Vegetables

ChapaDragon (Homemade Chajangmyun w/Seaweed and Steamed Tofu)

Date: April 23, 2013
Author: BeyondNFinity™
Categories: Noodles, Tofu, Vegetables
Comments: 3 Replies

The Simple Late Night Snack Becomes A Meal

I LOVE noodles almost as much as I LOVE rice with kimchi, some soup, greens, and some kim.  MMM, did I mention sushi and French cheesecake? I just love to eat really good food.

One really late night (early morning), a Korean program called THANK YOU was brought to my attention. The first time I watched it in Korean from beginning to end, understanding about eighty percent of it. I’m not fluent in Korean, yet I’m starting to really understand it more. The second time I watched it, there were subtitles which let me know that I had correctly interpreted eighty percent of the show.

During my late night viewing of THANK YOU, I became hungry and wanted a snack. Yet, I did not want to stop watching the show. One of the stars who goes by the stage name of G DRAGON, decided to prepare a meal for the other stars on the show. He was making a very popular dish in South Korea called CHAPAGURI. It is a cross between CHAPAGETTI and NEOGURI instant noodle dishes.

He began boiling noodles and chopping veggie seasonings like onions and chillies. I cringed as I watched him using the knife, I was afraid he’s cut himself. Once he drained most of the liquid, added the flavor packets, noodles, onions, and chillies; the dish looked quite appealing. Until the other stars mentioned that it was salty. Not his fault of course, instant anything tends to have lots of sodium for flavor and for preservation.

He also made a second dish called GYERANJJIM or steamed egg. The stars told him that it was not seasoned enough. Someone had the idea to mix the two together to basically create a new dish – CHAPADRAGON.

As I watched the stars eat, ideas on how to make the dish not be so salty, take great, and vegan! I stuck with making it as he did except I did not use the flavor packets and the steamed eggs became steamed tofu – DUBUJJIM. Which you can try the recipe for here.

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ChapaDragon (Homemade Chajangmyun w/Seaweed Steamed Tofu)

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes

Yield: Serves 2

Ingredients

  • 1 med onion (1 cup), halved and thinly sliced
  • 1/2 cup ice cubes
  • 1/4 cup black soybean paste
  • 2 heaping tablespoons minced garlic
  • 2 heaping tablespoons minced ginger
  • 1 tablespoon miyeok or wakame
  • 1 1/4 cup water
  • 1 red chile, diagonally thinly sliced (optional)
  • 1 green chile, diagonally thinly sliced (optional)
  • 1/2 teaspoon gochujang (optional)
  • 8 ounce ramyun or ramen noodles
  • 1 quarter piece cucumber, julienne

Instructions

    Vegetable Flavorings
  1. Prep all vegetables.
  2. Set aside.
    3. Noodles
  3. Boil noodles according to package instructions in a saucepan with a pasta insert.
  4. Lift cooked noodles from liquid.
  5. Pour out liquid.
  6. Set noodles aside.
    7. Preparation
  7. Using the same saucepan, add onions.
  8. Stir constantly to keep onions from burning until onions brown slightly.
  9. Slowly add ice and continue stirring. *Be careful of steam.
  10. Add black soybean paste, garlic, ginger, miyeok or wakame. Stir.
  11. Add chilies and/or gochujang.* Stir.
  12. Add water to create a sauce.
  13. Simmer for 5 minutes.
  14. Add noodles, stir, remove from heat.
  15. Place in bowls. Top with cucumbers and chillies.
  16. Serve.

Notes

Depending upon how much heat you like, you can add the gochujang and the chillies. Or you can leave out the gochujang and use the chillies as garnish.

https://www.beyondnfinity.com/chapadragon-homemade-chajangmyun-wseaweed/

 

 

 

 

Farewell Vegan Mofo: Smothered Cabbage and Tofu/Korean Radish and Green Beans

Date: November 7, 2012
Author: BeyondNFinity™
Categories: Tofu, Vegetables
Comments: Leave a reply

It’s So Hard To Say Goodbye

 

It has been such a blast doing Vegan Month of Food again this year! I love vegans, plant based eaters/supporters, animal loves and omnivores alike. I suppose I love everybody. What I desire is to show as people as I am able that being vegan isn’t cardboard and sawdust tasting. It is my desire to educate as many as I can, as well as remind as many as I can from all over the world of some of their veggie roots.

I have been deeply touched by those who reached out to me and humbled at how difficult this entire process of composing recipes considering that I don’t measure anything. I basically eyeball and dump how ever much I believe she go into the dish. With that being said, I offer two recipes that can be used as banchan or side dishes.

The first dish is simply Smothered Cabbage and Tofu.

 

 

 

I took from my Cajun roots and simply smothered cabbage with baked tofu that’s seasoned with onions, garlic, ginger, and black pepper. Smothering is basically cooking an ingredient in it’s juices. Cajuns tend to do a lot of smothering basically Koreans do the same thing in a faster amount of time simply because their cuts of meat are cut smaller as well as there’s high heat involved in stone pots.

The second dish is Korean Radish and Green Beans.

 

 

 

 

This is just a simple sauté of Korean radish and green beans seasoned with red bell peppers and gochujang. Both recipes also have been kissed by soy sauce or tamari and sesame oil.

 

 

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Farewell Vegan Mofo: Smothered Cabbage and Tofu/Korean Radish and Green Beans

Ingredients

    Smothered Cabbage and Tofu
  • 1 package extra firm tofu, drained
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1 small cabbage, chopped into bite-size pieces
  • 1 cup onions, diced
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 2-inch piece ginger, minced
  • 1 teaspoon black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon soy sauce or tamari
  • 1 teaspoon sesame oil
    • Korean Radish and Green Beans
  • 1 small Korean radish, peeled and thinly sliced into squares
  • 1 pound fresh or frozen green beans
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1 teaspoon gochujang (red pepper paste)
  • 1 small red bell pepper, diced
  • 1 teaspoon soy sauce or tamari
  • 1 teaspoon sesame oil

Instructions

    Smothered Cabbage and Tofu
    Tofu
  1. Preheat oven to 425.
  2. Drain and rinse tofu. Slice tofu into 1/4-inch pieces then into squares.
  3. Place tofu onto a lightly oiled baking sheet.
  4. Bake for 15 minutes. Flip halfway through the baking process. Set aside.
    5. Cabbage
  5. Heat pot to medium-high.
  6. Wash cabbage. Cut in half and cut out core. Cut into bite-size pieces.
  7. Place cabbage into the pot with water, onions, garlic, ginger and black pepper.
  8. Cook until cabbage becomes limp or about 15 minutes.
  9. Add soy sauce or tamari, sesame oil, and tofu. Cook 5 minutes more.
  10. Serve.
    11. Korean Radish and Green Beans
  11. Wash, peel and slice Korean radish 1/4-inch square pieces.
  12. Place radish into pot with water, green beans, gochujang, and diced red pepper.
  13. Sauté for 10 minutes.
  14. Add soy sauce or tamari and sesame oil continue to cook for 5 more minutes.
  15. Serve.
https://www.beyondnfinity.com/farewell-vegan-mofo/

 

Korean Veggie Chili

Date: November 5, 2012
Author: BeyondNFinity™
Categories: Beans and Legumes, Soup, Vegetables
Comments: Leave a reply

Chili con Tempeh! Huh?

There is nothing like a really good bowl of something hot and filling on a chilly night. Yet sometimes, chili is just good on some chips with vegan cheese for nachos. Over some cornbread. Or some rice crackers. Rice noodles are great. Even over rice. Sorry, I gotta have my rice everyday.

 

Chili is one of those meals like soup that has the protein base with tomatoes in there somewhere. Different vegetables are also tossed in, as well as some kind of broth, beans, and spice choices. All combined and served with biscuits, cornbread, or even tortilla chips.

For something more hearty, I chose to use tempeh instead of just beans or tofu. Usually, I bake the tempeh to help add another depth of flavor. The browning or roasting aspect helps deepens the flavor; it builds a base, a foundation that sets the entire stage for the chili.

Beans add extra protein as well as fiber. I chose black beans for their heartiness as well as their slight sweetness. While adding corn for a hint of sweetness, as well as corn is a good source of vitamin C and fiber. Still, be careful not to eat too much corn, it’s high in sugar content and will blow you up – inflame you, cause you to appear bigger than you really are. Yet when you balance foods, it lessens the effects of a single food on it’s own. That is why when you eat things that are flour, sugar, fat and fried (all inflammatory), it creates a reaction within your body that has damaging effects when eaten regularly.

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Korean Veggie Chili

Ingredients

  • 2 tablespoon water
  • 1 cup onions, diced
  • 1 cup red bell pepper, diced
  • 1 cup celery, thinly sliced
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1-inch piece ginger
  • 1 teaspoon sesame seeds, roasted and ground
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 tablespoon gochujang (red pepper paste)
  • 1 perilla or shiso leaf, chiffonade,
  • 1 teaspoon soy sauce or tamari
  • 1 (15-ounce) can of black beans, drained and rinsed
  • 1 (14.5-ounce) can of fire-roasted tomatoes, undrained
  • 1 cup fresh or frozen yellow or white corn
  • 2 cups water
  • 4 green onions, thinly sliced

Instructions

    Preparation
  1. Sauté 2 tablespoons water, onions, bell peppers, celery, garlic, and ginger in a medium-high heat pot until onions are translucent.
  2. Add ground sesame seeds, cinnamon, gochujang, and perlla or shiso leaf. Continue to sauté to intensify the flavors by caramelizing the onions, peppers, and gochujang for 3 minutes.
  3. Add black beans, undrained tomatoes, corn, and 2 cups water.
  4. Bring to a boil; reduce heat, simmer for 30 minutes. You can cook longer to intensify the flavor. If that is the case then simmer for 45 minutes total.
  5. Serve with blue corn chips, rice crackers, corn bread, biscuits, rice, or noodles.
https://www.beyondnfinity.com/korean-veggie-chili/

 

Tofu Vegetable Pie

Date: November 3, 2012
Author: BeyondNFinity™
Categories: Mushrooms, Tofu
Comments: Leave a reply

Let Them Eat Pie!

 

There are times when which tend to be most of the time that I need to make something that I don’t have to stand over. Or involved constant attention. Something that I can throw together quickly and walk away for at least thirty minutes.

All that’s needed to do is scramble some tofu with onions, garlic, ginger, bell peppers, maybe some celery if you like,  and  mushrooms. Enhance those natural seasoning flavors with some umph — gochujang or black  pepper. A splash of soy sauce or tamari. Add some leafy greens to the mixture placed into a lovely pocket of filo. Serve with a salad of fresh goodness and you are set to have a great evening of television viewing, book reading, whatever delights your soul!

 

Also, you can add other vegetables like the basics of onions, celery, bell peppers, and garlic. Then add ginger, carrot, and shiitake mushrooms. If you really want to go wild once you’ve added you greens of choice, you can add some sea vegetable or some black olives. Add some turmeric not only for color yet for it’s medicinal uses. One popular way is for the treatment of arthritis.

Sweet potatoes and Korean radish can even be included in this dish. The possibilities of ingredients are endless and making this one of the most versatile meals anyone could possibly prepare. The mixture is then all bundled up in filo. Really the filo can be changed out for another vegetable like zucchini or eggplant thinly sliced.

 

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Tofu Vegetable Pie

Ingredients

  • 1 cup onions, chopped
  • 1/2 cup celery, thinly sliced
  • 1/2 cup bell pepper, chopped
  • 1 cup mushrooms, chopped
  • 1 cup carrots, diced
  • 2 gloves garlic, minced
  • 1 package extra-firm tofu, drained and crumbled
  • black pepper to taste
  • 2 teaspoons soy sauce or tamari, divided
  • 2 cup kale, sautéed
  • 12 sheets phyllo dough
  • 2 tablespoons vegan margarine melted

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 375.
    2. Kale
  2. Wash, de-stem and chop into bite-size pieces.
  3. Water sauté half the onions, garlic and kale for 5 minutes or until wilted.
  4. Set aside.
    5. Tofu
  5. Heat skillet to medium-high.
  6. Water sauté celery, bell pepper, remainder of onions, and carrots for 3 minutes.
  7. Add mushrooms, garlic, tofu, and turmeric. Sauté until there isn't anymore liquid from the tofu.
  8. Stir in kale. Set aside.
    9. Phyllo
  9. Lightly oil a pie plate with a touch of vegan margarine or oil to prevent phyllo from sticking.
  10. Overlap the 12 sheets of phyllo in pie plate.
  11. Spoon in tofu mixture into pie plate.
  12. Fold phyllo dough over tofu mixture. Lightly brush phyllo with mellted vegan margarine.
  13. Place into oven and bake for 30-45 minutes or until phyllo is golden brown.
  14. Serve with salad and roasted vegetables.
https://www.beyondnfinity.com/tofu-vegetable-pie/

 

 

 

Vegan Mofo #31 Vegan Kimchi Jjigae (Kimchi Stew)

Date: October 31, 2012
Author: BeyondNFinity™
Categories: Soup, Vegetables
Comments: Leave a reply

Bubble Bubble Red Hot and Delectable

 

 

It continues to be cold outside and the need to warm up. On this Halloween night something a bit spicy and devilish is in high order. Not only will it light you up, it will surprise you with  all the simple complexity within this dish.

 

 

In the past, this was one of those dishes that Koreans made and still do because they used the kimchi they made to use all through the winter. The dish generally consist of aged kimchi, kimchi liquid, pork, beef, or seafood, tofu, garlic, green onions, doenjang and gochujang (both optional). Because this is a vegan kimchi stew, we won’t be using pork, beef, or seafood.  It still will be very flavorful because of the kimchi itself.

You can make it thick or thin depending on whether you use onion and the type of tofu you use. Whatever you choose to add to your kimchi stew, whether thick or thin, this warming traditional dish will bring comfort and great health because of the beneficial bacterial in aged kimchi. As well as, every ingredient added to the dish adds even more benefits because each ingredient is fresh and made with top quality ingredients.

 

 

Kimchi Jigae or kimchi stew can be served in a communal manner if there is more than one person enjoying it. Serve with rice and banchan (side dishes). It can also be served in the pot it was cooked if using a stone or cast iron pot. Enjoy, party people!

 

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Vegan Mofo #31 Vegan Kimchi Jjigae (Kimchi Stew)

Ingredients

  • 2 cups ripe kimchi, chopped in bite-size pieces
  • 1/2 cup onions. diced
  • 3/4 cup kimchi juice
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 green onions, one cut into 1 pieces and one thinly sliced
  • 3 1/2 cups water
  • 1 package of firm tofu, cut into small rectangles

Instructions

  1. Place all ingredients except the one green onion cut into 1 inch pieces and the other thinly sliced.
  2. Bring to a boil for 20 minutes.
  3. Add thinly sliced green onions and continue to boil for another 10 minutes. The long it cooks the more flavorful the stew gets.
  4. In the last 5 minutes of however long you choose to cook it add the 1 inch pieces of green onions.
  5. Serve with rice and banchan (side dishes).
https://www.beyondnfinity.com/vegan-kimchi-jjigae-kimchi-stew/

Vegan Mofo #30 Korean Cabbage Soup (Baechu Doenjangguk)

Date: October 30, 2012
Author: BeyondNFinity™
Categories: Soup, Tofu, Vegetables
Comments: Leave a reply

BRRR! Must Get Warm! Soup!

 

This is one of those times where soup will hit the spot. One of the best soups that many Koreans consume is cabbage soup. It’s such a quick simple soup. You can make it in less than thirty minutes, while a pot of rice is bubbling away.

Cabbage soup isn’t served in restaurants, it’s a tried and true Korean wife’s go to soup. A great favorite of Koreans everywhere. The liquid used in this soup is traditionally the rice water from during the rice cleaning process. That water has starch so it helps to thicken it without adding flour. Some wives use anchovies or beef broth as a base. Well, because this is a vegan soup, we will not be using neither one of those ingredients.

 

Instead just having cabbage, garlic, and doenjang, I chose to also add carrots , gochhujang and tofu to the mix. I don’t have childhood memories of Korean cabbage soup like most Koreans do because I didn’t grow up Korean. I grew up in Louisiana where we do have our own cabbage soup as well due to the Germans and the Cajuns. We eat just as much cabbage in Louisiana as the Koreans do. As a matter of fact a lot of the ingredients used in Korean cooking are very similar to ingredients used in Louisianian cooking. That will be for another day. For now, enjoy this wonderful mama’s homemade soup.

 

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Vegan Mofo #30 Korean Cabbage Soup (Baechu Doenjangguk)

Ingredients

  • 1/2 medium napa cabbage, chopped
  • 2 carrots, diced
  • 4 tablespoons doenjang (soybean paste)
  • 1 teaspoon gochujang (red pepper paste)
  • 2 tablespoons brown rice flour
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 green onions, thinly sliced
  • 1 package of tofu, drained and cubed
  • 5 cups water (or 2 1/2 cup water + 2 1/2 cup vegetable broth)

Instructions

  1. Cut napa cabbage in half, save the other half. Cut into bite-size pieces.
  2. Wash and dice carrots. Mince garlic.
  3. Add cabbage, carrots, garlic, brown rice flour, doenjang, and gochujang to a pot.
  4. Sauté on medium-high until both paste blend into vegetables.
  5. Drain, rinse, and cube tofu. Add to the vegetable mixture along with the green onions. Stir.
  6. Add water or vegetable broth.
  7. Bring to a gentle boil and cook for 20 minutes.
  8. Serve.
https://www.beyondnfinity.com/korean-cabbage-soup-baechu-doenjangguk/