Moving to the coast has provided me with the most idyllic food-scape as seafood is my favorite food.  Pair that with Korean flavors and a sweet and spicy kick, I’m swooning.  This dish is very reminiscent of the ones my parents used to whip up for us.  You can easily swap the seafood out for whatever protein or veggies you desire and you’ve got a quick, easy, and delicious meal you can whip up in no time.

httpv://youtu.be/MqhkGht_Ggw

5.0 from 2 reviews

Seafood Stir-Fry Korean Style

 

Prep time

20 mins

Cook time

10 mins

Total time

30 mins

 

Author: The Squishy Monster

Ingredients

• ¼ lb each of shrimp, scallops, fish {etc}
• 2 tb Korean red pepper paste
• 1 ts soy sauce
• 1 tb unfiltered apple juice
• 1 ts freshly grated ginger
• 2 ts freshly grated garlic
• 1 tb raw honey
• 2 ts toasted sesame seeds
• 2 ts cold pressed sesame oil
• 2 c of your favorite veggies

Instructions

1. In a big bowl, whisk all the ingredients together save the seafood, oil, and veggies.
2. Toss the seafood in the sauce and allow it to sit in the fridge for 20 minutes.
3. In a pan slicked with the sesame oil, sauté over medium-high heat with the veggies. Do not over cook and take care not to break up the seafood too much.

3.2.2124

Love,

Your Squishy Monster ^.~

This soup delivers heat in two ways.  First, it’s hot and bubbly and then, it’s red and spicy (but not so much that you’ll double over).  As always, you can tailor fit this to your own personal taste.  Don’t like that kick?  Remove the jalapeños or deseed them and scale back the pepper flakes (though Korean flakes are without the seeds and much milder).

For me, it’s like an aphrodisiac.  I love spicy and hot dishes and seafood is my favorite, and there’s something so subtly seductive about a personal pot of fierce aromatic bubbles that almost has a lulling effect on you as you slurp your way through.  It’s like the food version of a roaring fire and that’s always sexy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0_KFBPdA9I&hd=1

5.0 from 1 reviews

Silken Tofu Seafood Soup 순두부찌개

 

Prep time

5 mins

Cook time

20 mins

Total time

25 mins

 

Author: The Squishy Monster

Serves: 4-6 Servings

Ingredients

• 6 c mushroom/seafood stock (or water)
• ¼ c dried anchovies
• 2 kelp pieces
• 4 garlic cloves
• 2 jalapeños
• 1 onion
• 1 tb fish sauce
• 2 tb Korean red pepper flakes
• 2 ts sesame oil
• 2 c seafood (of your choice)
• 12 oz silken tofu
• 3 chopped green onions
• 1 egg

Instructions

1. Simmer your broth, anchovies, and kelp for 15-20 minutes on medium/low.
2. Toss in your garlic, peppers, onion, fish sauce, pepper flakes, and sesame oil and allow it to reach a fierce boil.
3. Carefully slide in your seafood, crumble in your tofu, and crack in your egg and move it around to create a flurry or leave it to set.
4. Sprinkle with your chopped green onions allow it to bubble just until your seafood is cooked (which shouldn’t be long).

3.2.2807

Wishing you a hot & steamy weekend (I’ll be over there, cuddling with a box of cookies, haha)

Love,

Your Squishy Monster ^.~

So, I bring to you Kimchi & Sausage Potstickers (between this and the dump dish, I award her as the beauty contest winner, anyways).

Watch this video on YouTube Embedded with WP YouTube Lyte.

Here’s that first dumpling video I posted:

Watch this video on YouTube Embedded with WP YouTube Lyte.

For the Garlicky Scallion Sauce:

• 1/4 c Soy Sauce
• 1 1/2 ts Sesame Oil
• 2 ts Sesame Seed
• 1 clove of finely crushed/minced Garlic
• 1/4 ts Ginger
• 2 ts Red Pepper Flakes
• 1/2 thinly sliced Scallion

You can serve these steamed (as shown), pan fried or made into a soup.

Quick Dumpling Soup:

Bring 5 c Water and 2 ts of Dried Anchovies to a rolling boil.  Add your desired chopped veggies (but make sure you include 2 ts of Garlic in it) I personally like Zucchini & Onions but you can use whatever you like and want to eat.  Salt & Pepper.  Add in your Potstickers and bring all of it to a fierce boil for at least 10-15 minutes.   Before serving, crack a beaten egg into it and gently scramble within the broth with a fork. Add in sliced Rice Cakes if you’d like.  Garnish with Scallions.

These babies freeze beautifully.  Tip: lay them on a single layer on your Silpat, pop into the freezer for 20-30 minutes and when they’re hardened, tumble them into a tupperware.  I’ve kept mine up to 4 months before.

I’ve received several messages in regards to where you can obtain Kimchi.  You can make your own Kimchi or purchase it any Korean Market (sometimes Asian Markets) and I found it at my local Health Food Store as well.

Happy Steaming!

Love,

Your Squishy Monster

I brought this over to my friends house.  They wanted nothing to do with it.  I share this recipe with you in hopes that some of y’all will have an adventurous enough spirit to give this a go, at least once…and to be quite honest, I’ve fooled my friends into trying it (unbeknownst to them) before so muhahahah to you! When you dine at any Korean restaurant, it’s typical for a nice spread of various “banchan” (side dishes) to be brought out to accompany your meal.  Everything is served in a manner that quite honestly, can’t be separated from one “muchim” (mixed banchan) to another.  When lured in by the sight of fatty meats grilling table side, pleasantly sputtering in its own juices, and you and your friends are high on the anticipation of comedically large, steaming bowls of this spicy Soup or that savory noodle dish, being brought out for the sole purpose of pleasuring you, it’s easy to persuade them to try everything spread at the table before them.  Hence, the trickery!  I distinctly remember them both eating this and liking it so it’s just a situation of mind over matter.

After spending a weekend with the queen of finicky eaters, I am so not beyond concealing one thing into another just to get someone to eat something.  I encourage you to set this out with your kimchi and see how quickly it disappears!

Whelk {Sea Snail} Salad

 

Prep time

15 mins

Total time

15 mins

 

Author: The Squishy Monster

Ingredients

• 1 can of bai top (sea snails), rinsed, drained, cut into pieces
• 4 garlic cloves, finely minced
• 2 ts rice vinegar
• 1 tb sesame oil
• 2 ts fish sauce
• 1 tb sugar
• 2 tb red pepper flakes
• 3 tb red pepper paste
• 1 tb sesame seeds
• ½ english cucumber
• ¼ c shredded carrots
• ¼ c cut cabbage
• 2 green onions

Instructions

1. In a small bowl, sprinkle your cucumber slices with 1 tb of salt (to draw out the moisture). Allow it to sit for about 10 minutes, drain and squeeze the excess moisture out.
2. In a separate large bowl, mix your “sauce” together which is everything but your veggies and meat.
3. Toss in your veggies and snails.
4. Take your gloved hands and massage/press everything together. It will produce a vibrant ruby salad.
5. Store in the fridge.

3.2.2124

The last time I went to Korea, my cousins took me to “Pizza Hut.”  It seemed like everything had corn on it.  It bothered me then, but I’ve really latched onto the concept since.  It echoes my childhood breakfasts of canned beans and corn.  Now this “pizza” doesn’t have corn on it, (but it could)!  It elaborates on the idea of putting things in a dish that, in hindsight make complete sense!  Like one of those Homer Simpson “d’oh!” moments.  Why should Korean BBQ be held to the strict confines of rice and kimchi?  Holy cow, next time I make this, I’m definitely adding kimchi!!!

5.0 from 1 reviews

Korean BBQ Pizza

 

Prep time

1 hour

Cook time

15 mins

Total time

1 hour 15 mins

 

Author: The Squishy Monster

Ingredients

• 1 ribeye
• ½ onion
• 6-8 mushrooms (any variety)
• 1 bell pepper
• 2 pieces of naan (pizza dough or any flat-bread works as well)
• 2 c shredded mozzarella (any nicely melting cheese would work)
• Bulgogi marinade (recipe follows)
• Gochujang sauce (recipe follows)

Bulgogi Marinade:

• ¼ c soy sauce
• 1 tb agave/coconut nectar/honey/rice syrup
• 2 tb grated Asian pear or Fuji apple
• ½ ts ginger
• 2 ts garlic
• 2 ts sesame seed
• 1 tb sesame oil

Gochujang (Hot Pepper Paste) Sauce

• ¼ c hot pepper paste (or roasted red peppers/tomatoes)
• ½ tb agave/coconut nectar/honey/rice syrup
• 2 ts sesame oil
• 2-3 tb water (enough to thin out your sauce to a spreadable consistency)
• 1 head of roasted garlic

Instructions

1. Pepper your steak and pop it into your freezer for it to firm up enough to cut into thin slices (20 min or so)…add your slices to your marinade (the longer it sits the better min: 30 min up to 2 days) *Grilling outdoors makes this superb.
2. Cut the top off of your whole head of garlic, wrap it in a sheet of foil after liberally dousing with olive oil, S + P. Mine took about 35-45 min but check on it after the 30 min mark and see if it’s satisfactory to you. Blitz to mix.
3. To assemble, smear your sauce on your flat-bread, drape your toppings and sprinkle with cheese. The naan takes literally less than 5 min so bake at 350 until your cheese gets nice and gooey.

3.2.1753

One day, I want to have a pizza party with all of y’all…just like in grade school with balloons, streamers, and glass bottle sodas!!

Love Always,

Your Squishy Monster

XOXO!!!!

So I am particularly sad to share the news that I’ve recently been click-bombed several times on my channel.  This typically means that someone purposely and repeatedly clicked on ads with the full intent to disable an account.  I was reinstated for a short while only to fall victim to it, yet again.  I’m fairly certain I know what caused it but this does nothing to impact the decision that falls beyond my control.  Needless to say, the decision stands …indefinitely.  I struggled with it all week and reached the decision that I will continue making videos.  With or without outside help.  This is via encouragement of both my Friends and Family.  I won’t allow something as trivial as this to discourage me from the path that I know that I was meant to be on.  I’ve never been so sure about anything else.  It’s my dream and I know that if it’s meant to be, that it will be realized.  I won’t ever give up.

So today, I bring to you smiles, energy, encouragement, and a new video!!

Watch this video on YouTube Embedded with WP YouTube Lyte.

Remember, don’t allow negativity to rent space in your head for free and don’t let anyone stand in the way of your dreams.  If they love you, they’ll provide support and encouragement.  Sometimes, (like this past week for me) things can seem awful, but all bad and dark things eventually come to the light.  I tend to lean on the Melancholy side as it stands so it’s an effort to be mindful of such things, but just keep doing you.  “You only miss the shots you don’t take,” I was told by someone I love who loves me very much.

Thank you to everyone who has been so supportive, lending me positive energy and allowing me to wallow because eventually, I always get up =D

Love always,
Your Squishy Monster =D

There I go rambling again, lol.  I bring up Engrish because a). I find it endearing, not an ounce of me is referring to it in an insulting or malicious manner.  As I always like to say…”A+ for effort!!” and b). Mixing Rice is exactly what I’m sharing with you today.  CNN reported that it’s among the 50 of the most delicious foods in the World–the World, people…pay attention!  =D

In my humble opinion, I find it to be a visual stunner.  She’s a gorgeous thing with all sorts of colorful veggies stacked up neatly in a circle on her bed of hot, fluffy rice.  She even has a sunny, Yellow Hat!  One of the most beautiful aspects of this dish is that every ingredient has something different to bring to the table (literally).  For example, there’s the Fern Brake that’s chewy and tender, you get satisfying crunch from the Sprouts, gooey richness from the Yolk, a gentle smokiness all around from the Sesame Oil and etc, which brings me to the point that you can really make Bibimbap with whatever you have, like, or is one sale. (Really, I could go on and on but I doubt anyone wants to read an abridged book version of my love for Korean food).

It’s best served in Dolsot Bibimbap form.  (The same dish but served in a very cool (hot, lol) Stone Pot).  I’m very, very sad to say that I do not own one.  It’s fantastic because it serves your entire meal piping hot and it develops a delicious, blistered rice crust on the bottom that you can later swirl around with hot water to drink and cleanse your palette with.

With Bibimbap, you can serve it any which way you’d like.

Here are some other options:
Zucchini, Tofu, Chicken/Fish/Pork, Bell Peppers, Cucumbers, Romaine Lettuce (Mom is particularly fond of crunchy, refreshing pieces of Romaine running through her bowl, it definitely provides a nice burst of cracklin’ freshness)!, Squid Jerky, Daikon, Carrots, Burdock or Bellflower Root, Broccolini, Baby Bok Choy, insert here ____ <<- go wild and crazy.

If you don’t like the idea of all the Sesame Oil, sub with Olive Oil or whatever Fat replacement you’ve got goin’ on.  I don’t feel it tastes the same, but do your thang!!

Here is me and Mom’s Bibimbap!

Watch this video on YouTube Embedded with WP YouTube Lyte.

About to rush downstairs to have another bowl…
Your Squishy Monster =D

There are a few things to consider before creating this delicious Noodle Soup.  Don’t bother making it if you can’t obtain quality Seafood and you can’t commit just 15-20 minutes into making a nice Stock.  Additionally, you don’t want to over cook it and just bubble right before ladling over your fat strands of Udon (can sub with pasta if you can’t find Udon).

Now, I get questions about the variations on a single Korean Dish.  Your Mama probably has her own way of baking a cake than Tommy’s Mom down the street, similarly, this is also true for Korean Food.  How a dish is created can also be impacted by what region the Dish is made.  I like to think that my resourcefulness is derivative from a Country where the people had to make do with what they had (I know that growing up, Mom and Dad could make something out of nothing like MAGIC)!  Ingredients can always be recycled into a new outfit to look brand spankin’ new and lent in an array of new and innovative ways.

Here’s how to make Spicy Seafood Noodle Soup:

Watch this video on YouTube Embedded with WP YouTube Lyte.

This big ole’ bubblin’ cauldron should serve 5 (maybe even more because of the Noodles) so don’t forget to share bc sharing is caring =D

This Public Service Announcement has been brought to you by…

Your neighborhood Squishy Monster ^.^

Have a Great & Safe Weekend you guys!

XOXO

Yes, I know : /

But ya know what?  This is actually what I had for dinner twice this week.  It comes up so quickly, it’s fast, delicious, and easy.  Also, it’s great bc I almost always have Kimchi on hand.  Mama used to make this for us with Somen but I really like the texture of these Buckwheat Noodles.  I’m a big ole’ weirdo and am fascinated with the most mundane things when it comes to food.  I really like how shiny these noodles are.  They almost look like shiny Acorn Jelly Straws or something (yes, I 100% fully admit my weirdness, lol).

This is what they look like pre-cooked (just in case you’re not familiar with Buckwheat Noodles)

They’re super inexpensive…the place I go to has them for not even $4 and 1 bundle does it for me each time so they last forever!

This is what you’ll need:

• 1 bundle Buckwheat Noodles
• 1/4-1/2 c roughly chopped Kimchi in its Juice (how much depends on you)
• 1 tb Red Pepper Paste (Gochujang)
• 1 1/2 ts Sesame Oil
• 1 ts Sesame Seed
• 1 ts Sugar
• Optional: Grilled Fish/Chicken/etc, chopped Green Onions, Minced Garlic, Rice Vinegar

I promise to let up with the Kimchi now…just had to squish this in there bc they’re really that awesome.  So easy a baby could do it (maybe) =D

Love Always,
Your Squishy Monster

Yes, I know : /

But ya know what?  This is actually what I had for dinner twice this week.  It comes up so quickly, it’s fast, delicious, and easy.  Also, it’s great bc I almost always have Kimchi on hand.  Mama used to make this for us with Somen but I really like the texture of these Buckwheat Noodles.  I’m a big ole’ weirdo and am fascinated with the most mundane things when it comes to food.  I really like how shiny these noodles are.  They almost look like shiny Acorn Jelly Straws or something (yes, I 100% fully admit my weirdness, lol).

They’re super inexpensive…the place I go to has them for not even $4 and 1 bundle does it for me each time so they last forever!

This is what you’ll need:

 

Watch this video on YouTube Embedded with WP YouTube Lyte.

I promise to let up with the Kimchi now…just had to squish this in there bc they’re really that awesome.  So easy a baby could do it (maybe) =D

Love Always,
Your Squishy Monster