Recipe: Nikujaga (Japanese Beef & Potato Stew)

Nikujaga is the Japanese version of a beef ("gyuniku") and potato ("jagaimo") stew. The beef, which is sliced thinly, is braised with potatoes and onions in a dashi stock seasoned with Japanese soy sauce, mirin, cooking sake and sugar. Carrots are not in the original recipe, however I added it in for a pop of colour and furthermore, a little extra vegetables won't hurt, right? A great one-pot meal, nikujaga is perfect for those who prefer a lighter yet robust stew :)

Nikujaga (Japanese beef & potato stew)
Recipe by Baby Sumo, adapted from Japanese Bible
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 50-60 minutes
Serves 4


Ingredients
400g beef knuckle (or any braising beef), sliced thinly
1 tbsp cooking oil
1 tbsp sesame oil
500g potatoes, peeled and cut into 3cm cubes
1 large yellow onion, peeled and cut into 6 wedges
1/2 carrot, cut into quarters
500ml dashi stock
1 tbsp caster sugar
3 tbsp Japanese soy sauce
2 tbsp mirin
1 tbsp cooking sake
1 spring onion, green part only, cut into 1.5" lengths

1. In a heavy based saucepan, heat the cooking oil and sesame oil over medium high heat. Add the potatoes and saute for 8-10 minutes, until lightly golden all over. Remove and set aside.

2. Add the onions to the pan, and cook for 3-4 minutes until softened. Remove onions and set aside.

3. Add the beef to the pan and saute for about 2-3 minutes, until browned all over. Remove and set aside.

4. Return the potatoes and onion to the pan, and add dashi, sugar, 2 tbsp soy, mirin, and sake and bring to the boil. Once boiling, reduce to low heat, cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Skim any rising scum for the surface (if you prefer a clear finish to your stew) however you may just skip this step if you find it unnecessary.

5. After 15 minutes, add the beef from Step 3 and carrot, and continue to simmer for another 15 minutes, or until potatoes are tender.  Adjust seasoning as required with extra soy sauce or sugar.

6. Add spring onions to serving bowl and spoon hot stew into bowl. Serve with rice.


Note:
1. For the dashi stock, I mixed 500ml boiling water with 1 pack (5g) of instant dashi sachet.
2. For the seasoning, I recommend that you start with 2 tbsp Japanese soy sauce and gradually increase to your liking.

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Recipe: Chicken and Potato Stew

I believe that most of us grew up eating our mother's version of the versatile chicken and potato stew. It's a delicious, comforting dish which is also super easy to prepare. In times like these (MCO), when you want to stretch your meat, potatoes are great as fillers and for bulking up the dish.

For my version of this popular stew, I like to first saute the potatoes in hot oil. Then, it will be braised along with garlic, onions, light and dark soy sauce before adding the chicken in. This will ensure that your chicken is not overcooked and stays tender. I hope this dish brings some comfort to you during these hard times and bring back good childhood memories. Enjoy!

Chicken and potato stew

Chicken and Potato Stew
Recipe by Baby Sumo
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 25 minutes
Serves 4

Ingredients
250-300g chicken breast or thigh, cut into small chunks
2 potatoes, peeled, halved and thinly sliced
1 yellow onion, peeled, halved and thinly sliced
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
2 tbsp cooking oil
200ml water
1/2 tbsp dark soy sauce
2 tsp light soy sauce
1 spring onion, finely chopped


1. Heat oil in wok over medium high heat. Once hot, add the potatoes and saute for about 3-4 minutes. Remove and set aside.

2. Add the garlic and onion, and saute for about 3-4 minutes, until the onions are softened. Return the potato to the pan and add water. Season with dark and light soy sauce and then braise for 10 minutes.

3. Add the chicken and then simmer for a further 5-10 minutes, until chicken is cooked through and potatoes are tender. Taste and season with more light soy sauce if necessary.

4. Plate up and garnish with spring onions. Serve with rice.

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Recipe: Sundubu Jjigae 순두부 찌개 (Korean soft tofu stew)

Our batch of homemade kimchi is nicely matured now, perfect for making all types of Korean stews.  Sundubu jjigae 순두부 찌개, is a warm, comforting Korean stew, also known as soft tofu stew. It is usually made using extra soft tofu (soondubu), thinly sliced meat, kimchi and anchovy broth.

For my version, I use silken tofu or soft tofu, as this is the closest I can get to soondubu here in KL supermarkets. For the stew, it only takes about 15 to 20 minutes to make, using water, matured (aged) kimchi, dried anchovies stock granules and some kimchi juice. If you don't have kimchi juice (the liquid from fermenting kimchi), just add extra gochugaru (hot pepper flakes) or gochujang (hot pepper paste) to taste.

Matured kimchi is best for making stews as they have a wonderful tang and depth of flavour which gives the stew a more intense flavour. Tofu is the star of the dish, however feel free to add other proteins such as pork. I also add some fresh Chinese cabbage for extra texture. Pretty straightforward, simple recipe which we love!

Sundubu jjigae

Sundubu jjigae  순두부 찌개 (Korean soft tofu stew)
Recipe by Baby Sumo
Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 15-20 minutes
Serves 2


Ingredients
1 box (300g) silken tofu or soft tofu
150g matured kimchi, chopped (recipe here)
350g water
5-6 tbsp kimchi juice
100g pork shoulder slices
2 Chinese cabbage, chopped
1/2 tsp dried anchovies stock granules
1 spring onion, cut into 2" lengths


1. In a saucepan, bring water to the boil over high heat. Add chopped kimchi, kimchi juice and dried anchovies stock granules. You may also add the hard Chinese cabbage stem in now. Simmer for at least 8-10 minutes.

2. Once boiling, give the stew a taste. If you prefer your soup spicier, then add some gochugaru.

3. Add the tofu and Chinese cabbage leaves and cook for another 2 minutes. I usually spoon big chunks of tofu from the box directly into the stew. 

4. Add the pork shoulder slices and cook for a further 2 minutes. You may also add pork mince, made into balls, into the stew.

5. Just before serving, add the spring onion. Divide into two bowls and serve immediately with rice.

Click here for kimchi recipe, or here to watch the video.

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Recipe: Thịt kho nước dừa - Vietnamese Braised Pork in Coconut Water

This year, I thought it'd be nice to start cooking some recipes from the many cookbooks that I own and introducing some different flavours / cuisine to my family. Last week, I made something from the Vietnamese Bible - a famous braised pork dish called Thịt kho nước dừa. This dish is traditionally served during Tet, the Vietnamese Lunar New Year. The pork (usually pork belly) is braised with nuoc dua, which is Vietnamese for coconut water.

For my version, I have used pork neck - as I have previously explained, pork neck is a fantastic cut as it has a layer of fat on the top (similar to pork belly) whereas the bottom layer is lean yet tender (which is what our kids enjoy).The best of both worlds! The pork neck is braised in coconut water along with lemongrass, garlic, shallots, fish sauce, golden syrup and sugar for 1 1/2 hours until the fat layers melt-in-your-mouth. The sauce will be a beautiful caramel-like colour at the end of braising time. You can also add boiled eggs before the end of braising time. Absolutely delicious, would definitely be making this again!

Vietnamese Braised Pork in Coconut Water (Thit Kho Nuoc Dua)
Recipe by Baby Sumo, adapted from Vietnamese Bible
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 1 3/4 hours
Serves 3-4

Ingredients
220ml coconut water (from fresh coconut)
500g pork neck or pork belly, cut into 3cm cubes
3 tbsp fish sauce
1 stem lemongrass (white part only), trimmed and chopped
2 cloves garlic, peeled
1 shallot, peeled and quartered
1 tbsp cooking oil
1 tbsp golden syrup
1/2 tbsp soft brown sugar
1 star anise
1/2 tsp white pepper
2-4 boiled eggs, peeled (optional)
1 spring onion, cut into 1" lengths


1. Season the pork with 2 tablespoonfuls of fish sauce and set aside for 5-10 minutes.

2. In a food processor or spice grinder, grind the lemongrass, garlic and shallot to a paste.

3. In a heavy saucepan or pot, heat the oil over medium high heat and saute the ground paste (from Step 2) for about 1 minute. Add the pork and toss to coat with the paste. Add the remaining fish sauce, syrup, sugar, star anise and pepper and stir over high heat for 1-2 minutes.

4. Pour in the fresh coconut water. Bring to the boil, skim any frothy residue which floats to the surface, cover and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 1 1/2 hours until the pork is very tender. The sauce should have reduced and will be a dark "caramel" colour.

5. Add the boiled eggs and simmer for another 10 minutes. Just before serving, add the spring onions and give it a quick stir.

Note: If you cannot get fresh coconut water, you may use bottled coconut water too.

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Daorae Korean BBQ Restaurant, Bandar Puteri Puchong, Selangor

We met up with our dear friend, Eunice to have dinner in Puchong. At first, we were considering Indonesian food (we could see Anggrek Kuring from our hotel window) but as we walked closer to the restaurant, we saw Daorae Korean BBQ Restaurant, and instantly changed our minds. Been a while since we had Korean and it will also be the first Korean BBQ experience for the kids. :)

Daorae is a pretty popular Korean chain, with over 10 restaurants around Malaysia including locations in Ipoh, Seremban, Penang, and Melaka. 

After going through the menu, we ordered the gochujang sam kyup sal (RM32) as well as the regular non-spicy sam kyup sal (RM30) so the kids can enjoy it too. There is a minimum order of 2 items for them to fire up the charcoal BBQ grill.

The serving staff did the cooking for us, so we basically just watched and waited in anticipation ;) The long strips of pork belly are placed on the hot plate and then grilled until cooked and crispy and then will be cut into bite-sized pieces for the diners to enjoy. Out of the two, I actually enjoyed the non-spicy version more. 

While waiting, they also served us a wide variety of ban chan (side dishes) such as kimchi, spinach, beansprouts, radish, and more. You can ask for refills when you're done. A complimentary soup is also served at the start.

Oh look at her happy face!

Cut into small pieces for enjoyment

All nice and golden... almost there

Served with seasoned sesame oil and ssamjang 

So yummy - melting layers of fat! They also serve some lettuce for you to wrap the grilled meats in.

Gochujang sam gyup sal.

We also ordered a kimchi jjigae (RM20) and beef bulgogi (RM28), both of which were very yummy. The bulgogi portion was pretty generous and the beef was nice and tender. These two dishes comes with a bowl of rice each. When you finish your meal, they will serve you with sik hye (sweet rice drink) and fresh watermelon.

Kimchi jjigae - spiciness level just nice for us, even Baby C enjoyed some of this ;)

Opening times: 12pm to 3pm (Lunch) and 5.30pm to 11.00pm (Dinner)

Service: Good.

Price: Total bill RM128.25

Location: Daorae Korean BBQ Restaurant, No.27-1, Jalan Puteri 1/4, Bandar Puteri Puchong, 47100 Selangor.

Tel: 03-8062 1203


GPS Coordinates: 3.026655, 101.616676


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Go Gung Korean Restaurant @ The Gardens Mall + Minions Invasion @ Midvalley, KL

Minions Invasion! Couldn't resist paying a visit to Midvalley this week to check out the cute Minions on display. They will be here until 14 June. 

But first, makan and meet-up with my talent manager, Sam :) We decided to go to Go-Gung for Korean food. Been a while since I've dined here (just checked my archive and it was 2010 when we last came here). Surprised to find that the prices have remained the same after 5 years for the set lunches :)

We both went for the ttook be gi bulgogi (soupy beef stew) (RM25) which comes with rice, 4 sides (non-refillable), 2 pieces of pancake (pajeon) and fresh fruits. The beef bulgogi portion was generous, and although the ban chan (sides) were non-refillable, the portion was also sufficient for us. For the sides, we were served kimchi, beansprouts, spinach as well as ladies finger. Pajeon was crispy and not oily, so yummy! Definitely good value for money :)

Other set lunches include kimchi jjigae, dolsot bibimbap, sundubu chigae, and deng jang chigae for RM20.

Pajeon

Headed over to Midvalley after lunch - look at the crowd! 

Photo time!

This is my fav one... one eye, one eye ;)

Awww HUG!

Opening times: 11am to 10pm daily.

Price: Total bill RM62.55. RM4.50 each for green tea.

Location: Go Gung Korean Restaurant, Lot T-212, 3rd Floor, The Gardens, Mid Valley City, 59200 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Tel: 03-2287 2981




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Recipe: Easy Beef Stew with Mashed Potatoes

On school days, I would usually cook dinner when the kids are in school (usually a one-pot meal) and then simply reheat when the kids are home. Last week, I made one of my family's favorite, beef stew. After trying many recipes for beef stew, I'm back to square one - my own recipe for beef stew, and one of the easiest and best tasting.

For this stew, simply cook the onions until softened, add the beef to sear and add the rest of the ingredients, and simmer for 2-3 hours until the meat is tender. And before serving, carrots and sugar snap peas are added which makes this a super convenient one-pot meal. My kids like mashed potatoes with their stew. Any stew leftovers can be reheated the following day - we shredded it to make "pulled beef" and then served inside a croissant for a pulled beef sandwich (or croisswich). ;)

Easy beef stew with mashed potatoes
Recipe by Baby Sumo
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 2-3 hours
Serves 6


Ingredients
1.2kg braising beef (I used oyster blade), cut into large chunks
2 onions, cut into thick slices
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 1/2 tbsp cooking oil
2 cup beef stock
3 tbsp tomato paste/puree
2 dried bay leaves
2 carrots, cut into chunks
1 pack sugar snap peas, tailed
Salt, to taste
Freshly ground black pepper


For the mashed potatoes
6-7 Russet potatoes (about 1.5kg)
70g butter
1-2 tbsp milk

Salt

1. In a large pot or casserole, heat the oil over medium high heat. Add the onions and cook for 2-3 minutes, until the onions have softened. Add beef to sear on all sides.

2. Add the garlic, bay leaf, stock and tomato puree and bring to the boil. Once boiling, reduce heat to low and simmer for 2-3 hours, until the meat is tender.

3. Add the carrots 30 minutes before the end of cooking time. Add the sugar snap peas 5 minutes before serving. Season with more salt and pepper, if desired.

4. For the mashed potato: Boil the potatoes in salted water over medium high heat for 15 minutes. Using a masher, mash the potatoes with butter. Add milk, and season with salt.

5. To serve, place a mound of mashed potato on a plate, making a well in the centre. Spoon your beef stew onto the centre of the plate and serve immediately.


Note: For the pulled beef sandwich, we use store-bought croissant. Serve with crispy streaky bacon and some cherry tomatoes.

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Recipe: Kimchi Jjigae (김치찌개 Korean Kimchi Stew)

Say goodbye to hot sunny days and hello to cool, rainy days.

Now that the weather is cooler, we enjoy having hot soup or stew for dinner. We have loads of matured kimchi left in the fridge, so we made some kimchi jjigae aka Korean kimchi spicy stew for dinner.

When making kimchi jjigae, you can use a variety of different meats and seafood such as pork, chicken, canned tuna or prawns - our choice this time is prawn and chicken. Make sure to use matured kimchi as it gives the stew a stronger, more intense flavour. You can control the level of spiciness by how much gochujang (hot pepper paste) or gochugaru (chilli powder) you put in. We love to have lots of tofu in our jjigae.

Not only is it easy to make, it is so very comforting and delicious. Kimchi jjigae is wonderfully appetizing with a sourish tinge from the matured kimchi. It is a fantastic one-pot meal which you can enjoy in less than 30 minutes.

All we need is a bowl of rice and a big (or maybe two) bowl(s) of kimchi jjigae and we're happy campers :)

Kimchi jjigae 김치찌개 (Kimchi spicy stew)
Recipe by Baby Sumo, adapted from here
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 15 - 20 minutes
Serves 2-3 as main meal


Ingredients
2 tbsp vegetable oil
150g lean pork or chicken breast, sliced thinly

8 king prawns, peeled and deveined, with tails intact
1 onion, halved and sliced thinly
150g matured kimchi
1 clove garlic, crushed
100ml kimchi juice
500ml water
1 tbsp cooking wine (I used Shaoxing wine)
1 tbsp miso or doenjang
2 tbsp light soy sauce
1 1/2 tbsp gochujang (hot pepper paste)
1 piece beancurd, cubed
2 stalks spring onion, sliced
1 red chilli, sliced
1/2 tsp gochugaru (or chilli powder)


1. Marinate the pork/chicken with the Shaoxing wine.

2. Heat the oil in a small, deep pot and fry the pork/chicken, kimchi and garlic for 3-5 minutes. When the meat has browned, add the kimchi juice, onion, water, gochujang, miso/doenjang, and soy sauce, stirring everything together to combine.

3. Bring to boil and taste for spiciness. If you prefer your soup spicy, then add some gochugaru.

4. Allow the soup to simmer for 10-15 minutes, then add the tofu and cook for another 2 minutes. Add the prawns, and cook for a further 30 seconds, or until cooked.

5. Serve immediately with rice. Garnish with the spring onions and red chillies.

Note: If you do not have gochugaru, you can replace with chilli powder. See here on how to make your own kimchi.

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