Soondubu Chigae (Korean Tofu Soup)

So...I found my dream Soondubu Chigae recipe. If you haven't tasted this before, it's Korean tofu soup and it's amazing. I've tried making this dish a couple times in the past, and it never tasted quite right. But this time, I got it spot on and it brings me back to my high school days hanging out in KTown LA.

The key to this recipe is to make a chili-garlic sauce of sorts (gochu yangnyum). It looks an awful lot like gochujang, which is another Korean chili paste that is easily available premade and looks quite similar. However, gochu yangnyum tastes a lot lighter and will give you the flavor that you're looking for so do not take a shortcut and substitute with gochujang. The recipe for gochu yangnyum is enough for 3-4 batches of this soup so it's super easy once to make again once you get the first part down. I found the recipe here but made a few substitutions so I figured that I'd share my version.

You can get all of the ingredients at your local Korean grocer (Arirang has everything if you're in Columbus). I've listed the Korean names of all the items that aren't available at your average grocery store, so you can google image them so that you know what to look for in advance.

SOONDUBU CHIGAE
Adapted from Kimchimari

INGREDIENTS FOR GOCHU YANGNYUM (chili-garlic sauce) 

• 2 Tbsp + 1 tsp of Korean red chili powder (gochugaru)
• 1 Tbsp soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp minced garlic OR 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp sugar OR honey
• 1 tsp oyster sauce
• 1/4 tsp salt 
• 1 Tbsp white cooking wine (mirin, sake, michi, or sherry)
• Pinch of black pepper
• 2 Tbsp vegetable oil

DIRECTIONS FOR GOCHU YANGNYUM

1. In a small bowl, mix together all ingredients EXCEPT for the vegetable oil.
2. Heat vegetable oil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add mixture above to the pan and stir constantly while it cooks for 3-4 minutes (don't let it burn!). Remove from heat.
3. Proceed to making soup, and store the remainder of the sauce in an airtight container in the fridge. This recipe makes about 3 Tbsp and it should keep well for several weeks.

INGREDIENTS FOR SOUP

• 1 pack (11 oz) of extra soft silken tofu (soondubu) - regular soft tofu will not do! Need the extra soft...
• 1/2 to 1 cup broth (chicken or fish broth, or water + boullion)
• 1 Tbsp gochu yangnyum (prepared sauce above)
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp fish sauce
• 1/2 tsp minced fermented shrimp (saewoojeot) - optional
• 1/2 to 1 cup of veg/protein of choice, cut into small pieces (I used enoki mushrooms, bok choi, zucchini, and seafood mix)
• Salt to taste
• 1 Tbsp chopped green onions - optional
• 1 egg

DIRECTIONS FOR SOUP
* Note: use the smallest saucepan that you own. Ideally you should make this in a tiny clay pot, but it's not the end of the world if you don't have one.

1. Open the extra soft tofu and add it to your pot. Add just enough broth to cover the tofu. 
2. Turn the heat on medium to start cooking your soup, then switch to low heat so that's it's constantly simmering/bubbling but not at a rolling boil. While it's heating up, stir in gochu yangnyum, soy sauce, fish sauce, and optional fermented shrimp. 
3. Add your veg/protein, and let simmer for 5-7 minutes or until just thoroughly cooked. Add salt to taste and optional green onions.
4. Add egg and simmer for an additional minute, then remove from heat and serve. You can break up the egg so that it cooks completely, or leave it whole but you may need to cook it for a little longer unless you're using a clay pot or enameled cast iron that retains heat well.

This weekend I'm planning to make this again, except I'll be going all out with fancy shrimp and thinly sliced ribeye. I'll be serving it with ddukbokki (spicy rice cakes) and kimchijeon (kimchi pancakes), and I'm already giddy with excitement just thinking about the food :D

June Recent Eats

Happy July 4th, world! This post won't be July 4th related unfortunately, but I will be recapping all the fantastic food I've experienced over the past month since I finally have a two day weekend and hence some time off to update. So here goes...

Restaurants 

Curio. This is one of my new favorite restaurants in Columbus because the atmosphere, the drinks, and the food are hard to beat. I really love the vintage vibe and everything we tried was delicious. We each got a drink, then split ricotta gnocchi and a pizza that was so spicy that I got a tummy ache the next day. But totally worth it.

The Market Italian Village. Another restaurant I'd add to the amazing brunch repertoire available in Cbus. I loved sitting at one of their huge open window seats, so I felt like I was dining outdoors minus the humid heat. The smoked salmon BLT was great, but the baked egg dish was the star of the show.

Bonchon Chicken. They finally opened a Bonchon in Cbus, and their Korean fried chicken is as wonderful as I remembered it to be when I first tried this chain in NY. They remain searing hot and crunch on your plate for a long time, and they reheat nicely in the oven the next day if you have leftovers. Also, the ddukbokki is a bit on the pricy side, but they add some variation to the dish but serving the dduk on a bed of vermicelli. 

ZenCha Tea Salon. This is a great place for tea, although the brunch wasn't quite as good (likely because Cbus has many other places that steal the show). We tried the Arabian Nights waffles and the shrimp and grits which were only okay, so I'm not sure I'd try their brunch menu again. 

Forno. This restaurant on High Street has an amazing happy menu (1/2 off all drinks, apps, and pizzas) every weekday from 4-6pm. My favorite item on the menu was their pork belly tacos, as pictured, but there wasn't anything I tried that I disliked.

Belle's Bread. I love this bakery for their selection of Asian desserts and the best green tea soft serve ever, but they have a lunch menu which I was curious about. I thought the food was decent, but in the future I'm likely to eat at Tensuke Express a few stores down and stop in here for just dessert. 

Khoi's Cooking

Salmon don. Khoi and I bought some sushi-grade salmon, fish eggs, microgreens, and seaweed salad at Tensuke, plopped it on a bed of rice, and called it dinner. This is seriously one of the best and simplest things I've ever had, albeit the ingredients are quite fancy.

Shrimp scampi. Khoi got some fresh-made linguini from Market District and we went to town. So good.

Japanese carbonara, using more fresh noodles from Market District. This tastes pretty similar to regular carbonara, which is among my favorite pasta dishes, but the addition of seaweed on top add such a wonderful kick.

Bun bo, a Vietnamese soup dish with beef and vermicelli noodles. Khoi got this recipe from his dad, and I think I like this more than the pho (which is already great).

Miscellaneous

Nutella pancakes, because this video.

January Recent Eats

New post! I don't post often as it is, but now that I'm approaching finals and board exams, my posts will be even more sparse. But do not fret, I'll try to make time occasionally for this, or at least continue to take photos of food I eat/make while studying and then make a massive post when this terrible period is over :D

I turned 25! This is actually from December, but I didn't do a Recent Eats post for that month and I didn't know where else to stick this so ya...I have ze best frands ever ^^

I've been making Vietnamese iced coffee almost every day recently. I picked up this habit over winter break, and oh man this stuff is good. A filter is super cheap (<$5) at any Asian market, and it's super simple to make (here's a guide). I usually need 2-3 cups of regular coffee a day but I think it's the combination of the strong coffee and the condensed milk that gives this a kick that lasts.

Chinese scallion pancakes. My mom makes them perfectly (^ are made by her) whereas tis a failure when I try to make them :(

Before I left home at the end of winter break, I tried to get my mom to like cheese (most Asians hate cheese) and made this caprese salad. She said it wasn't bad but she didn't like it because she felt that chewing mozzarella had the same mouthfeel as chewing a chunk of fat :( I only became a cheese fan recently and her comments made me question my new cheese habit...

I've been on a rice pudding phase -- yes what a weird phase to have. This all started when I went to Bacchanal in Vegas over winter break and they had the most amazing jasmine rice pudding, so amazing that I had to try and replicate it at home. I made rice pudding nonstop for three days (exaggeration, but I did make at least 3-4 recipes worth of pudding). So far, the closest recipe I've found was to mix 1/2 gallon whole milk, a cup of sugar, 2/3 cup rice, a cinnamon stick, a dash of nutmeg, and a pinch of salt in a large pot and bake uncovered at 300F for 2 hours, stirring every 15 minutes to break the skin. This stuff is the bees knees.

Italian sausage and pepper stew. I've made this at least three times since I discovered the recipe, and it's so simple, so delicious, and so pretty. Instead of diced tomatoes, use multi-colored cherry tomatoes and it'll look like a pot of jewels.

Bourbon glazed pork chops with fried eggs. It's supposed to be a breakfast dish, but I've eaten this for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Arroz con pollo, recipe inspired by one of my favorite chefs - Jose Andreas. You can't go wrong with a simple dish like this if you use a recipe by someone like him. This was incredible.

Okonomoyaki, essentially a Japanese pancake topped with massive stuffs. I don't know how to describe this, but it's something you definitely need to try making for yourself.

Eggs in purgatory, inspired by a recipe by Mario Batelli. It's super simple, super fast, and looks super impressive to whip up in the morning. Just stir fry a small diced onion and a some minced garlic until browned, add enough pasta sauce to cover everything, crack a couple of eggs, and cover to simmer for a couple of minutes until the egg white are just cooked but are still jiggly and the yolk is runny. Add some fresh shredded herbs and some parmesan, and serve with bread.

Jamie Oliver's kicked up potato salad, except I used a recipe from a website that made a bunch of substitutions, and then I made even more substitutions (green onions instead of chives, greek yogurt instead of sour cream, lemon instead of lime). So it's essentially a bastardization of a bastardization and Jamie Oliver would be quite sad, but it's delicious.

Pho ga by Chez Khoi. I'm always so happy when he makes pho for me ^_^

Indonesian fried rice, also by Khoi using this recipe. I've never had this style of fried rice before and man I've been missing out.

Chicken and waffles, via cooking class through OUAB. This was the best homemade fried chicken I've had, better than the Thomas Keller Ad Hoc chicken recipe even. Unfortunately I didn't retain a copy of this recipe, poop :(

And I made a fancy banana pudding too, they even let me use a torch ^^

Dinner at a Omar's parent's house, the spread was incredible. I adore Mediterranean food, especially in massive quantities. That large bowl in the middle needs a banana for scale because the pictures doesn't do it justice. There were about 15 people eating dinner, and it was only half gone...

Red Pearl Restaurant

In my mind, the concepts of Birmingham, Alabama and authentic Chinese food just don't go together. Yet, the city has one of my favorite Chinese restaurants -- Red Pearl. The restaurant used to be tucked away in a supermarket and occupied merely a hallway of space, and was frankly pretty ghetto, but they've expanded tremendously over the past year. My family ate here for lunch the day before I flew back to school and saw the beautiful new renovations (the restaurant is now almost the same size as the supermarket itself). 

The space...so legit that it's no longer legit. Only a handful of Asians used to eat here, but the crowd has diversified significantly since the renovations.

Vege keke

Mmm cold spicy beef tendons ^^

House fried rice sticks. I actually didn't expect this, since I thought the rice sticks were chow fun since I freakin' love chow fun, so this was disappointing. But it tasted good.

House style tofu, my fave (but I'm a tofu fiend, weird ya). 

Sauteed snails. I know it sounds weird but these are great, and very few restaurants serve this even in bigger cities. This a gem of a dish.

Aaand they have good fortunes ever, instead of those open-to-interpretation BS fortunes that I've gotten recently from other places.

#Vulcaning at Vulcan Park on my last day of break. I look happy but I'm crying on the inside at the prospect of going back to school :(

Red Pearl Restaurant

243 W Valley Ave

Homewood, AL 35209

(205) 945-9558

Helen Asian Kitchen

I've been meaning to check out this place for the name alone. There's not many places in Columbus that have great authentic Chinese food (the best on my list, before checking this restaurant out, was Fortune). We were pretty skeptical initially since it's located in the same plaza as a Super 8 and a Waffle House, but once we parked and stepped inside, we knew we were in for a treat. 

The tasters. One of our friends who often eats with us but is deathly afraid of spicy food was out of town, so we didn't feel bad for coming here.

Dan dan noodlies. They did a great job with this, as the texture of the noodles was good and the sauce was authentic.

Pork lungs in chili sauce. This is one of those traditional dishes that's commonly ordered and hard to mess up, and their rendition did not disappoint.

Sichuan boiled fish. Really darn spicy (check out all that chili oil) -- the kind that makes your ears burn and your eyes water and your tongue wants to fall off. 

Sichuan dry fried pork intestines -- 'twas my favorite.

Dat expression (when the fried pork intestines arrived on our table). It really was that great, we were practically fighting for the final pieces.

Scallion pancakes. They were really light and flakey, and pipping hot when they arrived on our table. 

Soup dumplings. I'm not generally a huge fan, but they're good for soup dumplings.

Is this a metaphor?

Helen Asian Kitchen

1070 E. Dublin Granville Rd.

Columbus, OH 43229

(614) 987-5121

Dan Dan Noodles

So this recipe isn't legit at all. It's adapted from a recipe by Alton Brown, and it calls for peanut butter and ramen noodles. Peanut butter and ramen noodles. But don't knock it til you try it. It reminds me of the dan dan noodles from Oodles Noodle & Dumpling Bar in Columbus, which isn't authentic at all but it's good comfort food. This is just that too, but a tad more refined.

DAN DAN NOODLES
Adapted from recipe by Alton Brown

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
• 4 + 1 cloves garlic
• 1/4 tsp powdered ginger
• 2 + 1 Tbsp soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp brown sugar
• 1 Tbsp sesame oil
• 1 Tbsp Chinese black vinegar
• 1 Tbsp chili oil + extra for garnish
• 1/4 cup chicken broth
• 1/2 lb ground beef or pork
• 1 stalk scallions + extra for garnish
• 2 packs Shin Ramyun (you can try any ramen brand really, but this is my favorite)
• A few stalks of bok choi (optional)
• Peanut halves for garnish

For the sauce, combine peanut butter, 3 cloves minced garlic, ginger, 2 Tbsp soy sauce, brown sugar, sesame oil, Chinese black vinegar, chili oil, and chicken growth. Whisk well. For the meat, combine ground meat, 1 Tbsp soy sauce, 1 clove minced garlic, and a stalk of sliced scallions. Mix well.

Boil some water to a boil, and cook two packs of Shin Ramyun noodles for about 2-3 minutes until softened (be careful not to overcook).

While you're prepping the noodles, you may as well brown your meat over medium-high heat on an adjacent stovetop.

Optional: When the noodles are almost done, add some bok choi leaves and cook for 30 seconds until the greens are tender crisp.

Strain everything. I separated the leaves and the noodles into separate big bowls, then tossed the noodles with a drop of sesame oil to prevent sticking. Put some noodles and bok choi in a bowl. 

Top noodles with peanut sauce and noodles, then decorate with peanut halves, sliced scallions, and a drizzle of chili oil.