May LetsLunch: Food across two cultures

Source: pingram.me via Emma on Pinterest

It all started here. Wildly delicious kimchi bulgogi fries from a food truck in Austin.

When my LetsLunch group mentioned doing fusion foods for this month's virtual lunch date, I knew that this was a perfect time to try and adapt this recipe.

Where I landed instead was a little further from the basket of deliciousness I first bit into back in January, but an equally tasty option, I think.

Source: pingram.me via Emma on Pinterest

Kimchi bulgogi nachos.

The thing you have to understand about me is that I really love nachos. And they don't even have to be good ones at a halfway decent Mexican restaurant. I actually really love the super salty chips with the questionably plastic cheese product dispensed from a warm bag that you get at the town hockey rink. (Can you tell I grew up in Minnesota?)

I adapted the cheese sauce recipe found here. We already had a giant bucket of homemade kimchi.

If you have those two things, you are more than halfway there (and really, for the average person, a perfectly nice storebought kimchi works well too -- just get it a good Korean market, not that crap they sell in mainstream grocery stores!)

So, start by draining about 1 1/2 cups of kimchi. You can squeeze some of the extra liquid out with your hands if you like. Chop this coarsely and set aside.

The rest of your toppings: beef bulgogi (marinate rib eye or other nice cut of beef in 3 parts soy sauce, 1 part each: sugar (or honey), sesame oil, rice vinegar, then grill), diced onion and cilantro.

Throw down your chips (I used Trader Joe's multigrain and low-fat blue corn) then drizzle your cheese sauce on top.  I added a few dashes of cayenne and a teaspoon or two of mustard powder to my cheese sauce to give it a little kick.

Then pile on the toppings (be extra generous with the kimchi!). I also gave mine a good squirt of Sriracha rooster sauce for a little extra kick.

I actually liked these better than the french fries I had in Austin - the crispy chips were a good base to really load up each bite. And the Korean-Mexican fusion trend has been popular elsewhere, with Korean tacos and the like, so the flavors complement each other really well.

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Be sure to check the LetsLunch hashtag throughout the day Friday (and into the weekend, we often have stragglers --hell, I'm usually one of them) to see the delicious fusion offerings of the rest of our gang!

edit: Or check out my Pinterest Board, where I've pulled all of the links together!

Interested in joining us? Send us a tweet with #LetsLunch and introduce yourself! I'm @emmacarew.

Kimchi chiggae : Korean kimchi stew

Last week for #LetsLunch, Karen (whom we were honoring with liquid lunches) asked me if mine was going to be kimchi soup.

Sadly, it wasn't -- I made a ham bone soup with my Easter leftovers. But, I promised her I would write up a post with my kimchi chiggae (also sometimes spelled kimchi jiggae) recipe, so, here it is!

Normally, you make kimchi chiggae to use up the end of a big jar of kimchi. I haven't had kimchi in a while, so I made it using new kimchi. It was still delicious. But -- it's best with older, funkier kimchi that has had some time to get crazy.

So, you start with some pork cut into small bite size pieces. You want a fattier cut of pork - like pork belly. This is some pork shoulder steaks that I bought on sale:

I let mine marinate in sugar, soy sauce, sesame oil, and rice wine for about 30 minutes, then ran it quickly through a very hot wok. I also sprinkled some gochugaru (Korean hot chili flakes) to give it a little heat, the way pork bulgogi is often served.

Next, chop up some kimchi. Try to reserve as much of the juice as possible -- this helps to flavor the broth. I chop mine on a plastic cutting board, then rinse the cutting board with a little water into the wok. If you have extra juices in the jar, dump them in too.

Heat the kimchi over medium to high heat for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally to keep from burning. Add half an onion (sliced thinly), 2 TBS sugar, 2 TBS gochuchang (Korean chili paste) and at least 8 cups of water.

Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer. Add the pork.

After 15-20 minutes, mix in 2 cans of tuna meat (rinse it first), 1/2 block of firm tofu cut into squares, and 1 bunch of green onions sliced into 1-inch pieces.

 

Drizzle sesame oil over stew before serving. Serve with hot white rice. 

RECIPE: Kimchi chiggae

2 cups diced pork (marinate in soy sauce, sesame oil, rice wine and sugar)

2 cups cubed tofu (use firm or extra firm)

3-4 cups kimchi, chopped

1 half onion, sliced thinly

8 cups water

2 TBS sugar

2 TBS gochuchang (Korean chili paste)

2 TBS sesame oil

1 bunch green onions (sliced into 1-inch pieces)

2 cans white tuna meat (rinsed)

* Stir fry pork and set aside. If there are drippings left over, leave them in the wok.

* Add the kimchi to the wok with the pork drippings and cook 5 minutes. 

* Add onion, sugar, gochuchang and water. Heat to a boil, then reduce heat slightly. Add the pork. Simmer 15-20 minutes or until kimchi softens. 

* Mix in the tuna, tofu and green onions. Heat 5 more minutes then finish with sesame oil. 

* Serve with white rice.

 

Homemade kimchi

10 lbs of baechu -- no kimchi shortage here! I paid less than $1 per pound for these.


This weekend I believe I earned my true Korean stripes, or badge or whatever.

After weeks of studying Maangchi's mak kimchi recipe, I decided to take the plunge, channel my inner ajumma and make some kimchi.

The entire process probably took me about 2.5 hours of active work.

It might have been quicker with a second set of hands, but my understanding of kimchi is that the most time consuming part is stuffing the paste between individual leaves of the cabbage -- which this recipe avoids by starting with chopped cabbage.

I took some photos along the way. Mostly I stuck to Maangchi's recipe and instructions.



A few kimchi making tips I picked up making this recipe:
* Invest in at least one big plastic kimchi bowl. I paid $5 for mine at the Korean market, but I have also seen them at the larger Asian market in my neighborhood. I would have liked a second bowl this size to make the kimchi paste
* Get a big airtight kimchi box. I bought mine when we still lived in DC and wish I had a second one. Mine wasn't quite big enough to house all of my kimchi.
* Your life will be much easier if you use a food processor with the shredding disc on the radish and carrots.
* Wear plastic gloves when mixing the kimchi -- but keep one hand clean, to handle the kimchi box and tools.
* My kimchi was also a little heavy on garlic and ginger. I would use a little less next time around
* I also skipped Maangchi's suggested squid and/or clams. A friend told me his parents use tiny dried shrimp, and I meant to toss in a handful. Next time, for sure...

**Sidebar: I'm not usually one to bash on other food blogs, but this morning I came across a post being promoted as "spicy holiday gifts" and it included a recipe for homemade kimchi that called for applesauce and sriracha sauce but no seafood agent (raw seafood, fish sauce, etc) and no gochugaru. Please, people, if you run into this recipe, run the other way. Stick with an authentic process, like Maangchi's. It's the right thing to do!