Given my recent sojourn in Korea I thought it only appropriate to do a post I’ve been meaning to do for a very long time: Kimchi Jigae (김치 찌개). Depending on who you ask, you may see it transliterated as Kimchi Chigae, Kimchi Soup or Kimchi Stew, but it all refers to the same bubbling, red hot cauldron of soul satisfying soup made with kimchi, pork and tofu.

I wasn’t able to find a ton of information on its origins, but it’s not hard to image that this dish was conceived back in humbler times as a way to use old over-fermented kimchi along with a few scarce scraps of meat. It’s a homely dish that’s typically served in the pot that it was cooked it, and when paired with a bowl of hot rice, it will jump start your internal furnace and chase away even the chilliest of chills.

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It’s the middle of November here in New York, and we’re still having springtime weather. This warm-blooded California boy isn’t complaining, but it’s a little disconcerting, especially with predictions of the end of the world only a few years away. I was thinking I may have to hang onto this post until next summer, but if the Mayans were right, you might want to try this sooner rather than later.

For those that have never had it, uni, is the orange reproductive organs of the spiny sea urchin. I know, it doesn’t sound appealing at all, but it’s sweet, rich, and creamy, melting on your tongue into a briny pool of heaven. It’s so rich in fact, that I usually have a hard time eating more than a few pieces — far fewer than the dozen and a half or so pieces that come in one flat.

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Head on over to the Quaker Talk channel on YouTube and vote for your favourite charity/blogger.

Thanks to everyone who voted for us, although we didn’t win the grand prize, Friends of the World Food Program will be getting $500, so that’s a win in my book:-) If you haven’t already, check out Blog Away Hunger to see how you can help fight global hunger.

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Chicken Enchiladas with Salsa De Chile Rojo and some Queso Fresco sprinkled on top.

In case you’ve been wondering about the sporadic posts and lack of commenting, I’ve been in Asia for the past month. As much as I love the food of my homeland, eating nothing but Korean and Japanese food for the past thirty days had me itching for a change. Since I’m spending a week at a Napa retreat (a.k.a. my parent’s house), I decided to make the most of the plentiful Mexican supplies while I can. Chicken enchiladas from scratch seemed like a good place to start.

My mom has never been a big fan of the big bold flavours of Mexican food, but my gringo step-father and I grew up surrounded by it, and for me it’s as comforting as a bowl of mac and cheese. Chicken enchiladas are so often a greasy, soggy mess with pasty dried out chicken inside that I’ve given up ordering it in restaurants. When they’re done well though, they’re moist little rolls of flavour that dance around your tongue, putting a smile on your face.

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In tropical climes from India to Mexico, green mangoes are peeled and eaten like a vegetable. Dipped in hot sauce and salt, most people would have trouble identifying the crunchy yellow sticks as the unripe version of the sweet orange tropical fruit adored around the world. For the uninitiated, it may sound like an odd way to eat this fruit, but it’s a delicious combo that’s both refreshing and filling.

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I don’t really consider myself a chocolate fanatic. Don’t get me wrong, I love chocolate as much as the next guy, but I almost always pass the chocolate offerings on a menu in favour of something else. I know I’m inviting scorn for saying this, but for me, chocolate desserts fit squarely in the category of “predictably good”. It’s really difficult to screw up a chocolate dessert, so they are almost always good, leaving very little for the imagination. Call me a risk taker, but I’ll toss the dice any day on a fruit dessert over a chocolate one.

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Aside from having two successful food blogs and being an expert on all things Malaysian, Bee is a genuinely nice person whom I had the pleasure to meet a couple weeks ago. I’ve been a big fan of Rasa Malaysia since I first started blogging and her newest blog Nyonya Food is a growing compendium of tastes and traditions from her homeland. I was thrilled when she agreed to write a guest post, but I started drooling when she sent me a preview pic of the this dish.

A few weeks ago, I met Marc and the Zen of Zen Can Cook in New York City. We had so much fun and shared deep conversations about food, blogging and our dreams over a delicious yakitori dinner. After I came back, Marc invited me to guest post on No Recipes and I gladly said yes as Marc was kind enough to write a post on Rasa Malaysia a while back. So, this is my “payback” time! *wink*

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Earlier this year I was up in Boston for a trade show and had some amazing corn fritters at Legal Test Kitchen. I’ve been meaning to come up with my own take on them, but somehow summer slid by like a penguin on melting ice. In a last ditch attempt to wring a few more morsels of summer out of the farmers market, I picked up some of the season’s last sweet corn and set out to come up with my own fritters.

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My video for the Good Bite and Quaker Awaken Your Senses Challenge is up now. I hope you’ll all take a few seconds and vote for it to help win $10,000 for Friends of the World Food Program.

Over the past two years, I’ve been amazed by the passion, dedication and sheer numbers of the food blogging community. It’s my belief that if we channel those strengths, we can make a big impact on global hunger. That’s why I started Blog Away Hunger and that’s why I’m asking for your help now to win this challenge.

1 billion people go to bed hungry every night. If the other 6 billion people on Earth cared just a little bit more, hunger is one problem that could be totally eliminated. There is more than enough food being produced today to feed every mouth on Earth, unfortunately much of it goes to waste because it doesn’t get to the people that need it.

The World Food Program works tirelessly to get that food to the people that need it the most. Winning $10,000 from GoodBite and Quaker Instant Oatmeal will not only help the WFP feed 40,000 people, it would also prove that a bunch of people doing one small thing can have a very big impact.

So head on over to the Quaker Talk Channel on YouTube and cast your vote, and if you’re feeling extra caring, double down on that good karma and get your friends and readers to vote as well.

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Chashu is a dish made of fattier cuts of pork that are braised over low heat for a very long time. The low, slow cooking, renders out the fat while turning the tough collagen in the meat into gelatin which keeps the meat moist while making it meltingly tender.

If you’re thinking the name sounds an awful lot like the Chinese barbecued pork dish Char Siu, you’d be right, because at some point in the past, they were one in the same. Chashu is often served atop another dish that also originated in China: ramen. Like its noodley brethren, it’s evolved over the past century to the point where it bears little resemblance to the original dish it was based on.

In the hyper competitive world of ramen in Japan, each shop jealously guards its secret Chashu formula. Revealing these secrets is the kind of offense that will have a dozen masked men in black ninja suits at your door to make you “disappear” in the middle of the night.

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I know this is a mighty lofty thing to say about a humble soup I came up with while sick, but sniffles or not, this is the best chicken soup recipe… ever! There, I said it, because if ever there was something to stake my reputation on, this here chicken soup would be it, and that’s not the NyQuil talking.

Beyond its curative abilities, chicken soup isn’t something I normally crave. If I’m lucky to have the time to make it from scratch, the meat often ends up dry and stringy by the time the broth is ready, and while I could find a butcher that will sell me chicken bones separately, I don’t really have the will or the energy to look for chicken carcasses when I feel the plague setting in. I know there’s always the canned variety, but eating that musty, watered-down chicken liquid is a bit like fighting Ebola with Echinacea.

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A few weeks ago I was asked by Good Bite to participate in a challenge that pits twelve of the “most influential food bloggers” against each other to win a $10,000 contribution to their favourite charity. I was both honored and intimidated by the invite, but with enough money to feed 40,000 hungry mouths on the line, it’s an opportunity I couldn’t miss.

The challenge, sponsored by Quaker Instant Oatmeal is called “Awaken Your Senses”. All twelve of us have recorded a video describing our favourite food memory. David Lawence, the chef over at Good Bite, has created twelve unique oatmeal toppings inspired by our food memories, which he presents in the videos. Every two weeks, a new round of videos get posted on YouTube so people can vote for their favourite. Semi-finalists are chosen after each round, and the blogger at the end with the most votes wins.

In connection with Blog Away Hunger, I’ve chosen Friends of the World Food Program as my charity. You probably already know how I feel about Friends of the WFP from my posts here and here, but did you know they have a realistic roadmap to end world hunger? That makes them more than just a charity that hands out food, they’re trying to solve the problems that cause hunger in the first place.

My video goes up on October 9th, and I hope you’ll check out the Awaken Your Senses channel then, to cast your vote for my video. I know it all sounds very competitive, but everyone participating wins because all of us have chosen very worthy causes, and while the winner’s charity gets $10,000, the other eleven get $500 each.

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Pescado a la Veracruzana or fish in the style of Veracruz is a simple dish that comes together in under 30 minutes and works with almost any type of fish. Despite its uncomplicated preparation it’s one of those perfect dishes that is light, yet full of flavour, while festive enough to serve to dinner guests.

The list of ingredients reads more like it originated around the Mediterranean than the Gulf of Mexico, but as the name implies, it’s a regional specialty from the southeastern Mexican state of Veracruz. A coastal area, Veracruz is known for it’s abundant seafood and a rich culinary history heavily influenced by Spain, and there’s a good reason for this. Veracruz where Hernán Cortés established the first Spanish colony nearly five hundred years ago.

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Whether it’s a recipe in progress, a hurried meal, or laziness that prevented me from documenting a recipe, this is where I share random bites from my kitchen that didn’t quite make the cut. But like any good meal, sometimes the scraps are the best parts.

Kimchi Pork Belly Pasta This is a quick weeknight reinterpretation of my Kimchi Pork Belly Pizza. It has such a good reward to effort ratio that I think it’s now one of my favourite pasta dishes. I may write this one up someday with its own post, but for now, it’s just thinly sliced pork belly and kimchi stir fried with some gochujang and garlic chives then tossed with cooked pasta.

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I’ve always hated wasting food, but since starting Blog Away Hunger I’ve been even more conscientious about using scraps that would normally see the inside of the bin. After making a summer berry pudding, I had a whole loaf worth of brioche crusts left over and pondered how I could put the buttery caramelized crusts to use. A quick scan of the pantry and fridge revealed a nearly empty jar of Nutella, an over-ripe banana, milk, cream and eggs. All the makings for a chocolate brioche pudding!

In restaurants, bread pudding isn’t very high up on my list of things I’d order. They’re often dried out and rubbery, closer in texture and taste to a buffet-line scrambled egg than the luscious dessert the name promises. This self-sweetened, self-saucing brioche pudding cobbled together from pantry staples and scraps turns the traditional notion of a bread pudding on its head. Swaths of buttery brioche crust are enrobed in a fragrant chocolaty custard, holding bits of tender sweet fruit in its folds. I used banana because it was well past its prime, but this would be just as good with raspberries, blueberries, or whatever fruit you happen to have on hand.

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