Asian Food!

I love Asian food.

But how could I not? I mean, after all, I grew up on Asian food--I'm Korean. Here are a few meals I made with Asian inspiration.

This one here was specifically Korean-inspired. Korean porridge is called "jook" and chicken porridge (pictured here) is called "ddak jook." It's sooooo easy to make. I don't know why I don't make more, seeing as how it's really comforting and hearty at the same time. I boiled some water, added some cooked short grain rice (the only kind I really use with Asian food), sesame seed oil, and then when it was all bubbling together and at the right consistency (like a really thick stew, or similar to rice pudding) I added the chicken. I topped it with a little furikake, which is actually a Japanese seasoning that usually consists of a variation on seaweed, bonito flakes, seasame seeds, etc. If it needed salt, I just added soy sauce. Eat hot!

I haven't made this in forever. It is fried tofu and tilapia, with scallions and ginger. I don't remember how to make it exactly, as there is a certain sauce you need to steam the scallions with perfectly, but it must have some rice wine vinegar in it and that sauce that you dip soba noodles into (I don't remember the name right now!). I need to remember to cook the scallions really lightly--it's best when they still have a bit of that crunch. And I love ginger in anything; it really gives a certain quality of life to the food. Serve over rice and enjoy!

This is fried rice, with kimchi. It is a basic fried rice, but I added baby corn and water chestnuts for some crunch (are those things in there normally?)

Last but not least is a tofu-veggie stir-fry. Woah, it looks so gross in the photo but I swear it doesn't taste the way it looks. No need to go into detail with the cooking process, because it literally is what it is. One thing I might mention is that I always finish it with mirin, rice wine vinegar, because I like it slightly sweet and tangy.

Just for kicks, here's my baby: my rice cooker. I haven't used it all year actually. Sad face. But last year I would make a batch of rice, separate it into individual servings, wrap them in plastic wrap, and stick them in the freezer. That way, it was easy to just take one serving out, give it a zap in the microwave, and I would have delicious homemade rice ready for me in 5 minutes!