.: evil jungle prince :.

This dish is so easy and basic that seems almost silly to give it a formal recipe, but what it lacks in sophistication and complexity it makes up for in taste power. Korean chigaes are one of my all-time favorite meals.

You can make a Korean stew out of basically anything -- just use what you crave and what you've got available. Although everyone has their own style, here's how my version goes:

1. Add a little fresh onion, sesame oil, and garlic to a pot or ceramic stew pot. Saute the onion and garlic until soft.

2. Add water together with a teaball full of dried anchovies (this is how I make my soup base), 1 large spoonful of chili powder, one piece of laver (seaweed -- also to flavor the broth), and sea salt to taste. Allow to boil briefly.

3. Add what you're craving. This time I made my stew with shrimp, crab, and tofu. Cook until shrimp or other protein is cooked and serve topped with fresh green onion and chili strands. Be sure and serve with with a big bowl of white rice.

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 04:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)

For those of you looking for a quick and easy meal, look away! Dongchimi noodles (Korean watery radish kimchi noodles) takes at least three days to prepare, but oh my god is it worth it...

동치미 국수 is unique because unlike most soup bases, dongchimi noodles uses kimchi broth as its base. This kimchi broth is fermented for two days prior to being placed into the refrigerator, where it requires an additional day to cool down. The result, after a hunger-inducing three day wait, is a broth that is pungent, sour, and slightly sweet all at the same time.

1. Start by soaking 10 green chillies in water salted with 1/4 cup sea salt for two days. Rinse and set aside.

2. The night before the chillies are done soaking, cut two daikon radishes into pieces and sprinkle them with sea salt. Let stand over night. Rinse thoroughly the next day.

3. Into a large ceramic vessel, place the radishes, chillies, 2 red chillies, 2 medium carrots sliced into lengths, 5-6 green onions cut into thirds, 1 Asian pear cut into quarters (unpeeled), 2 bulbs of garlic (sliced in half -- and I do mean two BULBS, not cloves), 4 slices ginger.

4. In a saucepan, heat 2 cups water and 1 white onion and cut into two and 2 tsp sugar. Bring to boil. Let cool, discard onion and then add 20 cups of purified cold water. Pour this brine over the vegetables and let stand for two days unrefrigerated to ferment. After two days, place into refrigerator to cool for at least 12 hours.

5. Now, if you're making dongchimi noodles, boil your noodles until ready and then drain, pouring over cold water to stop the noodles from cooking. Place the noodles into some dongchimi broth once the noodles are chilled by the running water. (You can further cool everything down by placing the noodle bowl into the freezer for a minute or two.)

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 06:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (9)

Seeing as I live in California, I'm kind of obliged to post this entry. But it's less than painful to do because I can eat a million of these and still find room for more.

California rolls are Japanese maki rolls made with a key California ingredient: avocado. Mine are made with avocado, asparagus, and crab. I tend to lean away from fusion food in favor of the real thing, but in this case, I think fusion food stands its own ground. The combination of the crab and avocado somehow scream "California sun" while the dish remains anchored in the beautiful subtleties of Japanese cuisine.

1. Start by cooking short grain rice in a rice cooker.

2. Meanwhile, prepare your ingredients by cutting avocado, blanched and chilled asparagus, and imitation crab sticks into strips. If the crab sticks are too large, peel into two long pieces.

3. When the rice is down, place it into a bowl. Sprinkle the rice with rice vinegar while at the same time fanning it. Keep tasting the rice until it tastes like sushi rice -- slightly but not overly tart. Fan until cool.

4. Take out a sheet of nori and plate it atop a sushi mat. Use the rice paddle and spread rice all over the nori, with the exception of the the very end (farthest from you). Leave 1/2 inch so the maki can be sealed.

5. Place the ingredients at the end closest to you. Use the sushi mat to begin rolling up the maki. After the ingredients disappear into the roll, pull the roll closer and roll until the maki is sealed.

6. Cut into bit sized pieces with very sharp knife. Discard ends.

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 08:27 AM | Permalink | Comments (6)

This is a super-simple dessert which is healthy and quick to prepare.

Start by cutting open and pitting fresh peaches.

Preheat the oven to 375F and drizzle the peaches with lemon juice. Fill the centers with crushed pistachio nuts and sprinkle white wine over the top. Bake for 15 mins.

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 08:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

For a long time I never bothered to make samosas because I figured the pastry portion would not be worth the effort. But then one day an Indian co-worker told me a secret: she used regular grocery store tortillas to make hers. I was at first dismissive, until I tried it myself.

Crazily enough, the texture of the "pastry" (shhhhhh, our secret) tastes just the same as pastry made from scratch after it's fried. Crunchy, slightly chewy, and the perfect encasement for the mild but subtly complex interior of potato, peas, and cauliflower.

1. Start by cubing 1-2 potatoes and boiling them in salt water for 5 mins or until they begin to soften. For the last minute, add 1/2 cup of chopped cauliflower. Drain.

2. In a wok, saute peanut oil, 1/2 onion (diced), chopped ginger, and 1 tsp cumin seeds. Saute until soft. Add potato/cauliflower mixture and sweet peas. Season with 1/2 tsp garam masala, 1/2 tsp turmeric, 1 tsp coriander, salt to taste. Mix and set aside.

3. Now warm your flower tortillas in a dry pan so they'll be flexible. Stack in a pile and cut off ends so as to make a square shape. Cut into two strips.

4. Fold one strip end up into a triangular shape. Place a spoonful of potato mixture and fold again at an opposite angle. Continue folding at a diagonal angle until you have a finished triangular shaped, stuffed samosa. Fry in peanut oil until golden on each side, drain on paper towels.

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 12:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (14)