Just Messing Around in the Kitchen Pt #1 (Korean Pot Roast)

           

     Sometimes the best creations are born out of necessity. Last Week I had occasion to make a dish that excited me enough to write about it. I was in the local supermarket and came across an item that would become part of my menu plan for the week. What I found was an English Roast on sale. It is unfortunate that at times this cut of meat can be somewhat pricy so when I find it on sale I always stock up. What made this special is how I chose to prepare it. I currently have a daughter in Seoul, South Korea and she had sent me some Taeyangcho Gochujang (Hot pepper paste). This is available in Korean specialty markets here in Detroit and across the U.S. I had been experimenting with this paste in several recipes and liked it but hadn’t found ,what I considered, the best way to use it.For a while I had been intrigued by some of the Korean simmered dishes I had been looking at online and decided to make a “Korean” Pot Roast. This turned out to be one of the easiest dishes I had ever made and it was fabulous.

Korean Pot Roast

1 English Roast (2# approx) or other cut for Pot Roast

1 Onion Chopped roughly

1 Carrot sliced in coins

1 tablespoon Garlic

1/4 cup Soy Sauce (Low sodium)

2 cups of water

1/2 tube (30 GM) Taeyangcho Gochujang (Hot pepper paste)

 

 

Sear beef for 4 minutes on each side

Add remaining ingredients

Bring to a boil

reduce to a simmer and simmer for 2 hours or until tender.

Serve with white rice

Garnish with fresh basil and cashews

 

The Hot Pepper paste has just enough heat and depth of flavor to make this a truly great dish.

Steamed Dumplings

 

Photo courtesy PDPhoto.org

 

These dumplings can be added to the soup stock (posted) or enjoyed on there own with the dipping sauce posted below.

Dumplings

INGREDIENTS

• 2 ounce lean ground pork
• 2 ounce medium shrimp – peeled, deveined, and coarsely chopped
• 1/8 green onions, finely chopped
• 1 egg
• 1/4 teaspoon soy sauce
• ¼ teaspoon sesame oil
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 8 square wonton wrappers

DIRECTIONS

1. Place pork, shrimp, green onion, egg, soy sauce, salt, and together in a food processor. Mix thoroughly until all ingredients are completely incorporated.
2. Have a bowl of luke-warm water available for dipping. If you are right-handed, place wonton wrapper in a triangle position on your left palm. Place a small amount of filling (about a heaping teaspoon or more) near the lower corner of wonton wrapper. Fold that corner over filling toward the opposite corner about half way, making sure the filling is securely enclosed.
3. Dip finger into a bowl of water and dab left corner of wrapper with water. Fold left and right corners toward you (away from the top corner), resulting in the shape of a nurse’s hat.
4. Place wontons on cookie sheets while you work, keeping them covered with a damp towel to prevent drying out. Wontons may be carefully stored in plastic freezer bags and frozen for future use.

Steam in a vegetable or bamboo steamer (with chicken broth instead of water) until wonton wrapper is cooked and internal temperature is 165 degrees.

 

Dipping Sauce

1 Teaspoon Sesame oil

1/8 cup soy sauce

1/2 tablespoon rice wine vinegar

1 tablespoon water

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1/2 teaspoon minced fresh ginger

1/2 teaspoon sugar

2 tablespoons Hoisin Sauce

1 teaspoon chopped green onion

 

Mix the above ingredients and stir until sugar is dissolved. Allow flavors to blend for about 30 minutes.

Stock for Chinese Soups

    This recipe is provided by Jill McKeever. Jill is a fellow foodie I read online and Author of Simple Daily Recipes

Stock for Chinese Soups

This stock is very good as a basis for light Chinese soups. My particular favorite, wonton soup.

HERE’S ALL IT TAKES TO MAKE 11 CUPS

1 1/2 pounds chicken thighs

1 1/2 pounds pork spareribs

16 cups water

3-4 pieces fresh ginger root, unpeeled and crushed

3-4 green onions

3-4 tablespoons Chinese rice wine

Trim off any excess fat from the chicken and spareribs and chop them into large pieces. Place chicken and sparerib pieces in a large stockpot with the water. Add the ginger and green onions.

Bring to a boil and skim off the froth. Reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered fro 2 to 3 hours.

Strain the stock, discarding chicken, pork, ginger and onions. Add the rice wine and return to the boil. Simmer for 3 minutes. Store the stock in the refrigerator when it has cooled down. It will keep for up to 5 days. It can be frozen in small containers and thawed when you need it.

Recipe and photo by Jill McKeever at Simple Daily  Recipes.com

 

The next post will be my recipe for the wontons to go with this soup. They can also be used as steamed dumplings with a dipping sauce.

Stop back in 3 days for the dumpling post!