Mike, Gina & Zoe's Home Cookin' Episode 1: Korean Bowl

Like us, when trying out a new recipe, you probably have some ingredients on hand and some you will have to purchase. The ingredients that we had in our cupboard mostly came from our local Trader Joe's. The ingredients we needed to purchase, we picked up at Lucky's Market. 

INGREDIENTS

1. 2 (approx. 1lb) packages Beef Stir Fry Strips at $5.57 & $6.65 each.

2. 1 package Mini Seedless Cucumbers at $2.99 

3. 1 tube Garlic Paste at $4.99

4. 1 tube Ginger Paste at $4.99

5. 1 dozen Grade A Large Brown Eggs at $2.50

You only need one egg per serving

6. 1 package of Wildbrine Japanese Kimchi at $6.29

7. 1 tub of Miso Master Organic Chickpea Miso at $7.99

8. 1 package Baby Bok Choy at $4.99

This is an optional garnish. Steam for 2 minutes, blot dry, add teaspoon of toasted sesame oil and teaspoon of Umeboshi Plum Paste and mix well to coat. 

9. 1 jar of Mother in Law's Gochugaru Korean Chili Flakes at $5.99

10. 1 bottle of Plain Rice Vinegar at $1.99

11. Scallions at 50 cents

12. 1 head of Red Cabbage at $1.94

13. Coconut Oil - on hand.

14. Grapeseed Oil - on hand.

15. Toasted Sesame Oil - on hand. 

Toasted Sesame Oil has a superior flavor to regular Sesame Oil.

16. 1 bottle of Trader Joe's Yuzu Hot Sauce - on hand.

17. 1 bottle of Trader Joe's Organic Coconut Aminos - on hand.

18. 1 bottle of San-J Organic Tamari - on hand.

You can use soy sauce, but we prefer Tamari because it is less salty and has more depth.

19. Sesame Seeds - on hand.

This is an optional finishing touch garnish.

20. Red Wine Vinegar - on hand.

21. 1 jar of McCormick Japanese Seven Spice blend - on hand.

22. Local Honey - on hand.

23. Butter - on hand. 

24. Jasmine Rice - on hand.

This recipe has 4 main components.

1. Gochujang Paste

2. Korean Marinade

3. Rice

4. Garnishes

Gochujang Paste

What is Gochujang?

Measurements

1. 1/3 cup organic chickpea miso.

2. 1/3 cup Korean chili powder.

3. 1 tablespoon local honey. 

4. 1/4 cup organic coconut aminos. 

5. 4 teaspoons garlic paste.

6. 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons water.

Inspired by this recipe

Start by opening your tub of Miso Master Organic Chickpea Miso.

Add 1/3 cup Organic Chickpea Miso to your food processor. 

Add 1/3 cup of Mother in Law's Gochugaru Korean Chili Flakes.

Add 1/4 cup of Organic Coconut Aminos.

Add 1/4 cup water + 2 tablespoons.

Add 4 teaspoons of garlic paste.

Add 1 tablespoon of local honey.

We prefer our flavor profile on the spicy side. If you want to play up the sweet element, simply add more honey to taste. 

Your food processor should look something like this before you blend. 

Voila! The finished product. We're using this as a component of the marinade and as a garnish on the final dish. It has a rich smoky, spicy flavor and would make a good addition to eggs, vegetable dishes and other meats. 

Korean Marinade

Measurements

1. 1 tablespoon ginger paste.

2. 2 tablespoons rice vinegar.

3. 2 tablespoons tamari.

4. 1/4 cup of Gochujang paste (see above)

5. 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil. 

6. 3 finely diced scallions.

7. 1 tablespoon grapeseed oil. 

8. 2 pounds beef stir fry strips

Mix ingredients into a large glass bowl.

Whisk together before adding beef strips.

We had originally intended on using a whole flank steak, but decided on the strips instead.

Add 2 pounds of steak strips to the marinade.

Mix together. 

Here's a video.

Place steak strips and excess marinade in a large freezer bag. Squeeze the air out and seal. Put in fridge and marinate for at least 8 hours.

Rice

Measurements

1. 1 cup rice

2. 2 cups beef broth or 2 cups water.

3. 1 tablespoon coconut oil.

First start by rinsing your rice under cold water. 

We are using our homemade beef broth from when we made pot roast (recipe upcoming) for a more savory finished product. 

In a sauce pan place 1 cup of rice and 2 cups of beef broth or 2 cups water. If you use water, make sure to add salt. We put a small pat of butter in to help separate the grains and give them a velvety texture.

Bring to a boil then reduce heat to a simmer and cover for about 15 minutes.

Your finished product should look something like this. If you used water instead, you should have white fluffy rice. 

Melt a tablespoon of coconut oil in a frying pan.

Place your cooked rice in pan and flatten it out like a pancake to create an even heating surface.

Turn up the heat and keep checking underneath with a spatula until the grains at the bottom are nice and crispy.

Turn the whole thing over on a foil lined baking sheet. You should have a nice layer of crispy rice. 

Place portion(s) of crispy rice in a wide mouthed bowl. Warm slightly in the microwave right before assembling the final product. 

In Praise of Scorched Rice

The crispy rice adds a real nice textural component.

Gina is amazed how well the crispy rice came out.

Garnishes

A. Purple Cabbage Pickle

1. 1/2 head of purple cabbage sliced thin like slaw.

2. 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

3. Japanese 7 Spice Powder to taste.

Scrunch all together and let sit. 

B. Quick Pickled Cucumbers

1. 1 package of mini seedless or Persian cucumbers.

2. 3 tablespoons yuzu hot sauce. 

Slice into disks and coat with yuzu hot sauce and let sit.

C. Wildbrine Japanese Kimchi

D. Homemade Gochujang Paste

E. Finely Chopped Scallions

F. Sesame Seeds

G. Fried Egg

Put olive oil on a paper towel and coat the bottom of a frying pan. Turn up heat to high. Place 8 hour marinated strips in an even layer. Turn them with tongs until cooked. They should have some nice dark bits. 

They should look something like this. Garnish with scallions. This was about two pounds of strips. We made two portions and had some left over. A little less after Mike made a Korean taco at 9:30 pm. 

Now the final component. Once the fried eggs are done, they go right on top of the whole thing. If there are two of you, one person should have two bowls prepared with warmed crispy rice, steak strips and garnishes ready for final plating.

Melt a pat of butter in a frying pan.

Tips on cooking sunny side up eggs.

Fry your eggs Sunny Side Up. You want to be able to break the yolk and have that delicious golden mixture mixing in. 

Here it is. The finished product. Mike, Gina & Zoe's Home Cookin' Korean Bowls. A layer of crispy rice at the bottom, 8 hour marinated Korean steak strips and all the garnishes. Right side bowl 12 o'clock marinated red cabbage, 3 o'clock kimchi, 6 o'clock quick pickled cucumbers, and 9 o'clock a generous dab of homemade gochujang paste. We were so excited we forgot to add the final touches of sesame seeds and finely chopped scallions...

but we ate it anyway.

And here it is on the second night fully garnished.

Letting Go Of Isildur's Bane...

Letting go of Isildur's Bane...

ghost·ing
ˈɡōstiNGnoun

the practice of ending a personal relationship with someone by suddenly and without explanation withdrawing from all communication.

I had a ring. 

Now I don't.

Let me explain.

I had a friend. He became a friend to my wife as well. He was a family friend. We went places. Had experiences. Shared things. Gave gifts to each other. I believed that this person was a true friend.

I was dead wrong.

About everything.

One of the gifts he gave me was a ring.

It looked so nice on my Tolkien shelf. So shiny. It seemed to tie the whole shelf together. I would sometimes sit by my shelf and admire it. It was precious to me. It was mine. My precious.

Once the full ramifications of how we had been manipulated and deceived and betrayed by what we believed to be a friend at a time when we were still reeling from the death of our cat became clear to us, my wife and I decided that the best thing to do was to scrub his presence from our lives. To delete him like a corrupted file. To cast the negative energy out of our loving home and away from our family.

This was easy at first. We got rid of physical objects and digital memories. 

This was not being done out of vengeance or with glee. 

It was being done with the sole purpose of healing.

Then we came to the one ring....

I didn't want to let it go.

Gina talked to me and convinced me that this was for the best and I took her words seriously. I didn't take her as a conjurer of cheap tricks.

We placed the ring on a chain and decided that we would both bear the burden of it.

We stopped by a tree not far from our warm and cozy little home.

Dark forces and memories were all around us.

We set out on our journey. 

“It's a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don't keep your feet, there's no knowing where you might be swept off to.”

― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Lord of the Rings

There were moments of doubt.

Times when we wanted to give up...

Or turn back.

The road was perilous. 

Gina reminded me that the darkness is only a passing shadow and that even darkness must pass.

I sat there pondering.

As I held the ring in my hand a thought occurred to me. If Professor Tolkien was alive today, he would be horrified that people carry around the ring. It was a symbol of all the evil and malignancy of the world. If you really wanted to honor the true spirit of the good in Tolkien's tales, you would have a nice meal with family. You would tend your garden. You would while away the day. 

I knew then what I must do.

I went down to the water's edge...

And I cast the ring out.

I watched as the ripples rang out and then gradually disappeared. 

We had come to journey's end.

The end of one chapter and the beginning of the next.

"Well, here at last, dear friends, on the shores of the sea comes the end of our fellowship in middle-earth. Go in peace! I will not say: do not weep for not all tears are an evil."

Gandalf

J.R.R. Tolkien, The Grey Havens, The Return of the King