Momofuku Kimchi stew

I am slowly cooking from the momofuku cookbook as you can see. I am hoping maybe at same point I can cook about half the recipes in here, I could never cook every recipe in there especially the pig’s head torchon *shudders*. Now with the kimchi I made previously I just have to make the kimchi stew.

The broth in the stew is actually the ramen broth that took 9/10 hours+. I left out a few things in the recipe the ricecakes, radish kimchi, the roasted onion and the pork shoulder. Instead of the shoulder I had some fillet left so I ended substituting that instead. The roasted onions was going take 1 hour to make and I probably needed a small amount anyways so skip. Rice cakes I think I could easier do without …or more so because I was lazy to run to shops and buy some.

The result was a sourish stew but quite sweet due to the mirin. The verdict is I will probably won’t make this again. Reason? I enjoyed this dish very much but I think I prefer to used the ramen broth in ramen rather the kimchi stew.

Ingredients:
1/4 cup neutral oil
roasted onions
4 cups radish kimchi
4 cups Chinese cabbage kimchi
8 cups ramen broth
pork shoulder
6 tbs mirin
salt & pepper to taste
1 cup sliced rice cakes
1 cup sliced green onions
1 cup of finely julienned carrots
rice

1. Heat oil in a pan and added the roasted onions
2. Add kimchi and broth, turn the heat up to medium-high and let the flavors mingle and integrate for 5-6 minutes after the broth comes to a simmer. Skim off impurities.
3. Add the pork, mirin &pepper. Add more mirin if needed
4. Then add the rice cakes until they are warmed through. Top with green onions and carrots. Serve with rice

Serves 4 people
- recipe from Momofuku by David Chang and Peter Meehan *instructions were shorten a little.

Momofuku Kimchi – Chinese Cabbage

I can never managed to put down david chang’s cookbook. It is almost like an addiction. Kimchi is probably the simplest recipes in his book. I always wanted to make kimchi but was daunted that it was much more complex task. I think hardest part of Momofuku recipes is actually locating the ingredients rather the recipe.

I first washed the chinese cabbage then salted it and added sugar. I left the kimchi overnight, the next day the amount completely shrinked to this size.

Here is the mixture of garlic, ginger, red pepper powder, fish sauce soy sauce, salted prawn and sugar. I actually decided the reduce the ginger, red pepper powder and sugar. I think 1/2 cup of sugar was a too much. Since I lacked the spice tolerance I also reduce the red pepper powder to 1/3 of a cup. Ginger was something I didn’t like eating directly (I enjoyed it as a flavouring but not when it was eating raw). It took me forever to minced the ginger and garlic by hand.. I was so into it that I lost track of time and realise it took me 30 minutes.. urm..

Then add the spring onions and carrots.

1 small to medium Chinese cabbage, discoloured or loose outer leaves discarded
2 tbs kosher or sea salt*
1/2 cup of white sugar plus 2 tbs extra
20 garlic cloves, minced
20 slices of peeled fresh ginger, minced
1/2 cup korean red pepper powder*
1/4 cup fish sauce
1/4 cup usukuchi light soy sauce*
2 tsp jarred salted prawns*
1/2 cup 1 inch pieces spring onions
1/2 cup julienned carrots

* I gave up hunting kosher salt, I just used normal salt and it turned out okay. Korean red pepper powder can be found at the most larger Asian supermarkets or korean grocery stores. Jarred salted prawn can be found at most Asian grocery stores in the cold section. Usukuchi may be very hard to hunt down, I think normal light soy sauce will do okay. Even if you do locate a bottle it isn’t cheap!

1.Cut the cabbage lengthwise in half, then cut the halves crosswise into 1-inch-wide pieces. Toss the cabbage with the salt and 2 tablespoons of the sugar in a bowl. Let sit overnight in the refrigerator.
2. Combine the garlic, ginger, red pepper powder, fish sauce, soy sauce, prawn, and remaining ½ cup sugar in a large bowl. If it is very thick, add water 1/3 cup at a time until the brine is just thicker than a creamy salad dressing but no longer a sludge. Stir in the spring onions and carrots.
3. Drain the cabbage and add it to the brine. Cover and refrigerate. Though the kimchi will be tasty after 24 hours, it will be better in a week and at its prime in 2 weeks. It will still be good for another couple weeks after that, though it will grow stronger and funkier.

* I did change the words a little so its a little more catered for the Australian kitchen rather then American.
Recipe from Momofuku by David Chang and Peter Meehan

The result:

I haven’t let it ferment yet but I did taste a piece omg fresh kimchi is awesome! Would i revisit this recipe? Certainly.. won’t go back to buying kimchi ever again.

Shinara Grill and Lounge

Shinara is located in pitt street (koreantown area) its offers buffet or a la carte menu. We opted for the buffet option, the normal one costing about $30 and other premium which is about $40. I saw “wagyu” on the premium menu so we all decided to go for the latter. The extras on the premium menu was sashmi and others (that i dont recall). The menu is quite extensive including kimchi, salads, butter corn, seaweed salad and etc.

Our bbq grill, it is quite small! We were also given a table that didn’t have those air vents thingys meaning we going to smell like korean bbq.

beef ribs!

more beef?

Ox tongue

kimchi

karaage chicken, portions are really small you see so do order a few dishes.

Gyoza, note order more!

Yes just one agedashi tofu

If anyone wants to explain what this is please do, I wonder if food bloggers (not me) take notes of names of every dish they eat at the restaurants? I dont know how they remember everything!

Buttered corn, very yummy highly recommended.

Shop 1, 338 Pitt Street
Sydney NSW 2000

Night Noodles markets & O Bal tan

We had a quick stop over at the night noodles markets. We planned to have dinner there but it was quite muddy so we headed off elsewhere. It seems like there is less stalls this year. I was on the look out for the place with yummy prawn skewers but they weren’t there this year

Coconut and lychee ice cream in a very “greeny” bowl.

After the ice cream we decided on korean so we headed off to the O Bal tan.

Our Banchan kimchi and onions. The other plate is our pancake dressing.

Jap chae

I love this dish! First time I had it, it’s a cold buckwheat noodles in icey broth called Naengmyeon

Seafood pancake, the size of this pancake was huge! We still managed to finish it

Night Noodle Markets:
When: October 12-16 (Mon-Fri) and October 19-23 (Mon-Fri); dinner trading, 5pm-9.30pm. Hyde park

O Bal Tan
363A Pitt Street
Sydney NSW 2000
Phone (02) 9269 0299

Milliore

We ordered a set menu of $20 per person (need a minimum of 4 people). On top on that we had the potato pancake. It was a busy night we asked for water 3 times and nothing. After the 4th time the waiter arrives with two cups and mentions they have no cups left. Strange…

mandu (dumplings)

Japchae

beef ribs soup. I though this might been a bbq dish but it ended up being a soup dish.

beef and vegetables hotpot. The menu stated “spicy” where was the spice? The hotpot was left mostly untouched.

potato pancake

Shop G10, 730 George St (capitol square)
Haymarket NSW 2000
Phone (02) 9212 2828