Homemade Kimchi the easy way

Max and I loveeee eating kimchi! The problem is I only like the ones made by my Korean friends and the ones serve at our favorite Korean restaurant. I have yet find the store-bought ones that I like. 

I tried so many online recipes and couldn't find the one I like until my friend Linda shared her recipe. Thank you! Since only Max and I likes Kimchi, I usually only make Kimchi with one bunch of Napa cabbage then share them with friends who likes it.

Note in picking Napa cabbage: buy the fresh green one from Asian/ Korean supermarket instead of from the Farmer Market. I find the farmer market one to be dry. It would be fine to use it in cooking but not for Kimchi. The seasoning I share here is best for medium size Napa cabbage weights around 3 pound. All of the ingredients can be found online or at Korean Supermarket.

Cut the cabbage into four parts.

Rinse and drain

Salt the cabbage thoroughly between each leaves and let them be for 4 hours

In the meantime, cut the other ingredients: green onion, carrots, garlic. After 4 hours, rinse the cabbage and drain. Cut the cabbage about 1 inch wide then mix thouroughly with the rest of the ingredients:

Roasted Brussels Sprout Recipe

I have been seeing these beautiful Brussels Sprouts lately whenever I go to Farmer Market but I don't know how to cook them so I went to Mr. Google to look for a recipe. I found two recipes, one uses fish sauce and the other uses balsamic vinegar. Since I like them both I decided to use both. The result: super duper yummyyyy Roasted Brussels Sprout:

Do you know Brussels Sprouts grow on stalks? Little Max was helping taking them out of the stalk

First, cut each of them into half, then put them inside a bowl. Mix in the rest of the ingredients then place them on a baking pan

 

Optional: spread bacon bits on top:

Bake in 450 degree Fahrenheit oven for about 35 minutes

Done! Eat as is or drizzle some honey on top before eating

Roasted Brussels Sprout
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

1 pound of Brussels sprouts

2 tablespoons olive oil

3 garlic cloves - minced

3 tablespoons fish sauce

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

4 teaspoons sugar {more or less as prefer}

Dash of salt and pepper to taste

Optional: bacon, cut into small bits  

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 to 425 degree Fahrenheit (depends on your oven)

Rinse the Brussels sprouts, cut off the brown end, and pull off any yellow leaves. Cut them in half vertically then place them inside a bowl

Toss in the rest of the ingredients except the bacon and mix them together

Place an aluminum foil on top of a baking pan then transfer everything from the bowl into the pan

Place the bacon bits on top

Bake for 30 minutes or until the sauce is caramelized and the sprouts are soft and ready to eat

Hope you like it as much as I do.

You may also like:

Stir-Fried Bitter Melon

Spicy Egg Plants

Stir-Fried Snow Peas

Balsamic Vinaigrette Recipe

I have been back at making lots of Homemade French Bread with Balsamic Vinaigrette during Thanksgiving week and people always asked for the recipe so here it is. We use this for Bruschetta or as salad dressing.

Roasted Okra

I have been hearing the health benefit of okra so when I saw them at local's Farmer's Market, I couldn't wait to cook with them. My last attempt of cooking them wasn't so successful. None of us like its slimy texture so this time I tried roasting them in the oven. No more slimy texture and even the boys can eat them. Yes!

First thing first: rinse them then let them dry

Cut them into smaller pieces

Stir-Fried Broccoli with Egg White

Broccoli is one of few vegetables that my kids like to eat so I almost always have it on the fridge. I also almost always have left over egg white from ice cream making so I thought I should try to use them both.
First, cut and rinse the broccoli

Steam the broccoli 'till half cooked - about 5 minutes

Spicy Eggplant / Terong Balado

I have been enjoying bountiful tomatoes from the garden these past few days and looking for ways to use them up. I used about 5 cherry tomatoes on this dish. Yes!

Note: Some of the pictures are from my old archive.

Stir Fry Bitter Melon

Growing up in a tropical country, my mom told us eating this vegetable will make our blood taste bitter thus we won't get bitten by mosquitoes. As a result,I now loveeee bitter melon. So I was super excited when I found this veggie at the farmer market. Unfortunately, I couldn't get my hubby share my excitement until my local mom told me how to cook it to make it less bitter.

First, divide the bitter melon into two

then remove the inside with spoon:

Homemade Green Smoothies / Popsicles

I first heard about green smoothies from my neighbor Silvi. She told me that all I have to do is adding a handful of spinach when I make smoothies. I was worried about the taste but she convinced me that I won't even taste the spinach and she was right. The best part is seeing my boys consuming veggies enthusiastically.

The main cast: any fruits in season. I use berries, bananas, apples/ kiwi/ peach, yogurt, milk, ice cubes, baby spinach, and diluted honey-optional

Put them inside a blender 

Stir-Fried Si-Gua / Chinese Okra with Salted Egg

We first tasted this dish at a local Taiwanese restaurant in town. It was so good that we kept coming back to order it. After a few trials in the kitchen, I finally found the winning recipe. Well, at least it won my hubby's approval.

A little note: I think that the salted duck eggs from Taiwan taste better than the others we found at Asian Supermarket.  I also prefer buying the Chinese Okra from local farmer market if they are in season.

Gailan a.k.a Chinese Broccoli Recipe

You are most likely find this vegetable dish at Dim Sum Restaurants. We had been trying to cook this dish many time but couldn't get the right texture until my friend's dad told us the secret of how to cook this by boiling the veggies instead of stir-frying it. Turned out it's such a quick and easy dish to prepare. In addition the Chinese Broccoli from the farmer market is organic and tender; better than the ones at Dim Sum Restaurant. ;)

Roasted Potatoes and Carrots

Our family love this simple dish. I especially love the fact that it's healthy and super easy to make. I love making this for gathering as well because it's quick and easy to make.

The process:
Cut the carrots and potatoes into small squares, then place them inside a big mixing bowl:

Stir Fry Green Mustard a.k.a Gai Choy or Jie Cai

Gai Choy or Jie Cai tastes quite bitter no wonder it is also called green mustard. Growing up in a tropical country with mosquitoes everywhere; my mom used to tell me if I eat this veggies I won't be bitten by mosquitoes because my blood would be bitter and mosquitoes won't like it.
I don't think it's true but it worked to get me to eat this.

I was very happy when I found the organic one at our local farmer market so I called mom and asked for the recipe.

The ingredients:
The process:

Faillproof Kale Chips

I made Kale Chips before but it turned out soggy and not as good as I expected to be. Months after, a friend came for a visit and she told me that she has been making kale chips often so I decided to gave Kale Chips another try this time following her direction.

The ingredients: kale from the backyard, rinse, let it dry 


Remove the stems

Stir-Fry Water Spinach/ On Choy

This is a well-known veggie dish in Indonesia. Not so much here in the States. It's been a longgggg time since the last time I cooked this dish so when I saw it at the Farmer Market I quickly bought it. It taste soooo good unlike the regular On Choy that I bought at Supermarket. So the following week I went back to the seller to confirm if it's really On Choy.

Me: "What is the name of this vegetable?"
Seller: "On Choy"
Me: "But it's so good. Is it different kind of On Choy?"
Seller: "It's On Choy"
Me: "Really? How come it's smaller and not hard?"
Seller: "It's On Choy"

I am not making this up. My hubby must be very glad that he wasn't there. Anyway, this is the On Choy I bought from the Farmer Market:

Stir Fried Snow Peas with Mushroom

Snow Peas are my boys favorite vegetables. I usually buy it from Trader Joe's or if it is in season, then you can find it at local farmer market. My friend's mom taught me how to trim and cook this veggies otherwise I wouldn't know what to do with it. Thank you, Bobo!

The series of pictures below showed two different peas: snap peas and snow peas. Snap peas is chunkier while snow peas is thinner. You can use either one of them.

Ingredients:

Rinse the peas then trim the end from each snow or snap pea and pull the string down the pod. Repeat at the other end, pulling the string from the other side. If snow peas are young, they don't have strings, so just trim the ends. This will take a while so look for a head activity to do while doing this. Just make sure you don't cut your finger :)