Korean-Style Chicken Noodle Bowl

Ingredients:

* Salt and pepper
* 1/2 pound spaghetti or angel hair pasta
* One 1-inch piece fresh ginger, grated
* 2 large cloves garlic, grated
* 1/4 cup tamari (dark soy sauce)
* 3 tablespoons honey or agave syrup
* 2 tablespoons tomato paste
* 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
* 1 tablespoon sesame oil
* 1 teaspoon hot sauce, such as sriracha, plus more to pass around the table
* 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
* 2 large skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cut into thin strips
* 1/4 small cabbage, very thinly shredded
* 1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced or chopped
* 1 medium zucchini, quartered & thinly sliced.
* 1 bunch green onions, thinly sliced on the diagonal
* Toasted sesame seeds, for garnish (optional)
Directions:

1. Start by cutting chicken into thin strips and then cutting each piece again into thin strips

2. Using a blender or food processor, combine a splash of hot water, the ginger, garlic, tamari, honey (or agave), tomato paste, vinegar, sesame oil and hot sauce until smooth.


3. Bring a large pot of water to a boil, salt it, add the pasta and cook until al dente. Drain.

4. Get all of the remaining ingredients ready for a quick stir-fry. In a large skillet, heat the vegetable oil over high heat. Add the chicken and stirfry until browned, about 3 minutes. Remove chicken from pan onto a plate & set aside.


5. Add the cabbage, zucchini and bell pepper and stir-fry for 2 minutes.


6. Then add the chicken back in and stir-fry another minute or two.


7. Next, add the green onions and ginger sauce...


And toss for 1 minute.



8. Finish by serving over the drained noodles and top with the sesame seeds. Pass more hot sauce around the table.




 You can also use thin cut pork chops or boneless skinless chicken thighs.

*I didn't have Tamari, so I just used regular soy sauce & it was still delicious.

* I added in the zucchini  the dish could use more veggies. The zucchini worked out perfectly!

Sesame and Bonito Flake-Crusted Tofu

Drain the tofu onto a plate lined with paper napkin to drain the excess moisture.Tofu is also a good source of protein and great substitute for meats.  Serve this with some grated ginger and chopped green onions for extra zing.And tofu will not be the same without dipping it in a soy and vinegar mixture.
 Makes 4 servings:

1 block semi-firm tofu (about 320 grams)

1 egg
¼ cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sesame seeds (or 2 tbsp each white and black sesame seeds)
1 cup bonito flakes

3 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 green onion
1-inch piece fresh ginger root

2 tbsp rice bran oil or untoasted sesame oil

To prepare the tofu, drain the tofu from the container and rinse gently. Place the tofu into a plate lined with double layers of paper napkin to drain the excess liquid. You can also add pressure by placing a plate on top. You can do this in advance. Then cut the tofu into 3/4 to 1-inch piece, about 8 slices.

To set up for breading, first combine the bonito flakes and the sesame seeds in a shallow bowl. In another bowl, whisk the eggs until evenly blended. Then, place the flour into the third shallow bowl and set everything aside.

To prepare the dipping sauce and the condiments, first combine the soy sauce and the vinegar in a small bowl. Next, trim and chop the green onions, the peel and grate the ginger. Place them into two separate small bowls. Cover with saran wrap and set aside.

To “bread” the tofu, coat each piece with the flour and shake off any excess. Then dip into the beaten egg and then set into the sesame-bonito flakes mixture. You may need to grab the sesame seeds and sprinkle on top of the tofu as they settle at the bottom of the plate. Transfer into a baking tray.

Prepare a plate lined with paper napkin.

To cook the tofu, heat a large non-stick pan over medium-high heat and the oil. Once the oil is hot but not smoking, add the crusted tofu and lower the heat slightly. Be careful not to burn the sesame seeds and the bonito flakes. Cook the tofu for about 2 minutes on each side or until lightly golden brown.

Transfer the tofu to a paper-napkin lined plate to absorb excess oil. You can also place them on a cooling rack but the paper-napkin is better.

To serve the tofu, transfer them onto a plate and serve with the chopped onion, grated ginger and dipping sauce. Sprinkle each tofu with chopped green onions and grated ginger before dipping lightly into the sauce. Chopsticks would come in handy.

Serve them hot and enjoy.

Notes:

Gluten-Free (if brown rice flour and wheat-free tamari)

Instead of all-purpose flour, you can also use brown rice flour. Just make sure that the tofu is very dry before coating it as they will form lumps when the tofu is still wet.

Hoddeok....Korean Pancake

Hoddeok is a Winter street food in Korea that is slowly transitioning into year-round fare. In essence, it’s a fried yeast dumpling, flattened to a pancake, with sticky cinnamon sugar centre. 

Ingredients – Makes 5

1 1/4 cups plain flour
6 tbsp milk
Pinch of salt
To start the yeast:
1/4 tsp dry yeast
1/4 tsp white sugar
2 tbsp water
Stuffing
1/4 tsp cinnamon
5 tbsp brown sugar

Mix the yeast, white sugar and water and leave in a warm place to ferment for 15 minutes. Sieve the flour into a bowl, add the salt, milk and yeasty water. Mix well, cover and leave to rise for two hours. Go see a movie or something.

Mix the cinnamon and brown sugar together for stuffing. Oil up your hands (if not sufficiently oiled from movie popcorn) and take about 1/5 of the dough, flatten into a thick disk and place a tablespoon of stuffing inside. Seal like a dumpling.

Add oil to frypan and heat. Place your sugar filled dumpling into the oil. When brown, turn over and flatten the dumpling into a disk with a spatula. Cook until browned.

French Fries Covered Hot Dog

French Fries Covered Hot Dog


Ingredients:
One hotdog
One large russet burbank potato
Plenty of oil for deep frying

For the batter:
100gms of plain flour
75gms of cornmeal
1 egg
2 teaspoons of sugar
half a cup of milk
Method:


Find yourself a russet burbank potato, about the length of a hotdog.










Peel the potato then slice into french fries in a mandolin slicer (or do it by hand). Set aside.


Mix together the dry batter ingredients, add the egg and the milk. Mix to a thick paste, adding more milk if it is too dry: you’re aiming at the batter being thick and sticky rather than runny like a real corn dog batter, slightly more viscous than a dough. Set aside.

Fry the french fries in oil until golden. Remove from the oil onto a paper towel.

Coat the hotdog in the batter, then glue the french fries to the dog as best you can. Drop this monstrosity back into the boiling oil and fry until the french fries begin to brown.