Anchovies Recipe and New Korean Butchery

Sep10

New Korean butchery opened near Beauty World MRT ! New gem found for quality meat Korean home bbq ! My hubs is very fussy…he doesn’t really like those frozen meats we got from NTUC for BBQ. He prefers fresh and quality ones. So sometimes i will have to check Cold storage to see the waygu beef or pork got discount or not. Sometimes 1 slab of waygu beef cost about $20 and just nice for 2 of us to pair with bbq mushrooms and bean paste stew etc.

Seoul Butchery is located along Yuk Tong Avenue. I got to know about this butchery after i went to Oppa’s Korean friend’s house for BBQ. K&J butchery moved to Martin road which is abit out of the way for me. So now i get my meats from Seoul Butchery ! They do sell home made side dishes , korean sauces and all the things you need for Korean bbq so it is actually convenient and one stop for everything..Price point also slightly cheaper than K&J. But because it is just newly opened , the variety not alot yet lah. The boss told me they just opened for less than a month ( when i went in July )…he said there will be more variety of meats and groceries in August.

Weather was very hot and hubs does not want to use the electric pan to bbq at the balcony so we bbq the pork belly i bought from Seoul Butchery over the stove using a frying pan instead.

Hubs love the new tofu recipe i cooked. I was watching the variety show “Dinner with Me” and saw this Korean nutritionist ajumma fried tofu over perilla seed oil. So i tried it and it was sooo yummy. Very simple to cook, yummy and healthy !

Just oil the pan with perilla oil and add in sliced tofu ! Fry till golden brown and you can serve as a main dish or side dish. Hubs love it so much and asked me to buy more tofu and cook often. When i go out for evening appt and unable to cook , he will cook this dish himself and eat together with other side dishes.

Very easy to cook and make the anchovies side dish !

You can do at home and save $$ and no need to go out to buy them.
1 small box cost about $8 and it is not worth it because it is so easy to make at home.

Ingredients ?

Anchovies ( preferably medium size ones )

Minced garlic

Cut red chilli padi (optional)

Anchovies

Korean Soy Sauce

2 spoon of Sugar

2 to 3 spoon of Corn/Rice syrup

How to cook ?

Oil the frying pan and add a spoonful of minced garlic and fry

Add in the anchovies and keep stir frying so that they will not get burnt. They get burnt easily so you need to keep flipping them over medium heat.

Add cut chilli padi (optional).

Add soy sauce (Slowly add to taste. Some people prefer more salty ones then you can add more). I usually add about 4 spoon because the anchovies itself is already salty.

Add the sugar and corn syrup and continue stir fry.

If you realized you added too much soy sauce and it is too salty , just add more sugar.

Once done , let it cool in a tupperware before you put in the fridge. Once it cooled , it will become slightly sticky like those you saw in Korean restaurants. The rice syrup will harden and become sticky once cooled. So don’t put too much else your anchovies side dish will all stick together like nougat lol .

…

I add the soy sauce amount based on estimation and depending on the type of anchovies i bought and my hubs like it more salty. So usually i add about 4 spoon of soya sauce.

Very easy to make hor..took me about 10 mins to prep it and i can keep in the fridge and eat over 10 days.

Korean Food Recipe – Spicy Pork Belly Bbq ! 양념돼지고기 #sgahjumma

May20

Ehh i realized some people have problems finding certain posts on my blog. So i decided to break down into different titles from now onwards. I have like hundreds of old posts so it is impossible to edit all since i jumbled up my food recipes, shopping, skincare and smartlady posts together.

Remember i was blogging about Yang Nyeom Pork Belly (spicy pork belly) ? Hehe i finally made it like a month ago. I haven’t made this for quite some time so finally i had the chance to and decided to share the recipe.

It is really very easy to cook.

You can buy freshly sliced thick pork belly from fairprice finest or cold storage.

How to make the sauce ?

1 tbs of minced garlic

2 tbs of Korean chilli paste

2 tbs of Korean chilli powder

2 tbs of Korean soya sauce

1 teaspoon of sesame oil

1 teaspoon of corn syrup

1 teaspoon of vinegar

2 teaspoon of sugar

Mix them all together in a bowl.

Marinate the pork belly with the sauce and keep in the fridge to let it set for about half a day. And you are ready to bbq it ! It is sooo yummy! Wrap with lettuce and kimchi …wah damn shiok !

My hubs loves it. I call this sauce the multi purpose sauce haha. Cos can use it to marinate with pork belly shabu shabu or the thick pork belly for bbq. Or you can replace with beef. But it taste better with pork lah!

Hehe #sgahjumma is here to teach you good tips and now you can have yummy Korean food at home.

Hubs and i never really go out for Korean food already cos i cook at home often esp during weekends. My hubs is quite a traditional Korean man. He likes to come home with food on the table. Not really a must to cook but he prefers it. Also good for him..else he have stomache upset everytime he have food outside especially when he drink. His digestive system is not very good. He just had colonscopy done last year in KR and took out a lump lor. So i try to cook often for him. I don’t put alot of salt and i don’t use msg. I use all the sauce recipes passed on to me by my own mother and mother-in-law. So i make all the marinates myself.

Some people asked me where did i find the time to do marketing and grocery shopping ? Well i don’t do it everyday lah. I have to work leh!

I fix my client appointments one week in advance. So i know my schedules for next week and when can i cook at home. Then i will plan my grocery marketing on every sunday mornings.

Then how come i have time to cook leh ???

I not full time housewife leh. I have to work and go for client appointments. Sometimes after night appointments i come back KO immediately.

If i know tomorrow evening i do not have appointment, i will marinate the meats (if any) the night before and keep in the fridge. When i come home next day evening, i just need to oil the pan and throw the thing in. Some days i will steam fish..so i just prep the ginger and ingredients and put the fish on a plate wrapped with cling wrap. Next evening just take out and steam.

So basically i prep my stuff the night before for tomorrow’s dinner.

How i plan my grocery shopping ?

I don’t shop at supermarkets unless bo bian i dont have time to go to wet market. I prefer to buy from wet markets cos i can buy ala carte. Lol cos i have to work and i don’t cook everyday, i do not need a big bag of green chillis or garlics/gingers etc. Plus it is cheaper at wetmarkets. I keep my expenses or should i call it “cost” per meal at $10. Unless it includes pork belly or bbq, i will up to $15.

Eh can one. Keep your daily expenses to $20 per day. Let me share in my next #smartlady posts. Now i can access wordpress via app, haha i can update when im on the move to appointments. I don’t drive…i take public transport hehe.

My hubs sometimes will accompany me to do my grocery shopping so he can help me to carry. He just let me do all the buying and choosing. His job is to safe guard my trolley haha.

I am really an ahjumma liao. We work our finances in traditional Korean way. Which is the husband will give all his salary to his wife and the wife will manage all the groceries, housing expenses, kids expenses etc and even investments. To some non-Koreans, they view it as “no pride” and no face 没面子 if i have to give my wife all my money and receive pocket money. But to a Korean, it is his responsibility to provide for his family and to work and bring money back. The wife takes care of whatever is in the house. The guy usually pays for the house and wedding and the lady will pay for furnitures. This is the traditional way.

I have some Korean clients and yes most of the time i have to go through the wives to get things done up like insurances and saving plans. But these days, things change and some couples do not follow this traditional way. But my hubs quite traditional. I think i talked and blogged about it before lol. But still almost every month i get asked this questions.

Though im not Korean and working, my hubs still give me all his salary. He don’t put into my account. But i have access to his accounts. Some of my Singaporean friends ask me how do i make my husband trusts me with his money ? Hmmm i think because i do not anyhow spend money and i also plan the finances and investments very carefully ? That is what my hubs told me. I review with him our finances and portfolio every month lol. I do investments but also make sure we have liquidity. Our insurances also i settle swee swee liao. My hubs say if im a spendthrift, he wouldn’t give me and will prefer to keep finances separate.

Haha i think i talked about this before. But recently got people ask me again. Im being asked this questions many times.

I just cleared some of emails from spam. I didn’t know so many got in there until i clicked spam box. Just moved some to inbox and will reply this weekend !

CNY

Mar12

* Gosh, this post was in Private view mode for a MONTH sine 12th March ! Didn’t realized it till now. *

This is the first time hubs and i officially celebrated CNY as a married couple.

This year , we invited guests to our place and had home cooked food. I prepared Chinese steamboat and Korean “steamboat” aka Budaejjiggae (Army Stew) .

Chinese Steamboat.

Hehe prepared this nicely plated Korean army stew for one of the dinners for a couple friend. Together with Korean chopsticks , spoons, rice, sauces and tea.

This CNY alot of friends came over to my place and i invited few clients over too for a meal.

Alot are pretty curious what i have i my washroom and make up shelves lol. Because they know that i use quite alot of Korean skincare and toiletries. So my room and toilet is machiam like a mini beauty counter. I even have small little bottles of samples to give out !

Some of my female guests will request to take a look at my toiletries , skincare and makeup. And next, they will look at my kitchen and fridge. My hubs is quite particular about the kitchen appliances we use. IT HAS TO BE MADE IN KOREA except for some lah..because it is impossible to get all in SG leh. And it is too expensive to ship them over and too heavy to even bring it back ourselves. So the only thing that is MADE IN KOREA is our talking rice cooker from Korean brand Cuckoo. And of course our TV is from Samsung.

The sauces and seasonings in our kitchen are also from Korean mart. It must be Korean salt , Korean sugar, Korean sesame oil etc when i cook Korean food at home but of cos i also have my own stash of Chinese sauces and seasonings because i just started to cook Chinese food at home this year. Korean sauces are quite expensive in SG. The cheaper choice and brand is Sempio and they can be found in Shine Mart. I usually get my sauces there because they are cheaper. Except for some soya sauces. I need good soya sauces when i marinate dishes so i get my soya sauces from Koryo Mart instead. They have more variety. But for simple ones like sesame oil , apple vinegar and red pepper paste, Shine Mart is good place to get.

I want to share a recipe for Spicy Bulgogi ! I cannot remember if i blogged about it before. But going to share it with pictures soon next week. Cooked many times and hubs loves it. Even my MIL gave 2 thumbs up and requested me to cook one more time. It is very easy to cook and marinate if you have all the sauces. Yes you make the sauce from scratch and marinate with the pork slices. I cleared the pictures off my instastory so i have to retake and blog it here.

Kimchi fried rice is the easiest to cook.

You just need kimchi , rice ( Korean or Japanese sushi rice) , luncheon meat , salted seaweed and a egg for sunny side up.

For the seasoning : Gochujang ( Korean chilli paste ) and Korean sesame oil.

Fry Kimchi with luncheon meat , add in the rice and kimchi juice.

Fri and mix till fragrant. Add 1 tea spoon of sesame oil and gochujang.

Garnish with seaweed and sunny side up and ready to serve !

This is really easy. Best is to cook with sour kimchi ! Most of the Kimchi sold in SG are quite fresh and sweet. So i will leave it out on the dining area for half a day or a day before i use it.

You can churn out kimchi fried rice within 10 minutes ! Try it !

JB Trip and Korean food

Sep25

Last week end , the KBS (Korean boyfriend and spouse group) went to JB !

Massage , pedicures , Tesco shopping and sweeping make up removers at Watsons while in KSL mall. Also , we had tze char, bak kut teh and Korean food for dinner. One of the couples who frequented JB introduced us to this place !

Nam Moon Restaurant in Johor Bahru

Address : 31, Jalan Perang, Taman Pelangi, 80400 Johor Bahru, Johor, Malaysia

It is about 3 mins away from KSL mall and cost 4ringgit to GRAB over. I didnt managed to take photo of the place and the food we had because my hp went low batt ! But i managed to kope some picture from google. I don’t now the source but they are just from google images.

They serve like 12 side dishes !

The pancake and Galbi Soup is very good ! The pancake is a MUST ORDER because it is soooo cripsy ! Especially the seafood pancake. The soup also very niceeee !

If you are planning to go JB ! MUST DROP BY THIS PLACE !!!

Btw , was suprised to know that the boss is a Japanese! The pricing is affordable and good.

We went to Bornga in Citysquare previously (The Citysquare in JB ! Not the one at Farrer Park hor !) . Bornga in JB is much cheaper. If you prefer to go eat BBQ , i will suggest Bornga instead of Nam Moon. The meat quality at Nam moon is not that good. It is very thin , dry and hard like bacon. Not that shiok. But the other dishes like pancakes etc are very good there . Very home cook style. So maybe you can go there for home style Korean food and then to Bornga for the BBQ.

Really enjoyed this trip ! Rented a 4 bedroom airbnb at KSL , the guys bought alot of beer , fruits and snacks from Tesco and had drinks till late night 3am. Alot of chatting and can see they are really enjoying themselves. The girls all went for beauty sleep at 1am. The guys were at one corner of the living room and the girls gathered together at another corner. Can’t wait for the next gathering and outing !

Didnt take pictures lately. I realized i missed out quite abit….during a period of time 3 yrs back when i was so insta-crazy. Everything must take photo and i didnt enjoy my food , travel and the time spent tog with hubs (that time he was still my bf). I had to bring a big bag out whenever we go out because my camera is quite big and i have to change lenses here and there. So mafan and cannot really enjoy. Now, phone aside and less photos..enjoy more…Feel so much happier ! That is why i seldom post up on instag and didn’t really blog much about the places i go and restaurants i go to…Just want to enjoy the moment and my food hehe. But of cos if i come across any good things will share lah!

One of the reasons why i didnt blog much about the Korean food or restaurants i went is because….i cook at home most of the time now !!! Hehe so instead of sharing places to eat , i will share the recipes !! I have been cooking and eating at home more these days. Will share why later.

Anyway , here are some dishes i cooked last week !

Korean Cold Bibim Noodles (Bibim Myeon)

Very easy to cook! A friend’s hubby gave me this recipe.

It is ALMOST the same sauce i used for most of my Korean cooking but the proportion of is slightly different.

The sauce makes up the whole dish whereas the ingredients are quite easy. Raw cucumbers , boil eggs or tofu and noodles only!

How to make the sauce ?

2 table spoon of Korean soya sauce

2 table spoon of Korean chilli paste (Gochujang)

1 table spoon of Korean chilli flakes (gochu garu)

1 table spoon of sesame oil

1 tea spoon of sugar

1 table spoon of Korean corn syrup or rice syrup

1 table spoon of minced garlic

1 tea spoon of vinegar

Mixed them up in a bowl. This serving of sauce is just nice for 2 pax.

Usually i will make more and keep in a bottle and put in the fridge. Can keep for up to 2 weeks. So i can cook bibim noodle anytime by just boiling the noddles..machiam like eating instant noodle like that. But of course , healther lah. No MSG unlike instant noodles.

Now it comes to the noodles ! Got this from Koryo Mart for about $4.95 if i remember correctly. Can eat quite long.

Don’t use the entire packet hor! That is alot..can feed more than 10 pple already. Just take out abit to boil first. If not enough , then boil somemore. I always overestimat the amount haha so i ended up with leftovers.

Just like cooking pasta, boil water and put the noodles in to boil. After about 4-5 mins or after the noodles are cooked , sieve it out and rinse it in cold water.

Hubs is particular about tap water. So i use the electric kettle boil the water first and let it cool , pour into a plastic pail , add about 10 ice cubes. That is why it is called Cold BiBim Myeon. It has to be cold then nice mah.

I sieve out the noodles using a siever and soak it into the pail of cold water. Use chopsticks to spread the noodles so they can cooled faster.

After sieved out noodles and put into a mixing bowl and mix with the sauce.

I prefer using hands to mix the noodles than chopsticks. It is more well-mixed when i use hands (with gloves of course!)

Of course , we won’t be eating just plan noodles. I cut the seaweed into shreads , boil eggs and tofu and sliced cucumbers into strips.

Put the well mixed noodle in a serving bowl , add in the boiled tofu and egg ( I don’t like plain boiled eggs so i didnt add in here ) , cucmber strips , shreaded seaweed and garnish with sesame seeds. Best is that you have dumplings at home. Steam them and eat together with the cold noodles. It is really shiok !!

The sesame seeds brand i am using.

I created a “Bibim noodle station” for my hubs. So he can make his own after work while i went out for my client appointment. Haha hubs cannot cook so i need set everything properly. He just need to boil noodles only.

Very easy. So if you are having a home party and want to make your own Bibim noodles station also can. Guests can create their own. Because some people do not like cold noodles. So they can skip the “cooling” part or just partially cool it. Some people who like me doesn’t like plain boiled eggs ( i have to eat it with dark soya sauce ! lol ) can skip the eggs and put more tofu or eat more dumplings. It is healthier than cooking instant noodles. Just boil noodles , add the pre-prepared sauce , slice some cucumbers/boil tofu/egg/dumplings and you can eat already.

If you are interested and want to learn Korean food cooking , these are the common used sauces. I think i blogged about it before but i forgot which post or catagory i tagged in. But here is it :

Soya suace , Gochujang (Chilli paste) , Gochu Garu (Chilli Flakes) , Korean sesame oil , White Vinegar (I always get the Korean brand ones), Corn Syrup or Rice Syrup. With all these sauces , you can basically cook anything. With $20-$25 you can get all the sauces already. Check for manufacturing and expiry dates. I realized the manufacturing and expiry dates for the Korean sauces here in SG are quite short. There was once i was in a rush and didn’t bother to check. Wah…the soya bean paste sauce was just 3 months away from expiry ! And that bottle cost $12,90 ! Very wasted if i couldn’t finish it.

Speaking of that , i have been cooking Soya Bean Paste Stew quite often for the past 2 to 3 weeks haha ..cos that is the bottle of bean paste i mentioned above which was 3 months away from expiry 😦

Blogged about this recipe before but this time abit different ! After watching Baek Jong Won’s show , i learnt a new way to cook ! It is more delicious and hubby loves it so much that he requested for it every few days. Haha Soya bean paste soup is quite salty so cannot eat every day lah ! Eat every day also sian. So usually i cooked twice a week…haha because the silken tofu sell in 2 packets ( 2 for $1.45 at Fairprice and zucchini are also sold in 2 ! )

Ingredients needed

Boil water with kelps and dried anchovies. Once the water changed colour, take 0ut the kelps and anchovies and throw away Keep the soup base aside.

Cut 1 yellow onion into thin slices

Cut 1 zucchini into thin slices

Cut 2 green chilli into slices

Cut 1 potato into tiny cubes or slices

Half a pack of golden straw mushrom

1 pack of silken tofu

How to cook ?

1 table spoon of sesame oil into the stone pot.

1 table spoon of minced garlic

Fry zucchini slices, potato and onion slices together with the garlic.

Once the fragrant is out , add the soup base ( that was boiled with anchovies and kelps) and boil.

Add 1 and a half table spoon of soya bean paste ( you can buy from Korean mart ) , add 1 tea spoon of Korean chilli paste (gochujang) and half a tea spoon of Korean chilli flakes (Gochugaru) into the stew and boil.

Add the sliced green chilli , silken tofu and golden straw mushroom.

Leave it to boil on small fire.

After about 20 minutes , it is ready to serve !

I prefer to use the stone pot. The soup tasted much nicer than using a stainless steel pot. Don’t know why also.

Hope this post gives you some idea what to cook this week for your family or love ones !

Heading back to work and working on next post on #Smartlady ! It’s been 4 months since i last blogged on #Smartlady !

Korean Seafood Pancake

Aug13

#SGAhjumma !

Last 2 weeks , i have been making Korean seafood pancake for hubby lol. He asked if i cooked for 2 pax or for a village. Because i made like 8 pcs ? LOL I was trying to use up the batter if not it will be quite wasted if we didn’t use it up and have to throw away.

So i had 1 pc and he had 7pcs ! Cook until very tired…no mood to eat man !

It is very easy to cook. 1 pancake takes about 5-8 mins. I took about 15 mins to prepare the ingredients.

So here is the recipe ! Very easy and you can do it at home !

Ingredients you need : pancake mix flour ( you can buy from Korean mart in SG )..cost about $2.90 for the small pack. 1 pack of spring onions, 1 squid sliced into thin slices , grey prawns ( i got normal grey prawns instead of tiger prawns because they are not so thick ) , eggs .

For the water to mix with the pancake flour , you need Korean kelps , anchovies and dried shrimps(optional). Boil water with these 3 seasonings and keep in fridge overnight to cool. If you cannot find the anchovies or kelps individually or if it is too expensive , Korean marts in sg do well them in satchets like teabags. So you can just throw one bag in (each bag contains the kelps , dried shrimps and anchovies) . I bought mine in Korea supermarket individually since i use them quite often. If you don’t cook Korean food as much as i do , the satchets will be more economical for you.

Wash and dry the spring onnions then cut into short lengths ( 2-3 inches long).

Mix pancake flour with the seasoned water kept overnight in the fridge. It is supposed to be slightly runny and should not be very sticky.

I sliced the squids and prawns thinly so it can be embedded in the batter easily and will not “fall out” when i flip the pancake.

Beat the eggs. 1 egg for 1 pancake.

Oil the pan and get ready to cook your pancake !

You can cook either these ways :

Pour the batter onto the pan and “sprinkle” the prawns , squids and spring onions over
OR
Mix the spring onions , prawns and squids in a bowl and pour the mixture onto the pan.

I cooked using both methods and they all worked for me.

Pour the egg on top of half cooked pancake and sprinkle salt over.

I used to mix the batter with egg but my Korean teacher told me to pour the egg on top of the half cooked pancake. So that it will be crispy ! Adding the egg later will also “seal” the ingredients into the pancake so they will not drop off when i flip.

When you pour the egg onto the pancake , remain about 2 table spoon of eggs to pour on the other side after you flip over.

After flipping here and there to make sure each sides are well cooked…

Tadahh..you have the Korean seafood pancake ! Crispy and yummy ! Best to pair it with Korean rice wine (Makoli).

Super duper easy. You can also add green and red peppers but i don’t eat these 2 . So i didnt include them in my pancake.

Apr17

#SGAHJUMMA

Some of my close friends asked me how come i have so much free time and energy to cook ?

My reply to them was :

You think is i am so free and bo eng meh ?

Seriously , being a Financial adviser doesn’t mean i am very free and very nua. I have my fix working hours. I start my day at 930am and all the way till it ends at 10pm on some days. On good days, i will end about 6 or 7pm.

Thought my hubs is pretty health conscious and he eats alot and looking at the way he eat when we eat out, it looks super unhealthy. He can drink and finish the entire pot of steamboat soup. So i try to cook at home as much as possible. I am quite sensitive to MSG so too much msg can give me a very bad migraine for several days. Yes it is that serious.

So how did i manage to cook even though i end my day at 7pm on good days ?

Well , i made the sauce in advance. And i always have packets of pork , chicken , onions and garlic at home on standby. I try to avoid frozen meat but sometimes really bo bian…esp on weekdays where i don’t know what time my day will end. Only on weekends i will go to the supermarket or wet market to buy fresh meat to cook for the day.

I will sort them into many small plastic bags. 1 bag for 1 meal. So i do not need to thaw everything and just use how much i need.

So, how to make the sauce ? What sauce is it ?
Well , if you go to Korean restaurants often , you will see the dish Dak-bokk-eum-tang (닭볶음탕). It is a spicy chicken stew dish (Chicken + potatoes + carr0ts). Well , i pre-made the sauce and it can be cooked with anything ! Lean meat, chicken, baby octopus etc etc. The sauce is super easy to make.

If you were to order this from Korean restaurants , it will cost between SGD 45- SGD 65 depending on the size. But if you were to cook it at home , it will cost you less than SGD 10.

So how to make the sauce ?

1. 2 to 3 table spoons of Korean Red Chilli Paste

2. 1.5 table spoon of Korean Red Chilli Flakes

3. 1 table spoon of Korean soya sauce

4. 1 table spoon of minced garlic

Just mixed all the above in a bowl !

I made enough to fill up a small bottle so that when i get home , i just need to throw the meat and use a spoon to scoop sauce instead. My hub doesn’t know how to cook so it is easy for him also. Sometimes if i know i will be back home late the next day , i will season the sauce and the meat together and put them in a plastic bag. So my hubby can just throw it into the pot and let it stew… that’s it.

Dak-bokk-eum-tang (닭볶음탕)

Btw, this is not the final. I just added in the potatoes so still looks very soupy. The sauce will be slightly sticky after that.

This is super easy to cook. A Korean friend of mine who works at a Korean restaurant gave me the recipe. My MIL’s recipe too cheem and i cannot find some stuff in SG…so i shall stick to my friend’s.

How to cook Dak-bokk-eum-tang (닭볶음탕)

You need chopped chicken parts (i like wings and my hubs like drumsticks so i bought only these 2) , 1 green chilli, 2 potatoes chopped into pieces, 1 onion cut into slices, 1 carrot chopped into pieces and the sauce i mentioned above.

Heat the pan with oil.

Add the sauce (ingredients mentioned above) into the pan and let it sizzle. If you are like me who doesn’t like too “meaty” taste, you can add a few ginger slices.

Once the sauce sizzles and heat up , add in the chicken parts and mix with the sauce together.

Once the chicken parts turned slightly golden brown , add a cup of water to boil.

You can choose to add boiling water or make your own Korean stock with kelps and anchovies. I prefer to add the korean stock ( kelps+anchovies) instead.

After the water boiled , add in onions and let it stew and boil for about 30 minutes.

After 30minutes , add in the potatoes and 1 chopped green chilli and stew it for the next 30-40 minutes.

Sprinkle roasted sesame seeds for dressing and ready to be served !

Feb12

CNY is over..time really flies and it is going to be end of Feb soon. And i cannot wait for my Taiwan trip in March.

But first , i need to recover fast. I was coughing non-stop for almost 2 weeks. The cough was so bad until i had headache because i exerted alot of force when i cough. My cough also woke my hubs up at night and i cannot sleep well. The doctor did not prescribe me any antibiotics because i just finished a huge dose of antibiotics for 2 months because of some bacteria in my stomach and gastritis which was diagnosed when i went for my endoscopy 3 months ago.

So this weekend was spent at home resting and i also went for an appointment to meet a client.

Skin felt so dry. Always happens whenever im sick. I was clearing and throwing away used bottles of skincare and i found this few tubes of samples hidden stacks of cotton pads. My MIL brought it over last november.

I kinda like this. It doesn’t really brightens up my skin nor makes it glow but it does moisturise my skin overnight.

It is not sticky or oily too. The smell is also good. More of “supplement” for the skin. I am not sure how much is it retailing in KR or SG. But i saw this selling in Guardian. The descriptions on the packaging says it all. If you are looking for something that is non-greasy , nice scent and moisturising , this is something you can try. I won’t say that this is a must-buy. I don’t know why but when i used a certain kind of product and if it really gives me good results , i will strongly recommend and feels excited sharing and blogging it over here.

But here is something MUST BUY when you visit Korea !

You can buy from supermarkets in Korea.

I cannot find this in SG leh..My bro-in-law recommended this to me when i went to Korea in October last year.
If you are lazy to make and cook Budaejjigae from scratch , you just need this ramen. And just go to supermarket to buy Spam/hot dogs and throw them in.

Budaejjigae Ramen from Ottogi brand.

I have been working till late nowadays and falling sick , so i have not been cooking at home. The last time i cooked was almost a month ago ! I should start cooking again this coming weekend. Nowadays abit hard to do so on weekdays. And perhaps this year’s trip in October , i should start learning how to make Korean side dishes ( ban chan ) so i can keep them in the fridge for hubby. Sigh..now his turn to go to gastroenterologists for scope liao. I think i cooked too much good food for him and too much pork belly. When i see him eat until very full , i feel happy mah…and he has a huge appetite also. Both of us usually bbq 5-6 packs of pork bellies when we eat at home. Now i cut down to 2 packs. Feel very sinful when i open my freezer..alot of pork belly.

This was what we have 3 weeks ago at home.

We hand carried the BBQ pan back from Busan and it has been very very useful lol esp on days we have cravings for Korean BBQ and don’t want to spend the $$ ( just buy the Por Kee pork belly & shabu shabu pork belly) or want to have quality meat ( from K&J Butchery @ Bukit Timah which we try to indulge once every 2 months ). And just buy golden mushrooms and lettuces from nearby supermarkets and we are good to start our home cooked Korean BBQ !

Brand of BBQ Pan : Kitchen Art (Refael Series) . KRW 19,900

You can buy from gmarket.

Gosh..look at the thick and juicy pork bellies !

Tomorrow is Monday ! Gonna be a loong day 🙂

Next post gonna be about #Smartlady and #SGahjumma (places we go for Korean food in SG). I am still working on my Busan tour post though.

Jan8

#SGAHJUMMA Time !

Throwback to last Christmas (2016). We had a Xmas party with the KBS (Korean Boyfriend & Spouse ) group at the top floor function room of The Sail Marina Bay’s condo. It was an awesome party with the kids ! The wives/fiancees were at one table chatting away , taking care and playing with the kids and had our own gift exchange. Whereas at the other table were the husbands/fiances rounding up for beer and chats. The kids were running around non-stop and i guessed they had a good sleep that night.

On Xmas eve, we went to Ah Ma’s house for Xmas party and on Xmas day, hubs and i just nua at home.

We also had our “Red and White” Christmas with Korean Ddokbokki (rice cakes) and instead of turkey , we had Jjimddak (Soy chicken).

How to cook Korean Spicy Rice Cake (Ddokbokki) ?

1) Boil 4-5 cups of water with kelps and anchovies ( to make the stock ). After the water boiled , take the kelps and anchovies out and throw them away.

2) In a bowl , add 5 table spoons of Korean Chilli Paste , 1.5 table spoon of sugar , 1 table spoon of Korean chilli flakes. Mix them together in the bowl.

3) Put in the Korean rice cake slices and Korean fish cakes (Odeng or Or-Muk) , chopped spring onions (in 2 inches long) and 2 peeled hard boil eggs into the boiling water.

**Hubby asked for this dish last minute and i couldn’t find Korean fish cakes at the nearest supermarket , so i replaced it with our chinese fish cakes and tau kee lol. I added in the left over zucchini in the fridge and cabbage as you can see in the picture. The traditional style is to add spring onions, fish cakes and eggs only.

4) Add in the sauce from 2) into the boiling water and mix well.

5) Let it boil for 15-20 minutes. Once the sauce becomes sticky , it is about time to be served.

Yes it is that easy. If you want , you can add in instant noodles and let it boil inside and it will be come a dish called Ra-Bokki (Ramyeon + Ddokbokki).

How to cook JjimDdak ?

1) Making the sauce. Mix 4.5 table spoons of soya sauce , 1.5 table spoon of sesame oil , 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper , 3 table spoon of sugar and 1 table spoon of minced garlic in a bowl.

3) Sliced some ginger . oil the frying pan and fry the sliced ginger.

4) Wash and dry the chicken parts before putting it into the frying pan to fry with the ginger slices. Once the skin of the chicken turned abit and slightly golden , add in water. Water should cover the chicken parts in the pot.

Add in sliced onions , potato and carrot chunks

5) Add in the sauce from step 1) and stir.

6) Let it boil and add 1 more table spoon of soya sauce and sprinkle black pepper. Add 1 tea spoon of salt.

7) Let it boil for about 20 minutes before serving.

Sprinkle chopped green onions for garnishing and ready to serve.

Some of my friends asked why the colour of my Jjimddak is so nice and dark but theirs are not ? Because i add in 1.5 tea spoon of the chinese dark soya sauce for colouring. Also , i didnt add dried chilli inside this time because i was having sore throat and cannot eat spicy food. If you want , you can also add in Korean potato starch noodle. Soak them in water and add them in at step 5.

Super easy to cook if you have the sauces.

Busan : My Family in Korea

Oct24

After uploading the videos , i received several encouragements and good wishes from my readers and clients.

Thank you all for the support and kind words. I was happy to know that some of my readers felt so happy for me that they teared. Some followed me since they were 19 or 20 during their JC/Uni days till now. They have seen me going through many ups and downs in life and happy to know that i am happy now. Thank you all so much for the love 🙂 *Hugs*

Here are some snippets of our ROM in SG taken by my photographer friend Clarence Aw ( http://www.clarenceaw.com/ ) whom i engaged his service for that day.

Bought children Hanboks for my niece and nephews who were my flower girl and boy that day. Bought the Hanboks in Korea and had my brother-in-law to handcarry it to SG when he attended our ROM. It was 2 weeks before Chu Seok ( Thanksgiving Day ) when i ordered the Hanboks online so they were going at 50% off ! Quality was surprising very good and really satisfied with it. Esp the skirting for the flower girl. There are embossed floral patterns and made of silk.

Weather was very hot. My fringe all already stuck to my face and hair flat and cui already.

The baby breath flower ring was inspired by a Korean florist. I followed the florist on Instagram and i always “stalk” her instag to see the beautiful flowers and bouquets she made. Maybe it is the weather issue , the baby breaths in Korea are much more bigger and “denser” . The ribbon tie to it is Ferragamo inspired. Saw it on the instag and i forwarded to my wedding venue stylist to do something similar.

My guest reception table. I bought all the styling and decors for only SGD 80 from taobao including the huge LOVE signage with light bulbs.

This is very funny….he made the chair looked very very small. Whereas i fitted in nicely.

Thank you my dear friends for their help ( Elaine and girls ) for the help. Without them , i would have to do everything myself. I didn’t have bridesmaids for my wedding in SG and KR. LOL Mr Shin says no need only until the day because he doesn’t want to have the gate crash. He doesn’t want to “work” or “exercise” under the hot weather. You can watch from our Pre-wedding video. One thing he doesn’t like about SG is that …it is summer all year round. Lol. The only thing that motivates him to go under the hot sun in SG is BASEBALL practice nia.

Love the packaging from Framewerks for our Pre-wedding videos.

Our precious thumbdrive. Which Tommy rushed to edit and passed it to us at the airport before our flight 🙂
Thank you Tommy from Framewerks for the hardwork and we really love the videos !

You know , the thing i missed about Korea is not just the food or the skincare. But the food !

I just must have my favourite Andong Jjimdak whenever im in Korea. This huge plate..REALLY HUGE PLATE cost only KRW 30,000. Looks small on the picture because i was using my phone to take pictures and the angles. I cannot describe how bigger it was here.

Bong Chu Jjimdak restaurant is my favourite !

My mother-in-law cooked alot of my favourite and delicious food at home. Including my favourite Korean BBQ !

We even had it at home. I like this cozy home. The new apartment is going to be ready in 2018 so my brother-in-law rented a place for 2 years first while waiting for the new apartment.

Pork Bellies !

And my brother-in-law is really good at bbq-ing.

My mother-in-law’s 3 year old kimchi. I got a shocked to know that there is a 5 year old kimchi in the kimchi fridge too. Yes kimchi that she made 3-5 years ago. OH MAN…it tastes sooo good. The older the kimchi , the better it taste.

An earthquake happened when we were bbq-ing. Our dog was barking suddenly and then the news came that there was an earthquake. We couldn’t feel it though.

View from the window beside my bed. Ahhh sun , sea and mountain…. ~~~

This was taken after Typhoon Chiba.

Speaking of which , this is the first time i experienced a Typhoon. It was really scary. The sound of the wind was so loud , the rattling windows beside my bed. I was so afraid that the window will break and the glass will shatter and scratch my face lor . I couldn’t sleep the whole night because the windows kept shaking and made alot of banging sound. The Typhoon happened 3 days before my wedding. And my wedding was at Haeundae Beach which is the affected area.

We taped the windows to prevent it from breaking. A sudden gust of strong wind during the typhoon could have broken it or cracked into pieces.

News of the damage all over the news.
I also received alot of calls, messages and even emails from my relatives , friends and even my readers asking me to report my safety because they are worried. I was really touched by their concerns esp my readers. Im sorry if i cannot reply to everything fast on time because my phone was flooded with incoming calls and messages.

Typhoon started the night before and ended next day 12pm. Suddenly at 12pm , it is the “peak” of the typhoon. Where suddenly the rainfall was very very heavy and the wind was really really strong. Then suddenly once that was over, the sky suddenly just turned clear and sunny and everything was back to normal. Like really sudden. I was surprised also.

This was taken on the afternoon after the typhoon. Infront of my wedding venue. The Busan International Film Festival Village was destroyed and torn by the typhoon , tiles were overturned and wooden stuff and debris all over the beach. Alot of cleaners were picking up the pieces. Even after my wedding day , they were still clearing the beach and the hotels around.

This is the area and buildings you saw on the internet where the water gushed in to the buildings and swept away the cars. This was taken 2 hours after the typhoon.

Hehe Oppa and my brother-in-law always bring me out for nice food !

We had steam pork bellies ( Su Yuk ) at Oppa’s friend’s restaurant. Very very nice. Even my relatives and my brother went there to eat again and again.

This is his restaurant.

부산 해운대구 해운대해변로265번길 11-2 .

The restaurant is beside the BMW showroom along the main stretch at Haeundae. You won’t miss the BMW. So it will be easy to find.

I also had Si Chuan food at Busan University Street.

You must be wondering like..what the..go all the way to Korea to have Si-Chuan food ?
This one tasted really authentic. Same as the one i had in China 2 years ago.

Mapo Tofu

The Mala Xiang Guo is really nice. The wohei flavour was very strong also.
Super nice and i was pestering to go back for more hahaha. There is only one Si Chuan restaurant that sits 10 pax in Busan University Street. If you are nearby you should try.

Add is at 부산 금정구 수림로61번길 49 장성하우스 부산 금정구 장전동 155-16 .

Tel : 010-7474-8385 ( Owner of restaurant is Korean who speaks really fluent chinese ).

Steak from a kiosk in Seomyeon. 7900 won for a pax.

Tonkatsu + Kimbap .

Gosh this is soo sinful.

On the day we “climb” or walked up the mountain to my father-in-law’s , grandfather and grandmother-in-law’s graves.

That’s my MIL with her pet chihuahua Bomi.

After paying respect at the graves , we drove back to Busan and stopped by Changwon which was on the way to have this very famous beef patty. We wanted to go to the famous cold noodle restaurant at Jinju instead but the queue was so long and we have to wait for 1.5 hrs. So we decided to drive upwards and head to Changwon to have this instead.

OMG it is soo good please. Soo good that i didn’t talk and just eat and eat. It was cooked using fire and charcoal or wood.
So there is a very strong “fire” taste. Really very nice.

This is super duper nice.

I miss the food in Korea !

Aug15

This post was in draft for almost 2 weeks. There are some personal things i want to share after much procrastination.

This post gonna be longggg since it was in draft for 2 weeks !

Something light-hearted to start first…

#KBS

Last week , i finally met up with almost everyone in the #KBS group which i created almost a month ago. KBS stands for Korean Boyfriends and Spouses. The group is made up of Singapore ladies with Korean fiances and spouses.

We had tze char at Melben and after that , we all go to Koryo mart to do our Korean grocery shopping. It was really nice to meet everyone and we shared alot of our experiences. Good to have support in Sg and in Korea. Alot of information we can share and help each other like applying for long term passes in Korea, registering marriage or child’s birth in Korea and SG etc.

We are planning for another pot luck gathering soon and this time with our other Korean halves. If you have a Korean spouse or getting married soon (engaged already) and want to join this support group , you can send me an email at peonykissblog@gmail.com . Glad to hear that everyone is happy to have this support group and people who are in the same situation and marriages.

#SGahjumma

Hehe i tried new dishes over the weekend. This is the first time i made Korean Japchae and Spicy Pork Ribs (Yang Nyeom Galbi). I was quite surprised by my own cooking this time round. So delicious and i cannot believe i cooked it too.

Alot of work for Japchae. Quite tiring to cook this. Alot of plates to wash too.

Here’s how you can cook Japchae :

Ingredients :

Korean thin potato noodles , shitake mushrooms , black fungus, carrots, yellow/red capsicum, onions, eggs, spinach, salt, sesame oil, black pepper, soya sauce.

1) Soak and wash mushrooms and black fungus in water. Slice them into thin pieces and squeeze out the water . Fry in pan with olive oil , add pinch of salt and black pepper.
Put into a big bowl and leave it aside.

2) Cut and sliced carrots and capsicums into thin strips. Fry in pan with olive oil and add pinch of salt. Put all into the big bowl together with mushrooms and fungus. Leave it aside.

3) Crack and beat 3 eggs. Fry it into a large round omelette. Cut into thin strips and put in a separate bowl
Do not mix in with 1) and 2) ingredients. Leave it aside.

4) Boil spinach for a minute. Take out and squeeze all water out. Slice into 3 or 5 cm sizes. Put in a small bowl and season with sesame oil and soya sauce. Leave it aside for awhile.

5) Cut onions into thin slices and fry with olive oil in a pan. Add a pinch of salt. Once the onions become translucent, pour it into the big bowl with ingredients from 1) and 2).

6) Boil the Korean potato starch noodle in hot water and once cooked, take out and wash under cold water and drain away the water. Use scissors to cut the noodles cos they are very very long.

Put the noodles in a frying pan and fry with olive oil. Add 5 table spoons of Korean soya sauce and sesame oil. Add 2 tea spoons of black pepper. Fry and mix to change colour of noodle to brown. Add abit of water so frying will be easier. How much soya sauce and sesame oil to add depends on the noodle portion you are cooking.

After frying the noodles, put into the big bowl with ingredients 1) 2) 5). Wear plastic hand gloves and mix the ingredients with the noodles. Add in the seasoned spinach into the big bowl and mix them together. Add some more soya sauce and sesame oil and black pepper. Lastly add in the thinly sliced eggs and mix everything tog with hand. Add sesame seeds.

Ready to serve on plate and add the last drizzle of sesame seeds.

Now you know what i mean by alot of work and plates/bowls to wash for Japchae. Cut , fry , mix and you repeat for every single ingredient. The more ingredients you add , the more work to be done. I didn’t add in any thinly sliced pork belly or beef because i don’t want my Japchae to be too oily (oil from pork bellies). So you can choose to add in the meat or not it is up to you.

Super yummy. Double work for me because Oppa said it is so nice and i cooked the other half packet of potato noodles. He ate the entire pack of noodles. haha 1 pack can serve about 4 pax.

Yang Nyeom Galbi (Korean Spicy Pork Ribs)

I cooked this too with the Japchae. Really multi tasking. One hand was mixing and the other hand was flipping the pork ribs in the pan.

How to cook Yang Nyeom Galbi (Korean Spicy Pork Ribs)

Ingredients : Prime Pork Ribs , Korean red pepper paste , Korean chilli powder , 1 green chilli , minced garlic , chopped onions , sesame oil , soya sauce , pepper , sugar (brown sugar/honey/white sugar …in my case i used brown sugar).

Well , you need a big round bowl to mix these sauces with the ribs. So get it ready !

In the big bowl , add 4 table spoons of red pepper paste , 1 table spoon chilli powder , 2 table spoon of minced garlic , half onion chopped into minced pieces , 2 table spoon of soya sauce , 2 table spoon of brown sugar, 2 table spoon of sesame oil and 1 tea spoon of black pepper. Mix all these sauces together.

2) Wash the pork ribs and squeeze out the water. Then put into the big bowl of sauces and mixed the pork ribs with the sauces in the bowl. Just keep mixing until the pork ribs are all red. Wear a plastic hand glove and mix it with your hand. It is easier and can mix better this way and so that the prime ribs can be well seasoned. Leave it aside for 20-30 minutes before you start cooking it.

3) Add olive oil in a pork of frying pan or pot. Pour the entire bowl of well marinated pork ribs and the sauces from the bowl into the pot. Fry on high heat before switching to medium heat. Add abit of water and leave it to cook and stir and flip the ribs so that it will not get burnt on one side.

Once done , serve on a plate or the Korean earthen ware. I heat up the earthen pot first before transferring the well cooked pork ribs from the frying pan/pot into the earthen pot. The pot keeps the sauce and the meat hot and warm. The meat can be abit tough and hard if it gets cold.

If you don’t have the earthen ware , you can just serve on a plate.

Cut the green chilli into thin slices and garnish the ribs together with sesame seeds. Some people add the green chilli when they mix the sauces in step 1) but i don’t really like to eat green chilli so i didnt add in from step 1.

The pork ribs looks difficult to cook but actually it is the easiest compared to Japchae ! Just mix all the sauces together with the pork ribs and cook.

Korean soya sauce and Korean sesame oil are commonly used so if you are interested in cooking your own Korean dishes, these are the must haves in your kitchen. They are not that expensive. about $3.60 for big bottle of soya sauce and $3.90 for a small sesame oil. I bought a tin of $14.90 sesame oil (in medium size tin packaging) since i cook often.

#Kbeauty

Here are 2 of new additions into my daily skin care routine which was mentioned in the previous post. I realized i have not reviewed them yet.

It actually took me awhile before i decided to try this brand. I read reviews online and to be honest i don’t trust alot of beauty reviews or i just read their reviews with a pinch of salt because most beauty reviews are paid to do so. And it is hard to determine a product is good or not just by trying it on the back of your hand only for the first time and once. I actually went to try the tester bottles many times before i decided to buy and try. And at most if it didn’t work , just use and apply on my neck lor. CNP products are not that cheap even though they can be found in drugstores like Olive and Young (Korea), Guardians and Watsons ( in SG ). But im glad these 2 products works for me and worth the buy for me.

CNP Invisible Peeling Booster

It promises to remove dead skin cells and boost skin radiance/brightening within a week. It is to apply before toner. You don’t actually see “dead skin cells” coming off like using a peeling gel. So don’t expect to see “beads” or “rolled up” whitish stuff when you apply. Does it boost skin radiance ? The difference is not alot but i can see my skin is slightly more radiant after using it for a week.

I really like this alot. There is no need to rinse off after applying. This is the first thing i apply after my shower before i proceed with toner. It is very expensive in SG. But in Korea, Lotte mall is having 20% discount and this is only KRW 24,000 now. It is about SGD49 if you were to buy in Guardian.

I also got the Propolis Energy Ampule. I usually apply this before my sheet masking. I alternate this with Hera hydration ampule.

I feel that CNP Laboratory is like Leaders Insolution brand. They are products from aesthetic doctors and dermatologists in Korea. I really like these products and so i actually carted out a peeling gel and the serum also from CNP from Lotte.com ! Can’t wait for my bro-in-law to bring them from Korea for me this Sept ! He is coming to SG yay ! I wonder where to bring him around and activities to do. He takes really good care of me and i want to be a good host when he comes too.

Will review the peeling gel and other serums once i started using them for at least 2 weeks and if it is good !

Gonna continue the #Smartlady draft . Some personal things and experiences to share and hope it helps girls out there. And new review on the lip tattoo i used.