Doenjang Jjigae (Again!) with Clams

I cooked Doenjang Jjigae again, for the second time in two days. If you are not familiar with this dish, it is a Korean stew made with soy bean paste, and contains vegetables, meat and other ingredients. This time, I used the proper Korean soup pot,  ttukbaegi, which I just bought this morning, so that I could enjoy another delicious serving of this wonderful stew! This time though, I opted to use clams instead of pork. Fresh clams are pretty hard to come by in Australia (or Sydney at least), so I bought prepacked frozen baby clam meat instead, which worked really well in this dish. The clams don't take long to cook, so I added them into the stew during the last 5 minutes of cooking. Both the clam and pork versions are yummy. However, I do enjoy the texture and taste of the clams in this dish, and it's also quicker to prepare compared to using pork, which has to be sliced first (unless you use frozen pre-sliced pork).

Japanese Chicken Karaage / Tatsuta-age

We used to order chicken karaage (Japanese seasoned fried chicken) quite often whenever we dine at Japanese restaurants, where we would usually compare which ones made the best karaage. There are many versions to these succulent and crispy deep-fried chicken "nuggets". Some have a thin smooth layer of coating, some are more crumb-like, and some have hardly any coating at all, but they are delicious in their own ways. A lot of it also depends on the marinade used for the chicken. I can't say what the perfect karaage should taste like, but the ones I've made here are are really tasty. It has a nice balance of flavours with a perfect layer of coating that is deliciously crunchy.

Doenjang Jjigae (Korean Soy Bean Paste Stew)

Last night, I just made the most delicious stew for dinner! Doenjang Jjigae is a traditional Korean stew made with soy bean paste (doenjang) and contains ingredients such as tofu, meat, seafood, mushrooms and vegetables. Both G and I agreed that it tasted really authentic. And since this will probably feature regularly on our dinner menu, I will purchase one of those Korean soup pots called ttukbaegi, which is a black glazed earthenware pot used to cook Korean stews in.

Maple Cinnamon Pear Tarte Tatin with Fudge Sauce

If you have a look at my pantry, you'll find that it's practically bursting with all sorts of food - junk food, canned food, packets of dried noodles, instant noodles, pasta of every shape and size, grains, lots of snacks and juice poppers for school recess... G reckons that we're well stocked in the event of any food rationing. Oh yes, not to mention the refrigerator which is also full of bottles and jars of sauces, amongst other things (like the many blocks of butter that I stock when they go on sale). G has been pushing me to start using these things that are "clogging up" our pantry, but I told him that if I did use them up, I would probably just go buy more, just in case I needed them again.

Fujian Fried Rice with Gravy

I know, I know. You 're thinking, fried rice? Even a six-year old can make fried rice, so why post a recipe for it? Well, there are many versions of fried rice if you think about it, not only the kind you get in chinese restaurants. There's Thai fried rice, pineapple fried rice, nasi goreng (Indonesian), Yangzhou fried rice, salted fish fried rice, Indian-style fried rice with anchovies, Japanese omu rice - the list goes on. Here, I am sharing with you a recipe for Fujian fried rice, which is essentially fried rice served with an oyster sauce gravy. The gravy is thick and gooey, which allows it to perfectly coat each grain of rice with a layer of tasty savoury goodness. You've got to love rice with gravy!