Lately

What I have been doing lately in the Kitchen ✌

Korean Bibim Guksu (Spicy Mixed noodles)

Korean Kimchi Pancakes

Korean Seafood Pancakes

and I finally set a time to bake my CNY Pineapple tarts :)

Bonchon Chicken

My parents went on a short holiday to Bangkok and thus here I am whipping dinner for the entire family! Decided to attempt on doing the famous Bonchon Chicken since it is so crazy expensive in Singapore and only a few Korean restuarants does them.

It was not as hard as I thought it would be but.. it sure takes up a portion of time.
I referenced Maangchi recipe but did some changes here and there. It was so hit with my family! My sister who is not so into cooking even asked me for the recipe to try out! :)

Here's my version:

• 1 Packet of Drumlets (I bought the regular size and not the mini ones)
• 1 Egg
• A splash of Garlic & Onion seasoning
• 500ml of milk (Or sufficient enough to cover all the drumlets)
• Salt
• Pepper
• Half packet of Korean frying mix
• Oil for deep frying

For the Hot sauce

• 4 tbsp of Gochujang (Red Pepper paste)
• 2 tbsp Brown sugar
• 1 tbsp Blueberry vinegar

1. Washed the drumlets and soaked them in milk (adding the garlic and onion seasoning to the mixture). Fridge them for at least 2hrs
2. Drain off the milk and marinate the drumlets with salt and pepper. Crack an egg and mix throughougly. Set aside for about 15 mins so that the drumlets can "eat in" the marinate
   
3. Transfer the drumlets over to a big mixing bowl and mixed in the Korean frying mix.
4.  Mix well and set aside.
5. In a deep wok, bring the oil to heat till bubbles appears. Dip the drumlets into the hot oil and fry till slight golden brown.
6. Re-fry the drumlets again till it turns golden and crispy. Drain the drumlets well to avoid greasiness.
7. In a saucepan, add in all the hot sauce ingredients and bring to boil. Mix in the deep-fried drumlets and you are ready to serve.

You may also sprinkle roasted crushed peanuts and sesame over the drumlets.
Hope you like it! :)

Korean Bibimbap with a tint of Chinese essence

It has been really really long since I cooked something special for my Prince Charming. I still have 2 Off days due from my Overtime and since Year end is coming soon, I took the chance to have a rest day today. It's been quite sometime since I last took some leave so I decided to do some simple cooking for my Prince Charming.

I woke up err... not very early but good enough to grab some fresh groceries from NTUC. I also went a bit of window shopping with my Mum and went with her for some KFC! Yummy.. I just realised that I only have to topped up 20 cents to upsize my drink from a regular size to a medium size. God, I guess it's been a long long time since I bought any KFC myself. Heee heee...

Anyway, I made simple Bibimbap for our Dinner cause it's won't take up too much of my time and I don't have to fight with the heat in the Kitchen. I don't have any stone pot or whatever you call it so I used a claypot instead. The main thing is to get some rice crackers! LOL~

Yummy~ This is really easy. All you need is dice some vegetables that you like, add in some meat of what you desire and an egg. Mix it with the self-made Gochujiang sauce and it's done!

Korean are really good with handling leftovers. Bibimbap is a wonderful dish that helps to lessen the chances of leftover and it is so easy and yummy! Of course, in Singapore Korean restaurants don't use leftover but you can see it in most Korean shows, don't you?

Mix and mix and mix. Ready to go!

Dinner time!!!!

Homemade Grill

On Friday, I met up with a couple of ladies from a local forum which I joined months ago. It was really nice hanging out with them! You would not believe that all of us only knew each other for not long, but we could relate to each other pretty well :)

After the mini gathering, I went off with Prince Charming to the supermarket for our BBQ Grill shopping! We have been talking about doing this for sometime and it seems that every time we talked about it, I would forgotten it the next moment! I have a bad memory to admit frankly.

Anyway, both of us finally had our taste on our own grilling session and it was FABULOUS!
Prince Charming commented that the grill tasted way better than the ones we had outside. I guessed it's because we had them in adequate amount comparing to surfeit ourselves when we dine outside.

We had the grill like the Koreans - Wrap the grilled food with sauce onto fresh leaves of lettuces.
It was awesome! I did the sauce using Gochujiang( Korean red pepper paste), some brown sugar, sesame oil and water. The sauce tasted heavenly. Try them out!

Ju Shing Jung

It was my Prince Charming's hatch day on Friday and well you know, my current workload is exaggerating heavy and I am not allowed to take any leave for this 2 weeks - Oracle closing in preparation!

Left with pretty no choice, I promised Prince Charming that I'll bring him for a nice meal and suggested Korean BBQ since he has been nagging about trying it out donkey years ago. The decision is now with him - Crystal Jade or Ju Shing Jung. He chose Ju Shing Jung since Audrey blogged about it and she was raving about the food. I was pretty happy with his decision since Ju Shing Jung is located at East Coast Park and that means more silent time with him - We don't have to face the downtown crowd that much!

The whole dining experience was relatively nice with good service at the restaurant. The restaurant is spacious and looks like the office canteen in those Korean dramas. We both went for the Lunch BBQ buffet that comes with unlimited 3 choice of pork and 1 chicken, plus all side dishes (kimchi etc) and yes, also a lunch special (Bibimbap, Saba fish etc). Afforable I would say, $29++ that can burst your stomach.

It's our first time trying out Korean BBQ so I couldn't comment much. Overall, it was good. Pretty decent menu and very helpful and friendly staffs. Generally, it is a good place for gathering since their seatings are so spacious ;)


A big feast of Korean side dishes and the sizzling pork belly!


Lettuces and sauce for wrapping up the BBQ meat.Yummy!


Clearer view of the side dishes (not all though). I love the octopus kimchi best!


The grill with our BBQ stuffs


My lunch special - Bibimbap


Prince Charming's lunch special - Grilled Saba fish


The wrapped BBQ meat taste really good!


The staffs helped to BBQ your food


Note 1: Prince Charming was a littleeee too happy with his wrap and he gave me a weird expression so I photoshopped his face in case he starts screaming at me for posting this up :P

Note 2: Photoshopped my face because I was eating with my mouth wide open! >.<


"주 신 정"
JU SHIN JUNG EAST
한국식 전통 숯불구이 전문점
KOREAN CHARCOAL BBQ RESTAURANT
1018 East Coast Parkway #02-01
Singapore 449877(Burger King 2nd Floor)

Kimchi Fried rice + Pork dumplings

Kimchi Fried Rice Serves 2
Ingredients	Amounts
Cooked rice	2 bowls
Chopped Kimchi	250g
Cubed Crab sticks	2
Cabbage slices	3 slices
Minced pork	100g
Oil	3 tsp
Salt	2 tsp
Water (optional)	2 tbsp
Cubed onions	1/2 of a small one
Beaten egg	1

1. Heat up the wok and add in the oil. Stir in the cubed onions/garlics.
   
   
2. Add in the minced pork and stir well. Make sure the meat does not stick to each other.
   
   
3. Pour the cooked rice into the wok and stir well. Make sure that the rice does not clump together.
   
   
4. Stir in the beaten egg and blend well. Gather the cubed crabsticks and cabbage slices and stir into the rice mixture.
   
   
5. When rice is fully mixed with the ingredients, add in the kimchi. Stir well.
   
   
6. Add in salt and ready to serve. (If your rice is a tad too dry, you may add in some water)

This was what we had for our dinner. It's a simple meal as we had a rather heavy lunch earlier on. It's easy and fast to whipped up this Kimchi fried rice and the taste was just right. Hubby prefers more kimchi in the rice so to compensate, I added some kimchi as his side dish. LOL.

I made some Pork dumplings for our side dish anyway. I just don't know why when I think of Kimchi fried rice, Pork dumplings flashed across my mind. It's like making me have the idea that Kimchi fried rice must be eaten with pork dumplings. LOL. Weird I know :P



This is the pork dumplings that were "forced" by me to eat with my Kimchi fried rice. It's also another easy and simple dish. You just have to season the minced pork with some cubed onions, sesame oil, salt and pepper. Then you wrapped it with wanton/gyoza wrapper and cook them in boiling water. Easy and delicious!

Ddeok bok ee ( Korean Hot Spicy Rice cake)

Makes 2 servings
ingredients	Amounts
Ddeokbokki (Korean rice cake)	7 pieces
Minced onions	1
Oil	2 tsp
Cabbages	1/4 of a normal size
Carrot	1
Pork meat balls	3
Fish cake	1
Gochujang paste	1 1/2 tbsp
Sugar	3 tsp
Pepper	2 dash
Chili powder	1 tbsp
Chicken stock	2 cups

1. Slice the Ddeokbokki into small thick slices. Cook them in a pot of water over low heat. Make very sure that they are not sticked together else it would be hard to remove them. You may add some oil to the water. Scoop up the ready rice Ddeokbokki and place in a bowl of water. Set aside.
   
   
2. Slice up the cabbage and diced the carrots. Bring the diced carrots to boil and set aside.
   
   
3. Heat up the oil and stir fry the onions. When onions turn soft, add in the chicken stock.
   
   
4. Scoop the Gochujang paste and add into the mixture. Stir well to make sure that the paste get dissolved in the soup mixture.
   
   
5. Bring to simmer for 2 mins.
   
   
6. Add in the cooked diced carrots, meat balls and fish cake. Cover the mixture with pot lid and allow further simmer of 2 mins.
   
   
7. Stir in the sugar, pepper and chili powder. Allow the soup to simmer for 2 mins.
   
   
8. Add in the cooked Ddeokbokki and stir well. Simmer for 30 seconds and it is ready to be served.
   

Korean cuisine is getting very popular in Singapore. I bet it must be the Korean dramas that created so much impact on this food culture. During my secondary school days, everyone was crazy over J-pop and J-dramas. Japanese food was the very IN food at that times.

I was also amused by the food culture from Korea. I think it's partly due to me being a super big fan for spicy food. Recently, there's been this Korean street food stall opening in the major malls in Singapore. I tried their Spicy rice cake and thought it was delicious. However, it is considered expensive to me because for $3, you are only getting 5 slices of rice cakes and a few of the other ingredients like fish cakes and cabbages. I think it's kind of overprice?

Korean spicy rice cake is a common street food in Korea (duh!). I've always seen many traveling programs introducing it and you know, quite tempted to try it out. I did this dish by how I think it should be done and also based on my taste buds whom had tasted it from the Food stall I mentioned earlier.

I wouldn't say it's near to perfect but I can say the soul is there! Lol! It's somemore 80% similar to the one I've eaten. Anyway, if you not a spicy eater, reduce the chili powder by say half because this dish is real spicy!

Korean Bibimbap and kimchi soup

Makes 2 Bowls
Ingredients	Amounts
Cooked rice	2 bowls
Carrot	1
Cucumber	Half
Chicken Thighs	2 pieces
Mushrooms	5 ~ 6
Big green onions	1
Bean sprouts	1 handful
Gochujang Paste	2 Tbsp
Sugar	2 Tbsp
Vinegar	1 Dash
Water	1 Tbsp

Optional: Sunny side up

1. Boil a pot of water and bring the chicken thigh to cook over medium heat. Remove the chicken when fully cooked and soaked it in a pot of water for 5 mins. Shred the chicken.
   
   
2. In another pot, bring water to boil. One at a time, blanch the shredded carrots, cucumbers, bean sprouts and mushrooms. Drain and set aside for cooling.
   
   
3. Scoop the Gochujang paste and mixed it with sugar, vinegar and water.
   
   
4. In a deep bowl, put in the cooked rice and arrange the shredded chicken, cucumbers, carrots, mushrooms and bean sprouts on top of the rice. Place the sunny side up in the middle of the arrangments.
   
   
5. Add the ready mixed gochujang sauce on top of the egg and serve.

Makes 1 Pot
Ingredients	Amounts
Water	3 big bowls
Carrot	1
Fresh fish fillets	2
Kimchi	Own preference
Green Onions	*Used the remaining for Bibimbap*

Seasoning: Sesame Oil, Salt, Soy Sauce, Chilli Powder

1. Bring the water to boil. Add in the carrots and onions.
   
   
2. Cut the fish fillets into small pieces and marinate with the usual seasoning like salt, peper and sesame oil. Set aside.
   
   
3. When the combination in step 1 starts to boil, add in the kimchi.
   
   
4. Turn the heat to low and allow to stew for 2~ 3 mins.
   
   
5. Add in the marinate fish fillets and close the lid for further cooking.
   
   
6. When the soup starts to boil, add in the chilli powder, some salt and soy sauce for taste.
   
   
7. Allow another stewing of 2 mins on low heat. Serve

Both my Prince Charming and me love Korean cuisine alot, especially the stone grilled Bibimbap. I chanced upon this website that has many amazing and easy recipes for Korean cooking. I was eager to try all the recipes because they looked so delicious!

Anyway, I also visited this website " My Korean Kitchen" and found the recipe for the above Bibimbap sauce. I really like bibimbap so I told myself that I must defintely make this dish on our table today. LOL.

The recipe requires Gochujang paste which is actually Hot pepper paste. It can be found in OG Orchard and Carrefour. The paste taste abit like miso sauce in fact. I wonder if my taste buds were playing a prank on me because it was'nt spicy at all. Anyway, the sauce was so marvellous that we even licked our bowl after finishing the big portion of Bibimbap. I can say this is an easy and healthy meal, but you definitely need to spent some time shredding the vegetables like what I did. I started the preparation for like as early as 3pm and ended up finished cooking at 430pm. That equals to a total of 1 hr 30 mins for shredding and cooking both the Bibimbap and soup. I think I need to be faster.

The kimchi soup was nice too. It's good for cold weather! After drinking it, Prince Charming and I perspired so much that we had to take another shower even though we just had one earlier before our dinner starts. The kimchi added a tint of sourish taste to the soup and thus, it makes one's appetite increase. LOL. I think that's the reason why I could actually finished up my whole pot of rice!

I'm so in the mood for Christmas! My Christmas tree is finally up after the tedious setup yesterday night. We just need a couple of oraments to hang up onto the tree. I love CHRISTMAS!