Simply Healthy Korean Recipes
In many of my recipes, I call for baked chicken. Throw some in, I say, as if most people have baked chicken waiting for them in their fridge. Well, this is because I DO have baked chicken in my fridge at least a couple of days out of the week. Still, it’s wrong of me to assume that you do too. So here is a very easy baked chicken recipe. Now you too can have baked chicken lying around in your fridge. 😉
cHow Divine is now on Facebook. I know. I know. I’ve been living in the dark ages. I swore I wouldn’t sign up for it. I remember uttering something about the value of privacy, all the while shaking my virtual cane at the kids these days. But resistance is futile with certain things in life. I’m learning that Facebook just might be one of them. Since cHow Divine is a small extension of who I am, I guess I am also on Facebook. So stay connected with us on Facebook. 🙂
I decided to celebrate this occasion with some Bulgogi Japchae (Stir-Fried Sweet Potato Noodles with Bulgogi). Japchae is usually served at birthday celebrations. It’s a birthday of sorts. So it was perfect for the occasion. This version of japchae is incredibly easy and quick compared to the traditional version. And it’s adaptable depending on the veggies you have in the fridge. I know how much I hate wasting food. It’s nice to have a dish you can cook, while cleaning out your fridge at the same time.
I hope everyone had a lovely Valentines day. Mine was a mixed bag. We had a nice, no frills dinner at one of our favorite sushi joints and had a great time. Now for the bad: my mom threw away my keepsakes, including a small antique headpiece I wore at my wedding and a broken plastic music box my dad gave me on my 7th birthday.
I probably should have brought them with me when I moved, but storage is a huge issue here. And they were only occupying a small space in the closet in my old room. It makes me so sad that it was taken out to the curb along with the trash, treated like trash. I know it’s just stuff. But they can never be replaced. I can never go back in time to recreate my wedding. And no fancy music box would carry the same meaning as the one given to me by my dad years ago. I always considered myself a pragmatist. What do you know? I’m a bit of a sentimentalist after all…
I try to make a lot of banchan (Korean side dishes) on the weekends. During the week, I can just eat them cold right out the fridge with some steamed rice that’s always waiting for me in my trusty rice cooker. If I’m feeling a little more ambitious, I would fry up an egg and make bibimbap. And if I’m feeling even more ambitious, I would make gimbap. It doesn’t happen too often, but often enough for me to sate my occasional gimbap cravings. On a side note, you may also know gimbap as Korean “sushi” because of its similarities with the Japanese Futomaki.
This week, I had plenty of vegetable banchan in the fridge that I needed to finish. And I also had some top sirloin in the fridge that I didn’t want to freeze. So I decided to make some bulgogi gimbap. I guess I was feeling ambitious this week…
I love cheese. I love aged, fresh, fragrant, stinky, hard, soft; you name it I love it. So it should come as no surprise that I love risotto. I love the creamy and soft texture, and the rich taste. But unfortunately, I am terribly lactose intolerant.
Over the years, I’ve tried many non-dairy or vegan substitutes for cheese. Expectedly, none actually tasted like cheese. They just tasted oily. I even searched all over town, and found, Daiya “cheese,” the supposed answer to my prayers. Not even close to the real thing. Obviously, the people who laud this “cheese” has quite a different interpretation of cheese. So I decided to stop trying to substitute cheese with its dairy-free alternatives. Instead, I began creating and cooking dishes that are reminiscent of the creamy and rich texture of cheese dishes.