Persian Meatballs...

Sorry for the lack of updates again. We've been eating out almost every day this week. I haven't stepped into the kitchen except to make Munchkin some grilled cheese sandwiches. We're going grocery shopping tomorrow, so hopefully I will think of a new post for next week.

Until then....

I will cheat by recycling another post on my other blog~



Get 1 LB. of ground beef and add generous amounts of parsley, mint (lots), cilantro (just a little), garlic and onions. Season it with a dash of salt and pepper. Sorry there are no exact measurements. Just add enough of everything to give the meatballs color like shown above.



Form into little meatballs about an inch in diameter.



Heat a skillet with minimal oil since there will be oil coming from the fat of the meat...



And just cook until done.



Plate it with basmati rice, lavash (flat bread), and some yummy cucumber yogurt!

Cucumber yogurt: Just get plain yogurt and chop some Persian cucumbers and squeeze out all the excess juice. Add it to the yogurt and season with salt, pepper, and lemon juice. I actually added some chopped parsley into the yogurt too and it came out yummy. Next time I'm going to make yogurt with shallots and garlic.

Basmati rice: I like to sautee the rice in LOADS of butter and I add small bits of onion and brown everything. Then I add water (2:1 ratio. 2 parts water to 1 part rice. I use about 1.5 cups rice to 3 cups water) and let boil...when the water is almost all gone, reduce the heat to LOW and cover and let simmer for about 20 minutes until the rice is done. You can even season it with saffron water...which I didn't have the time to do tonight.

Steak Bibimbap - (스태이크 비빔밥)

One of my current obsessions right now is the Korean drama called Brilliant Inheritance (찬란한 유산). In one of the episodes the main character makes Steak Bibimbap and ever since I've been dying to try and replicate it. =P

The MR, Munchkin and I don't eat at the dinner table together. I often eat standing in the kitchen while the MR takes his food in front of the computer and Munchkin eats on the coffee table while watching Special Agent Oso. =P We're all on different schedules.

SOOOO - the MR and I got to talking and decided that we will eat together at least on the weekends......even if it kills us. So far, so good. The first time we did it, Munchkin said, "Why we eating at the table Mommy?" hahaha. Yah, I felt really bad after that.

Anyhow, for breakfast/lunch I made the steak bibimbap I mentioned yesterday.



Ever since the cancer diagnosis, I've been trying to cut down on meat consumption and if we do eat meat, I make sure it's organic. It's a little pricey, but since we only eat it maybe once a week our grocery bills haven't gone up much.



In a bowl mix together the following: 1TB soy sauce, 1TB sesame seeds, 1TB honey powder, 1TB rice wine, 1/2 TB minced garlic, and a dash of ginger powder.



Thoroughly coat the beef (this is a little more than 1/2LB of NY steak) and let sit while you prep the other food.




Grab some bell pepper and onions and stir fry with some olive oil and a dash of lemon pepper.



Meanwhile, wash some baby greens...



And mix the following for the bibimbap sauce: 2TB red pepper paste, 2TB rice wine, 1.5TB honey powder, 1TB sesame seeds, 1/2TB sesame oil, and 1/2TB vinegar. (If you have some sprite/7-up, add a splash of that as well).



Fry two eggs and slice them up thinly...



Then grill your steak until it's well done.



Slice the steak into thin pieces and set it aside as well.



You're now ready to assemble. First plate your rice at the bottom of a large bowl.



Layer the greens on top. At this point you can use some scissors to cut up the greens into smaller pieces.



Plate the onions and bell pepper with a little bit of the hot sauce on top.



Add your steak pieces on top...



And then I threw on the eggs.



And I added gim as well. =P Before mixing, drizzle a heap of sesame oil on top and start mixing it around.



Add more hot sauce according to your own taste and you're ready to eat!

PS. My tolerance to spicy foods is slowly coming back. I still can't eat the rooster sauce, but kimchi and everything else in moderation no longer sets my mouth on fire. My biggest fear was not being able to eat spicy foods again so I'm happy. Each day my face is lightening up more and more and now I can go around without makeup. You can still tell, but it's no longer as red as it was in the beginning.

I'm healing.

Jang Jorim -(장조림)

I decided to make jang jorim for the home and office.

Needed:

• 2.5-3lbs of beef (I used chuck roast)
• 2 serrano chiles (or more, that's all I had in my fridge)
• 2 jalapenos
• 10-15 cloves of garlic
• dae pa (large green onion/leek)
• small white onion
• dried Korean red pepper
• 6 hard boiled eggs
• 8 cups water, 1 cup soy sauce, 4 TB rice wine, 3 TB sugar, 1 TB honey powder, and 1 TB corn syrup

Total Prep Time: 2 hours



Begin by preparing your meat. Remove it from the plastic and use a large knife to cut it up into 3-inch chunks.



Let it sit in cold water for about 15 minutes to drain it of it's blood.



Meanwhile, wash and prep all your vegetables.



Hard boil some eggs for about 15 minutes, then remove from heat, peel them and set aside.



After the meat has been drained for a while, add enough water to cover and boil it for about 10 minutes until the gunk rises to the top.



And then........wash and clean both the meat and the pot.



In the pot add 8 cups water, 1 cup soy sauce, 4 TB rice wine, 3 TB sugar, 1 TB honey powder, and 1 TB corn syrup and turn up the heat. Note: If you don't have honey powder you can just add 1 more TB of sugar. I just LOVE the sweetness of honey powder so I tend to add it to everything.



Finally add your meat, and all the vegetables except the garlic cloves.



Let everything boil together for about 50 minutes and then remove all the vegetables that you used until this point and discard.



Add your eggs first and let it boil for about 20 minutes.



Then finally add your garlic cloves and some more sliced jalapenos and let it boil for about 15 minutes.



You're almost done! Let it sit until it cools down.



The beef should be really tender and very easy to shred using your hands.



Pour the leftover sauce into the meat through a strainer...



Slice the eggs and you can store them separately or together. I just stored this one together since I will be taking it into the office today.



This was Munchkin's breakfast this morning. He doesn't like egg yolk. =)



Tada! All ready to serve. Enjoy!

PS. For those of you who are non-Korean and have never seen this dish before. This is a side dish. Enjoy it with rice because it is quite salty and would most definitely give you a sodium overload if you eat it just by itself. =P

Beef Curry....from the box - (카래 라이스)

I'm sure 99% of you know how to make curry, especially since the directions are right on the box, but I thought I would post a step by step anyhow since I made this and had my camera handy. Plus, one of my girlfriends (you know who you are) called me the other day and asked me how to make curry. =P At first I thought she was joking, but it turns out she wasn't. So this is for you, babe! ;)



There are lots of different instant curries out there, but I personally like this one the BEST. My 2nd choice would be Vermont Curry.



You can pretty much add whatever vegetables you prefer. I chose to use 1 whole large onion, 3 mushrooms, 4 celery sticks, 1 large potato, 2 small carrots, and about 1 cup of frozen corn.



The local K-market actually sells beef for curry. It's really convenient because it's precut into perfect bite size pieces. You need more or less 1 LB. of beef. You can use ground beef, beef stew meat, beef flank, etc. You can also substitute with chicken.



Start off with about 2 TB of oil and 1 TB of minced garlic. I'm sure you've noticed by now that I garlic and add it to just about everything.



First saute your beef with a dash of salt and pepper.



Then add your cut up carrots and potatoes and keep stirring.



Next add your onions and celery and continue to stir it around. At this point I like to add about 1 TB of red pepper powder.



You're now ready to throw in your mushrooms and corn. Stir, stir, stir and mix everything around evenly.



Add 6 cups of water and bring it to a boil for about 5-10 minutes. I also added 1 TB of Chicken Knorr at this point.



Break up all your curry pieces. Although I only took a picture of half the curry, make sure to use the WHOLE box. You will be using two of these.



Keep stirring it around and make sure to scrape the bottom off so the vegetables don't stick.



In about 5-10 minutes after adding the curry blocks, you should reach a thick consistency. You're now ready to serve over hot rice! Enjoy~ I was going to take a picture of it over white rice, but when I came home today the MR had already finished all the curry! I took half of it to work to share with my coworkers, so he didn't eat ALL of it by himself...but still.