Tag Archives: asian food

Korean BBQ Short Ribs

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On date night the other week, one of our go to restaurants had a new menu that included Korean BBQ Short Ribs. I’d never had Korean BBQ but it was really good. They did serve it with an aioli, which didn’t seem authentic but worked.

I did research on the recipe for the BBQ and for the most part it’s pretty consistent in terms of ingredients, though some called for vinegar instead of mirin. As mirin is easy to find, I didn’t think substituting was necessary. I did have to use a regular pear as Asian pears are apparently too exotic for my local shops.

There are a few steps to this dish but nothing is complicated and it’s well worth the effort.

Technique for Korean BBQ Short Ribs

First it’s important to prep the ribs. There will be connective tissue that you want to remove as that will make the ribs tough when cooking.

Use a sharp knife to do this so you don’t take off too much meat in the process.

Prep the marinade ingredients. I won’t lie, grating onions is torture on the eyes. I’ve always been curious how the first human decided onion was a good thing because raw is very strong! But for this marinade you don’t want any big pieces, with the exception of the finely chopped garlic, so grating it is.

Mix well and add the beef. Make sure the beef is well coated. Cover and store in the fridge for at least 6 hours. I then sliced some red onion and covered it with apple cider vinegar.

Marinade the onion for a few hours in the fridge. It makes a great contrasting topping to this dish.

When it is time to grill the beef, warm up the grill to medium. For this, you don’t want to have the heat on high in order to keep the meat tender. You will still get a good sear on the meat. Patience, grasshopper is the way to go here.

While the meat is cooking, prep the other ingredients. We have a lot of fresh veg in our garden so we did up a bunch of veg sticks. For dipping sauces I heated up the beef marinade, mixed some sour cream with ginger and lime, then made a traditional dipping sauce. That sauce was equal parts Gochujang and yellow miso ( 2 tablespoons each), 2 teaspoons of sesame oil and a clove of finely chopped garlic. If you find it too thick of a paste add more oil a bit at a time.

Once the meat has rested, slice it and serve with the sauces and veg.

Use the lettuce as the wrap and top the beef with the toppings of your choice.

We all loved this dish with the all the flavours from the marinade. We will definitely be having this again.

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Korean BBQ Short Ribs

A fun and delicious meal with beef short ribs.

Course Main Course
Cuisine Asian
Keyword Korean BBQ Short Ribs
Prep Time 6 hours
Cook Time 30 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 lbs boneless short rib

Marinade

  • 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1/3 cup soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp water
  • 1/4 cup Mirin
  • 1/3 cup grated red onion
  • 1 small pear or Asian pear, grated
  • 1 tbsp minced ginger
  • 2-3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
  • 2 tbsp seasame oil
  • 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

Prepping the Short Ribs

  1. Clean the beef by removing the connective tissue and any hard fat.

Marinade

  1. Mix all the ingredients of the marinade well. Add the beef and make sure it is covered completely. Cover and place in the fridge for at least 6 hours and up to 24 hours.

Cooking the meat

  1. Heat the grill to medium. Cook the meat until it is medium rare. The meat should have a nice sear without the sugars in the marinade becoming burnt. Allow the meat to rest for about 10 minutes

Putting it all together

  1. Cut up different veg to accompany the BBQ. Slice the beef and serve with the veg and lettuce leaves. Heat the leftover marinade as a dipping sauce. Chopped green onions and pickled red onions are great toppers.

Kai Phat Khing (Chicken with Ginger) and Will There Be Progress?

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Once again the world watches.  Watches while a woman testifies about sexual assault in front of powerful men whose first reaction is to say boys will be boys.  When I was my daughter’s age I remember the world watching as well.  The message was the same then as it is now.  That breaks my heart.

I want better for my kids.  It seems a reasonable ask to for those who have been assaulted to heard and to raise boys to men who know “boys will be boys” is outdated and dangerous.  I’m inclined to believe Dr Ford, given the timeline of who she told.  Whether or not it’s true, I believe a proper investigation needs to be done.  I’m surprised things were delayed and today they are hearing her given how many have seemed to come to a conclusion already.  I don’t believe the proper venue is in the senate.  I’m curious what the result will be but I’m doubtful as much hasn’t changed since Thomas was confirmed 27 years ago.  On the flip side, Cosby has been sentenced so maybe, just maybe the tide is shifting.

Thai Food:

It is a quiet week as my in-laws drove to New York to visit old friends.  I don’t envy them doing the 8+ hour drive.  It is not a very exciting highway, straight and dull.  Hopefully they will have a good trip.

That leaves just my husband and I.  I’ve gone to cooking up a storm for 6 people to 2.  You wouldn’t think it would be difficult to adjust but I always find it hard to do that.  I either end up making too much or too little.  Because we did a traditional roast this past Sunday I had leftover chicken to use up so I thought it would be great to make a Thai dish.  We are both fans of the cuisine and luckily it’s very easy to cook.

Kai Phat Khing (Chicken with Ginger) Technique:

I have a cookery book called The Complete Asian Cookbook by Charmaine Solomon.  In it, there is a recipe for Kai Phat Khing (Chicken with Ginger) that was a great choice to use up the chicken.  The interesting thing is the first ingredient in her recipe was wood ear fungus.  But the directions never mentioned putting it in the recipe!  At any rate, I used it as a light guide so I could use what I had on hand.

Hen of the Woods and Chicken of the Woods are great meaty mushrooms.

The co-op had hen of the woods and chicken of the woods mushrooms and I wanted them to be the highlight the dish.  Because I wasn’t sure when my husband would be home I prepped all the ingredients first as it only, when using leftover chicken, takes a few minutes to cook.

You can make this in a skillet but it’s better in a wok if you have one.  Heat the peanut oil.  The 2 tablespoons may sound like a lot but when the mushrooms get tossed in, it’s needed.  But first cook the onions for a few minutes.  When the onions start to become translucent add the garlic.

Keep an eye on the garlic!  The oil is very hot and you want the garlic to be golden, not burnt.  If you are using uncooked chicken, start cooking it now.  Add the mushrooms to the wok.  This needs to be cooked for a few minutes given how hearty the mushrooms are. While this is cooking add the ginger and stir well to coat the mushrooms.  The book mentioned making the ginger less “pungent”.  No way!  The ginger is a great flavour, I have no desire to dull it.

Allow the mushrooms to start to brown a bit.

Add the soy sauce/vinegar mixture along with the leftover chicken.

Near the end of cooking add the scallions.  I don’t like them full on raw but you don’t want these mushy or overcooked.

Garnish with a bit more scallion and serve right away.  As per my usual, I asked my husband how he liked it.  He really liked it but then said though you’ll probably not make it again.  Not true, but someone needs to remember and request.  Fingers crossed one of us doesn’t brain cramp.  🙂

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Kai Phat Khing (Chicken with Ginger)

A flavourful Thai dish with chicken, ginger and mushrooms

Course Main Course
Servings 2
Author Our Growing Paynes

Ingredients

  • 2 cups Mushrooms, coarsely chopped I used Hen of the Woods and Chicken of the Woods
  • 2 tbsp freshly grated ginger
  • 2 tbsp peanut oil
  • 1 small onion, thinly sliced
  • 3-4 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
  • 1 cup cooked chicken If using raw, use about 1/2 lb cubed
  • 1 1/2 tbsp soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp fish sauce
  • 1 1/2 tbsp rice vinegar
  • 1/2 tbsp brown sugar
  • 1 scallion, sliced

Instructions

  1. Mix the soy sauce, fish sauce, rice vinegar and brown sugar together and set aside.  

  2. Heat the peanut oil in the wok.  Cook the onions until they start becoming translucent.  Add the garlic.  Cook for another minute before adding the mushrooms.  If you are using raw chicken, add it now.  Add the ginger and stir to coat the mushrooms.  

  3. After cooking for a few minutes add the soy sauce mixture.  Stir well.  Allow the mushrooms to begin to brown a bit.  Near the end of cooking add most of the scallions to cook a minute or so.

  4. Serve immediately and garnish with the remaining scallions.

Spicy Pork in Lettuce

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When the kids are away the parents will play.  While the kids were off having the time of their life at camp we thought it would be fun to have friends over for dinner.  I was still going through the withdrawal from the fibro meds so food had to be simple.  I was a hot mess and a few days before I couldn’t really get out of bed so my husband was questioning my sanity.  I won’t go into detail on how often he does that.  😉

I was in the mood to do Asian tapas.  I did up chicken satay, Korean BBQ steak, some spring rolls and spicy pork in lettuce.  If you can find the type of lettuce that gives you small cups go for that.  I couldn’t so had to use Romaine lettuce.

Spicy Pork 1 2018

I chopped up a healthy handful of scallions and 2 garlic cloves.  Peel an inch/2.5cm cube of ginger and set aside.  In a skillet add 2 tablespoons of peanut oil and heat up.  Once the oil is hot add a pound of ground pork.  As it starts browning add the scallion, garlic and grate the ginger into the skillet

Spicy Pork 2 2018

Add a few tablespoons of Gochujang, which is a fermented hot chili paste, 2 tablespoons of soy sauce, and a few splashes of lime juice.  Simmer to allow the flavours to develop.

Spicy Pork 3 2018

Adjust the spicy heat as needed.  If you want more, add more Gochujang or red pepper flakes.  Season with fresh ground black pepper.  You shouldn’t need salt given the other ingredients.

Spicy Pork 4 2018

As I was finishing this dish our friends showed up so it was a quick photo so not to be rude.  Plus I had to make the Mai Tais.  First time making them and we’re totally hooked. Such a good drink to go with Asian tapas.  🙂

Kung Pao Chicken and Maybe Going Overboard on the Healthy Bit

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Despite my obsession with crisps and chocolate I do try to have very healthy food at the house.  It’s important to me to put good food into my family.  But my husband, ahem, has made it known to me that I might go a little overboard in my endeavor.

Conor from One Man’s Meat posted a wonderful Kung Pao Chicken the other day that I wanted to try. Of course you need rice for this dish so off I went and bought brown rice.  My husband inquired as to why I didn’t get white rice. I replied but brown rice is healthier.  He just shook his head and let me know it’s ok to go crazy and have white rice!  LOL

At any rate, I had most of the ingredients to give this dish a go.  Could not find Schezwan peppercorns anywhere though so I had to use regular black peppercorns.  Also, I stuck with amino acids for the soy sauce due to cutting out a lot of gluten in my diet.

Kung Pao Chicken 1 2015

Prep everything before you start cooking as it doesn’t take long to cook.  Also, prep the rice as well.

Coarsely chop 3-4 cloves of garlic and about an inch and a half(3-4cm) of fresh ginger.   Slice the about 2 scallions into inch (2-3cm) slices and the chilies about half that size.  Depending on how hot you want your dish, you can deseed the chilies or leave them in.  Because we didn’t have the Schezwan peppercorns I left the seeds in the dish.

Kung Pao Chicken 2 2015

Because I was making this dish for two I used two small chicken breasts.  In a separate bowl mix 1 tablespoon of the amino acid, 1 tablespoon of Mirin (rice cooking wine), a tablespoon of corn flour, and about 1/2 a tablespoon of freshly ground black pepper.  Coat the chicken and set aside.

Kung Pao Chicken 3 2015

In a separate bowl mix 3 tablespoons of amino acid, a teaspoon of corn flour, the garlic, ginger, and chilies.  Set aside.  Heat up the wok with 2 tablespoons of peanut oil.  When the oil is good and hot fry a heaping 1/2 cup of peanuts.  If you have peanuts that haven’t been dry roasted use those.  The ones we have on hand were already dry roasted but they worked fine.  These will not take long to fry so keep an eye on them.  Once golden brown set aside.

Kung Pao Chicken 4 2015

Add a bit more oil if needed then cook the chicken.  If you are doing more chicken than I did then doing it in batches would be a good idea.

Kung Pao Chicken 5 2015

Add the sauce with the ginger and garlic and most of the scallions.  I have to admit this is when it started looking different from Conor’s as his pictures show a lot more sauce than mine.  I read it and reread it and I followed the amounts.  So if this happens to you add equal amounts of the amino acid and Mirin to increase the sauce being careful to keep the balance of the flavours.

Kung Pao Chicken 6 2014

Once it is the chicken is cooked through serve immediately over the rice.

Kung Pao Chicken 7 2015

We really enjoyed it.  The heat was really balanced with the flavours.  And it’s a dish that is easily adjusted to make it milder or hotter depending on your taste.  My drink of choice for this dish was a lovely Mexican Mule, the ginger was a great pairing.