I never need an excuse to fire up my BBQ. I love cooking over fire and it gets me out of my tiny kitchen. I grill when it is sunny, and when it rains. I don’t mind. I just love to be out there. Over the bank holiday I gathered lots of random stuff from my fridge and cupboard and cooked it. The result was some terrific new recipes, one of which I will share now. 

Gojuchang is one of my favourite store cupboard ingredients. A fermented hot paste made from gochugaru (a wonderful Korean red pepper powder which I use a lot too), glutinous rice, fermented soy bean powder, barley malt powder and salt. So far, so mesmerising and confusing, but this is one of the most delicious things that you could have in your kitchen. Hot (but not face melting), rich and deep, I add it to many things. Korean food, of course, but also unexpected things like soups, stews and bolognese. It is perfect for BBQ marinades. 

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I couldn’t resist bringing some more Korean flavours to your table, with this gorgeous braised beef dish. There is intense pleasure in braising beef, especially in winter. Braised beef itself becomes a perfect ingredient, I make it in big batches and use it for brunch, in pies, or stick it on top of some smashed crisped baked potatoes, or rice.  

Braised beef is better again using flavours and textures which confer on it depth and richness. Gojuchang, Korean pepper paste that is made with bright Korean red pepper, glutinous rice, soybeans and salt, fermented together resulting in a bright red paste that is flavour packed and a wonderful ingredient. It is just hot enough and it is round, giving all it touches a depth of flavour, punchy heat and gorgeousness. It is a pantry staple in my kitchen and saviour of many a tired evening.  Continue reading

Some mornings need a slice of joy, many recently. For me, that is almost always related to an egg, and frequently some spice. All eggs require something to dip in their glorious yolk and disrupt it. Is there any better sauce than a runny egg? And any simpler one? 

I love Korean flavours and I always have kimchi in my fridge. Usually homemade but sometimes shop bought (you can buy it in any Asian food store and most delis). Many experimental ones. Kimchi is kimchi is kimchi. Kimchi is glorious. (For those of you yet to discover it, it is chilli fermented cabbage with a variety of things, usually garlic, ginger , spring onions, something sweet like Asian pear or carrot, and lots of wonderful Korean red pepper, gochugaru).  Continue reading

Kimchi pork sesame meatballs, aka your path to your dream brunch. And lots of other things.

More Korean flavours, I can’t get enough. Here I introduce kimchi, which is Korean chilli pickled cabbage (trust me, you need to try it if you haven’t already) to minced pork, and tweak it with spring onion and sweet hot gojucharu (gorgeous Korean red pepper flakes, which of course it knows intimately already), and ease it all with a crisp sesame seed coating. Before I fry it all and use it as the ultimate egg soldier by dipping it in a glorious perfectly fried gooey egg.

I have been playing around with meatballs and dumplings and homemade sausages and all sorts of things requiring a little minced meat, a lot of imagination and not too much time. It always amazes me how much you can make, and how frugal cooking with minced meats can be, even when using the best quality.

Kimchi Pork Sesame Meatballs

I want more colour and texture with these meatballs, and a little more nutrition too, I also want to use up the leftover sesame seeds from the bowl where I rolled the meatballs. So I fry broccoli and carrot lightly with them, and serve these on the side. So far, this is my favourite brunch of 2016 and given how much I devote myself to the topic, and how dedicated I am to its daily exploration, this says a lot.

These are simple, speedy and pack a flavour punch. The sesame seeds give a lovely texture and flavour, as well as being a coating that people who can’t have gluten and dairy can enjoy. I have had these for lunch with eggs, in meatball sandwiches, with rice noodles with some shredded veg for accompaniment. I even had small ones rolled tight and cosied up to a perfect egg in a coconut egg cocotte. That worked so well, and I will share that soon too.

Coconut & Kimchi Pork Meatball Egg en Cocotte

The beauty of these is not just the flavour and the deep satisfaction that you will get when you eat them. One batch goes very far, you can prepare it and leave it in your fridge, you can freeze what you don’t use and use it within the month. Or you can play as I did, and if you do, please come and share your ideas, as I too want to try!

St Giles High St in London, just below Centre Point by Tottenham Court Road, was central London’s answer to Koreatown for years. There was a strip of small Mom & Pop style restaurants, a Korean bakery and across the road, a terrific small Korean food store selling all sorts of wonderful things. I used to go there all the time. Progress dictates that that strip is required by crossrail now, and sadly, they are all gone (although I believe that some have relocated).

On many a cold day, I decamped to St Giles High St for a soothing bowl of Kimchi Jjigae. A firey yet gentle concoction of pork, kimchi and tofu, I was mesmerised by the hot pots stewing around me on my first exposures to Korean food. I fell in love with it, and have since discovered the joy of New Malden (go to Jin Go Jae) and the simplicity and pleasure of cooking great Korean food at home. You will have already seen the Pork Belly Bulgogi, which I posted recently.

Kimchi Jjigae is a perfect winter or in between day dish. On one of those days where you just need something. A day like this. It is pretty straight forward, there is no frying or anything required, everything is just cooked together in one pot.

Do you have any favourite Korean restaurants or recipes? Or have you been to Korea? I haven’t yet! I would love to go.

Recipe: Kimchi Jjigae (Korean Kimchi, Pork & Tofu Stew)

Serves 2, generously

Ingredients

350g thinly sliced skinless pork belly (freeze it for an hour to make this easier, if you have time)
2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
250g mat kimchi (chopped kimchi)
2 spring onions, sliced finely
1 small onion, peeled and sliced
200g tofu, sliced (firm or silken, whatever your preference)

Soup base:

500ml water or dashi or chicken broth or pork broth or similar (I use water all the time but if I have a stock, I will use that)
50ml gojuchang (a lovely Korean pepper paste, worth having in your larder)
2 tbsp gochujaru (hot Korean red pepper)
50ml soy sauce
1 tsp honey

Garnish: 2 spring onions, finely sliced or some fresh coriander

Method

Marinade the pork in the rice wine vinegar for half an hour (or for as long as you have). This will break it down and make it nice and tender.

Add the kimchi, onion, spring onion and pork belly to a pot. Add the soup base ingredients, stir through, and bring to the boil. Cover with a lid, reduce the heat and allow to cook gently for 15 minutes. Stir through. Check for seasoning, it may not need much as the kimchi is in brine.

Add the sliced tofu on top, put the lid back on, and cook for another 5 minutes.

Serve immediately in bowls with sliced spring onion or coriander on top. (I had run out of spring onion!).

Enjoy!

Baby, it is cold outside. (Sings along). But don’t worry, I have the solution.

My solution is tender and bright and soothing and a little bit hot, but not face melting. This pork belly bulgogi is punchy and gorgeous, and it is easy, once you get your mitts on the ingredients. And with this here internet, and the big broad world we all live in, that is not difficult at all. 

Korean BBQ is a big thing. Korean restaurants often have a hole in the table with wood burning below, so that you can BBQ your own food as you eat. Bulgogi (which translates as fire meat) is a style of marinaded meat, that is then cooked over the BBQ. At home, you can cook it in the oven or on a pan too. It is most commonly marinaded beef,  but I find it works terrifically with pork belly too. Cut thinly, and instead of over the BBQ, I roast it slowly until it is meltingly tender. 

Korean Pork Belly Pork – Marinading

This takes little work. If you have a food processor or good blender the marinade takes minutes, and all you have to do with the pork is slice it. After that it is just time, time to marinade the meat, and time to roast it (just an hour). You can eat it as you like, I love it on top of a rice bowl with sesame seeds, spring onions and some greens like kale. Bulgogi is fabulous in a taco with a simple slaw, you can treat it like a Korean kebab and have it rolled in a flatbread or some pita bread. You can eat it very simple wrapped in some lettuce leaves with some herbs and spring onions. This is a perfect dish to make large amounts of for friends, served from a big serving platter in the centre of the table.

Korean Bulgogi Pork Belly Rice Bowl

Note: you can buy ingredients in most Asian supermarkets and online on sites like Sous Chef (a site that I have used as a customer many times, and they ship all over Europe). I make a large-ish batch of this even when I just make it myself. It will keep for a few days in the fridge and is a brilliant sandwich stuffer, for brunch with eggs etc.

Brunch with leftover bulgogi pork belly, tomatoes, onion and a glorious egg

Recipe: Korean Pork Belly Bulgogi
Serves 4 

Ingredients

1kg skinless & boneless pork belly, and cut into thin slices (this can be easier if you freeze it for an hour to firm it)

Marinade

4 cloves garlic, peeled
1 inch ginger, peeled and coarsely chopped
1 onion, peeled and coarsely chopped
4 spring onions, ends removed and green and white parts coarsely chopped
75g gojuchang (Korean red pepper paste – gorgeous & something you should have in your cupboard)
3 tbsp gochugaru red pepper flakes
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp sesame oil
2 tbsp honey
1 tsp freshly cracked black pepper

To finish

4 spring onions, thinly sliced
3 tbsp sesame seeds

some light oil for frying like groundnut, rapeseed or sunflower

Method

Put all of the ingredients for the marinade in your blender or food processor and process until smooth.

Add to the pork and mix with your hands, ensuring it is well combined. Cover with cling film and leave in the fridge for at least half an hour, preferably overnight.

About an hour and a quarter before you want to eat, remove the pork from the fridge, and preheat the oven to 150 deg C. Boil the kettle.

Depending on the size of your tray, you may need two. Oil them lightly and lay the pork slices in one layer. Put the boiling water in an oven proof bowl or pot and put it at the bottom of the oven. This will ensure that there is steam, and will prevent the pork from drying out.

Put the pork in the oven and allow it to roast gently. There should be plenty of water, but if for some reason you run out (say if your bowl is small), top it up if you need to.

After an hour it will be tender and ready to eat. You can push it further if you like, leaving it in longer to make a Korean pulled pork. Just a half an hour extra should do it. (I did this one time, and it is terrific too, if you like pulled pork!).

Serve with sesame seeds and shredded spring onion on top and eat hot, as you like it (rice bowl, taco, sandwich, in lettuce leaves with herbs).