oz clams
4oz medium shrimps
1 bunch green onion
1 pack (110oz) soft tofu
1 egg

2 tbsp oil
1 tbsp Korean Chili powder (gochugaru)
1 tbsp garlic minced
1 tbsp soy sauce
salt and pepper
1 tsp sesame oil

1. Heat pot with 2 tbsp oil on high heat, and add the gochugaru, minced garlic and soysauce. Fry that up and it should resemble a paste. 
2. Add 1/2 cup water (not too much okay?).
3. Add in the clams and shrimp. Wait until the water starts boiling... Sometimes, I just use whatever frozen seafood I have in the fridge. For example, the soondubu I made for the pictures actually has bits of frozen octopus and squid. I always vary my soup with whatever I have on hand.
4. Then add in the packet of soft tofu. 
5. Taste and if needed, you can add a pinch of salt. Let that boil for 5 mins.
6. Add a pinch of pepper, crack in an egg and add 1 tsp sesame oil. And you're good to go!

Soondubu is extremely variable. I also like to add in here 1/2 a small onion diced and 1/2 a zucchini at step 2 and let it simmer until they are soft (before you go onto step 3). You can also make it vegetarian/vegan by not adding the seafood and add in diced potatoes too. 

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Matcha Portuguese Egg Tarts

Woo, I'm done with internal med. Medicine was a tough two months. I feel like I need 4 holidays before I start school again :P. I did feel pretty fatigued and didn't have time to do anything, but study and go to work. I survived on purple sweet potatoes and granola bars. Seriously, every meal had so much fiber and I hardly drank any water since we had long rounds... can you imagine how my belly felt??!! I did get really burned out (and constipated :\), so it has taken a bit of time to starting blogging again. But in hindsight, I guess I did enjoy medicine. I think that's how I feel about just anything... like baking a 5 layer cake, riding rollercoasters, spending time with my brother haha...

Now I'm on neurology! I'm actually just writing up this post after brain cutting lab. The knives literally looked like cake knives and I thought, wow, I'm making cake brain layers! And then I remembered I owned a blog and should probably update it :/

Growing up in Hong Kong, I ate unlimited egg and Portuguese egg tarts.  Macau is about an hour away and I would eat these tarts all day long. Also, because I couldn't gamble, so all I did was eat :P. I gussied up these tarts with some matcha custard instead and the combination of flaky crust and silky smooth custard is to die for. 

Matcha Portuguese Egg Tarts
adapted from bbcgoodfood
makes 12 tarts

2 Egg yolks
1 Egg
2 Tablespoons Flour
1 Teaspoon Vanilla extract
½ Cup Sugar
1½ Teaspoon Matcha powder
1½ Cup Half and half
1 Puff pastry sheet

1. Whisk egg yolks/egg, sugar, flour, matcha in small pot
2. Gradually whisk in half and half and vanilla extract until smooth. Put on medium heat and whisk until it it is very warm but not hot (not thick)
3. Preheat oven to 400F. Thaw 1 sheet of frozen pastry dough for 20mins. Cut in half and stack on top of each other. Should be 12cm in width
4. Lightly flour surface. Roll up tightly. If it cracks, leave to thaw more
5. Use a ruler and indent dough every 1cm and you should have 12 slices
6. Flour surface again and a rolling pin. Roll dough to about 10cm circles
7. Press into greased muffin tin. Pour runny custard into it (I strained the custard to get rid of lumps and to make it super smooth). Bake for 12-15mins or until pastry is golden and some burnt sugar spots appear
8. Cool in pan and transfer to wire rack. Serve warm or cold. Can keep in fridge for few days.

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Bulgogi Kimchi-jeon Waffle Sandwich - 불고기 김치전 와플 샌드위치

While growing up, my mum, being the ultimate Korean tiger mum, tells me before any exam that that exam was going to be the most important exam of my life. In primary school, my mum said my 6th grade scholastic exam was probably going to be life-defining. Then, I hit secondary school and she said my GCSEs (some British exam) were going to be life-changing. And before I went off to college, she said my IB diploma exam was going to be a matter of life and death...  Now, I'm in med school and in the midst of studying for what is probably the most important exam of my life. Haha lol, I think I'm turning into mum.

Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that my upcoming exam is going to suck up a lot of time, so I will be taking blogging hiatus. I guess I could have started with that, so you didn't have to read all the junk above. #Sorrynotsorry, also #notsorryforthehastag!  I will be keeping my instagram alive though, because I am severely insta-obsessed. Only some mind-blowing, turn-water-into-wine miracle of an exam can stop me from instagramming.  Come find me there! (Did I put enough links? :P)

But for now, I leave you with this behemoth of a sandwich... until next time!

Bulgogi Kimchi-jeon Waffle Sandwich - 불고기 김치전 와플 샌드위치 

makes 2 waffle sandwiches

1.5 cup Korean pancake/jeon flour mix

3/4 cup water

1/2 cup kimchi, chopped into bits

3 tbsp kimchi juice
1/4 cup green onion, chopped

2-3 tbsp vegetable oil

Your favorite bulgogi recipe - click for details

1 lb rib eye, sliced thinly
1 asian pear
1/2 onion
3-4 cloves garlic
5 tbsp soysauce
3 tbsp mirin or cooking wine
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 tbsp sesame oil
1 tsp pepper

2 fried eggs

handful of baby kale and chard

1. In a large bowl, mix together Korean pancake flour and water. Add and mix in chopped kimchi, green onions, kimchi juice and oil
2. Preheat your waffle iron, grease with a little veg oil and make waffles like you would normally do. Cook your bulgogi and fry your eggs in the meantime.
3. To assemble: place 1 waffle down on a plate. Stack bulgogi, kale and a fried egg. Top with another kimchi waffle and eat it while it's hot

Note: If preparing a batch, you can easily double the waffle batter. ****Cool on wired racks because condensation at the bottom will make the waffle go soggy!!

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Kimchi Fried Rice Waffles

This is a quick post before I get back to studying! We are currently learning about how the kidney functions and these organs cannot get anymore interesting...uh naahhtt. The only thing I've learned so far is that I have a drinking problem. As in I drink too much water (please... what else would I drink?). And if you see blood in your pee, it's time you paid a visit to your doctor!

Yay, I'm finally posting about something other than sweets and desserts today! I just have a wicked sweet tooth and probably a lot of cavities :(. I can happily eat ice-cream for dinner, I dream of eating donuts while I'm eating my salad and you'll probably find a muffin stuffed in my bra on any given day.

Soo anyway, I decided to waffle my rice one day, because I think I saw it on my instagram or something. But, waffling makes the rice super crispy on the outside, like that burnt rice you find on the bottom of a hot stone pot (called noo-roong-ji 누룽지). Yum, it's so chewy and fragrant! I just got a waffle maker so I'm excited to use it. Although, my mum is probably going to kill me for buying another kitchen appliance... eek!

Waffle Kimchi Fried rice

makes 2 large waffles

1 cup kimchi chopped into bits (use cabbage kimchi centers and not the leaves)
1/4 cup kimchi juice

3 cloves of garlic, minced

1/2 small onion, chopped finely

1/2 jalapeño, chopped finely

1-2 tbsp gochujang/Korean chili paste (according to taste)

3 tsp sesame oil

2-3 cups day-old rice, cold
sesame seed, dried nori, green onion (optional)
fried egg

1. Fry garlic until fragrant, add onions and jalapeño and let it sweat a little (~2 mins)
2. Add kimchi and saute until softened (2-3 mins). Add gochujang and mix until homogenous
3. Add cold rice and break it up thoroughly. Drizzle in kimchi juice
4. Saute and toss frequently for 5 mins. Adding sesame oil and a handful of chopped green onion at the last minute (you want your rice to be a little more dry than usual - for waffling)
5. Let it cool or stick it in the fridge for a while (skipping this step is fine but waffles are more to fall apart)
6. Preheat waffle machine. I don't have fancy one so it is all 1 heat setting. Stuff the machine with more kimchi fried rice waffle "batter" than usual. You will squish it all down and the outside will crisp up. I kept it in my waffle maker for 3-4 minutes.
7. Enjoy with a fried egg on top! 

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Hong Kong Egg Tarts

Chinese New Year is one of my favorite holidays. Mostly because I get gobs of money from everyone in my family and from all my friend's parents too. You get to buy new clothes for the new year. There is exorbitant amounts of good food. Omgee I miss Asia so much! Now that I'm here, I get zero money and zero new things :'(

I decided to make these egg tarts...but... it was kind of a disaster. I mean the custard came out wonderfully. The pastry not so much. I definitely overworked the dough and I could already tell it pretty elastic and not butter. But I couldn't be bothered to re do it (serious inertia problems).  If you do make these, I think a good buttery pie dough for the bottom would also work really well.

Happy New Year of the Horse! 新年快乐!!

Hong Kong Egg Tarts (蛋挞)

adapted from Table for 2 
makes a dozen mini tarts

Pastry
250g Plain flour
2 tbsp castor sugar
1 egg yolk
150g butter

Custard filling
2/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup boiling water
4 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt

1. In a food processor, whirl butter with egg yolk and sugar
2. Add flour and mix well. (may need to add more if it feels sticky, but don't go crazy)
3. Roll into a tube, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour - overnight
4. Cut dough into 12 equal pieces, and roll out to 5-10" circles between 2 sheets of parchment paper
5. Line your tart molds and repeat for the rest of them. Refrigerate until you need to fill them up
6. Custard: melt sugar in hot water, add milk to cool it, salt and vanilla. Add the eggs in too
7. Strain the custard twice. Super important to get a delicate custard!
8. Pour into the cold tart crust
9. Bake at 355F for 25-30 mins

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