All Things Chill

Broiled Kalbi (Korean Short Ribs), Tofu / Oyster Mushroom Stir-Fry and White Rice

Liana’s gone, so I can eat BEEF! LOL. I also made a quick vegetarian stir fry for testing that I can make for her when she *does* get back. Fabrication directions follow!

For the Kalbi, throw…

1 onion
1 pear -cored
1 apple – cored
3 cloves of garlic – peeled
1 nub of ginger (size of thumb) – peeled
a handful of brown sugar
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup mirin (Japanese sweet cooking rice wine)
1/4 cup sesame oil
1 tbsp. red pepper flakes – more to taste
1 tsp of chile powder

…in a food processor and uhh… process (lol) into a chunky paste. Pour the marinade in a 1-gallon freezer bag (lifesavers, I swear) with all of the beef short ribs. Marinate in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour (if you’re really hungry) or overnight (if you can wait).

Preheat your broiler on high. Pull the beef out of the bag and wipe away the extra marinade. If you don’t, the marinade will create moisture in the oven that will steam your ribs – tasty, but not char-tasty. Put the beef on a a foil wrapped baking sheet (less cleanup later) and throw under the broiler for about 5 minutes, or until the beef “caramelizes” (note: the sugars in the marinade allow the beef to caramelize – meat is not capable of this on its own).

Read more for the mushroom / tofu stir fry

What’s good about this side-dish is that it doesn’t have to be a side dish at all. It’s very hearty and the tofu gives it a strong meaty texture that can satisfy the most carnal of carnivores (YOU HEAR THAT RYAN!?! LOL).

You’ll need a brick of extra-firm tofu – pressed under a weight so the excess moisture can be excreted (lol gross) and a handful of oyster mushrooms. Preheat your pan / wok with a high heat. Once heated, add canola oil to your pan and wait until barely smoking. Throw in the mushrooms and let sit for 10 seconds to get a nice sear. Toss once and add the tofu and cook until brown on all sides.

Now, you’ll make a quick sauce. Throw in 1/2c of… mirin, soy sauce, sesame oil, 1/4 cup of oyster sauce and some red pepper flake in a bowl and beat with a fork. Once the tofu is ready, add the liquid to the pan and cook until reduced by half. If you’re used to using cornstarch in your Chinese food recipes, be my guest. I didn’t really need the thicker sauce because of the MEAT JUICE. lol.

You can totally extend this meal with some picked veggies (kim chee, etc.) or steamed dumplings or whatever your little Pan-Asian (omg I can’t believe I used that term ACK) heart desires.

Questions? I’d love to help!

~Spec

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 19th, 2008 at 1:18 pm and is filed under Cooking Culture, Cuisine, Recipes, Streaming Conciousness. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.