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spicy korean stew

Sep 22

We forgot to cook it in our clay pot this time.

**This entry is for Teresa.**

Kim chi chigae is a Korean stew that uses kim chi, a spicy pickled cabbage, as its main ingredient. There are dozens of variations to this stew depending on what other ingredients are used: seafood, tofu, beef, pork, etc. It’s the thing to cook when your kim chi has fermented way past its peak to eat as a condiment. We throw just about anything we find left over in the fridgte into the pot. That’s what so great and versatile about chigae–it’s like the Chinese’s fried rice or the American’s casserole.

Chigae is often cooked in a clay pot which is said to bring out the flavor of the stew. Also, the older (and inevitably more fermented) the kim chi, the better. Fresh kim chi has not ripened enough and will not add as much flavor to the food. While there are innumerable versions of chigae, the recipe I’ve posted here is the kind John typically makes in our house. Some would call it budae chigae, which is a army-based stew so called for its particular ingredients: canned meats, hot dog wieners, ground meats, and so on. Budae chigae’s origins stem from the post-Korean War times when meat was scarce, therefore whatever leftovers from the military were thrown into the stew. It’s simple, but I find it tastier than many of the ones I eat in restaurants. That’s the funny thing about me–I prefer John’s homemade “poor man’s chigae” to any restaurant’s fancy ones. There’s something about slurping spicy hot stew over a bowl of rice within the comforts of your own home, especially during a cold winter’s day, so save this recipe for the upcoming cold months.

I am lucky that my mama-in-law makes the best kim chi, so we always just use hers for the main ingredient. One of these days, I’ll get her to teach me her kim chi-making methods. Till then, we need to get over our language barrier first.

Recipe: Spicy Korean Stew

Summary: Kim chi chigae or budae chigae

Ingredients

2 c. extra fermented kim chi
2 tbsp. dashida
12 oz. medium tofu, diced
1 medium potato, peeled & diced
1 can Spam, diced
1 (6 oz.) can tuna
1 stalk green onion, sliced

Instructions

In a medium clay pot or saucepan, combine kim chi and dashida, filling with water until water level is 2 inches from the top. Bring to a boil.
Add remaining ingredients, and reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer for 30 minutes or until potatoes are cooked through. Serve hot with steamed rice.

Quick Notes

Dashida is a Korean stew or soup base that comes in powder form. We have both a beef flavor and an anchovy flavor dashida, depending on which stock we feel like that day. You can find this in any Korean supermarket (e.g. H-Mart).

Because John’s recipe uses dashida, it is obviously not a chigae made from scratch. If you’re looking for that, we can’t help you there. Life is busy. Sometimes we need a shortcut.

Variations

You can add just about anything to your chigae. Try mushrooms, onions, zucchini, ground meats, shellfish, slices of beef or pork. We’ve even added pieces of Costco‘s rotisserie chicken to the chigae. The dish that time actually turned out to be the best chigae John had ever made. Go figure. Butter makes everything taste better.

Cooking time (duration): 35

Meal type: dinner

Microformatting by hRecipe.

graduation

Sep 21

I just returned from my little Braille graduation ceremony at the DARS office in the Heights where there is a Division for Blind Services. Thank you to Joanna for coming and being my one-woman fanfare as I ambled up to the front and received my certificate. Both my Braille teacher, Benigno, and my former counselor, Lori–two people whom I adore–were both there to congratulate me. After the little pomp and circumstance, the three of us took a picture together, and then I unfortunately had to leave before we got to dabble in the hot dogs, Doritos, and other post-ceremonial snacks.

Before the mini-ceremony, we went around the circle and introduced ourselves. There was definitely a camaraderie to be had in telling a potential group of strangers how you lost your vision and why you are learning Braille. Mostly there were people with diabetes or glaucoma, but there was the occasional brain tumor and other rarities. The fact that people were so candid about their problems was refreshing to me–Americans don’t normally say to someone they had just met, “My name is X, and I have so-and-so disorder.” It is often taboo to discuss someone’s health or medical history, and so to be sitting in that circle and telling the ten or so other graduates that I had an autoimmune disease was cathartic. It was a total support group mentality. Half of the graduating group come to the DARS office three times a month for Braille class, and I can see why that option could be more appealing than what I chose to do which is to have my teacher come to my house and do one-on-one lessons. Those that meet weekly seem to have become friends; I even heard some of them talking about going to the clubs to party together. Imagine a bunch of blind people dancing with their canes.

My certificate has Braille printed over it, and because I can read uncontracted Braille now, it says:

Texas Department of Assistive Rehabilitive Services
Division for Blind Services
Certificate of Completion
Is hereby granted to:
C———–
To certify that she has completed to satisfaction
Uncontracted Braille Training
Awarded September 21, 2010

Congratulations to me!

bad start to houston restaurant week 2010

Sep 20

Arcodoro
5000 Westheimer Rd., Ste. 100
Houston, TX 77056
713-621-6888

2/5 maggot-looking Sardinian teardrop pasta pieces

In our defense, John and I did not choose to go to this restaurant. It was not on my original list of restaurants to try during HRW 2010. It was a friend’s farewell dinner, and so we ended up at a stately table in a private room with 13 other people.

I ordered:

Carpaccio di Manzo al Pesto di olive – Cured Carpaccio of Angus Beef Tenderloin with Black Pepper and Sea Salt, Served over Chopped Romaine Heart and Cherry Tomatoes, Leccino Olives and Sundried Tomato Pesto Dressing
Gnocchetti con Sugo di Maiale e Ricotta Salata – “Malloreddus”, a Traditional Sardinian Teardrop Pasta Served with Pork Shoulder Ragu and Aged Ricotta Salata Cheese
Tiramisu Cioccolato – Chocolate Sponge Cake, Topped with Layers of Mascarpone and Ladyfingers, Finished with Thin Cracked Chocolate

John ordered:

Crostini di Melanzane e Mozzaralla di Bufala – Paesano Bread Crostini Topped with Roasted Eggplant Mousse and Melted Buffalo Mozzaralla, Served over Arugula Salad and Fresh Fig Balsaba
Paella Sarda – Sardinian Style Paella made with Fregula Pasta Simmered in Homemade Lobster Stock with a Medley of Seafood, Calamari, Clams, Mussels, Shrimp, Scallops and Saffron
Seadas al Miele – Traditional Sardinian Puff Pastry Filled with Sweet Cheese, Lightly Fried and then Drizzled with Sardinian Bitter Honey

Sounds tasty, right? Let’s see about that.

Arcodoro started out strong. I enjoyed the carpaccio: a mix of thinly sliced cured meat complemented with the tart tastes of the vegetables. I only had a bite of John’s first course and found it rich but delicious enough. (I preferred my dish, however, and so didn’t waste time nibbling on his.)

But then came the incredibly disappointing second course. Three people at three different times commented that my teardrop pasta looked like maggots. I didn’t mind the spongy texture, but if that many people said it reminded them of maggots, then shouldn’t you rethink serving it? Who wants their customers to think of nasty bug larvae while dining? To make matters worse, the dish tasted like it came from a can: the pork shoulder was crumbly, and the sauce was nothing special. John’s paella (which I already knew would be a mistake) was not at all like the paella of our Barcelonian honeymoon. Granted, maybe Sardinian paella uses pasta instead of rice as their main ingredient, but the prawn was cold and the clams overcooked.

Arcodoro redeemed themselves slightly with their dessert. I thought the tiramisu was light–not too heavy with the liqeur nor cheese, and the chocolate atop the dessert was deliciously bittersweet. John’s dessert tasted like a lesser quality beignet.

Accompanying our meals were one iced tea and one Jameson on the rocks, running our HRW bill to $104! You bet we were pretty pissed. John and I don’t really believe one should pay top dollar for Italian food, so already we were peeved. And while we know HRW menus don’t usually display the best dishes of that restaurant, we thought the venue should still put some thought and care into what they choose to serve during HRW since there will be many newcomers, and if their first experience is ruined by an unimpressive meal, then you can bet those people won’t ever be coming there again. And that definitely applies to us–John and I will never go to Arcodoro again.

i finished the first grade

Sep 14

In my previous post about Braille, I had just learned the letters X, Y, and Z, which marked the end of the alphabet and consequently, the first grade. As a follow-up, my teacher assigned me two reading passages accompanied by comprehension questions. My first reading assignment was about Al Capone (did you know he died of syphilis?), and the second was about Michelle Obama (did you know her father had MS?). That’s right, and I learned all that in Braille.

At first, it took me over an hour to read a page (which consisted only of two or three paragraphs each). But my reading speed improved with practice, as with most things in life. Eventually, it even became sort of fun. I would read while listening to the television, read while eating, even read in bed at night with all the lights turned out. It felt nice to be able to simply read again.

A slate and stylus for writing Braille

The other part of the homework, on the other hand, was more difficult. I use a slate and stylus (comparable to paper and pencil) to write my answers and often find myself forgetting where in my sentence I am or accidentally overlapping one line over the other, resulting in a blob of illegible dots.

Regardless, I’ve officially graduated from the first grade and have moved on to the second grade. Now I am learning contracted Braille where certain letters represent entire words, e.g. B is for “but”, C is for “can”, and so on. My teacher said it’s a lot of memorization, but isn’t that Braille in the first place? Contracted Braille is important to learn, though, because that’s the Braille they use in public on restroom doors, etc.

On Tuesday, September 21, there will be a mini-graduation celebration at the Division for Blind Services for those of us who have completed some milestone in our Braille education. It won’t be anything special, but it’ll be nice to meet others who share in some of the same frustrations and rewards that come with learning to read again, this time, through touch and not sight.

not your typical spanish fare either

Sep 13

Catalan
5555 Washington Ave., Ste. A
Houston, TX 77007
713-426-4260

4/5 big beefy bone marrows

In continuing our attempt to relive our honeymoon gastronomically, John decided to take me out on a spontaneous dinner date. We’ve heard two of our friends claim this place to be in their top five, so naturally, we gave it a try. Since half of our honeymoon was in Barcelona, which is part of Catalonia, I was looking forward to reminiscing over some familiar foods. We arrived right before the dinner rush at about 6:45 and were not turned away nor did we have to wait despite our lack of a reservation. (We were, however, seated near the back at a table with wrinkly linens. But this didn’t bother us–we were there for the food.)

The menu is extensive, and everything sounded delicious albeit unfamiliar–there was no mac ‘n cheese in Barcelona as far as I could recall. Our waiter could not recommend any particular dish, saying “everything’s great.” Thanks for the help, buddy.

We ended up ordering three appetizers and one main dish to share. The plates were brought out one by one; we were not presented with the next until we were done with the previous. This aided in a slow dining pace which I enjoyed because it allowed for full concentration on one dish at a time. Our entire dinner conversation consisted of how the food looked and tasted–we felt like true critics.

The first plate was crab croquettes ($12) with a lemon zest sauce dribbled over it. A croquette is a small deep-fried little ball of goodness usually containing some variation of protein (meat or seafood), vegetables, dairy (cheese, eggs, etc.), and herbs. It is wrapped in bread crumbs before frying. Croquettes, which come from the word meaning “to crunch” in French, are originally from France but have since popped up all over the world. At Catalan, we oiriginally ordered pork croquettes but were told they had just been placed on the menu that night and were not ready. John and I exchanged glances. It didn’t seem very professional to print things on the menu only to disappoint your customers. Nevertheless, thinking back to the chicken croquettes I had at Paco Merlago (more on this later), I knew I wanted croquettes.

Crab croquettes with lemon zest

The croquettes were tasty but nothing to rave about. We thought it would be better if there was more lump crabmeat inside and less of the creamy filling. The lemon zest sauce added an interesting citrus twist to the flavor, but call me old-fashioned because I think I prefer a traditional croquette. I do commend the chef for trying something different. If it’s any consolation, I am not much of a fan of anything with lemon flavor, e.g. candy, cookies, pies.
The next dish was the bone marrow ($14) which is spread on a slice of toast and topped with a pickled onion. This was my first time to ever have bone marrow, and I must say, this dish blew me away. It tasted even better than foie gras. There is something delightfully rich about each bite. The marrow was salty, and its marriage to the pickled onion was perfect. John and I could not stop swooning over this dish.

Awesome bone marrow with pickled onion on toast

Our last of the appetizers was the seared foie gras ($18) which was dressed in a blueberry jelly. John enjoyed the salty and sweet complexity (probably a testament to his love of PBJs), but I found the jelly too sweet. I like to taste foie gras for its fatty, substantial essence, and so to add anything that overpowers the foie gras usually results in disappointment for me.

Foie gras with blueberry sauce

Finally, our entree arrived: Bryan’s farm-raised fried chicken with redneck mac ‘n cheese and watermelon pickles ($24). I always judge fried chicken on its battered skin, and this fried chicken was pretty damn good. It tasted of a lot of herbs, and I like that (I like KFC’s original recipe, what can I say?). Even the white meat was fairly juicy. Redneck cheese, we were told, is a particular cheese from Texas. It tastes like a sharp cheddar to me, but not too pungent. It made the mac ‘n cheese taste like home cookin’ with a gourmet kick. I tried a bite of the watermelon pickles just to try it. It wasn’t too tart and tasted refreshing, but because John is much more of a watermelon and pickle fan than me, I gave him all of it. I’m sure he was glad to have more to himself.

Our main dish: gourmet Southern comfort food

John had a $12 glass of cabernet sauvignon, and after tax and tip, we ended up spending an even $100. Don’t get us wrong–we are typically cheapos, and this was much higher than we were expecting to pay for a Friday night dinner, but we are still newlyweds and still splurging on our dates. But I do think $100 for 3 appetizers and a shared entree with only one glass of wine is pretty high. Catalan is great, but for that price, we still prefer Mark’s. But because of the heavenly bone marrow and I give it four out of five big beefy bone marrows.

Disclaimer: I know the photos posted on this entire blog are sub-par, but for what it’s worth, either I (a blind person) am taking the photo, or we’re using an iPhone and not a nice camera. So please excuse the mess. I’m sure you can understand the Blind Cook’s blog won’t be the most visually appealing.

ribs, legs, and wisconsin wieners: part 2

Sep 10

Continuing from the previous post on the Labor Day barbecue, here are the other two recipes that made up our grilling festivities.

Note: Again, I apologize for the lack of photos on a food post, but the food just got to’ up before John had a chance to snap some on his phone.

We grilled up about 25 chicken legs, and so to avoid monotony, I decided to use two different grilled chicken recipes. The last time I made this chicken recipe, it was a hit so why not go again for a crowd pleaser? The recipe is simple, requires few ingredients, and is easily adaptable according to how you feel like eating it. (You’ll see what I mean in the recipe below.) Now make it and eat it. Don’t you think it’s better than that crap Jack-in-the-Box version?