When I first moved out to live on my own five years ago, my aunt suggested that I make clay pot rice once in a while because it’s easy to make, it’s economical, and it’s tasty.  While making clay pot rice was always on the back of my mind, I was never motivated enough to make it.  Well, that all changed two weeks ago when I had clay pot rice for the first time in Hong Kong.  I came back to the states with a brand new prerogative, the time for homemade clay pot rice had come.

After researching online for clay pot rice recipes, I realized that most of the steps were similar from one recipe to the next, but overall, everyone had their own small variation on how to prepare the dish.  So here is my take on the dish.

Since I’m big on eating whole grains, I’ll be using short grain brown rice instead of white rice.

Ingredients

• 1 cup of drained Japanese short grain brown rice – soaked for at least 2 hours in water
• 1 cup of water,  to cook the rice
• 1/2 teaspoon of minced fresh ginger
• 1 teaspoon of minced garlic
• 1 teaspoon of chopped shallots
• 1 teaspoon of low-fat butter
• 1 teaspoon of canola oil

Mix the following ingredients together and marinate for 15 minutes:

• 1 cup of dark chicken meat, cubed
• 2 tablespoons of low-sodium soy sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon of sesame oil
• Pinch of salt
• Pinch of pepper
• Pinch of white pepper
• 4 sliced medium re-hydrated Chinese mushrooms
• 2 green onions, chopped

1. Place the clay pot on the stove, lid-off, and set the heat to medium high for a minute.  Reduce the heat to medium and add the butter and oil.  Coat the inside of the pot and add the ginger, shallots, and garlic.

2. Once the ingredients start to brown, throw in the rice into the pot and spread evenly.  Add the water.  Let it boil, then set the heat to low, cover and simmer for 5 minutes.

3. Remove the cover, and add the chicken meat and mushrooms.  Replace the cover , simmer for another 10 minutes.
Set the heat to high for 5 minutes for a burnt and crispy bottom crust, if not, just let it simmer for 5 more minutes.

4. Remove the pot from heat and let it rest for 5-10 minutes.

Note:  If you plan on using chicken breast instead, add it in 10 minutes after the rice starts to cook, this makes sure the chicken meat doesn’t overcook and get too dry.

I’ve been asking myself why I didn’t post this recipe up ages ago.  I make this dish two to three times a week.  It’s cheap, it’s easy, and it’s tasty.  The ingredients couldn’t be simpler, yet the flavors on the chicken fuse really well together.

Ingredients

• 6-8 chicken drumsticks
• 1 teaspoon of ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon of kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon of onion powder
• 2 teaspoons of garlic powder

Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees.  Mix the dry ingredients together.  Sprinkle an even coat of the mixture all over the drumsticks.  You might have some of the mix leftover, depending on the size of the drumsticks.

Line a baking pan with foil and spray it with a layer of cooking spray.  Place the chicken on the pan and spray a thin layer of cooking spray on the chicken to help the skin crisp and brown a bit.  Bake for 25-30 minutes, this will depend on the size of the drumsticks.  The juices should run clear from the deepest part of the chicken.

~ Kin

Korean Chap Chae Noodles – Made with reduced sodium soy sauce

Simple and Clean – Grilled Chicken, red onion, and peppers

~ Kin

Corn is definitely a Summer grilling staple.  Even though I don’t have an outdoor grill, I can still count on my trusty stove top grill.  A local supermarket was selling unhusked white and yellow corn for $0.20 each, so I bought a dollar’s worth.  Here’s how I prepare and grill corn.

Grilled Corn

Ingredients

• Unhusked Corn (3)
• Juice from half a lime
• 1 Tsp of melted butter
• Pepper
• Adobo seasoning
• Paprika

Peel off the thick outer layers of husk from the corn, leaving the soft inner husk.  Peel down the inner husk, but do not remove.  Remove the think fibrous strands.  Combine the lime juice, pepper, and butter, mix well.  Brush the mixture onto the corn and cover it back up with husk.  Set the corn on the grill and cook for about 20 minutes, rotating on all sides sporadically for even cooking.  Once finished, peel back the burnt husk and sprinkle with Adobo seasoning and paprika.

~ Kin

I just added another chicken wing recipe to my arsenal not too long ago. Aside from my Tamari Tabasco Chicken Wings, I have my Baked Lemon Thyme Chicken Wings to count on. It’s very easy to prepare, and if you love thyme, give it a try.

Lemon Thyme Chicken Wings

Ingredients

• 12 chicken wingettes or 6 chicken wings
• 2 tsp of ground coriander seed
• 2 tsp of garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp of dried thyme
• a handful of fresh thyme
• 1 tsp of salt
• 1 tsp of pepper
• juice from 1 lemon
• cooking spray
• olive oil

Rub the chicken with the fresh sprigs of thyme. Set them aside. Mix the dry ingredients together and rub into the chicken wings. Let marinate for at least one hour. Line a baking pan with foil and coat with non-stick cooking spray. Coat the fresh thyme with olive oil and layout half on the baking pan. Set the chicken wings on the thyme. Lightly coat the chicken with cooking spray. Cover the chicken with the rest of the thyme (see picture below). Bake at 400 degrees for at least half an hour. Drizzle the wings with the lemon juice and serve. Make sure the chicken is fully cooked before you eat it.

~ Kin

Poaching is the method of immersing food in liquid that is just below simmering. The temperature of the liquid should be around 165 – 180 degrees Fahrenheit. I love poaching Chicken drumsticks, the drawback is that it requires some time to cook. Don’t worry, your patience shall be rewarded. For this recipe, I poached the drumsticks in chicken stock. Be sure to use chicken stock and not chicken broth. I threw in carrots, celery, onions, garlic, and leeks into the stock and let it simmer for about an hour. Afterwards, I reduced the heat and added in the chicken drumsticks.

Poached Chicken

Ingredients

• 2 Quarts of chicken stock
• 1 Leek
• 1 Yellow onion
• 3 Carrots
• 3 Celery stalks
• 4 Cloves of garlic
• Pack of chicken drumsticks
• Salt
• Pepper
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 1 Bay leaf

Chop the carrot and celery, set to the side. Finely chop the leek, onion, and garlic. Place the stock pot onto the burner and set the heat to medium-low. Add the olive oil. Add the finely chopped ingredients into the pot and sweat them out. The ingredients should not brown, and you should notice the moisture increase. Add the carrots, celery, and bay leaf into the pot. Add the chicken stock. Cover the pot and let the stock simmer for an hour. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Reduce the heat so that the stock temperature reaches somewhere between 170 to 180 degrees. Add the chicken drumsticks and poach for 25-30 minutes. The time is hard to estimate as the size of the drumsticks can vary. Make sure the internal temperature of the chicken at the thickest part reaches 165 degrees. Do make sure the chicken is completely cooked before eating.  Strain out the vegetables and store the stock in the freezer in jars.  You don’t want it to go to waste.

~ Kin

Tofu is nutritious, versatile, and cheap.  Once in a while, I will throw some tofu on a grill and pair it with either rice or noodles.

There is some prep work involved in this.  Since tofu contains a high amount of water, it has to be somewhat dried out before cooking.  To do this, cut the tofu into slices and place the slices on a thick sheet of paper towels.  After half an hour or so, flip the tofu to the other side.  Then wait another half an hour before cooking.  Marinate with some soy sauce for additional flavor.  15 minutes will do.  The soy sauce will help create some great grill marks on the tofu as well.  Be sure to use firm tofu.

Add some cooking spray to your stove top grill and pre-heat it at medium heat.  Cook each side for 3-4 minutes.

The tofu dish pictured above probably cost me less than $1.00 to make.

~ Kin

Honey Glazed Pork Chops

• 3 pieces of pork chops
• 2 tablespoons of honey
• 3 tablespoons of teriyaki marinade
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 1 teaspoon of garlic onion powder
• 1 teaspoon of corn flour

1. Prepare the pork chop by beating it using a meat beater or using the back of your cleaver

2. Marinate the pork chop using the teriyaki marinade, salt, garlic onion and corn flour

3. Let it sit in the fridge for 1-2 hours for the marinate to seep into the meat

4. Prepare the pan at medium heat and pour some vegetable oil. I prefer cooking with olive oil as it is healthier. Sometimes I would use butter because it gives my food the buttery fragrance, but it tends to burn easily, so use it only when you want to tempt your guests with that extra buttery flavor. ; )

5. Pan fry the pork chops for 3-4 minutes on each side until the surface achieves a slight brown color.

6. Remove from heat, pour honey over the pork chops, and serve!

Steamed Spinach and B0k Choy with Olive Oil and Soy Sauce

• Spinach
• Bak Choy
• 2 teaspoons of olive oil
• 2 teaspoons of soy sauce or pinch of salt

1. Steam the spinach and Bok Choy with 2 teaspoons of Olive Oil.

2. Add 2 teaspoons of soy sauce for flavoring. You can substitute salt for soy sauce or just skip the flavoring part. Vegetables with olive oil are delicious by themselves.

Onion Omellete

• 4 eggs
• 1 whole onion
• pinch of salt

1. Beat the eggs up and add salt
2. Dice the onion
3. Cook the onion omellete!

Once all 3 dishes are done, serve with Brown Rice! Zinnnggg (sound of unsheathing knife)

Enjoy!

As always, please make sure all food is thoroughly cooked before consumption to prevent food-borne illness.

~ Boon

I discovered this recipe by accident while I was trying to make hummus without using any oil. I think I’m starting to understand the necessity of emulsifiers in cooking. After some grinding in the food processor with just garbanzo beans, lemon juice, and garlic, the mixture was dry and wasn’t creamy. The addition of water didn’t help. I had a couple of avocados out on the counter and one was just ripe. Since avocado has high fat content, I figured it would help bind the ingredients together. I threw in half of an avocado into the processor and ground the ingredients until it reached my desired consistency. I used the rest of the avocado as garnish.

Avocado Garlic Hummus

Ingredients

• 1 Can of garbanzo beans (chick peas)
• 1/2 Avocado
• Juice from 1/2 lemon
• 1 Clove of garlic
• 1/2 Cup of water
• Salt (optional)
• Pepper (optional)

Grind up all ingredients except the water in a food processor. If the consistency is too thick, add a small amount of water until the mixture reaches your desired consistency. Serve as dip or stuff it into a red pepper for a healthy snack.

~Kin

I love going to Whole Foods to shop for groceries, but when it comes to purchasing certain items, I feel they are overpriced. Even though most of their goods are organic, I believe the premium placed on organic fruits and vegetables is too high. I never buy fresh fruits and vegetables from there, but when I buy red meat and whole grain items, that’s where I go. I think the quality of meat at Whole Foods is top-notch.

There are three Korean H-Mart Supermarkets within a ten mile radius of where I live, and I drive by two of them on my way to work. When it comes to purchasing fruits and vegetables at the H-Marts, I end up about saving five or more dollars over the same items at higher-end supermarkets. When I was shopping for monkfish for my birthday party, I stopped by Whole Foods first and they were selling monkfish for $15.99/lb. I had purchased monkfish for my father’s restaurant back in the day and I recalled that monkfish was never that much. Feeling a little defeated and worrying on whether I should still serve monkfish at my party or not, I decided to take a trip to one of the nearby H-marts for monkfish. When I got to the seafood section, I couldn’t find monkfish and I was disappointed at the seafood section for the limited amount of seafood they offered. I walked around the corner and I saw all kinds of fish just laying there on the ice. The selection was greater and more affordable, and I had found the monkfish. At $4.99/lb, I knew this was the place to buy the fish. While I can’t attest to the fact that everything is cheaper at Asian supermarkets, it doesn’t hurt to check one out in your neck of the woods. Happy shopping!