Kimchee Soup with Pork and Tofu

Ingredients:

Water: 8 cups
Pork bones with meat on the bone: 1 lbs (trim off some of the meat into small pieces.)
Kimchee(Works best with Older Kimchee): 3 cups
Onion: 1 small slices
Garlic: 4 cloves chopped
Fish Sauce: 1 tablespoon
Salt: 1 Teaspoon
Pepper: 1/4 teaspoon
Korean Crushed Red Peppers: 1-2 tablespoon. 1 for less spicey
Soup Stock (beef): 2 tablespoons
Scallions: 3, cut into 1 inch peices
Sugar: 1 teaspoon
Tofu: 1 box of silken soft tofu, cut into 1 inch cubes

Instructions:

In a med stock pot, pour in the water. Once the water boils, add in the pork bones and let it cook for about 10 minutes and then add in the remainder of the ingredients except for the tofu. Let the ingredients simmer for 20 minutes. Lastly add the tofu and let it simmer for 5 minutes. Serve Kimchee soup over hot rice in a bowl.

Vietnamese Crepes

Ingredients:

Batter:

Crepe flour: 1 bag
Curry powder: Amount attached to the package
Light coconut milk: 1 can
Water: 2 cups (it says 3 on the package but its softer with 2 cups)
Scallion: 1 sliced thin

Stuffing:

Ground pork: 1-2 pounds
Wood ear mushrooms: 3 large or buy the shredded one (soak a handful in warm water)
Regular Mushroom: Optional
Onion: 1 chopped
Garlic: 3 finely chopped
Bean Sprouts: 1 bag or 1 pound
Scallions: 3 sliced thin (set some aside for batter mix)
Soy sauce: 2 table spoons
Oyster sauce: 1 tablespoon
Salt and Pepper: 1/2 teaspoon or just a pinch
Sugar: 1/2 teaspoon


Instructions:

Batter:

Mix all above ingredients in a large bowl and cover it and let it sit in the fridge for 20-30 minutes then prepare the stuffing.

Stuffing:

Put about 2 tablespoon of oil in a frying pan and the garlic and meat. Once the meat is cook, add the onions and mushrooms. As the onions start to soften add the rest of the above ingredients. Once it’s done, remove it from the heat and set it aside.

In a nonstick pan put 1-2 tablespoons of oil. When the oil is hot, use a medium ladle to pour in the batter into the pan. As the batter starts to cook or crisp a little, add in the stuffing. As much as you want and place it on one side of the crepe and then fold the crepe to close it. You’ll know when it’s done when it has a golden look and crispy looking edge. Lower the heat after the first one because it will cook very quickly as the pan gets hot.

Serve it with the dipping sauce. If you don’t want to make the sauce from scratch, you can buy it.

Lao Ka Nome Cook

Ingredients:

Batter Mix:

Glutinous Rice flour: 1 cup
Rice flour: 1 cup
Light coconut milk: 1 can
Sugar: ½ cup or less if you don’t want it too sweet
Salt: 1 pinch
Scallion: 2 sliced thin

Stuffing:

Ground pork: 1-2 pounds
Wood ear mushrooms: 3 large or buy the shredded one
Onion: 1 chopped
Garlic: 3 finely chopped
Bean Sprouts 1 bag or 1 pound
Scallions: 3 sliced thin (set some aside for batter mix)
Soy sauce: 2 table spoons
Oyster sauce: 1 tablespoon
Salt and Pepper: 1/2 teaspoon or just a pinch
Sugar: 1/2 teaspoon

Instructions:

Batter Mix:

Mix all above ingredients in a large bowl and cover it and let it sit in for 15 minutes and then prepare the stuffing. It’s a soft batter so, If you want it crispier you can add uncooked sticky rice (1/4 cup) blended down and mix it with the rest of the batter.

Stuffing:

Put about 2 tablespoon of oil in a frying pan and the garlic and meat. Once the meat is cook, add the onions and mushrooms. As the onions start to soften add the rest of the above ingredients. Once it’s done, remove it from the heat and set it aside.

Use a nonstick ka nome cook pan. You can get it at asian market or at some high end kitchen goods stores.

Put 1-2 teaspoons of oil in the pan and put some in a bowl. When the oil is hot, use a small ladle to pour the batter up to the middle of each compartment. As the batter starts to cook or crisp a little, add in the stuffing. As each compartment (half circles) cooks you should use a spoon to scoop up one and put it on top of the other to seal into a ball. You’ll know when it’s done when it has a golden look and crispy looking edge. Lower the heat after the first one because it will cook very quickly as the pan gets hot. Remove them and start all over again.

Serve it with the dipping sauce. If you don’t want to make the sauce from scratch, you can buy it. I like the Mae Ploy brand chicken sauce. It’s not too spicy but it’s a sweet chili sauce. If you use the Mae Ploy sauce, you can put some hot water in it to dilute it. Enjoy!

Vietnamese Summer Rolls

Ingredients:

Shrimp: 1 ½ per roll, cooked and split in half
Iceburg lettuce: 1 shredded 3 inches long
Cucumber: 1 sliced 3 inches long
Mint leaves: 1 bag, 3 leaves per roll
Rice paper wraps: 1 package, circular packaging and may vary in thickness
Vermicelli noodles: 3 stacks, boiled 3 minutes and strained and then cooled under cold water

Instructions:

Heat 4 cups of water in one pot to soak the rice paper. Water should be warm enough to soften the rice paper. Submerge the rice paper briefly in the water and then remove promptly onto a cutting board or plate to use as a wrapping surface. Like on an assembly line place the noodles, cucumber, lettuce, then the mint leaves. Next, lay the 3 shrimps on the top with the outside showing. To wrap, pull the two sides in and then start rolling the rice paper away from the body and make sure you roll it tight. Be careful not to tear the rice paper. The longer you soak it, the stickier the paper will be. If it breaks you can salvage it by soaking another paper and rewrap it or can get rid of the evidence. Eat it!! Serve it with the dipping sauce. If you don’t want to make the sauce from scratch, you can buy it.

Beef and Tomato Stir-Fry

Ingredients:

Beef: 6 0z thin slices
Tomatoes: 4, cut into wedges
Minced garlic cloves: 3
Ground ginger: ½ tsp
Sugar: 2 tbl
Salt: 1 Pinch
Pepper: 1 Pinch
Oyster sauce: 2 tbl
Soy sauce: 1 tbl
Cornstarch: 1 tsp
Water: ¼ cup
Oil: 3 tbl

Instructions:

In a stir fry pan, heat the oil on medium heat. Add the ginger and the garlic. Once the garlic browns, add the tomatoes and let it simmer in the pan for about 10 minutes or until it gets soupy. Add the sugar, salt and pepper, soy sauce and oyster sauce and cook for 2 minutes. Combine the cornstarch and cold water in a small bowl. Add the meat to the pan and cook for 5 minutes. Then add the cornstarch and water mixture. Simmer for 5 minutes and then serve over white rice.