Asian/Fusion Archives - Page 18 of 22

Stuffed Cucumber Kimchi with Shrimp and Minari

Stuffed Cucumber Kimchi
Oi Sobaegi 오이소박이
With Shrimp, Minari, Sesame Oil, Sesame Seeds, Gochugaru

Jupiter has aligned once again with Mars, in the blogging universe that is. Food Network’s Summer Fest features cucumbers this week. Our monthly cooking group, the Creative Cooking Club’s theme is “stuff-it.” And I planned to create another seasonal Korean fusion dish this week celebrating the honor of having my recipes featured in the Korea Herald Business.

Korean + Summer + Cucumber + Stuffed = Oi Sobaegi

My recipe for stuffed cucumber kimchi came from studying 5 Korean cookbooks in my collection, plus researching many recipes online. One thing I kept noticing, especially on google image – the final dish was not very attractive; green logs with all this stuffing hanging out. No doubt they were delicious, but my challenge was to make the dish pleasing to the eye as well as the palate.

Pairing with shrimp was a natural combination, as the kimchi recipe contains tiny dried white shrimp. My recipe also contains a good deal of ginger, it is quite zippy. Minari is a bright herb sometimes called Korean watercress which adds a fresh note. I also used the thicker Chinese chives to hold the sliced cucumber together, making for a neat pretty presentation. This, my first attempt at oi sobaegi was surprisingly successful, so I am sharing the original recipe here.

Cookbook Resources:

Korean Cooking by Young Jin Song
Seoultown Kitchen by Debbie Lee
The Korean Table by Taeyung Chung
The Kimchi Cookbook by Kim Man-Jo
Aeri’s Korean Cookbook 1 by Aeri Lee

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Watermelon Carpaccio, Blistered Shishito, Mitsuba, Lime

Watermelon Carpaccio

Blistered Shishito Peppers, Mitsuba, Tiny Watermelon Balls
Radish Sprouts, Pistachio, Feta, Lime Vinaigrette, Korean Red Chili Powder, Lime Zest

The namesake of the Venetian Renaissance painter known for his use of brilliant reds and whites, “Carpaccio” was the inspiration for this summer treat. Giuseppe Cipriani, owner of Harry’s Bar invented the dish in 1950, the year of the great Carpaccio exhibition in Venice. It was inspired by the Contessa Amalia Nani Mocenigo, a frequent customer at Harry’s Bar whose doctor had placed her on a diet forbidding cooked meat. The original dish was simply paper-thin sliced raw beef topped with a mustard sauce. In the 63 years since its invention, the culinary term “carpaccio” has come to mean almost any dish composed of thinly-sliced raw food spread out on a platter.

In a challenge to make an elegant watermelon dish, I turn to carpaccio… plus mitsuba, a Japanese herb with a fresh, wild, sweet flavor similar to angelica which adds the herbaceous note. Then smoky grilled shishito balance the cool crisp watermelon. Radish sprouts add a pungent peppery characteristic. Just a little bit of feta adds richness and saltiness, while roasted pistachios add that nutty character. Gochugaru (Korean red chili powder) brings the heat and lime adds the bright citrusy notes. Elegant Watermelon? It’s possible.

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Korean Fried Chicken Salad DECONSTRUCTED

Korean Fried Chicken Salad DECONSTRUCTED

Soy & Rice Wine Marinated Fried Chicken Tenders, Mixed Lettuces
Yellow Pickled Radish, Bamboo Shoots
Fried Seasoned Seaweed, Onion, Potato, Cucumber
Spicy Gochugaru Dressing, Pine Nut Vinaigrette

Recently I was inspired by a serving platter. A gorgeous sculpted platter, a birthday gift from my brother and sister-in-law. I had been displaying it as a centerpiece, but had not actually used it to serve any food. It is too special, and fragile. Several of the small cups are attached to the platter, in various sizes and angles. They reminded me of banchan plates, used to serve a variety of Korean side dishes. Whatever I was going to serve on this platter had to be worthy of its simplicity, uniqueness, and beauty…

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BBQ Oysters – Gochujang Butter, Kimchi, Scallion

BBQ OYSTERS – KOREAN STYLE
Gochujang Butter, Kimchi, Scallion

Let’s not pretend that these BBQ oysters will appeal to everyone. But surprisingly, those who said they were not fans of bivalve molluscs nor fermented cabbage found themselves enjoying several of the Korean Style Oysters hot off the grill. At a recent party, we served Fanny Bay Pacific Oysters boldly dressed with Korean flavors – a spicy rich gochujang butter, complex kimchi, and fresh scallion. And paired with cold Hite lager to get the party has started!

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A Smoky Old-School Korean Bar (in LA)

I don’t pretend to be an expert on the Korean pub scene, in fact I’ve only been to this one. But here, my older brother Bill and I were transported to what I imagine to be a secret hideaway in a back alley somewhere in Seoul. He served in the military in Korea and was happy to accompany me as I reviewed a dozen restaurants for a Korean restaurant publication. We began our experience at Dan Sung Sa with a complimentary seaweed soup, perhaps served for drinking stamina? And positively addictive shoestring potatoes curiously sprinkled with sugar.

We were warned that Dan Sung Sa is not easy to find. It has no exterior signage in English, adding to the mystery and charm.

Dan Sung Sa
3317 W. 6th St.
Koreatown, Los Angeles, CA

This is a bar. Trippy, authentic, hip, smoky. We loved it. Definitely not a fine dining establishment by any means. If you are looking for a place to imbibe and experience what could be Seoul’s cultural underbelly, this is the place. We drank Hite and soju, we ate esoteric ahn-joo. The service fit the atmosphere, the music was perfect. By the way – it was smoky…and not just from the grill.

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