I often feel like cooking something very simple without taking much effort, yet want to pretend that I spent some good time on it. Do you ever feel the same way? Then this omelet rice might come in handy. In fact, I cooked it 4 times in the last week already.

Michael was very intrigued how I cover the rice with the eggs so well. Although dicing vegetables can be a little annoying and the most time consuming part of the process, it is quite simple to make. Would you like to pretend too?

Ingredients – 2 servings

• 1/2 (50 g) carrot
• 1/2 (80 g) onion
• 1/3 (40 g) red capsicum
• 80 g smoked ham
• 100 g crab stick
• 3 tbsp tomato sauce
• 1 tbsp worcestershire sauce
• 4 eggs
• A pinch of salt
• 2 cups steamed rice
• Some rice bran oil
• Some tomato sauce

Method

-Stir frying rice (You will need a wok)

1. Dice carrot, onion, red capsicums, ham and crab stick.
2. Mix the tomato sauce (3 tbsp) and worcestershire sauce in a bowl.
3. Pre heat the wok on high heat for 10 seconds and add some oil.
4. Add all diced ingredients and saute for 1 minute.
5. Reduce the heat to half.
6. Add the steamed rice and the mixed sauce. Mix them well for 30 seconds.
7. Stop the heat.

-Omelet

1. Beat two eggs in a bowl and add a pinch of salt.
2. Heat a frying pan and add some oil. Pour the egg in the frying pan.
3. Quickly spread the egg and make a thin, large, and round omelet.
4. Repeat step 1 to 4 for the rest of the eggs.

-Shaping (You will need two deep bowls and two plates)

1. When the omelets are made, place them in deep bowls.
2. Put the stir fried rice on top of each omelet.
3. Put the plate on top of the bowls. Turn them up side down and remove the bowl.

-Decoration

1. Make a cross cut on top of the omelets and add some tomato sauce on top.
2. Enjoy!

Related posts:

1. Egg Omelet (Gyeranmari in Korean)
2. Simple Steamed Eggs (Gyeran Jjim)
3. King Oyster Mushrooms and Prawns on Rice

I don’t like receiving phone calls around meal time, especially when I am busy preparing food. It might sound strange but I believe the more attention the food gets, the tastier it gets. Unfortunately I was on the phone while the eggs were steaming in the pot. It was my sister from Korea, you know what happens then. The long chit chat and giggles.

Nevertheless, I couldn’t concentrate much on the conversation. My mind was with the steaming eggs. Hang up, sis! I need to check my babies. I returned to the kitchen. Da da~! I opened the lid and I saw real gems in pretty cups. I didn’t expect the eggs to rise yet they looked so adorable!

I think the eggs have a joker face. You never know what it is going to be until you serve it. Do you agree? I was so happy to see the well transformed eggs but slightly sad that I missed how they transformed. I hope you don’t miss this.

Ingredients (to serve 3 people)

• 6 large eggs (~70g each)
• 15cm by 15cm kombu (dried seaweed)
• 1 cup of warm water
• 2 tbsp anchovy sauce
• 1 stalk of finely chopped shallot (green part only)
• 1/3 of finely chopped medium size carrot

Prep

1. Soak the kombu in warm water for 15 minutes.
2. Beat the eggs and sieve them two times.
3. Add the kombu water into the beaten eggs (discard the kombu).
4. Add the anchovy sauce, shallots, and carrot.
5. Mix them well.
6. Pour the egg mixture into bowls (up to 80% of the bowl) and cover them with plastic wrap.

Method (It makes it easier if you have a big steamer)

1. Boil the water in a steamer (high heat).
2. When the water starts to boil, add the bowls.
3. Lower the heat to medium to low, steam the bowls for about 15-20 minutes.
4. Serve them.

The raised eggs sink slightly as time passes. Though they still look pretty. It was a perfect match with plain rice. Michael thinks it can be a good entree as well. However eating it on its own can be salty, so you might want to reduce the amount of anchovy sauce to 1 tbsp if you don’t like too much salt taste.

For a variation, you can add other kinds of vegetables or even some meat. I will do another post with those some other time. In the mean time, I also think plain steamed egg would be a good baby’s formula.

Related posts:

1. Boiled Beef and Quail’s Eggs in Soy sauce (Sogogi Jangjorim in Korean)
2. Omelet Rice (Omurice)
3. Spicy Mussel Stew (Honghap Jjim in Korean)

Here comes a two thumbs up recipe. I didn’t quite know what to expect for this dish, because I just found the recipe in a book I bought about a month ago. What is more, I didn’t have the right amount of ingredients as it said, so I had to change a lot. Lucky I have a good imagination. I guessed what I could add more of by looking at its colour.

When I had the first bite of the chicken wrapped with iceberg lettuce, it was a full of surprise. It was really delicious. Of course, the fact that we were so hungry helped us appreciate the food more, so anything could have been a two thumbs up food to us, yet there was something special about it.

It tasted slightly salty yet the occasional walnuts added a savory taste and crunchy texture. I added too much chicken breast compared to the other ingredients, so the rare shrimp was a nice surprise too. (By now you know how much I love shrimps, prawns, and that kind of food, right?) Michael complained a bit about the iceberg lettuce, because it was too hard to fold compared to other kinds of lettuce, but he admitted that it gave a nice crispy and fresh texture.

Ingredients for 3 people

(Prep time – 20 minutes, Cooking time – 10 minutes)

• Chicken breast – 800g
• Shelled shrimps – 100g
• 2 green chilies (supposedly not spicy)
• 2 red chilies
• 1/2 a medium size onion
• Iceberg lettuce
• Shelled walnuts – 2 tbsp
• Some olive oil

Sauce (mix these well in a bowl)

• Soy sauce – 3 tbsp
• Refined rice wine – 4 tbsp
• Oyster sauce – 1 tbsp
• Grated apple – 5 tbsp (one medium apple gives about 6 tbsp)
• Minced garlic – 1½ tbsp
• Ginger powder – 1 tsp
• Potato starch powder – 1 tbsp

Prep

1. Cut the onion into small cubes.
2. Take the seed out from the green and red chilies, thin slice them diagonally.
3. Rinse the chicken and shrimps in cold water, cut the chicken into small to medium cubes.
4. Separate the iceberg lettuce, rinse the leaves in cold water, and cut them into a size easy to use as a wrap.
5. Put the chicken and shrimps in a bowl, add the sauce and marinade it for 15 minutes.

Cooking

1. Pre heat the wok, and add some oil.
2. Add the marinade meat and stir it well until 90% of it cooks.
3. Add the chilies, onion and walnuts stir them well.
4. When it is cooked, serve a spoonful of the meat and vegetables on a lettuce leaf.
5. Wrap it and dig in. (it is hard to fold if you put in too much meat.)
6. Enjoy the surprise.

It is a really easy to prepare and to cook meal. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

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1. Bulgogi Flavoured Chicken Burrito
2. Marinated Chicken Stir Fry with Gochujang sauce (Dakgalbi in Korean)
3. Deep Fried Chicken in Garlic Sauce (Ggan Pung Gi in Korean)

My favourite meal, Dakgalbi is one of the most popular foods that people are searching for on this blog. I posted about it 4 months ago and have gained a good reputation. I have been busy cooking new dishes every day, so I haven’t had the chance to have my favourite meal for nearly three months now. So since Dakgalbi is so popular amongst you and me, I thought I will do another post about it, but give it a more decent taste and mouth watering pictures. How does that sound?

I was so thrilled to try this out again and very happy with the result I got. OK, I will be honest here, my sister thinks that it wasn’t as good as the one from Dakgalbi street in Chuncheon, Gangwon province where it originates from, but come on! I am an amateur cook and if you compare my food with professionals that is Not Fair!!

Though we all agreed that it was definitely better than some of the local restaurants, so I want you to try it out, and tell me what you think of it. I will appreciate your comments even if you say something mean.

• Recommended equipment – Portable gas burner and double handled wok

Ingredients for 4 people

(Expected Prep time – 1 hour 15 minutes, Cooking time – 5 to 10 minutes)

-Meat and the first seasoning

• Chicken Breast 500 g
• Refined rice wine – 2 tbsp
• Ginger powder – ¼ tsp
• Pepper 3 sprinkles

-Marinade sauce (mix these well in a bowl.)

• Gochujang – 3 tbsp
• Minced garlic – 1 tbsp
• Korean chili powder – 1 tbsp
• Korean soy sauce – 1 tbsp
• Dark brown sugar – 1 tbsp
• Korean yellow curry powder – 1 tsp
• ½ an grated onion

-Side ingredients

• 1 medium size potato (using sweet potato is more authentic, though I forgot to buy one, so I added potato instead)
• ⅓ of a medium carrot
• ¼ of a small cabbage
• 11 perilla leaves (so called sesame leaves, ggaennip)
• Fresh rice cakes (Garaeddeok) 400g (It is a lot, but we love the rice cakes. If you are using pre packaged ones, soak them in cold water for 20 minutes before you use them.)

Prep

1. Rinse the chicken in cold water.
2. Cut it into mouthful pieces.
3. Put it into a bowl, then add the first seasoning on top.
4. Soak for about 15 minutes.
5. While you are waiting, wash the vegetables, peel the skin off as needed.
6. Thin slice the potato (or sweet potato), carrot, cabbage, and perilla leaves.
7. Add the seasoning sauce into the chicken bowl, mix it well, and leave it for 1 hour.

Cooking

1. Pre-heat the wok for about 20 seconds.
2. Put some olive oil in the wok.
3. Put all the vegetables into the wok and add the meat on top.
4. Stir them well while it is cooking and you can start to eat when it is cooked.

Enjoying Dakgalbi the restaurant way at home

1. Eat while Dakgalbi is cooking. (So you need to have a portable gas burner and double handled wok or nonstick pot) Eating a warm meal always tastes the best.
2. Prepare some lettuce and perilla leaves to wrap the cooked Dakgalbi. (I forgot to buy them, I don’t know what I was thinking.)
3. When you are nearly finished the meal, you can add some udong noodles or rice and stir fry them. (I used rice for us – 1½ cups of steamed rice, some finely chopped Kimchi, a dash of sesame oil, some ripped seasoned laver – I didn’t add any sauce, but if you want you can add some gochujang)

Some questions you might ask

1) When do I need to add some noodles or rice?

- If you have little bits of vegetables and meat left in the wok at the end of the meal, then it is the time to add them. This is a picture of the right time. Michael insisted that I shouldn’t post this picture, because it doesn’t look very appetizing, but to make it clearer I am sharing with you.

2) Is 500 g chicken really enough for 4 people?

- Well, while I was eating Dakgalbi, I thought ‘I wish I had added more chicken’. Though since I added a lot of rice cakes, it was very filling for 4 people, but if you going to add less rice cakes than I did, then Do add more chicken.

3) Is it OK to use a portable electric burner?

- I am not that fond of electric burners in general. If it is the only burner available for you, then I guess you can, but I always prefer gas burners. They heat faster and are easier to control.

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1. Marinated Chicken Stir Fry with Gochujang sauce (Dakgalbi in Korean)
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3. Teriyaki Sauce Marinated Chicken

About a month ago, at a regular gathering with the other foreigners in this area, we went to a Chinese restaurant. We usually order sweet and sour pork as a main meal to share and individuals order small meals like fried rice or Jajangmyun. Then two of the adventurous Canadian couple suggested we have something different than sweet and sour pork, and they suggested we have deep fried chicken in garlic sauce instead. They said it was really delicious. Michael and I didn’t mind, but others were a bit iffy.

The dish was served and it looked so glorious. I hadn’t had it for a long time, so I almost forgot what it tasted like. The chicken had golden fried skin, very crispy texture, and slightly sweet – sour and spicy – garlicky taste. Everyone totally loved it, except one person.

Then a couple of days ago, I really craved that dish and I tried to make it.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have the right amount of starch powder, so I had to change the method a little bit. Sadly it turned out that it wasn’t as crispy as what I had at the Chinese restaurant, but it was still delicious in a sour, garlicky, morish way. I still have some ingredients left over and bought a new pack of starch powder, so I am going to make one more dish, hopefully improved, this week sometime.

Ingredients for 2 people (If you are having other small meals as well, then you can share between 3 people)

(Expected prep time – 15 minutes, Cooking time – 30 minutes ; You can reduce the time if you have a big frying machine and bigger kitchen)

Meat and extras

• Chicken breast 500 g
• 1/2 a red capsicum
• 1/2 a green capsicum
• 1/2 an onion
• 1 green chili (spicy)
• 1/2 a lemon
• Olive oil – 1 tbsp
• Some vegetable oil for deep frying

Marinade Chicken (mix these together in a bowl)

• Refined rice wine – 1 tbsp
• Soy sauce – 1 tbsp
• Pepper 3 sprinkles
• Salt 3 sprinkles

Batter

• Starch powder (I used potato starch) – 3 tbsp
• White flour (I used all purpose flour) – 3 tbsp
• Curry powder – 1 tsp
• Water – 5 tbsp
• 1 egg, beaten

Garlic sauce (mix these together in a bowl)

• Vinegar (I used apple vinegar) – 2 tbsp
• Soy sauce – 2 tbsp
• Oyster sauce – 2 tbsp
• Honey – 2 tbsp
• Refined rice wine – 2 tbsp
• Minced garlic – 1 tbsp
• Ginger powder – 1 tsp
• Sesame oil – 1 tbsp
• Lemon liquid – 1 tsp

Prep

1. Rinse the chicken in cold water.
2. Cut the chicken into bit size pieces, add the marinade sauce then soak it for 15 minutes.
3. Cut the capsicum and onion into small cubes.
4. Take the seeds out from the chili and thin slice it diagonally.
5. Thin slice the lemon.
6. Make the batter. (Sieve the powders and flour first, then add the water and egg, and mix them well in a big bowl)
7. Put the chicken into the batter bowl, mix it well.

Cooking (you will need two woks)

1. Pre heat the wok (a) for 20 seconds.
2. Put the vegetable oil into the wok and when it starts to boil, add one battered chicken piece.
3. When it floats, add more chicken and fry all the chicken.
4. Put the fried chicken onto some kitchen paper to soak some oil off.
5. Put the olive oil into the wok (b), add the chili, stir fry it briefly, then take out the chili. (It was for flavour. so you can throw it away.)
6. Add the capsicum and onion, stir fry it.
7. Add the garlic sauce and stir it well. (making the garlic sauce is done here)
8. Deep fry all the chicken once more (in wok (a) ), for a crispy texture.
9. Soak some oil off with kitchen paper then serve the chicken on the plate.
10. Add the garlic sauce onto the chicken and add the lemon for topping.

I hope you like it, we certainly did!

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1. Sweet and Sour Chicken 2 (Tangsuyuk in Korean)
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