Quick Bulgogi Baked Fish

Bulgogi sauce is a very famous Korean dish for its versatile Korean applications. This sauce is very easy to make at home, but it is sold in a bottle at any Korean grocery. I always have this sauce in my pantry, or sometimes I make the sauce myself if I can get my hands on some Asian pears. The sauce goes well with many dishes from meat, vegetables, tofu, or to any kind of fish. I like to prepare this dish with fish because it is so simple to serve as a healthy dinner or a quick fix, if some friends show up unannounced. The nice thing about this dish is that most vegetables can accompany it as well. Throw in some baked potatoes, mushrooms, carrots, steamed broccoli, or spinach and voila – dinner served!

Ingredients:
Two salmon or tuna
1/4 cup store-bought Bulgogi sauce
1 tbs roasted sesame oil
1 tsp Korean chili powder or cayenne
Garnish with fresh chopped chives or green onions
Hot cooked rice

Directions:
In a baking dish, place fish. Pour about 2 tablespoons of Bulgogi sauce over fish. Top with chili powder or cayenne. Bake fish in a preheated oven set to 400° for 20 minutes. Add roasted sesame seeds, chives, or green onions on top and serve.

 

Grilled Bananas Wrapped with Sweet Rice

Grilled bananas with sticky rice is a rustic dish often sold on the streets of Vietnam. In a newspaper article on tourism, this dish has been on a list of delicious dishes. Personally, I have very happy memories of this snack. As a student, I had three very close female friends. We often ate snacks during after-school sessions. We four kids loved the same dish – (Chuối Nếp Nướng) grilled sticky banana. We had set out a game rule, and the rule was that the one of the four of us that ate less than the others, then that person had to pay for the others’ food. Normally, I did not eat as much as my friends, and I usually lost the game although I still remember that I was once close to finishing three of the grilled bananas. No wonder, I used to look quite stout and chubby as a teenager. However, this dish was chosen for the best snack food on the street because it has the natural sweetness of the bananas, blended with sticky sweet rice, and with the creaminess of coconut milk. The fragrance was unbelievable while waiting for them to be served because in Vietnam this dish was grilled using a stove made with clay. This kind of clay pot was just used for grilling this banana dish. While watching a cook finish grilling bananas, the clicking sound of the charcoal and watching the  flame-broil the bananas leaf wrapping around the  sticky rice, created a hungry feeling that increased one’s appetite way up. I still remember a first bite into this bananas between my teeth. A naturally sweet juice from the banana flowed out, and oh boy! All the worry and weariness of the day washed away. After 1975, Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, was taken over by the Communists from the North.  We all lost contact with each other and are perhaps now living somewhere on the globe. I am certain that all my friends still remember this silly game that we played and now miss this dish and those wonderful memories. Today, I will prepare this Chuối Nếp Nướng dish to recall the taste of food from my childhood and to relive fond memories of my best friends of my youth that I adore very much. 
 
Ingredients:
2 cups sweet rice, washed and drained
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup coconut milk (from 14 oz. can)
1 cup water
1/4 cup sugar or less
4 bananas, cut in half
Banana leaves, washed and cut lengthwise (about 1 inch width)
 Coconut milk for topping
1 cup coconut milk
1/3 cup water
2 tbs sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbs cornstarch
2 tbs water 
Roasted peanuts
 
Directions:
Combine sweet rice, salt, coconut milk, and water in a rice cooker. Press to cook. When rice is cooked, add sugar and mix well. 

Cut a plastic wrap three times bigger than each banana. Place on countertop. While working close in front of you, place 1/3 cup of cooked rice on the center of a piece of plastic wrap.

 Cover the rice with the extra plastic wrap hanging over. Use your hands or a pin to roll the cooked rice large enough to wrap around a banana. Uncover the plastic wrap and place banana in the middle of the now flattened cooked rice.

Start rolling up, making sure the entire banana is covered by cooked rice.

Wrap the rice-covered banana with a banana leaf (follow the picture).

Place seam side down on a baking sheet.

Preheat oven to 450° and first bake the bananas for 15 minutes and then turn the oven to broil. Let bananas broil on all sides. 

White the bananas are baking, make coconut milk.
In a sauté pan, add the coconut ingredients, except the cornstarch, and water to just simmer. Dissolve the cornstarch in water. Add to the coconut milk and cook until thick.

Peel off the banana leaf and place bananas on a serving plate. Top with coconut milk and roasted peanuts.
Note – this dish can be stored frozen in the freezer for later consumption.

Quick Fix Wonton and Ramen Noodles Soup

Wonton noodles soup is a Chinese dish and very popular. Making wonton at home is time-consuming.. To satisfy a yearning for a quick fix bowl of Ramen wonton soup, store-bought wonton and a good homemade chicken broth is all that is necessary. This is a semi-homemade recipe with all the nutritional needs for a good meal. Cleanup is a flash, and I guarantee everyone will love it.

 Ingredients
4 cups good chicken broth
1/2 tsp fresh chopped ginger
1 package chicken Ramen noodles
15 wontons, frozen
Soy sauce and salt to taste
2 hard-boiled eggs (optional)
Vegetables:
1 cup total of carrots. Daikon, and spinach
A few extra baby bok choy

Garnish with chopped green onions and cilantro

Directions:
Add chicken broth and ginger to a saucepan and bring to boil. Add carrots and daikon and simmer until carrots and daikon are tender. Season with salt and soy sauce. Add wonton and bring back to boil. Add bok choy and spinach before serving.
Blanch Ramen noodles in hot water for a minute discard a seasoning package--I like to do this because it is a healthier way to eat Ramen noodles. Divide noodles and place in serving bowls; Divide the vegetables, wonton, and eggs. Pour the broth on top and enjoy!

Waking up

 The world has too many sad-disturbing things. So many people went to Buddha and asked him about a problem: "What should I do to avoid any more new troubles?"
And the same answer:
- Just let go, You  will stop any more negativity and sadness.
There are those who did not believe that answer and asked more:
- In this world there are thousands and thousands of people and there will be thousands and thousands of  disturbing things, but you showed them the same complete solution, so it did not satisfy me
Buddha  reinterpreted:
- At night when sleeping, do you often dream?
- Of course I do!
- So, are every night's dreams the same?
- Of course,each dream is different!
- Then you slept thousands and thousands of times, and people will dream of thousands and thousands of  dreams. But all dreams end the same way by waking up.
 

Translated from Buddhist stories

Seaweed Salad

Seaweed is very healthy to eat. Most Koreans and Japanese cooks are using the dried seaweed for many of their recipes. I like to make kelp stock for my cooking, and cooked seaweed is perfect for this side dish. Serve this side dish with fish or meat.

Ingredients:
1/2 oz dried seaweed (whole or cut)
1/2 cucumber, sliced
1/2 small onion, sliced
1/2 carrot, shredded
Dressing ingredients:
2 tbs apple cider vinegar
1 garlic clove, minced
1/2 tbs sugar
1 tbs soy sauce
1 tsp Korean pepper powder
Directions:
Soak the seaweed in water until softened or use the leftover cooked seaweed after making seaweed stock. Cut into matchsticks or any shape that you like.
In a bowl, combine the dressing ingredients and mix well.
In another bowl, place seaweed, cucumber, carrot, and onions. Add dressing and mix well. Before serving, sprinkle 1 tbs roasted sesame seeds over the top. This salad can be refrigerated for weeks.

Sautéed Green Beans with Garlic and Herbs

For tender tasting beans, blanch the beans in boiling water and quickly soak in cold water to preserve the bright green color. This method of pre-stir frying any kind of vegetables to serve as a side dish is the right way because most households do not have a commercial stove to put out extreme heat.  Butter is usually used to make a paste for garlic and herbs, but, for a healthier choice, coconut oil can be used instead. Herbs – such as, thyme, parsley, or basil – are well compatible with this recipe. I use all of them and why not?

Ingredients:
1/2 lb. of green beans
1/2 cup red onions, thickly sliced
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tbs coconut oil
1/2 tsp each of basil, thyme, and parsley, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 tsp cayenne
1 tsp lemon juice

Directions:
Bring a pot of water to boil and cook green beans for 1 minute. Run the blanched beans under cold water.
Mix half of garlic with all the herbs in a bowl.
In a sauté pan, add 1 tsp oil. Heat until hot. Add garlic and red onions. Stir quickly and cook until fragrant (about 1 minute). Add beans and cook for a few minutes or until crisp and tender. Season with salt, black pepper, and cayenne. Add the oil-herbs mixture. Toss well. Serve.

Coconut-Almond Cake

Different kinds of cakes can be made from similar ingredients. The results are properly determined by the methods used. However, for an untrained baker as myself, I usually try to find an easier way to bake a cake. One of the French cakes is Gateaux, which is surprisingly very easy to make. I use a method of making this cake by using almond flour and coconut flour. I am quite happy with the result, and I will now share the recipe for this cake here in my blog.

Ingredients:
1 cup almond flour
1/2 cup coconut flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 cup superfine sugar*
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 eggs
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted and cooled

Directions:
Line an 8” x 5” cake pan with parchment paper and grease well with melted coconut oil.

 

Preheat oven to 350°.
Sift the almond, coconut flour, and baking powder with a pinch of salt into a bowl.

 

Using a KitchenAid stand mixer, add superfine sugar and eggs. Cream this mixture for 7 to 10 minutes or until light in color and fluffy.

 

 Slowly beat in melted coconut oil, vanilla, and sifted flour.

Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and bake for 15 to 25 minutes.

The cake should be slightly springy to the touch or when a toothpick inserted into the center, comes out clean. Remove and let cool in the pan.

Serve a piece of cake with ice cream or icing the cake with store-bought chocolate fudge.

 

*To make superfine sugar, put granulated sugar in blender and set to high speed for 1 minute.