My Korean Kitchen SPECIAL – Korean Chicken Cajun Quinoa

Being on a diet (story of my life) is never easy. Especially in Korea when bowls of rice are served at every meal and by every meal I mean EVERY meal, even breakfast. My poor blood sugar was in shock after the first few months here; I just couldn’t face eating my school lunch without it but I persevered. The death stares and questions I was asked when I had no scoop of rice on my tray caused an absolute riot in the cafeteria. Is Che sick? We should make her Kimbap (made with rice!!) Does Che not like the lunch? Let’s make her rice cake soup (moooorree rice). Eventually I made the rational decision to walk away from school lunches all together. This was a good thing (my health) and a bad thing. Going to lunch is the only time I ever really got a chance to spend with my other teachers and when I stopped going to the cafeteria they thought I had left the country!

So now that I had to start prepping my own lunches everyday I finally had a chance to hit the healthy train. I had heard about Quinoa many years ago but didn’t really know much about it. About 5 months ago I decided to look into it a bit more (after hours of Pinterest searching). Turns out Quinoa is not infact pronounced Kee-No-Wa (lol) and is as healthy as ever. It’s a healthy grain, high in protein and gluten free! Wahoo! I’m all about no gluten these days. I immediately tried to get my hands on the stuff but as is always with Korea, the ingredients we miss and crave are veeery hard to find. I resorted to buying myself a bag on iHerb. The greatest website ever for healthy supplements and foods. Finally I could start experimenting with it.

I’ve always been a sucker for a nice spicy yet creamy pasta and taking a hint from a fellow chef in Korea I decided to take a traditional Cajun Cream Chicken recipe and adjust it with a few delish Korean ingredients, make it as high protein as possible and rest it on a bed of delicious Quinoa.

I first made my own version of  Cajun spice from scratch. 2T Paprika, 2T Salt, 2T Garlic Powder, 2T Onion Powder, 3T Hot Pepper Flakes. I popped this into a nice big Ziploc bag.

I used a whole chicken diced up Korean style (hacked to bits! Gordon Ramsay would invent new swear words for this) and put this into the bag of spices and shook it up till all the pieces were coated.

I fried 1 chopped onion in some olive oil till translucent then added the chicken and fried till brown on all sides. I then added 1 yellow pepper, 4 green chilies (seeds omitted – tooooo spicy!!) and 1 large zucchini (baby marrow). Added 1 cup of water and 100ml  cream. This boiled away for about 20 mins.

At this stage the sauce was juuust about there but I had only added a small amount of cream and needed to thicken and creamify it more. Enter tofu. Yes that’s Tofu not more cream in the picture.

I’ve fallen in love with Soft Tofu since the first time I made a Korean Tofu Stew. It adds a wonderful texture and flavour to a dish. I let this cook through for another 10 mins.

Also because I’m Koreanising this recipe what goes in next? Yup good old Kimchi! YUM!! I put this in near the end of the cooking time because I still wanted the fresh crunch and because rice is my devil I had cooked a few cups of Quinoa a bit earlier and added my chicken to it. It smelt AMAZING!! It was spicy as all hell just how I like it and had this wonderful creamy sauce packed with delicious veg and chicken. So full of protein deliciousness for my lunches for the week. Dr Atkins eat your heart out 😀

My Korean Kitchen – Kimchi Jjigae – Kimchi Stew (김치 찌개)

Kimchi Jjigae was one of the first soups/stews I was ever introduced to. Even before I arrived in Korea. I organised two of my best friends to join me on a little Korean adventure to a Korean restaurant in Johannesburg to sample the cuisine. My friends were just as intrigued as I was so we ended up ordering some Bibimbap, Kimchi Jjigae and Chicken Fried Rice.

The Kimchi Jjigae arrived in this gorgeous bubbling black pot bursting with aroma. I could feel my nose hairs singe as the chilli wafted across the table. I didn’t expect it at all. My friend Nick did his best to finish it and he even likes spicy food. I took one spoonful and my head almost exploded. It was such an intense sour spicy fishy combination. I couldn’t handle it so I continued ravaging through my Bibimbap.

Nick and his Kimchi Jjigae

After I had arrived in Korea I was introduced once again to the spicy pot of hell. This time however I managed to handle the heat and after a few months my taste buds started changing and I could handle the spiciness like never before. Add more Hot pepper Flakes please!!

Once I started teaching myself how to make Korean food I just knew that this Jjigae had to be on the menu. So here it is. It was also made with my fresh homemade kimchi.

Ingredients

100g Sliced Pork (Pork Belly)

1 cup Homemade Kimchi

1/4 cup Kimchi juice (from same container)

2 Tbs Hot Pepper Flakes (depending on how spicy u want it)

1 Tbs Gochujang (Korea Red Pepper Paste)

1/2 Onion (chopped)

2 Spring Onions

1/2 Square of Tofu

1 Tbs Sesame Oil

2 Cups Water

1. Fry Kimchi, Onions and Pork in a pot with some oil. Add Kimchi Juice and cook for 2 minutes.

2. Add Hot Pepper Paste and Hot Pepper Flakes and mix together then add water.

3. Boil covered for 10 minutes and then turn down to a light simmer for 20 minutes.

4. Chop the Tofu into small squares, add to the soup and boil it for 5 minutes.

5. Add a drizzle of Sesame Oil and serve.

It’s traditional in Korea to have your Jjigae with a steaming bowl of rice and I definitely recommend it. It also helps cut through the sting of the chilli. You can also omit the pork for a vegetarian option and some people even add tuna.

Homemade Kimchi Jjigae with Homemade Kimchi