Homemade Meals

Ever since living in Korea, I've been more inclined to cook at home. One reason is because there's not a lot of choices for food at 10pm at night. A second reason is because I enjoy cooking and cooking for two people is much more fun than one!

In this post, I'd like share some of the meals I've made that are in my circulation. I've separated them into breakfast and dinner. Lunch is usually leftovers so there's not much write about. 

Breakfast

Eggs in a variety of ways - scrambled, fried, sunny-side up, over-easy/medium, poached, hardboiled, with toast. It's simple to make in a variety of ways and you can add veggies if you make an omelet. 

Congee - about 1/2 cup of rice with 2 chicken bouillon cubes and 4 cups of water. I let it all boil in one pot - no need to stir. After it's boiled, I put in the pork or chicken and grate some carrots. When it boiled is when you can stir. Depending on how soft you want the grains to be, I usually cook it for about 30 min to 1 hour. The longer you cook it, the more water you'll have to add. Do not put a lid on it. After it's done, I take it off the stove and stir in two raw eggs one at a time. The egg cooks in the heat and creates a creamier texture. It's almost risotto like.

Dumplings - I put them single layered into a pan with a bit of oil and water and close the lid on medium heat. After a few minutes it'll have cooked the insides and then I turn up the heat so it'll pan fry the dumplings to make it crunchier. The dip is a mixture of soy sauce and sesame oil. I sometimes like to put in some hot sauce too. 

French toast - there are a few recipes and I can't seem to find the one I like. But it's usually a mixture of eggs, milk, cinnamon and vanilla. Soak the bread in the mixture and then put some butter in a pan and cook it on low heat. It's a shame that I can only do one at a time. And it is more time consuming so I don't do this that often. 

Other breakfast includes oatmeal, toast with peanut butter and nutella. 

Dinner

Fried rice - I always make some rice first in the rice cooker, about 1 and half cup of rice. You can make this with pretty much anything. I usually like to add cabbage, spam and corn. Sometimes I substitute the spam with ground pork. If using raw meat, I will cook that first then drain it and leave it in a bowl. Then I will steam some cabbage and corn in the pan with a lid on so it's cooked. Then I stir in the meat and add a bit of soy sauce. Finally I add the cooked rice and put some more soy sauce and stir it up. At this point, everything is cooked, it just needs to be mixed well together.

Tomato noodle soup - I like to quarter cherry tomatoes length wise, about a handful. Then let it boil in a pot with about 7 cups of water and 3 chicken bouillon cubes. Once it's cooked and the tomatoes are mushy, I'll put in some ground pork. I'll add in about a tablespoon of fish sauce.I like to use fusili noodles or rice noodles. I will either cook the noodle in soup over the stove or cook the noodles separately and the two together to serve. 

Shanghai noodle <recipe courtesy of Erica :)> I'll cut up the udon noodle package into four and boil them in hot water. I like to cook my meat separately to make sure it's cooked properly. So I'll cut up the pork into small bites and pan fry it until it's cooked through. Then drain it and leave it in a bowl. In the pan I'll put in sliced cabbage with enoki mushroom with some garlic powder and let it cook with a cover on. Once it's cooked, I'll open the lid and cook it until the water evaporates (or drained). Then I add in the meat and put some soy sauce in it. Next I add the udon noodles and put more soy sauce and oyster sauce. The portion of the sauce is to taste. I keep tasting it until it tastes just right. Also, I like to add beansprouts when I add the noodles. 

Udon in miso soup - I boil the udon noodle separately. The miso soup is an instant paste. I'll cook it over the stove in a pot and then add the udon noodle once they're done. I like to add some enoki mushrooms sometimes. This is pretty much a meatless dish. 

Pasta - I like to put pork or seafood (clams and shrimp) in the pasta. I also add some diced zucchini, spinach or whatever greens is available. I cook the meat first then the veggies and then add the pasta sauce. Sorry not from scratch but a jar. 

Curry - there are many kinds of curry powder and very simple to use. I usually cube some potatoes and carrots and boil them. I also cube the chicken and cook it separately. Once all is cooked, I put it in a big and deep pan and add some water and the curry powder. Leaving it on low, the sauce will thicken on its own and I can serve it over rice. 

Black bean sauce pork over rice (jajang sauce) - The sauce comes in a powder form. I usually put fatty
pork slices with cubed red and yellow peppers (sometimes zucchini) in it. Much like curry this goes well over rice. 

Chicken salad - This is lettuce, quartered cherry tomatoes and pan fried chicken slices with balsamic vinagrette. This is needed when we've been eating too much heavy food. It's nice and refreshing. 

Neil is a wonderful cook and usually he makes a meal once or twice a week and it's always delicious! He makes a mean roast pork with the most buttery mashed potatoes among other things. I'm a lucky girl :)