Grace

Korean Spinach Side Dish

April 2, 2020 by Grace Leave a Comment

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Sundays are movie nights at our home. Typically I cook a dinner inspired by the film we watch…very often the food is from the country in which the film is set. The star of the meal was this Korean Spinach Side Dish, or Sigeumchi Namul.

Movie Night – Okja

This week I chose a film called Okja, which is a Netflix Original film. My little bit of research told me that it it was mostly set in South Korea (yay! I get to make Korean food for dinner!), and the summary of the film was: A young girl risks everything to prevent a powerful, multinational company from kidnapping her best friend – a fascinating beast named Okja.

Little did I know that I was in for a roller coaster ride of emotions with this film. It addresses the special bond between humans and animals, corporate greed, animal cruelty, environmentalism, and animal activism. Touching and hard to watch at times, this film is amazing and thought provoking and although a tough watch at times I feel better for having seen it and have much to ponder this week. It is a powerful film, not for everyone. And may I say the young Korean actress, Ahn Seo-hyun was SUPERB in the lead role as a young farm girl who loved her Okja enough to do anything and everything she could to bring her best friend back home. The film competed for the Palme d’Or in the main competition section at the 2017 Cannes Film Festival.

Sigeumchi Namul Ingredients

On to the food. We had chicken bulgogi..easily cooked up with Bibigo Korean BBQ sauce. The star of the meal for me was the Sigeumchi Namul, or Korean Spinach side dish which I made. This side dish is so very easy and so very tasty. You add blanched spinach to a mixture of garlic, Korean red pepper flakes, green onion, toasted sesame seeds, sesame oil, and soy sauce to taste. Click on the highlighted text which will take you to Amazon where you can find some of the ingredients needed for this dish.

Green onions, korean red pepper powder, soy sauce, sesame oil, sesame seeds, and garlic — Ingredients for the Korean Spinach Side Dish

Blanched spinach — **Blanching baby spinach**

We were all gulping it down…even Toby loved it!

This Korean Spinach side dish is a very popular banchan in Korean cuisine. Banchan, or side dishes, are an essential part of Korean meals. They are brought out in small portions, meant to be shared, and served with rice.

Method to Make the Korean Spinach Side Dish

The method to make this couldn’t be easier! After blanching baby spinach in hot boiling water, squeeze out all the water. You will then combine all the ingredients (except for the spinach), and then gently mix in the spinach by hand.

I tend to favor spicy foods, so I’ve included quite a bit of Korean red pepper powder (gochugaru) in this recipe. If you prefer a non spicy version, simply leave out the gochugaru or reduce the amount to your taste.

Also please feel free to adjust the amount of soy sauce that you use in this recipe. I used around 1 tbsp of soy sauce, but by all means reduce this amount if too salty or add a bit more for more salty seasoning.

The Final Result Was Delicious!

I really enjoyed this Korean Spinach Side Dish! Please view the video below and remember to eat this with chopsticks! 🙂

Serve with rice, and as an accompaniment to your next fabulous Korean meal!

Other Korean Banchan You May Enjoy!

Korean Spicy Bean Sprouts

Korean Bok Choy Kimchi

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Print Recipe

Korean Spinach Side Dish

This Korean Spinach Side Dish is a very popular Korean banchan! So easy and delicious you will love it!

Prep Time5 mins

Total Time6 mins

Course: Appetizer, banchan, Side Dish

Cuisine: Korean

Keyword: Banchan, koreansidedish, spinach

Servings: 4 people

Author: Grace

Ingredients

12 oz baby spinach washed
2 tbsp Korean red pepper powder (gochugaru) omit if you prefer non spicy or reduce the amount to your taste
3 green onions sliced thinly
1 ts roasted sesame seeds
2 ts sesame oil
1 tbsp soy sauce
6 garlic cloves minced

Instructions

Heat up water to boiling in a large stock pot. Add the baby spinach once boiling and then blanch for 30 seconds. Drain, then run cold water over the spinach until the spinach is cooled.
Combine the gochugaru, green onions, roasted sesame seeds, sesame oil, soy sauce, and garlic. in a mixing bowl. Set aside.
Squeeze out as much water from the spinach as you can. Once the water is out, add to the other ingredients and gently mix by hand.

Notes

Voila! Such an easy and nutritious banchan! Enjoy served with rice and perhaps some Korean barbeque!

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Chicken Biryani

March 31, 2020 by Grace Leave a Comment

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Chicken Biryani — **My incredible biryani masterpiece!**

I LOVE rice. So it should not come as a surprise that Biryani, an Indian mixed rice dish made with basmati rice, is one of my absolute favorite foods!

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Japanese Kit Kats

March 29, 2020 by Grace Leave a Comment

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A few years ago on Valentine’s Day, my husband Steve and I ordered Japanese Kit Kats from Amazon. We celebrated Valentine’s Day by trying out a couple of different flavors of Kit Kats, and each subsequent day we continued to enjoy the different flavors until the Kit Kats were gone (way too soon!).

We were aware that Japan had an assortment of Kit Kat flavors, so one of the things we did while on a recent trip to Japan was spend time trying to hunt down Kit Kats! As you can see we brought quite a few back!

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Yurinchi Chicken

March 24, 2020 by Grace Leave a Comment

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Japanese Fried Chicken — Tanoshiya’s Delicious Yurinchi Chicken!

We recently came back from 3 weeks in Japan. The trip was an experience of a lifetime. I was especially pleased because I had the opportunity to try so many different foods. One of my favorites was Yurinchi Chicken!

What is Yurinchi Chicken?

Yurinchi chicken is the Japanese version of Chinese style fried chicken. It is usually made with chicken thighs with the skin on, coated with flour (or potato starch), then deep fried to a crunchy and crispy golden brown. It is served on a bed of lettuce, with a superb tasting Yurinchi sauce poured over it, and then topped with loads of sliced scallions!

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Tabasco Scorpion Sauce

March 20, 2020 by Grace Leave a Comment

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This post is purely for the love of Tabasco Scorpion Sauce.

I am a HUGE fan of Tabasco! Prior to visiting the Tabasco Museum on Avery Island, my favorite sauce was Tabasco Habanero Sauce. I LOVE the HOT stuff! So I thought that the Habanero flavor was the hottest in the Tabasco line until I visited Avery Island.

I then found my new favorite…Tabasco Scorpion Sauce! As I mentioned, I love HOT so this sauce delivers in a HUGE way!

Tabasco 1868 Restaurant

We were able to try it at the Tabasco 1868 Restaurant, so named because that is the year that Tabasco was founded by Edmund McIlhenny. At the restaurant they provide all the Tabasco flavors that are available for you to sample! We tried all of them, and of course I was drawn to the Scorpion Sauce!

While there, I enjoyed dining on their Crawfish Etouffee (to DIE for!), and I smothered it with the Scorpion Sauce. Sweat was pouring down my face, but I was happy. LOL

The sauce has a hint of sweetness to it, and if you like super hot sauces you MUST give Tabasco Scorpion Sauce a try!

Where to Buy Tabasco Scorpion Sauce?

After dining at 1868, we headed to the Tabasco Country Store, where you can get all things Tabasco. 🙂 There we found what I was looking for…Scorpion Sauce! We were advised that the only place it was sold was at the Tabasco Country Store on Avery Island or their online store, so we purchased a few bottles to take home with us.

Those bottles went FAST! I loved it so much that I wanted to send it as a gift to some foodie friends. So I ordered some from the Tabasco Country Store online store, and sent it to a friend of mine on Instagram, @foodie_emilly, famous Singapore foodie. She tried it, then advised me that she thought about buying some on Amazon because she and her friends liked it so much.

Amazon? I checked it out and sure enough, found it on Amazon! YES!!

Tabasco Scorpion Sauce – in Japan??

I later found out from a friend of Emilly’s @leptonyscript (on Instagram), that he found it in a grocery store in Asia (I think he is in Singapore as well). WHAT? I couldn’t find it in our grocery stores here in San Antonio in the US and he found it in Singapore?

But wait! We recently took a trip to Japan and guess what…I found it in a small grocery store in Japan!

I bought a bottle to bring home with us and thank goodness it didn’t break! LOL So I’m ready to smother my meals with Scorpion Sauce again. 🙂

Are you Ready to Give Tabasco Scorpion Sauce a Try?

If you are ready to give the Tabasco Scorpion Sauce a try, here is where you can purchase:

Tabasco Country Online Store

Amazon.com (this link will take you directly to the Scorpion Sauce)

Japanese Grocery Store in Osaka (no online option, must travel there :-))

I hope you’ll give it a try it’s SOOO SOOO GOOD! AND SUPER HOT!

Please visit the Tabasco Museum at Avery Island, LA sometime. If you love Tabasco you will love the Museum and Avery Island!

And join us for more food fun by signing up for our email list here. 🙂

Cheers!

Grace

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Easy and Delicious Gyudon Japanese Beef Bowl

March 18, 2020 by Grace Leave a Comment

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beef and onions simmering in a sauce — Easy AND Delicious Gyūdon Japanese Beef Bowl

We just returned from a once in a lifetime trip to Japan. We spent 3 weeks there and it was absolutely amazing! In addition to seeing some incredible places, we also had the opportunity to experience many Japanese foods. Some of these meals were in restaurants, but some took place in the AirBnb’s in which we stayed. One of the meals in an AirBnb was particularly memorable – Easy and Delicious Gyudon!

I had wanted to cook a Japanese dish myself when in Japan, and my friend Makoto, of @kyushu.island.cooking on Instagram, came to the rescue!

Simple and Few Ingredients Needed!

This recipe for Gyudon, literally “beef bowl”, is a Japanese dish consisting of a bowl of rice topped with beef and onion simmered in a mildly sweet sauce flavored with ingredients including sake, soy sauce and mirin. The finishing touch is some pickled ginger on top.

Thin beef, onion, sugar, sake, soy sauce, mirin, ginger, pickled ginger, rice — Ingredients for Gyūdon

This is Makoto’s recipe, and she recommended that I make this dish. She took time to consider what meal may be easy for travelers to create and she steered me to Gyudon.

View this post on Instagram

I usually cook every night, and eating out is a luxury. We have been eating out quite a bit (love every moment) but I had been itching to get in the kitchen and got to do so last night, thanks to the availability of a kitchenette in our Airbnb and Makoto @kyushu.island.cooking. Making a new Japanese dish in Japan was a dream for me and Makoto came to the rescue when she shared her Gyudon recipe with me. Gyūdon, literally "beef bowl", is a Japanese dish consisting of a bowl of rice topped with beef and onion simmered in a mildly sweet sauce flavored with ingredients including sake, soy sauce and mirin. The finishing touch is some pickled ginger on top. Get Makoto’s recipe for gyudon here: https://japanese-food-cooking.blogspot.com/2020/03/how-to-make-gyudon.html This was DELICIOUS and oh so easy to make! Please follow @kyushu.island.cooking for Japanese food inspiration and take part in Japanese cooking experiences when in Japan! I can’t wait to make this again when we get home to share some with Toby! 😊 🐶 Cheers! Grace #gyudon #japanesebeefbowl #ricebowl #japanesecuisine #japanesefood #easyanddelicious #dinnertonight #inmybowl #yummyyummy #foodpost #foodposts #internationalfood #worldfood

A post shared by Grace Stewart (@explore_cook_eat) on Mar 7, 2020 at 7:32pm PST

The ingredients for Easy and Delicious Gyudon are: thinly sliced beef, onion, ginger, sake, mirin, soy sauce, water, sugar, and some brightly colored pickled ginger as a garnish. 🙂 You can buy most of these ingredients in your local Asian grocery, or shop Amazon for pickled ginger, mirin, and soy sauce, as seen below.

Ginger and pickled ginger — Ginger and Pickled Ginger

Easy and Delicious Japanese Recipe!

Prep takes around 5 minutes. Cook time takes around 10 minutes. I used ready made rice that just needed heating up to keep things simple and voila! In around 15 minutes you will have a delicious beef dish served on top of rice (beef rice bowl) that your whole family will adore!

Gyudon on rice topped with pickled ginger in a bowl — Gyudon (Japanese beef bowl) served on top of rice! Absolutely delicious!

Whether traveling or not, you will absolutely love this Gyudon! Deliciously simmered beef in gorgeous spices and served over rice topped with pickled ginger. Enjoy!!!

I didn’t have a Donburi bowl (Japanese rice bowl) to serve this in when I made it, but I think serving this dish in a Donburi bowl (such as the one below) would definitely enhance the experience. 🙂

You want to follow Makoto on Instagram at @kyushu.island.cooking! Please view this link for a trip to her blog! She shares incredible Japanese recipes and also hosts genuine cooking experiences in Kyushu Island!

Find her recipe and link to Makoto’s blog here: https://japanese-food-cooking.blogspot.com/2020/03/how-to-make-gyudon.html

And join us for more food fun by signing up for our email list here. 🙂

You may also enjoy these other incredible Japanese dishes!

Yurinchi Chicken

Delicious Japanese Pork Katsudon and Rice Bowl

Print Recipe

Easy and Delicious Gyudon Japanese Beef Bowl

Incredible bowl of rice topped with beef and onion simmered in a mildly sweet sauce flavored with ingredients including sake, soy sauce and mirin. The finishing touch is some pickled ginger on top. What more do you need?! 🙂

Prep Time5 mins

Cook Time10 mins

Course: Main Course

Cuisine: Japanese

Keyword: beef bowl

Servings: 2 servings

Author: Makoto