Kimchi and sausage bibimbap

kimchi bi bim bop

A delicious rice bowl topped with kimchi, sausage, seasoned vegetables and a fried egg.  A dollop of spicy Korean paste tops it off and you mix it all up in your bowl for a tasty twist on a traditional Korean recipe. Translated to mean
“mixed-up rice”, this traditional Korean dish has been moving mainstream.  It has been spotted on the menu of a popular chain restaurant and now you can make it at home!

But this fabulous kimchi and sausage bibimbap has a little story.  This summer one of my comics was published an I was paid a small honorarium.  How exciting!! I can now call myself a published cartoonist.  🙂  So how does one spend the Amazon gift card that was given as a token of appreciation from the magazine?  A book of course; a cute kids book by the same name, Bee-bim-Bop! by Linda Sue Park. I have been eying this book for a while, it is written about Korean food by a great Korean-American author. (Kyah did a book review on one of her books here.)

Take a look!

Bee-bim Bop!

It’s an adorable tale of a little girl helping her mom shop and prep the food making bibimbap for dinner.  My kids love bibimbap and love to help me cook; it feels like the book could be written about us!

So after reading this book, who wouldn’t be inspired to make bibimbap?

Kimchi and sausage bibimbap

Ingredients

  • 5 cups hot rice (we did a mix of white and brown)
  • sausage cooked and cut into bite size pieces
  • 6 eggs fried
  • 1 zucchini sliced into thin pieces and quickly fried and seasoned with salt and pepper
  • 1 red pepper sliced into thin pieces and quickly fried and seasoned with salt and pepper
  • 1 cup kimchi cut into bite size pieces
  • Sesame spinach - mix together these ingredients:
  • 150 g blanched and drained spinach
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 1 tbsp soy sauce
  • 1/4 tbsp sesame oil
  • Korean red pepper sauce, gojuchang (from mykoreankitchen.com) Mix together:
  • 3 cloves of garlic
  • 2 Tbsp gochujang
  • 1 Tbsp sesame oil
  • 1 Tbsp sugar
  • 1 Tbsp water
  • 1 Tbsp roasted sesame seeds
  • 1 tsp vinegar
  • 1 tsp minced ginger

Instructions

  1. Assemble the bibimbap by first putting rice in each individual bowl
  2. Add zucchini, red pepper, kimchi and sausage
  3. Top with a fried egg
  4. Spoon a scoop of gojuchang sauce as desired by spice level
  5. Mix it all up in the bowl - this is the part the kids especially love! "Mix like crazy"
  6. Enjoy!
https://koreainmykitchen.com/?p=2015

We usually make dolsot bibimbap, which is cooked in a hot pot with a raw egg, just because I think it is fun.  But when I served this to my yobo, he said it tasted like normal Korean bibimbap because it wasn’t so fancy! 🙂


Kimchi bokumbap with bacon

kimchi bokumbap

My yobo loves thrift stores.  When we first moved back to Canada, garage sales, freecycle (remember that?) and second hand stores were his weakness.  He would take almost anything if it was free.  Most of our house was furnished in second hand furniture and he did find lots of treasures.  But for all the treasures, there was lots of … how do I say this nicely, … interesting items.  After I while, I made a little rule.  In order for an item to enter the house, it needed my permission.  Otherwise, it was banished to the shed.  I must say, I have some great items for thrift stores, and they have made good money on us as lots of it has returned back to their shelves. Charity.  It makes the world go round.

My yobo has gotten much better at spotting a good find these days, except perhaps his weakness for chicken things, but that is another post.  The other day he came home with this fabulous bowl which I just love.  It is great for holding soups and stews and this great recipe.

A left over bowl is the perfect fit for this left over meal.  We had some kimchi that had fermented too long and some left over rice.  Couple that with bacon and you have this treasure of a dish!

Kimchi bokumbap with bacon

Ingredients

  • 2 cups kimchi
  • 5 cups cooked rice
  • 1 pkg bacon (375 g)
  • 1/2 onion
  • 2 carrots
  • 1 zucchini
  • 1/2 tsp sugar
  • sesame oil
  • 6 eggs

Instructions

  1. Cut up the bacon into bite sized pieces and fry it. Drain the fat and put in a bowl. Save the fat. (I didn't say this was healthy!)
  2. Chop the kimchi into bite sized pieces as well (sense a theme?).
  3. Fry in the bacon fat. Add the sugar. Set aside.
  4. Cut up the onions, carrots and zucchini into small pieces.
  5. Fry the veggies in sesame oil.
  6. Add the cooked rice to the veggies and combine with the bacon and kimchi.
  7. Fry eggs (in leftover fat if there is any) and put on top of the fried rice.
  8. Enjoy!
https://koreainmykitchen.com/?p=1891

My kids like kimchi bokumbap but they can’t handle too much spice.  We are slowly increasing the spicy-ness of our food to make them into good fire eating Koreans! 🙂

Nyles

Here is our Ny-guy with a tone down version! The recipe includes kimchi for the whole patch.  The kids had less kimchi so the adults had more! Ours was hot! hot! hot!

Bulgogi tacos

Korean tacos

East meets south.  Mexican meets Korean.  A bulgogi taco with kimchi!  A delicious combination of the best of two cultures! My favourite kind of fusion food! This is more of a leftovers lunch then a real recipe per se; cheaters bulgogi using the marinade with ground beef, kimchi and cheese all wrapped up in a pan fried tortilla shell.

I was making tacos for the kids for lunch and knowing that my yobo doesn’t love Mexican food, I wanted to find a way to make it appealing to him so he wouldn’t resort to making ramyun!  How do you make something appealing to a Korean?  Add kimchi!  If the food is bland, add kimchi!  Their least favourite?  Add kimchi!  Yesterday’s flop?  Add kimchi!

As I was thinking about this dish, it realized that it kinda reflects our intercultural family.  Well… except I’m not Mexican!  But the idea that mixing cultures can lead to something fabulous.  Mexican food, delicioso, Korean food, mashi-e-sawyo… but together they are something so good that was weirdly made for each other.  Fusion food, just like fusion friendships, are like that… weird but wonderful!  Now I just need to dream up a combination of dutch cuisine with some kimchi… 🙂

dec 2014 003

 So yummy you will want to get your hands on one!
Aren’t those little hands adorable? 🙂

 

Bulgogi taco

Ingredients

  • kimchi
  • grated cheese
  • tortilla shells
  • Bulgogi beef:
  • 1 lb ground beef
  • 3 tbsp sugar
  • 2 tbsp rice wine
  • 2 tbsp minced garlic
  • 6 tbsp soy sauce
  • 2 tbsp sesame oil
  • salt
  • pepper
  • thinly sliced carrots
  • thinly sliced onions
  • thinly sliced zucchini

Instructions

  1. To prepare the bulgogi beef: saute the garlic, and the beef and brown, mix in the remaining ingredients including vegetables and fry until the beef is cooked and the veggies are tender.
  2. Place the tortilla in a fry pan on low - med heat
  3. Add a cup of bulgogi beef mixture
  4. Top with cheese and kimchi
  5. Fold the tortilla and serve!
  6. Enjoy!

Notes

My yobo doesn't like soft tortilla shells so I crisp them up in a pan. These can be made with just warmed tortillas in the oven.

https://koreainmykitchen.com/?p=1413

Kimchi fried rice with breakfast sausage – kimchi bokumbap

kimchi fried rice

This twist on traditional fried rice tastes delicious.  The classic breakfast combination of sausage and egg added to fried kimchi and nutty rice will have you going back for more. With a nice kick of heat, it is sure to be a favourite!

kimchi rice with an egg

My yobo loves kimchi bokumbap.  I think most Koreans do; I have yet to find one that doesn’t.  The simplest recipe can be made with just kimchi and left over rice but this recipe had my husband licking the bowl!

This week has been busy with Halloween. The kids love to make their own costumes, which the teacher in me is very proud of, but the working mom in me finds frustrating.  We have a huge dress up bin and it would be wonderful if they just picked one out of there.  But no, they had their ideas and were ready to go.  So between working during the day, a last minute run to the dollar store for supplies, helping the kids with the costumes, I was happy we had left overs for dinner.  I made this recipe the night before the chaos!

Here are my kidlets and their costumes. Of course, in the middle of it all, I never got to taking pictures of the costumes until the end of the festivities on Halloween.  And one thing to be said about homemade costumes is that they don’t last very long! 🙂

a giftgift

Kyah and Jaina were Christmas presents (they did have shoulder straps at one point!)

Soldierfrog

Taron was a Roman soldier with a homemade sword and shield. Nyles wore this cute frog costume for a total of 42 seconds.

Kimchi fried rice with breakfast sausage – kimchi bokumbap

Ingredients

  • 1 tbsp sesame oil
  • 1 carrot sliced thinly
  • 1/2 c red pepper sliced thinly
  • 1 c kimchi
  • 1 tsp red pepper powder
  • 2 c medium grain rice (I used a combination of white, brown and black rice)
  • 3/4 c cooked breakfast sausage (4 links)
  • 2 eggs

Instructions

  1. Heat the oil in a fry pan and add the carrot and pepper
  2. Fry until lightly brown
  3. Add the kimchi and fry until until cooked
  4. Add the pepper powder (omit if you don't want it too spicy, add more to kick it up a notch)
  5. Throw in the breakfast sausage and stir
  6. Add the rice and mix well and continue to fry for a few minutes.
  7. Fry up the eggs separately and place on top of the bowl.
  8. Enjoy!
https://koreainmykitchen.com/?p=1301

Rice burgers with kalbi patties

Rice burger

A delicious kalbi hamburger patty topped with fried kimchi and onions sandwiched between two sesame rice ‘buns’! (Please ignore the big honkin’ onion in the picture.)

This has been this summers biggest hit!  Anytime I ask the kids what they want for dinner, they all chant “rice burgers, rice burgers”. They’ve decided these beat out any other kind of hamburger out there.

taronjainakyah

Last summer, when I was very pregnant, I was craving these burgers I had had in Korea over 10 years ago.  That is what happens when you are pregnant: crazy cravings for obscure foods from the other side of the world.  I had googled how to make them, but since they are a little labour intensive and I was close to labour myself, I decided against them at the time.  Fast forward to this summer, when I have much more energy, and I decided to tackle them.

The work comes from making the rice ‘buns’.  They are rice balls flattened and fried.  Not as easy as pulling the bread buns out of a bag, but worth the work.  As a bonus, they are gluten free.  Give them a try!

Yield: 6 rice burgers

The things you need:

  • 6 cups of cooked white sticky rice.  For a tutorial, see this post here
  • salt to taste
  • sesame oil to grease the pan
  • plastic wrap for making the rice ‘buns’
  • 6 easy kalbi hamburger patties or flattened Korean beef patties (duk kalbi)
  • 1/2 an onion fried in butter
  • 1/2 cup kimchi fried in oil.  Note: I only make onions and kimchi for me and my yobo, the kids top them with ‘normal’ hamburger toppings like ketchup and relish

The how to:

  • salt the rice to taste
  • scoop 1/2 cup of rice on to a piece of plastic wrap
  • cover it with another piece of plastic wrap
  • form the rice into a ball
  • flatten firmly

rice buns

  • oil the fry pan with sesame oil
  • when hot, place the rice buns in the pan and lightly fry till golden
  • assemble burger by topping with fried kimchi and onions (and another rice ‘bun’ on top)
  • wrap in aluminum foil.  This makes for handy hand-held eating and holds the burger together.

rice burgersEnjoy!

Kimchi relish

kimchi condiment

Look what I found at my favourite store, Superstore! Kimchi, a Korean-style condiment with cabbage and spices; a fun new topping for hotdogs this summer.

I am a condiment collector.  “Hello, my name is Leslie and I have four types of mustard in the fridge right now.” I love fancy relishes and mayonnaise and don’t get me started on bacon marmalade.  There is hardly any room in my fridge for real food between all the bottles of interesting sauces. So when I was shopping with my sister and I saw a kimchi condiment, I knew I had to get it!

So what does it taste like?  Well, like kimchi.  It is made with cabbage, red peppers and onions and lots of spices.  It’s kind of a spicy cabbage salsa with the vinegary flavour of a relish.

And the yobo?  What does he think?  He says it is good; good for a hot dog.  But it’s not kimchi.

hot dogs

Give it a try!

Korean nachos

korean nachos

An East meets West combination! A wonderfully weird marriage of a Mexican classic and a Korean side dish. Korexican. Mexiorean. Whatever you want to call it, it is the best of both worlds. Mashi-e-sawyo! Delicioso!

I usually shy away from ‘fusion’ food.  It is really popular in Korea and I know California has a big Korean fusion culture, but I remain skeptical about mixing flavours from different ethnic foods. But I was making the kids and me some nachos the other day for dinner and knew that my yobo would be less than excited about them.  He is not a picky eater at all and he will eat anything I make him, but Mexican is not is favourite kind of food.

Then I remembered a recipe I saw at my sisters house in  Fresh Juice magazine: Korean Tacos

Inspiration hit! Since I did not have the magazine, I just improvised this Korean version of nachos. And the verdict?  Delicious!  I ended up eating these instead of the ones I made for me and the kids 🙂 And my yobo? He devoured them and asked for more! Always a good sign!

The things you need:

  • 1 lb of ground beef
  • 1/2 tbsp sesame oil
  • 1/2 tbsp soy sauce
  • 1 heaping teaspoon taco seasoning
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • 1 tbsp gojujang, red pepper paste
  • 1 tbsp vinegar
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • lettuce
  • cucumber
  • hot green peppers
  • kimchi
  • sesame seeds
  • nacho chips

The how to:

  • brown the ground beef with the garlic and add the sesame oil, taco seasoning and soy sauce
  • mix together the gojujang, vinegar and sugar to make a yummy spicy dressing
  • chop your lettuce, cucumbers and hot green peppers into bite size pieces
  • assemble: nachos, lettuce, ground beef mixture, cucumbers, peppers
  • drizzle the dressing over it all and top with chopped kimchi and sesame seeds!
  • to take it up a notch in fusion… add cheese! (it was surprisingly delicious!)
  • Enjoy!

korean nachos

Kimchi jeon – Kimchi pancakes

feb blog 025

If you like kimchi, then this is the pancake for you! When your kimchi has passed its prime (and you will know when this is by merely opening the fridge), this recipe is a great way to use it up.

Kimchi and Koreans are synonymous.  You rarely have one without the other.  Koreans eat kimchi with almost every meal, make almost every vegetable into a form of kimchi and add kimchi to almost everything they eat, even pancakes!

Now I admit that it has taken me some time to acquire a taste for this spicy fermented cabbage. I do still prefer it fresh and young (as opposed to aged and old) or cooked up with something else.  In this recipe, the intensity of the cabbage and the spice is reduced when it is fried.  The seasoned batter and the crispy outside are irresistible. After all, I can’t pass up a pancake.  (See my professed devotion to them here.)

The recipe:

How long it takes: prep time: 5 minutes   cook time: 10 minutes

Yield: 12 small pancakes or 4 big pancakes

What you need:

  • I 1/2 cup chopped kimchi
  • 2 – 3 eggs (depending on how the chickens have been laying)
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1 cup liquid (water and kimchi juice)
  • 1 tsp sugar (optional)
  • 1 tsp salt
  • oil for frying

The how to:

  • mix all the ingredients together well
  • heat oil in the frying pan on medium high
  • ladle batter into the pan and try to flatten it out as much as you can
  • flip when the bottom is browned and pressed down on the pancake to ensure the kimchi gets cooked
  • continue to fry, flip and flatten until the pancake is browned and crispy
  • serve hot and enjoy with soy sauce or dipping sauce.

 Grr...

“Grr… can’t wait to sink some teeth into those pancakes!”