Spicy Korean Short Rib Ramyun

This is basically a Korean version of Japanese Ramen soup noodles and in fact “Shin Ramyun” are a popular Korean brand of dried instant noodles (and my preferred brand regardless of what sort of ramen I make).

I am a bit of a ramen obsessive truth be told: I have it frequently for lunch and dream of the day when I make my own tonkotsu ramen. For now I make do with this sort of thing instead. But anyway, the point being, as a massive ramen fan when I saw this recipe on Serious Eats while browsing through the “Food Lab” I knew that I absolutely had to try it.

The original recipe called for a jar of cabbage kimchi, with its juices but I had neither the time nor inclination (I don’t like kimchi) to make the trip to buy some, so noticing a packet of kimchi flavour instant noodles in the supermarket bought them to use the flavouring sachet. I decided a bit of acidic fermentation juices were probably also in order though and so also added a little of the pickling vinegar from my jar of preserved lemons.

Do feel free to leave either of these out - obviously it would be best to leave kimchi in altogether (so again, if you like it, feel free to actually use it) as this is after all supposed to be Korean, but there you go. Oh, and by the way, this is absolutely amazing.


Spicy Korean Short Rib Ramyun
serves 2-3 (actually - lets face it, 2)

1 (3-inch) piece kombu (dried kelp)
30g katsuobushi (shaved smoked dried bonito)
4 spring onions, roughly chopped
1 tbsp groundnut oil
500-600g beef short ribs
1 small onion, cut in half
1 (2-inch) knob ginger, cut into three slices
3 cloves garlic
1 tbsp Korean gochujang, plus more to taste
½ tbsp Sichuan bean paste (doubanjiang)
850ml chicken stock
150g daikon, cut into rounds
2 spring onions, finely sliced
1 clove garlic
½ tbsp Korean red pepper flakes (kochukaru), plus more to taste
1 kimchi seasoning sachet from a packet of instant noodles (see note)
1 tsp pickling vinegar (see note above)
½ tbsp soy sauce
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
100g shiitake mushrooms, sliced
2-3 servings ramen-style noodles
2 soft boiled eggs

Cover the kombu with 600ml cold water and bring to a boil over medium-high heat. As soon as it starts to boil, immediately reduce the heat to low and add the katsuobushi.

Let steep for 15 minutes (making sure it doesn’t boil), then drain the broth into a jug and discard the solids.

Heat ½ tbsp oil in a cast iron casserole over a medium-high heat until lightly smoking then add the short ribs and cook, turning occasionally, until browned on all sides, about 10 minutes total. 

You may have to do this in batches - just don’t crowd the pan else they’ll steam and not brown. Transfer to a large bowl.

Add the onion (cut side down) and ginger to the pot and cook until well browned, about 5 minutes. Set aside with the ribs.

Add 3 cloves garlic and the roughly chopped spring onions and cook, stirring, until lightly browned, about 3 minutes.

Return the short ribs, onion and ginger to the pot along with the gochujang and doubanjiang.

Stir to coat the vegetables and beef in the spice mixture.

Add the strained kombu broth as well as the chicken stock, scraping up any browned bits from the bottom of the pot.

Bring to a boil then reduce to the lightest of simmers, partially covered until the beef easily separates from the bones, about 4 hours.

About 30-60 minutes before the cooking time is up add the daikon and continue to simmer.

For best results, remove from the heat after 4 hours, allow to cool and then transfer the pot to the fridge overnight.

When ready to continue, strain the soup through a fine mesh strainer (if it had been in the fridge overnight you’ll probably have to reheat it slightly until it liquefies) and transfer the liquid to a medium pot and skim off any excess fat. Pick out the short ribs and daikon (probably you’ll be picking out meat and bones separately - discard the bones and transfer the meat to a chopping board). Discard the remaining solids (or eat all bar the ginger slices as we did).

Roughly chop the meat and set aside.

Add the kochukaru, kimchi seasoning and pickling juice to the soup and then finely grate a garlic clove into it. Add soy sauce and season to taste with salt and pepper but also extra kochukaru and gochujang if you like. Bring to a simmer and keep warm.

Heat the remaining ½ tablespoon of oil in a medium frying or sauté pan over medium heat until very hot but not smoking. Add the mushrooms and cook until lightly browned, about 4 minutes. 

Add the chopped short rib and cook, tossing occasionally, until crisped in spots and well browned, about 5 minutes longer. Remove from heat and set aside.

Cook the ramen noodles according to package instructions and divide these between individual pre-heated serving bowls. Top with the broth, followed by the crisped beef and mushrooms, sliced spring onions, daikon, and a soft boiled egg split in half. Serve immediately.

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Korean Keema

I’ve mentioned gochujang (Korean spicy red pepper paste) in a couple of previous posts (namely here and here) but I’m honestly extremely surprised that I’ve never posted this recipe before as it is one that falls into my stable , so to speak, of things oft cooked.

This is adapted from Nigella’s Kitchen, not to be confused with the more traditional, although also very good keema found in Feast.


Korean Keema
serves 2

250g turkey mince
3 fat spring onions, finely chopped
125g frozen petis pois
1 tsp groundnut oil
2 tbsp shaoxing wine
2 tbsp fresh coriander, chopped
150g sushi rice
For the sauce

3 tbsps gochujang
1 ½ tbsp honey
1 ½ tbsp shaoxing wine
3 tbsp light soy sauce
1 clove of garlic, crushed

In a bowl whisk together the sauce ingredients.

Stir in the turkey mince and set aside to marinate while you get on with the rest of the preparation.

Rinse the rice in a colander until the water runs clear then place in a medium saucepan with the same volume of water plus about 10%. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low, cover with a tight fitting lid and cook for around 20 minutes on the lowest heat possible (a simmer mat may be handy here although sadly mine doesn’t work too well).

After the rice has been simmering for about 10 minutes, heat a wok over a high heat. While it's heating up pour boiling water over the peas in a colander. When the wok is hot, add the oil and stir in the onions and peas (be aware that it may spit a bit because of the wet peas). Stir fry for 3-4 minutes.

Add the turkey and sauce and stir fry until the mince is coloured and no longer pink. This will take about 5 minutes.

Add 2 tablespoons rice wine with 4 tbsp water to the marinating bowl, swirl around to get all the residue and add to the wok. Continue to cook for a couple of minutes.

Serve the rice in a bowl with the sauce spooned over and top with some chopped coriander.

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Bulgogi Beef with Bean Sprouts & Chilli Chive Dressing

Sunday's dinner was adapted from Beyond Kimchee’s guest recipe on Rasa Malaysia’s blog.  Originally I was going to use a bulgogi marinade I picked up in Chinatown a week or so ago but on Friday my friend Linda & I checked out a new Turkish / Meditereanean supermarket on the edge of the North Circular & I managed to grab some Asian pears so decided to make the marinade from scratch after all.  

The other major changes were that I used mung bean sprouts rather than soya bean (which I’m not sure I’ve seen in supermarkets here), so the cooking time for them was reduced, and for convenience sake I used dashi instead of the anchovy & kelp stock.

I served this with a little bit of kimchi on the side as suggested but also with stir-fried flowering chives (with some pancetta as I had half a packet in the fridge and the saltiness & rendered fat go well with the garlicky chives):

So, a bit of a mishmash then in terms of asian cooking but very tasty all the same - the chive dressing in particular is delicious and would be great as a condiment with all sorts of things.

Bulgogi Beef with bean sprouts and chive dressing
Serves 2
250g soy bean sprouts
5g sachet dashi seasoning
150g sushi rice  
150g beef mince
Chive dressing
3 tbsp chopped Chinese chives (you could use normal chives or spring onion - make sure you use the green parts if the latter)
4 tsp Korean chili powder or flakes
¼ green chili seeded and chopped
¼ red chili seeded and chopped
1 small clove of garlic, minced
3 tbsp soy sauce (light if possible)
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp roasted sesame seeds
pinch of freshly ground black pepper
Bulgogi marinade
4 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp sugar
¼ asian pear (or normal pear or apple if not available) pureed - I put the chopped up pear in my grinder and pureed it
1 tsp mirin (or rice wine)
1 small clove garlic, pureed with the pear
¼  tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp roasted sesame seeds

Soak the rice in the water for 30 minutes, drain & set aside.

While the rice is soaking, mix all the marinade together in a small bowl and then mix the mince. Set aside.
Mix all the dressing ingredients in a bowl and set aside.

Meanwhile place bean sprouts in a pot with the dashi and 200ml of water. Cover with a lid and cook over a medium heat until it starts to steam.  Reduce the heat to low & continue to cook (still covered) for about 3 minutes.  Drain the bean sprouts and reserve the broth.

Add the reserved broth to the rice in a heavy bottom pan (I would normally use my rice cooker but was unsure what setting to use as I don’t normally soak rice), cover, bring to the boil then reduce heat to very low and cook for about 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, cook the beef mixture in a pan until browned.

Place the cooked rice in a big individual bowl, top with the beef and then bean sprouts, and top with the chive dressing (about 1½ tbsp per person - or more to taste).  Mix everything up a la bibimbap!

Stirfried Chinese chives with pancetta
50g pancetta cubes
100g chinese chives cut into 5cm lengths
Schezuan pepper oil / groundnut oil

Cut the pancetta cubes into even smaller morsels & stirfry them in a drop or two of schezuan oil until the fat starts to render but they haven’t gone too crispy (less than a minute) .

Throw in the flowering chives and stirfry until tender: a few minutes.  You can check for seasoning but personally I don’t think it needs any.

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Bibimbap

My intention of course is to write up what I cook each evening or talk about what I eat if I'm out for dinner. But there are a few things that I've cooked recently, before writing this blog, that I want to share: either because they've been pretty interesting or particularly yummy, or of course, both!

Last week I tried Bibimbap (pronounced bee-beem-bahp I believe). A Korean mixed rice dish topped with an egg and some gochuchang sauce.

I found a lot of recipes which I basically mixed together and adjusted to suit my own taste and, importantly, what I had in the fridge! The ingredient quantities listed below are fairly vague as I just decided as I went along how much of each I fancied. I think it's intended to be fairly freestyle anyway so I don't feel too bad about that.

Bibimbap
Serves 1 very generously or 2 as a lighter meal

100g sushi rice, rinsed
Handful soy bean or mung beansprouts (I didn't actually have any so used sprouting alfalfa & radish seeds)
Small handful peashoots
Handful shredded chinese lettuce
1 rounded tbsp or so ya cai (I'd run out so used thai preserved cabbage instead)
3 shiitake mushrooms, finely sliced
80-100g beef mince
1 small carrot, cut into matchsticks
1-2 finely chopped spring onions
1 + 2 minced cloves garlic
1 egg
plus: soy sauce, gochuchang (hot pepper paste), black sesame seeds, sesame oil, groundnut or rapeseed oil, salt, sugar, honey, black pepper, rice vinegar

Cook rice in rice cooker & while its doing so prepare veg as above. Set all side.

Dry fry 1tsp or so of black sesame seeds and set aside.

In a small bowl mix 1 tbsp gochuchang with 1.5 tsp rice vinegar (or cider vinegar), ½ tsp honey, 1.5 tsp water & 1tsp sesame oil. Set aside.

Mix mince, 2 minced cloves of garlic, 2 tsp soy sauce, ½ tsp sugar, a lug of sesame oil, a little ground black pepper & 1tsp korean chili powder in a small bowl and set aside.

When the rice has 5 mins to go (or is done & keeping warm), heat a little groundnut or rapeseed oil in a pan and fry off the mince mixture, breaking it up with the back of a wooden spoon.

Meanwhile in a small frying pan, stirfry the preserved vegetable in a drop of oil - drain off the oil and set aside on a small plate.

Sauté the sliced shitake mushrooms with a little oil. Add 2 tsp of soy sauce and ¼ tsp sugar and stirfry for 2 minutes. Add a splash of sesame oil and set aside on the same small plate (keep everything separate in neat piles).

Sauté the carrot sticks for 2 mins with some sesame oil & salt.. remove & set aside on the plate.

Put a splash more sesame oil in the frying pan with the spring onion, add the sprouts & stir around briefly until slightly wilted (if you use bean sprouts, bring them to the boil with some water & ½ tsp salt in a pan, then cover & simmer 5 mins. Strain then continue as above). Set aside on the plate.

Mix the shredded chinese leaf with a pinch of salt, a dash of soy sauce, 1 clove minced garlic & a splash of sesame oil - stir fry for a minute or so. Set aside.

Add a tbsp groundnut oil to the frying pan & fry the egg.

Put the rice in a big bowl, arrange all the ingredients separately like spokes of a wheel across the top of the rice (try and alternate the different colours as far as possible) with the fried egg in the centre.

Dollop a spoon of the Gochuchang sauce on top and admire :-)

Finally, mix it all together with chopsticks (with some more sauce if needed) and tuck in!

This was absolutely delicious and really not as much work as it may seem. I think the next time I'd have a poached rather than fried egg and I'd have some kimchi which I didn't have in at the time. Oh, and I'd remember to use the black sesame seeds...

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