Korean Beef Stew

Trooping over to Korean groceries have been quite a usual habit for me. At the area where we stay, Asian groceries abound and thrive quite lucratively. Back in the day when Asian ingredients and condiments were exclusively accessed only from hard to find Asian specialty stores, I barely knew about, say, mirin or Kasugai! Okay, now is a totally different generation of convenience stores. It has come to embrace spices and other food stuff of countries outside this republic.

Okay, today’s menu had Korean beef stew in it. What I like about this dish is that it infuses flavors that make you savor it, bite after bite. Flavors that make you dump more rice onto your plate and totally enjoy the food! The sweet-salty sauce combo that smothers the fall-off-the-bones kind of short ribs just makes for a perfect meal.

KOREAN BEEF STEW

1/2  kilo beef short ribs

1/2 kilo beef brisket

5 cloves of garlic, minced

1 chopped onion

2 laurel leaves

2 tbsps sliced ginger

1  cup soy sauce

1 cup brown sugar (adjust according to your preferred sweetness if necessary)

spring onions, chopped

1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds

1/4 cup sesame oil

chili flakes to taste

water

Procedure:

Season ribs with salt and pepper. Saute ginger, garlic and onion using sesame oil. Add short ribs and continue tossing the meat until well coated with the gisa mixture.  Add water (just enough to cover the ribs).

Halfway through the cooking add soy sauce and sugar plus the laurel and chili flakes. Simmer until meat of the ribs start to fall off and the sauce has been reduced to half of the original amount.

Note: Adding water may be necessary until meat is very tender.

Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds and spring onions. Serve hot.

Cream Of Pumpkin Soup

Cream Of Pumpkin Soup

Now, I am so tempted to lick my computer screen to have my cream of pumpkin soup!

This photo has been in my files since a long time ago and being anything but swamped with Mommy duties now, I will be able to share the recipe for this delightfully sumptious soup right now.

Okay let’s do this:

You will need about a quarter portion of a medium-sized pumpkin or from a big squash.

1 carton of all-purpose cream

1 chicken cube

1 onion, minced

1/4 cup butter

1/8 tsp cumin powder

1/2 cup croutons

salt and pepper to taste

Peel pumpkin and chop coarsely, about 1 inch thick and wide (although honestly, it doesn’t matter! It’ll get mashed later!). Put in boiling water. Cook until tender. Drain off from excess water.

In a soup pan, saute tenderized pumpkin in butter and onion. Add chicken cube. Add about 2 cups of water. Bring to a quick boil.

In a food processor, puree the pumpkin mixture. Blend very well.

Bring back the processed pumpkin mixture back to the soup pan and simmer in medium heat. Slowly stir in cream and cumin powder. Continue simmering until soup is creamy. Season with salt and pepper.

Top with croutons

*Note: You may add fresh milk to adjust texture or soup consistency. Be sure to just quickly heat the soup when there’s milk. Overheating or rapid boiling will cause the milk to curdle.

Final note:

Purists, please don’t crucify me for loosely interchanging pumpkin and squash every now and then. They belong to the same specie but are two varieties that differ in size and color. Whatever you use, it will taste almost perfectly the same!