Recipe: Spicy Almond Butter Cookies

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For this recipe, I partnered with Bibigo USA to use their Bibigo Hot & Sweet Go-Chu-Jang Sauce to make a giftable holiday treat. Cookies may be the classic homemade gift for the holidays but when working with savory Korean sauces and marinades, transforming them into cookies may not be the first idea that comes to mind. These cookies are pretty out there—but in my opinion, in a good way. If you’ve read my other blog posts, you will know by now that I am a diehard lover of savory over sweet, so I thought this would be a cool opportunity to develop a cookie recipe that teetered between the two taste realms.

When you look at Christmas cookies, spiced confections seem to be pretty rooted in the flavors of the season but this typically means cinnamon, nutmeg, and the like. Well, these cookies are spiced all right—as in spicy! Bibigo Hot & Sweet Go-Chu-Jang Sauce is a sweeter, lighter take on gochujang, a Korean red chili pepper paste. I was so pleased with how that flavor came across after getting baked into a cookie. These cookies are slightly sweet and a touch salty; instead of spicy kick, I’d describe the spice of these as a mellow burn. If you love gifting cookies but you’ve got someone in your life who is always looking for unusual spicy things, I hope you will consider giving this recipe a try.

This recipe was adapted from a recipe by Katiebird Bakes.

How to Make Spicy Almond Butter Cookies

(Makes about 15 cookies)

Ingredients

6 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/3 cup raw creamy almond butter, stirred
1/4 cup Bibigo Hot & Sweet Go-Chu-Jang Sauce
2/3 cup brown sugar, packed
1 egg
1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
Sparkling sugar, optional

Procedure

In a large mixing bowl, melt butter in the microwave for 30 seconds, and then for additional 10-second increments until completely melted. While butter is still hot, slowly drizzle in almond butter and Bibigo Hot & Sweet Go-Chu-Jang Sauce while whisking. Whisk together vigorously until completely homogenous. 

Add brown sugar and egg to the mixing bowl and whisk mixture together until completely homogenous. 

In a separate bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, and salt. Add dry ingredients gradually to wet ingredients, mixing together with a spoon or spatula until thoroughly combined and a firm dough is formed.

Roll dough into 1 1/2-inch balls and place 2 inches apart on a parchment lined baking sheet. Chill cookie dough balls in the refrigerator for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350°F.

Use a fork to press a crosshatch pattern into the dough balls and slightly flatten them. Sprinkle sparkling sugar on top of each, if desired.

Bake for 9–10 minutes or until bottoms are browned. Remove from the oven and allow to set for 3 minutes before transferring to a rack to cool completely.

Thank you so much to Bibigo USA for sponsoring this recipe! For more recipe ideas and to learn more about their products, visit their website!

Easy 5-Ingredient (ish) Festive Yogurt Dip

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The truth is, I have no idea how many ingredients constitutes a 5-ingredient recipe. It can obviously mean literally 5 ingredients, but I have also seen “5-ingredient” recipes with way more than that because it’s 5 plus “pantry ingredients you’ll always have on hand.” Sure, everyone who cooks is probably going to have salt, pepper, and some kind of cooking oil, but I’ve seen ones where random vinegars aren’t getting counted, and that’s where it starts to get dicey—each type of cuisine has it’s own go-to vinegar, and each has such a distinctly different flavor.

So, this yogurt dip recipe has literally just 5 ingredients…but in a kind of cheating way because one of them is the “everything but the bagel” seasoning blend. And to be honest, it wouldn’t be that much harder to add a few more ingredients if say, you prefer things more heavily salted, or you want to introduce more complexity by chopping up 3 different herbs at the same time instead of 1. Personally, I don’t know why dips require recipes in the first place, since you can always taste as you go and keep adding stuff until you get something you like—but I wrote this recipe for another site where I am a contributor, so I thought I might as well post it here. Think of it as a guideline.

I think the takeaway is that if you have a ton of mint growing all crazily in your backyard like I do, then combining it with pomegranate seeds is a quick and easy way to throw together a festive looking topping for anything.

How to Make a Festive Yogurt Dip

Ingredients

~ 2 cups full-fat Greek yogurt
big handful of fresh mint leaves
~ 1/4 cup pomegranate seeds
extra virgin olive oil
everything seasoning

Procedure

Reserve a few mint leaves for garnish and roughly chop the rest.

Mix half of the chopped mint with the Greek yogurt (and salt, if desired) and transfer to a serving bowl. Use the back of the spoon to create swirls and texture on the surface.

Top with the remaining chopped mint, pomegranate seeds, and a generous sprinkle of everything seasoning. Drizzle olive oil over the top and add the final reserved mint leaves as garnish.

Serve with your favorite crackers or crudités.

Recipe: Poached Salmon Inari Sushi

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After eating a big, heavy Thanksgiving feast, I like to balance things out a bit by eating something lighter and healthier in the days that follow. Sushi is usually my go-to, and lately I have been loving making inari sushi at home.

Inari sushi is comprised of stuffed pouches made of bean curd/tofu skin that have been fried and then marinated (abura-age). You can find the marinated abura-age pouches at Asian grocery stores and they come either in a shelf-stable can or in the refrigerated section next to other tofu products. Inari sushi usually refers to the abura-age pouches being stuffed with just rice, and I often see this classic form served with the pouch upside-down and the rice hidden underneath. However, I love the look of these little flavorsome pouches being presented as little stuffed boats where you can see the various fillings inside.

For this recipe, poached salmon seasoned with Spice Tribe’s Kissed by Binchotan spice blend is the star filling. I wanted to make something that was easy and approachable, even for those who don’t like raw fish or maybe just don’t have a trusted place to buy it. Although I topped mine with some salmon roe (ikura), that is a totally optional garnish because the spicy salmon on top of the rice is really all you need for these satisfyingly tasty bites. A salmon filet is gently poached to avoid overcooking and the seasoning is kept simple and classic by using Spice Tribe’s version of the Japanese shichi-mi tōgarashi spice blend. I love that Spice Tribe’s seasoning blends do not contain any salt, so the cook (i.e. me) stays in control of how salty the dish will be. I hope that with this recipe, you feel encouraged to step out of your cooking comfort zone and have fun making your spicy poached salmon pouches as simple or elaborate as you’d like them to be!

How to Make Poached Salmon Inari Sushi

Ingredients

1 salmon fillet, about 6–7 ounces
1 stalk of scallion, cut into chunks
2 tbsp mirin
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 cups water
2 tbsp Japanese mayonnaise 
3/4 tsp Spice Tribe Kissed by Binchotan seasoning
1 cup cooked rice, at room temperature
1/2 tsp rice vinegar
Salt, to taste
8 seasoned bean curd pouches/abura-age
1 cocktail cucumber, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon chives, finely chopped
Extra Spice Tribe Kissed by Binchotan seasoning, for finishing
Ikura/salmon roe, for garnish (optional)
Microgreens, for garnish (optional)

Procedure

In an 8-inch skillet, combine scallion pieces, mirin, soy sauce, and water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and add salmon, skin side up. Simmer covered for 2 minutes. Turn off the heat and keep covered for 3 minutes, or until salmon is just cooked through. Peel away the skin, place salmon in a medium mixing bowl, and break up into flakes.

Add Japanese mayo and Spice Tribe Kissed by Binchotan seasoning, plus 1 teaspoon of the poaching liquid. Add salt to taste and mix gently until combined, then set aside.

Combine cooked rice with rice vinegar and 1/2 teaspoon of the poaching liquid. Set aside.

Gently open one of the bean curd pouches. Fold the cut edge inward into the pouch, so the fold becomes the new rim for the pouch. Wet hands in cold water to prevent sticking, then scoop about 2 tablespoons of the rice mixture into one palm. Shape the rice into a small oval, then place the rice into the bean curd pouch and press rice down to fill the inside of the pouch, forming a stable base so the pouch sits upright. Repeat with the remaining bean curd pouches and rice.

Divide the salmon mixture evenly among the pouches. Garnish with cucumber slices and chives. Sprinkle extra Spice Tribe Kissed by Binchotan seasoning on top, to taste. Then top with salmon roe and microgreens, if desired.

Thank you so much to Spice Tribe for sponsoring this recipe! Check them out on Instagram here or visit their website to purchase high quality spices and unique small-batch spice blends.

Shortcut Mala Cumin Lamb for Biang Biang Noodles

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To be clear, these are not your traditional or typical Xi’an cumin lamb noodles. If you are looking for a recipe for those, I am afraid you have come to the wrong place (especially since this is not really a recipe at all). I love those noodles too, and have very fond, special memories of trying them for the first time at Xi’an Famous Foods during a solo trip to New York, being blown away about how they somehow exceeded the hype.

But while this recipe is obviously inspired by those flavors, I personally don’t like the idea of trying to replicate a specific restaurant dish at home. Maybe that’s just me. Restaurant cookbooks are gorgeous to look at, but I never buy them. I am happy to accept the reality that the force of my home gas range is never going to replicate that of a restaurants, my 0 days of professional culinary training is not going to produce the same outcome as those who have studied and devoted their lives to the culinary arts. And anyway, I like (liked—before Covid) the idea of going to a restaurant to eat dishes that are wholly different from what I can cook myself at home.

So I am calling this my Cumin Lamb Noodles, but they are very different cumin lamb noodles from what you’ve likely to experienced in a restaurant before. They are a sort of hybrid of a Xi’an-inspired dish and the texture of bolognese but also heavy on the mala (numbing spicy) associated with Szechuan cuisine. Using ground lamb means not worrying about sliced meat getting tough and overcooked, and it almost becomes a part of the sauce—something that can cling to those wide swaths of noodles. I use this storebought mala hot pot mix (link) for the base of the sauce because I am not an expert at Chinese spice blends in the slightest and this is a shortcut recipe, after all.

I really do recommend that you make your own wide biang biang noodles for this (recipe here) but if you are too lazy or don’t have time, I totally get it. Due to their short-lived nature, I have never seen biang biang noodles sold at the Asian grocery store before, so if you are looking for a storebought alternative to use with this sauce, I recommend buying fresh pappardelle.

The recipe below is awkwardly vague because I really don’t believe in measuring when it comes to sauces for noodles. Let it guide you in your interest in making a Xi’an x Szechuan x bolognese hybrid, but be sure to adjust the seasoning to your taste.

Awkwardly Vague instructions for Ground Lamb Cumin Noodles

Ingredients

3/4 lb ground lamb
1/2 small onion, sliced
lots of chopped garlic
lots of cumin
salt
a squeeze of tomato paste
~ 1 oz Szechuan mala hot pot base (like this one)
a heaping tablespoon of gochugaru
avocado oil
cilantro, for garnish
raw hand pulled noodles

Procedure

In a wok, heat oil and stirfry onions. Add lamb and garlic. Season with pinch of salt, lots of cumin. Squeeze in some tomato paste and mix everything together.

Heat some oil (1/6 cup-ish) in separate pot until almost smoking.

At the same time, turn down wok to low heat and cook biang biang noodles in pot of boiling water as described in the noodle recipe.

Add cooked noodles on top of lamb.

Add Szechuan hot pot sauce and gochugaru. Pour hot oil on top of gochugaru.

Toss to combine. Garnish with cilantro.

Recipe: Biang Biang Noodles (Hand-Pulled Noodles)

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If you are here, you probably already know something about biang biang mian—delicious hand-pulled, hand-torn wide noodles that are delightfully chewy and a wonderful blank canvas to capture spicy mala flavors. Legend has it that the Chinese character for biang is the most complicated to write, and that it will break any kind of Chinese input method if you try to type it.

To be honest I am not an expert on biang biang noodles; all I know is how I personally like them, and I wanted to figure out a way to go about making them that was easy for me. For example, I wanted to be able to use my stand mixer for the kneading, especially since the dough is a little tougher compared to, say, a simple bread dough. I also wanted to produce a method that allowed me to have fun actually stretching the noodles by hand and banging (or bianging?) them against the counter. So I tested and tested until I got something I was happy with.

My version is adapted from Woks of Life and Strictly Dumpling, so I want to make sure to give them credit. And the image above was inspired by this photo by My Homestyle Life.

If you are looking for a sauce to accompany these noodles, might I recommend something with loads of chili oil and fragrant ground lamb? You can find out how to make that here.

How to Make Biang Biang Noodles

This recipe makes 2 large servings.

Ingredients

1 3/4 cup bread flour*
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp kosher salt
3/4 cup hot water
neutral oil

* I tested various combinations of bread flour + AP flour for this and found these ratios to produce my ideal texture for the noodles. Can you do all AP flour? Probably! But the noodles will not have the same chew that I like.

Procedure

Whisk together flours and salt in your stand mixer bowl. Fit the stand mixer with the dough hook. Turn on to the lowest speed and slowly add the water.

Knead dough on medium-high for 10 minutes, then check the texture. If the dough is very sticky, add 1/2–1 teaspoon AP flour. Continue kneading on medium-high for 10 more minutes. At this point, the dough should feel firm and should not be sticky at all. Try to pinch and pull away a small amount (see photo above). Dough should not snap right away, but should not feel totally stretchy either.

Knead a few times by hand to form a smooth ball. Return to the mixing bowl and cover bowl with a damp cloth (no greasing necessary yet). Allow to rest for 30 minutes.

Divide dough into 6 portions. Avoid handling each portion too much but shape it into a small log, about 4 inches long. Place logs on your largest baking sheet and pour some neutral cooking oil over them. Make sure each log is thoroughly coated in oil. Cover with plastic wrap and rest for 1 hour or until the dough feels soft and pliable.

(After one hour, I place a large pot of water on the stove to bring to a boil while I am stretching the noodles. If there is other prep work I need to do for the sauce, I do it all in this time too, so everything is ready to go the moment the noodles are cooked. Click here for the sauce recipe that you see in the photos.)

Work one log at a time, and keep the others covered. On a lightly floured surface, roll the log into a rectangle that is about 3 inches tall and 2 inches longer than a chopstick. Use a chopstick to press two perforations into the rectangle, dividing it into 3 even sections (see photo above). Grab each end and gently stretch the dough, occasionally whacking it into compliance against the counter top. The perforations made by the chopstick will begin to form tears in the dough as you stretch. When the dough is thin enough or you feel you can’t stretch any further, tear along these lines to make one long noodle. Drape the noodle over the oiled baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap while you make the other noodles.

Lower the noodles carefully into the water and then immediately start agitating them with extra long chopsticks to avoid them clumping together. Keep them moving in the water for 90 seconds (2 minutes if they feel on the thicker side) and then immediately transfer them to the sauce, and toss to combine.

If you want to make the noodles in advance, I recommend keeping the rested dough in log form, coated in oil and tightly covered. Store in the fridge and bring up to room temp before stretching. Once the noodles are formed, you don’t want them to sit for long, and they need to be served immediately after boiling.

Recipe: Pimento Club Sandwich with Gochujang-Glazed Bacon

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I’m not sure if this is really humble or really basic, but turkey sandwiches are one of my favorite ways to use Thanksgiving leftovers. It might be because growing up, my parents (not knowing any better since they did not grow up with American school lunches) only ever bought the crappiest, grossest of sandwich meat for my school lunchbox lunches. Like, not the fancy deli-sliced stuff but more like the pre-sliced overly-sweet and overly-salty stuff in plastic hard-to-peel-open containers in the refrigerator case next to the Lunchables. I also remember getting a lot of sandwiches that consisted of sliced white bread (not toasted), margarine, and Kraft Singles.

Literally the only reprieve from this in terms of sandwiches was after Thanksgiving. I can still remember how incredible the combination of toasted bread, mayo, and REAL turkey meat tasted to me as a kid.

This club sandwich recipe was developed in partnership with Bibigo USA. They asked me to come up with an idea for Thanksgiving leftovers that also incorporated something left over from my Korean-inspired nibble board recipe, which you can find here. I thought a club sandwich, using the Gochujang Pimento Spread from the previous recipe, leftover turkey, and a spicy glazed bacon could not be more perfect for Thanksgiving leftovers with a Korean-inspired twist. Never in my wildest dreams as a kid could I have imagined a sandwich this legit.

How to Make a Pimento Club Sandwich with Gochujang-Glazed Bacon

Ingredients

3 slices of bacon
3 slices of white bread
3 tbsp Bibigo Hot & Sweet Go-Chu-Jang Sauce
3–4 tbsp leftover Gochujang Pimento Spread, softened
2 slices of leftover turkey breast meat
2 slices of tomato
2 leaves of lettuce
Salt to taste

Procedure

To make the glazed bacon, preheat oven to 400°F. Line a baking tray with foil or parchment paper. Brush a thin layer of Bibigo Hot & Sweet Go-Chu-Jang Sauce on both sides. Bake for 10 minutes. Flip bacon and brush top with more sauce. Bake until color starts to darken, about 5 minutes. Brush with one more coat of sauce and bake to desired crispness, about 3–5 minutes. Remove and transfer to a plate. (Note: Bacon will get more crisp as it cools.)

Toast slices of bread as desired. 

Apply an even layer of Gochujang Pimento Spread onto one of the bread slices. Top with lettuce and tomato. Break apart bacon as necessary and layer on top of sandwich. Apply Gochujang Pimento Spread onto another slice of bread and place face-down over bacon. Add more Gochujang Pimento Spread evenly on top. Top with turkey. On the remaining slice of bread, apply an even layer of Gochujang Pimento Spread and place on top of turkey. (Alternatively, you could layer these ingredients however you like! This is just what I did to get what you see in the photos.)

Cut into triangles and hold together with long sandwich picks.

Thank you so much to Bibigo USA for sponsoring this recipe! For more recipe ideas and to learn more about their products, visit their website!

Recipe: Herby Roast Chicken with Schmaltzy Croutons

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I’m going to state the obvious here: There are many ways to roast a chicken. This is the way that works best for me, fitting my personal circumstances—which are mostly that I am too cheap to buy a meat thermometer. I feel this is not a particularly niche circumstance, so my hope is that this recipe may be of use to some of you too. This recipe is based on a couple of YouTube videos: this one by Jamie Oliver, and the “pro chef level” from this Epicurious video. I admit that even armed with my recipe below, it is worth watching the Jamie Oliver one, as much of my bird prepping technique comes from there, and without the budget for even a meat thermometer it goes without saying that my video budget does not compare to his. However, following his technique directly did NOT work for me. It resulted in medium-done chicken legs, which is just not a good look. That’s why I am here, writing this recipe that DOES work for me!

While most of my recipes are intended to show that cooking need not be mysterious or intimidating, this recipe in particular does require having at least a touch of confidence in the kitchen. It involves heaving a big, heavy cast iron vessel in and out of an almost-500-degree oven, flipping a big chicken, and having calloused enough hands from prior kitchen wear and tear to not be afraid to truss the legs mid-roast. On the other hand, though, it may be less intimidating than, say, spatchcocking a chicken for those who are not confident about their kitchen shearing skills. Every cooking task involves at least a little bit of danger, so please just be smart and careful.

Not only is this THE recipe that allows me to get flavorful crispy skin and perfectly cooked juicy chicken each time, it makes full good use of one of the best outcomes of a roast chicken: the schmaltz! Schmaltz is the chicken fat that gets rendered out of the chicken as it roasts. In this recipe, that wonderfully flavorful greasy goodness, along with those chicken pan juices that also get expressed from the roasting chicken, get their proper treatment as a feature of the dish—rather than just an extraneous side effect. Adding torn pieces of bread into the pan partway through the roasting gives them time to really soak up these precious liquids, pulling them away from interfering with the crisping of the chicken skin and transforming the bread into something outrageous: schmaltzy croutons. Here’s what the whole dish looks like right out of the oven before garnishing:

(The time that I made this for the photos, I forgot to tuck the wingtips and then had a failed attempted at correcting partway through…nothing that can’t be resolved later with garnishing magic.)

I’m using the term “croutons” here because I don’t know what else to call them; they are toasty on the top and soaked with chicken juice and fat on the bottom. After all is said and done with the chicken, these heavenly morsels can be used in a few different ways:

• Stuffing/Dressing: While the chicken is roasting, sauté some chopped celery and chop up some rosemary and sage on standby. When the chicken is resting on the carving board, remove the garlic halves from the chicken cavity and scoop out the flesh; add those back into the pan of croutons. Remove the onion skins and mash the garlic and onion in the pan with a fork or potato masher. Add the sautéed celery and fresh herbs. Add other stuffing components to your liking. Beat together an egg and some boxed broth, pour it over the pan mixture, and fold everything together. Press it all gently into an even layer then put the pan back in the oven (turned down to 400°F) and bake until the egg is cooked through. (This is what I’ll be doing this year for my mini roast chicken Thanksgiving for two.)

• Panzanella: Toss the croutons with some baby arugula, microgreens, and beautiful tomato chunks. Roughly chop the roasted onion and add that too. Remove the lemon that is stuffed inside the chicken cavity, squeeze it over the whole mess, and give everything another toss. Now you have a bread salad that perfectly complements your roast chicken.

• You can also just straight up eat your chicken fat toasted bread cubes out of the pan as you wait for your chicken to rest. Sharing optional. Call it the chef’s special!

How to Make Herby Roast Chicken (with Schmaltzy Croutons)

Ingredients

1 chicken (about 4.5 lbs*), cleaned and giblets removed
2 tbsp butter
handful of fresh herbs
1 small red onion
1 head of garlic
1 lemon
lots of kosher salt
olive oil
1 tbsp wagyu fat or butter
1/2 loaf crusty bread, sourdough recommended
pomegranates, fresh herbs, lemons for garnish (optional)

* A 4.5-pound chicken requires 1 hour total bake time. For chickens ±0.5 lb, go with the formula (# of pounds) x 10 + 15 minutes to calculate the bake time, and adjust the following times proportionally. Chickens of sizes outside of this range, have not been tested with this recipe.

Procedure

The night before: Thoroughly rub the chicken dry, inside and out, with paper towels. You want it to be as dry as possible to produce crispy skin. Season generously with salt (but keep in mind you are not trying to salt-cure the thing; season as you would if you were cooking something right away). Place uncovered in the fridge overnight.

The next day, wipe off any excess salt or extracted moisture. With the chicken placed breasts-up, insert a small spatula or the back of a spoon from the bottom to carefully separate the skin from the meat. Remove the endcaps off the drumsticks, if desired. Then, on each drumstick, make the following 3 deep slits: in the thickest part of the drumstick, in between the leg and thigh, and in the thickest part of the underside of the thigh. (This is what will help cook the bird evenly.)

Place a shallow, large cast iron brasier or skillet on the middle rack of your oven, and preheat to 475°F. (Your vessel should be much larger than the chicken, to accomadate the bread and allow for airflow.)

Roughly chop a mixture of fresh herbs. Drizzle a bit of olive oil on top and season with a couple pinches of salt. Mix together with your fingers then stuff the herb mixture under the skin of the chicken, in both the breast area and through the slits you made in the drumsticks. Rub the residue from your hands onto the outside of the chicken. Stuff 1 tablespoon of butter under the skin over each breast. Tuck the wing tips under the torso of the chicken.

Cut the head of garlic in half and stuff into the cavity. Stab the lemon all over with a paring knife, then microwave for 30 seconds. Stuff into the cavity. Cut the onion (skin on) in half and set aside.

When the oven is ready, carefully add 1 tablespoon of wagyu fat or butter into the preheated cast iron pan and coat the bottom of the pan. Add the onion halves then place the chicken, breast-side-down, in the pan. Bake for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, flip the chicken over and tie the ends of the drumsticks together with kitchen twine. Return to the oven for another 15 minutes.

In the meantime, tear up the bread into about 1-inch chunks. Add the bread evenly around the chicken, then bake for another 15 minutes (or until juices run out clear when you stab the thigh with a toothpick).

Remove the chicken from the pan and place on a cutting board to rest. Cut off the twine and remove the lemon and garlic. Allow the chicken to rest for at least 15 minutes before carving. See notes above for what to do with the bread…or simply trust your instincts ;)

Recipe: Pumpkin-Shaped Pretzel Buns

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These photos of my finished and styled pumpkin-shaped pretzel buns are my favorite fall photos I have ever taken, so I really hope you like them too.

Having made pretzels several times now, I am still completely fascinated by them. I am awestruck and terrified by their traditional lye baths, and both relieved and amazed by how a baking soda bath can get the same brown look. I am mesmerized by the contrast in colors, and simply adore how such a relatively quick dough recipe can produce something so satisfying.

When fall rolled around and I started obsessing over pumpkin-shaped everything, I knew in my heart of hearts that pumpkin-shaped pretzels absolutely needed to exist. So, I decided to turn my go-to pretzel recipe into pumpkin-shaped pretzel buns. To be completely clear, this recipe will not produce the texture of a firm, chewy, traditional German pretzel. This is much more like the texture you’d find at a pretzel stand in an American mall (which I’ll shamefully admit I much prefer). Another disclaimer: I’ve made my soft pretzel recipe (adapted from Sally’s Baking Addiction) a few times, but unfortunately I only had a chance to try this pumpkin-shaped version once so far. So there are some caveats and learnings I want to share with you that won’t match the photos.

Some important notes:

• Take a look at this photo below of the buns fresh out of the oven. This will show you the correct type of bakers twine to use. Do NOT use the coarse, textured brown twine seen in the beauty shots! That is clearly just there for the rustic aesthetic.

• Also note that I tied the twine rather snugly around my dough balls. By the time I took the dough out of the water bath, I could already tell that I had made a mistake, as the dough does expand quite a bit with the boiling and baking processes. Keep your twine wrapped loosely to start, to avoid the twine getting so deeply embedded into your buns.

• I went for rather irregular segments with my twine wrapping. Maybe go for a more symmetrical look so you don’t end up with heirloom-tomato-shaped pretzel buns.

• UPDATE: I now have a step-by-step tutorial, with photos, for getting more symmetrical pumpkin-shaped buns. Check it out here!

But whether you do a better job than I did, or just the same regretful job as me, you’ll be able to enjoy them the same way. Tear those buns into wedges along those perforations, catch the smell of freshly baked pretzel rising out the middle, then dunk segment by segment into coarse mustard or cheese sauce. You certainly won’t regret that.

How to Make Pumpkin-Shaped Pretzel Buns

Ingredients

3/4 cup warm water
1 tsp (slightly heaped) active dry yeast
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp butter, melted and cooled
2 tsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups AP flour, plus more for dusting
nonstick cooking spray
coarse salt, for sprinkling
6 pepitas/hulled pumpkin seeds

For the Water Bath

9 cups water
1/2 cup baking soda

Procedure

Combine warm water, yeast, and honey in the bowl of your stand mixer and stir gently. Allow yeast to bloom and foam up for 5 minutes.

Add butter, brown sugar, and salt, and stir together. Fit stand mixer with the dough hook and turn on to the lowest setting. Begin adding flour, 1/2 cup at a time, until a dough starts to come together. Use a rubber spatula to scrape everything together. If the dough is sticky, add a little bit more flour.

Turn the mixer to medium high and knead the dough for about 5 minutes until it feels smooth and bouncy. Turn the dough onto a clean worksurface and roll into a smooth ball. Grease the inside of the mixing bowl, and place the ball of dough back inside. Cover with a damp towel and allow to rest in a warm place for 20 minutes.

On a lightly floured worksurface, divide the rested dough into 6 equal pieces and roll each piece into a ball.

In a large pot, combine water and baking soda for water bath and bring to a boil. Preheat oven to 425°F.

While waiting for the water to boil, wrap cotton baking twine around the balls of dough to form the ridges of a pumpkin shape (see notes above) and tie together loose ends or follow the typing steps shown here.

Place buns in boiling water bath for 10 seconds on each side, then place on a parchment-lined baking tray. (I find it is easiest to do this one at a time, placing the pumpkin upside down into the water first, then flipping in the water, then scooping onto the tray.)

Sprinkle coarse salt onto the buns. Brush with additional water from the water bath if necessary for more salt adhesion.

Bake for about 15 minutes, until the buns are a rich brown color.

Allow buns to cool slightly before cutting and removing the twine. Stick 1 pepita into the top-center of each to form a leaf/stem.

Recipe: Spiced Honeynut Squash Toasts

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Note: This is not your #basic fall squash recipe!

As a diehard member of Team Savory, as much as I love the smell of pumpkin spice and everything nice come autumn season, my stomach never really craves baked sweets. So I am always trying to come up with ideas to capture fall flavors in ways that are appealing to my own tastes. I realized that pairing honeynut squash with Spice Tribe’s Masa Mole spice blend would be a lovely foundation for a savory fall-themed toast; it contains cinnamon—one of the usual fall suspects—but beyond that, it brings those warm vibes through toasted Mexican chilies.

It was at that point that I decided I was declaring honeynut squash mash toast a thing—the yummiest autumn-iest alternative to avocado mash toast!

If you haven’t heard of honeynut squash before, it’s like a smaller, super adorable, deeper-colored version of butternut squash. Just look at how it is barely bigger than spice bottle. Freakin’ cute!

If you take anything away from this recipe, I hope it is this combo of mashed squash and this spice blend. Much like avocado toast, and toast in general, it feels a little silly to me to set a strict recipe for a toast, so top that spiced honeynut sqaush with whatever you like! In this example, I opted for fried halloumi and crispy sage, followed by a drizzle of good-quality maple syrup because, admittedly, that little bit of sweet does really bring out the natural sweetness of the squash even in a savory dish. I sometimes find halloumi to be too salty though, so if you don’t have a halloumi brand you love but still want that fried cheese goodness on top of your toast, firm queso fresco is a great mild option that you can fry up the exact same way.

Are you ready to swap your avocado toast routine for THIS?:

How to Make Spiced Honeynut Squash Toast

Ingredients

1 honeynut squash; peeled, deseeded, and cut into small cubes
4 slices of sourdough bread
12 sage leaves
5–6 oz halloumi cheese*, cut into 8 slices
3/4 tsp Spice Tribe Masa Mole blend
1/2 cup ricotta cheese
4 tbsp maple syrup
Olive oil
Kosher salt
1 sprig of tarragon (optional)
Sprinkle of Spice Tribe Maras Chile Flakes (optional)

* If you find halloumi to be too salty, queso fresco is a great alternative that fries the same way.

Procedure

Preheat oven to 425°F. **

Line a baking tray with parchment paper or foil. Add honeynut squash cubes and toss in some olive oil and salt to taste. Roast in oven until fork-tender, about 20–30 minutes.

In the meantime, toast bread slices to preference and set aside. (I like to heat some olive oil in a skillet, toast one side of the bread in the oil, flip, and then turn off the heat and let it sit in the pan while I prep everything else. This makes one side crusty and soggy-resistant for toppings without making the overall toast too hard.)

In a small skillet, add enough olive oil to cover the bottom in a thin layer, and heat the oil on medium. Carefully add sage leaves, trying to make them land flat in the oil. Remove the leaves when they start to crisp and look fully soaked with oil; they will continue to crisp up after being removed from the heat. Transfer to a paper towel to drain excess oil.

Using the same skillet and now sage-infused oil, fry slices of halloumi until golden brown on both sides. Transfer fried halloumi to a separate plate.

Sprinkle the Spice Tribe Masa Mole seasoning over the cooked squash, and mash squash with a fork until homogenous. 

Spread the ricotta equally on the toasts, followed by the spiced honeynut squash mash. Top with fried halloumi and crispy sage. Drizzle maple syrup over the top of each toast. Optionally, garnish with tarragon and Spice Tribe Maras Chile Flakes. Serve immediately.

**Shortcut version: Alternatively, you could steam the honeynut squash in the microwave until soft. Place cubes in a shallow bowl and cover completely with a wet paper towel. Microwave until fork-tender, about 3 minutes. Season with salt to taste before following the same directions as above for the cooked squash.

Thank you so much to Spice Tribe for sponsoring this recipe! Check them out on Instagram here or visit their website to purchase high quality spices and unique small-batch spice blends.

How to Make a Korean-Inspired Snack Board

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I have been really into themed nibble boards lately. Part of the appeal lies in them being another avenue for traveling the world at home through food, which has become the theme of my coping mechanism for staying home during the global pandemic. But I think I like nibble boards specifically because it takes the concept of eating meals family style—something I grew up with—and extends it to delicious snacks just being out all day for the taking.

I made this Korean-inspired board in partnership with Bibigo USA. In addition to using their super snackable mini wontons and putting a spin on pimento cheese spread by incorporating their gochujang sauce, I also tried to include crunchy snacks that I thought were really popular or iconic to South Korea. If you don’t live in Korea but you’d like to give this themed board a try, I recommend seeking out a local Korean grocery store if you have access to one, and seeing what snacks appeal to you there. (For my SF Bay Area friends, I got all the snacks, as well as the chestnuts and Bibigo mini wontons at The K Market.) If you don’t have access to a Korean shop, perhaps look into what other ethnic markets are available in your area, and try making a nibble board as a way to explore a cuisine that is new to you.

How to Make a Korean-Inspired Snack Board and Gochujang Pimento Spread

Ingredients For the Gochujang Pimento Spread

4 oz cream cheese, room temperature
8 oz sharp cheddar, grated
2–3 tbsp Bibigo Hot & Sweet Go-Chu-Jang Sauce
2 tbsp mayonnaise 
1/2 tsp garlic powder
3 tbsp diced pimentos, drained
Salt to taste

Other Ingredients Requiring Prep

12 chestnuts
12 Bibigo Pork & Vegetable Mini Wontons
Oil for frying

Ingredients for Assembling the Board

Asian pear, sliced
Grapes
Honey butter chips
Honey butter almonds
Korean seaweed crisps
Sesame crackers
Sage, for garnish

Procedure

To make cheese spread: Combine cream cheese, cheddar, Bibigo Hot & Sweet Go-Chu-Jang Sauce, mayonnaise, and garlic powder in a food processor and process until homogenous. Transfer to a bowl and stir in diced pimentos. Salt to taste, if needed. (Can be made 1–2 days ahead; keep covered in refrigerator until ready to assemble board.)

To roast chestnuts: Preheat oven to 400°F. Using a sharp paring knife, carefully cut an X into each chestnut. Place cut-side up on a baking sheet and bake for 10–15 minutes until fragrant and cut part of shell curls back.

To fry the mini wontons: Fill a small pot about 1.5 inches deep with oil. Heat the oil and deep fry mini wontons in batches. Allow excess oil to drain on paper towels.

Assembling the board: Transfer cheese spread to a serving dish. Arrange cheese spread, chestnuts, and mini wontons on serving board. Fill in the remaining space with the other ingredients. Garnish with sprigs of sage. Allow cheese spread to soften slightly at room temperature before serving.

Thank you so much to Bibigo USA for sponsoring this recipe! For more recipe ideas and to learn more about their products, visit their website!

Recipe: Candied Sweet Potatoes & Mini Wontons

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One thing that I find really lacking in the States (or at least in the San Francisco area) during the holiday season is the lack of festive markets and street food vendors. Traveling to other countries during the festive season, I absolutely love taking advantage of the charming activities that make holiday cheer and coziness spill into the streets; even when it’s cold and snowy, there’s a feeling of warmth as everyone is happily shopping for tasty treats. I also love when street foods double as hand warmers. In South Korea, piping hot sweet potatoes are the perfect street snack for this dual purpose of reviving numb fingers and filling bellies.

Another popular Korean way to have sweet potatoes at this time of year is goguma mattang—candied sweet potatoes. Chunks of sweet potatoes are deep-fried and then tossed in caramelized sugar, resulting in pieces that have the finest crackly sugar coating on the outside and are fluffy on the inside. When Bibigo USA asked me to incorporate one of their products into a Korean fall/winter snack, I realized that their mini wontons would go perfectly with that same candied coating as the sweet potatoes in goguma mattang.

This is admittedly not the easiest recipe. There were many fails in the test kitchen (a.k.a. my home kitchen) before I got an outcome that was happy with. So, I have to say that this recipe is definitely for those who are more quick-handed and quick-footed in the kitchen. I found that the key was keeping the mini wontons and sweet potato chunks hot after frying, so that the sugar mixture doesn’t get a cold shock and immediately harden before it has time to coat them. If you get it right, though, you will be rewarded with a sweet-savory texture medley that is sure to be belly-warming.

How to Make Candied Sweet Potatoes & Mini Wontons

Ingredients

1 medium Korean sweet potato, peeled
12–14 Bibigo Chicken & Vegetable Mini Wontons
1 tbsp neutral oil, plus more for frying
3 tbsp raw sugar
1 tsp sesame seeds, toasted

Procedure

Use the rangiri technique to cut the sweet potato into random, multi-faceted 1-inch pieces. Begin by cutting off a small piece from one end at an angle. Roll the sweet potato 90 degrees (or a quarter of the way) and make another diagonal cut in the middle of the previously-cut surface. Continue rolling and cutting the rest of the sweet potato.

Soak the sweet potato pieces in cold water for 10 minutes to remove excess starchiness. Drain, pat dry, and allow to dry completely, for about 10 minutes.

In the meantime, fill a small pot about 1.5 inches deep with oil. Fry the mini wontons, in batches if necessary, until golden. Drain on paper towels.

Then deep fry sweet potato pieces the same way. Drain on paper towels.

Place fried mini wontons and sweet potatoes in the oven on the warm setting, or at 180–200°F to keep warm. (This is important to help the sugar coating spread evenly on their surface without hardening too quickly.)

Prepare a large tray lined with parchment paper.

To a large, shallow pan, add 1 tablespoon of oil and swirl to distribute. Turn on heat to medium and scatter sugar over oil. (I found that it was better to not stir or agitate the mixture too much at this point.) Once sugar begins to melt, reduce heat to low. Once sugar is all melted, add the fried mini wontons and sweet potatoes and use a rubber spatula to gently mix together. Keep mixing for 1–2 minutes until everything is coated.

Pour contents onto the prepared parchment paper and quickly make sure none of the pieces are touching. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and allow sugar coating to harden before transferring to a bowl to serve.

Thank you so much to Bibigo USA for sponsoring this recipe! For more recipe ideas and to learn more about their products, visit their website!

Recipe: Chicken Jook with Ginger-Scallion Oil

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Rice porridge is known by many different names—I learned the term “congee” in America, but grew up calling it the Cantonese term “jook”. But I think something that all Asian kids and former kids can agree upon is that it is THE dish for Asian parents to make as a cure for any and all under-the-weather situations. I’ve had several people tell me they don’t like jook because it reminds them of the one thing they ate while being sick as a kid…but I personally love jook in sickness and in health!

That being said, as an adult there are times when that cure-all feels desperately needed, and parents are no longer around to stand over the stove to slowly simmer that rice into a tummy- and soul-warming porridge. In those times, shortcuts are a necessity! So when Bibigo USA asked me to develop a jook recipe for flu season, I wanted to make sure the recipe was super easy and ready to provide comfort in 30 minutes.

The ginger-scallion oil was inspired by the kind that my mom used to make to go with Hainanese chicken rice, but I also included garlic to help boost immunity and ward off vampires. Not only is it awesome on jook, chicken, and rice, but I have been using it on biang biang noodles, roast duck, and pretty much anything.

How to Make Chicken Jook with Ginger-Scallion Oil

Ingredients

1 Bibigo Cooked Sticky White Rice
2 cups bone broth or chicken stock
1 tbsp + 1 tsp ginger, grated and divided
1–2 scallions, thinly sliced
1 small clove garlic, minced
Coarse Kosher salt, to taste
2 tbsp avocado oil*
1/3 cup rotisserie chicken, shredded

*Can be substituted with other neutral, high smoke point cooking oils, but not olive or sesame oil

Procedure

Microwave Bibigo Cooked Sticky White Rice according to instructions on packaging for 90 seconds.

Combine the broth, microwaved rice, and 1 teaspoon ginger in a small pot and bring to a boil. Turn down the heat to medium and allow to boil for 10 minutes. Add 1/2 cup water, and continue to simmer, stirring occasionally, until the jook becomes homogeneous, about 10 minutes. Add salt to taste.

While jook is boiling, prepare the ginger-garlic-scallion oil. Gently blot excess moisture from the remaining ginger. In a small heat-safe bowl, combine ginger, scallions, and garlic, plus a generous pinch of salt. Heat oil in a small saucepan until it just starts to smoke (or test by throwing in a small piece of scallion to see if it sizzles). Carefully pour oil over aromatics and mix well. 

When jook is the desired consistency, transfer to a bowl and top with shredded chicken. Top with ginger-scallion oil and serve.

Thank you so much to Bibigo USA for sponsoring this recipe! For more recipe ideas and to learn more about their products, visit their website!

Recipe: Mandu Jeongol

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I can’t wait for hot pot season. Despite usually preferring sunshine, I do have a deep appreciation for gloomy weather that is motivated mostly by my stomach.

I think budae jjigae has gotten some spotlight in recent years—a trendy dish among younger adults in South Korea but a dish borne out of a deep and sad history. (I learned a lot from this article on Food52 and this video from Munchies). So for those who already know and love budae jjigae in its modern revival, the easiest way I describe mandu jeongol to you is a healthier, more veggie-forward version. While budae jjigae night feels like going all in on processed, salty favorites (no sarcasm here; I LOVE Spam), mandu jeongol night feels like a nice cozy night in, eating lots of fresh veggies and loving it. It can definitely still involve lots and lots of soju though, too!

For me, the most key ingredients to a good mandu jeongol are the crown daisy greens (also known as chrysanthemum greens, I find these at Asian markets); gray squash (I get this from my neighborhood Mexican market), and of course ready-made mandu/dumplings. While even the first two can be improvised if you do not have access to less mainstream produce, do not skimp on the mandu! As I have said many times before on my blog, Bibigo Beef & Vegetable Mandu are my absolute fave when it comes to frozen dumplings. They are so juicy and flavorful! So, obviously that is what I used here. Veggies are great and all, but obviously these mandu were the best part of the hot pot.

As with any hot pot, the ingredients and amounts are just guidelines. Eat things as they get cooked to your liking, and adding more ingredients as you go!

How to Make Mandu Jeongol

Ingredients for soup base

4 tbsp coarse gochugaru
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp fish sauce
5–6 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp Korean plum extract or Chinese plum sauce
32 oz bone broth or chicken stock
Salt to taste

Ingredients for Hot Pot

1/2 medium onion, sliced
3 scallions, cut into 2-inch pieces
1/2 block firm tofu, sliced
1 gray squash, sliced
1 carrot, sliced*
6 cremini or shitake mushrooms
3 ounces enoki mushrooms
12 ounces napa cabbage, cut into chunks
2 cups crown daisy leaves
8+ Bibigo Beef & Vegetable Mandu
1/2 cup kimchi (optional)
1/2–1 cup tteok/fresh rice cakes (optional)

* I used mini bento vegetable cutters to cut my carrot slices and give them that scalloped edge.

Procedure

Make soup base by combining gochugaru, soy sauce, fish sauce, garlic, and plum extract/plum sauce. Mix together and set aside.

In a wide, shallow pot, evenly distribute the onions and white parts of scallions. Add kimchi, if using. Stir together sauce mixture with a splash of broth and pour evenly over onions.

Arrange remaining vegetables and tofu (and rice cakes, if using) in the pot as desired. Top with frozen mandu. Fill the pot using the remaining broth. Cover, and place on a portable cooktop/burner at the table. Bring to a boil, remove the lid, and enjoy eating the ingredients with your table companions as they get cooked.

Thank you so much to Bibigo USA for sponsoring this recipe! For more recipe ideas and to learn more about their products, visit their website!

How to Make an Instant Noodle Soup Jar

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So, I really really like instant noodles. But I try to only indulge in them in desperate times of need when my fridge is barren or I am too incapacitated to make something of nutritional substance. However, I have always wanted to make instant noodle soup jars at some. The idea of packing one of these up for a loved one’s lunch, seeing the colorful, fresh ingredients in layers through the glass, and thinking about converting them into a comforting soup with just the addition of hot water—just like an instant cup noodle—gives me all the hygge feels for some reason.

Thus, I collaborated with Bibigo USA to make a Instant Kimchi Noodle Soup Jar. The recipe below shows you how to make a great slightly spicy base for a noodle soup but the other ingredients are totally just guidelines. Experiment with other veggies or types of noodles if you like! The whole point is to create a custom instant noodle soup that suits your tastes and is full of the nutritional substance that is pretty dang lacking in a storebought instant noodle cup. Just make sure to par-cook anything that’s really firm, because you will want everything that goes into the jar to soften and cook in the same amount of time.

How to Make Instant Kimchi Noodle Soup Jars

Ingredients for soup base

2 tbsp Bibigo Hot & Sweet Go-Chu-Jang Sauce
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp ginger, minced
2–3 tsp doenjang or soybean paste
1 tsp kimchi juice

Other Ingredients

1/2 bundle soba noodles
1/3 cup kimchi
1 scallion, thinly sliced
1/3 cup beech mushrooms
2 large fried tofu puffs, sliced
1/2 cup baby spinach leaves
1/2 tsp black sesame seeds (optional)

Procedure

Combine Bibigo Hot & Sweet Go-Chu-Jang Sauce, garlic, ginger, doenjang, and kimchi juice in a bowl and mix until well incorporated. This is your soup broth base.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Par-boil soba noodles just until they are no longer brittle, about 2–3 minutes. Immediately remove noodles from pot and rinse with very cold water. Allow to drain thoroughly.

Pour sauce mixture into the bottom of one 32-ounce jar or two 16-ounce jars. (One 32-ounce jar will fill a large ramen bowl when emptied.) Add kimchi, scallions, mushrooms, tofu puffs, and par-boiled noodles. Top with spinach and sesame seeds, if using. Place lid on jar(s) and store in refrigerator until ready to use.

When ready to eat, bring kettle of water to boil. Fill jar with boiling water until the level reaches the bottom of the spinach layer. Allow noodles to soften and finish cooking, about 3 minutes. Carefully stir everything together before consuming.

Thank you so much to Bibigo USA for sponsoring this recipe! For more recipe ideas and to learn more about their products, visit their website!

Recipe: Organic Potsticker Farmers Market Bowl

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September is Organic Harvest Month, so Bibigo USA asked me to create something for this theme using their Organic Potstickers range. I decided I wanted to put together a bowl that embodied the joy of a good farmers market haul and this is what I came up with. I find it to be such a feast for the eyes when I enter a farmers market or a very well stocked produce aisle and all the piles of leafy greens and fruits are just waiting to be taken home. I wanted to capture that in bowl form. I was also inspired by falafel buddha bowls, and thought that swapping out the falafel for Bibigo Vegetable Organic Potstickers would be a fun twist.

The recipe below is just a guideline, or a place to get you started with this concept. I encourage you to go to your local farmers markets and organic independent grocers and select the greens that really appeal to you. Just keep in mind a variety of textures—that’s what makes for a good grain bowl like this. Try to have soft leafy greens (like watercress), hardier greens (like kale), something crisp/crunchy (cucumber). I also recommend including something that feels creamy and satisfying, like the avocado, but you could also include more potstickers instead!

How to Make Organic Potsticker Farmers Market Bowls

Ingredients

10 Bibigo Vegetable Organic Potstickers
2 tbsp cooking oil
1/2 cup quinoa, washed
1 cup water
1/4 cup parsley, finely chopped
2 tsp lemon juice
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, divided
1/2 bunch watercress
1 cup baby kale leaves
1/4 cucumber, sliced
1 avocado, pitted and sliced
Salt, to taste
Tahini, to taste
Black sesame seeds
Edible flowers (optional)

Procedure

To prepare the potstickers, heat a large nonstick pan over medium-high heat and add cooking oil. Once oil is hot, place potstickers into pan. When bottoms are golden brown, add a small amount of water into the pan and immediately cover. (Be careful, as oil can splatter.) Allow potstickers to steam until water has evaporated and potstickers are heated through, about 2 minutes.

To cook quinoa, pour raw quinoa in a small pot and heat on medium until slightly toasted. Add 1 cup water and pinch of salt. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and continue to cook uncovered until the water appears to be absorbed, about 15–20 minutes. Cover, turn off the heat, and allow to steam for 5 minutes.

Combine 1 tablespoon olive oil with baby kale and massage the oil onto the leaves until glossy. Set aside.

Combine parsley, lemon juice, 2 tablespoons olive oil, and 2 pinches of salt in a small bowl and whisk together.

When quinoa is ready, add half of the herb dressing and toss to combine.

Divide baby kale, watercress, cucumber, and avocado between two bowls. Add prepared quinoa and top with potstickers. Drizzle remaining herb dressing over the bowls and drizzle tahini to taste. Top with black sesame seeds.

Thank you so much to Bibigo USA for sponsoring this recipe! For more recipe ideas and to learn more about their products, visit their website!

Recipe: Honey Butter & Matcha Salt Mini Wontons

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For this recipe, I partnered with Bibigo USA to come up with a fun way to serve their Pork & Vegetable Mini Wontons, in honor of National Dumpling Day (September 26th). I genuinely love how this product is just the perfect bite size, and how they are a lot juicier and more flavorful than most frozen dumplings. So, I thought why not serve them up in a way that really takes advantage of their snackability?

In South Korea, it is common for snack foods and finger foods (like fried chicken) to come in this half-half style of two different flavors that taste great individually but also are better together. I love this, because whenever I am faced with a menu of lots of flavor options, I always get weirdly anxious about having to make a decision and the possibility of choosing the wrong one. Since it is also common in South Korea for snack foods to mix together sweet and savory elements, I wanted to try to do the same thing here.

Honey butter is an extremely popular flavor there, so I decided to capture that in my mini wontons snack platter. Believe it or not, making a good honey butter sauce to toss with Bibigo Pork & Vegetable Mini Wontons, popcorn, almonds, or whatever your heart desires is truly as easy as combining equal parts honey and butter.

I wanted my savory flavor to be a little unique, and to also bring some color to my mini wontons snack platter. I love when snack foods are seasoned with seaweed seasoning, so I wanted to do something in that vein, but with a sorta trendy twist. Here in the States, matcha so popular but typically only associated with sweet drinks and desserts; however, the sweetness only comes from added sugar. Matcha on it’s own, to me, as a bit of a savory quality to it and it is not uncommon in Asian cooking for matcha/green tea to be an ingredient in savory preparations. I often see matcha salt served with Korean BBQ, and love how the matcha adds a fragrant and very subtle grassy component to the salt. So, I decided to season my savory half with matcha salt and roasted seaweed.

Serving up seasoned wontons in the same manner as party wings or popcorn chicken probably would not have occurred to me were it not for this brand partnership, but I am so excited for this recipe now. This is one I will definitely be making over and over again, and I hope you will, too.

How to Make A Honey Butter & Matcha Salt Mini Wonton Snack Platter

Ingredients

35–40 Bibigo Pork & Vegetable Mini Wontons
Vegetable or canola oil, for frying

For the Honey Butter

1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp butter
1/2 tsp sesame seeds, toasted

For the Matcha Salt

3/4 tsp culinary grade matcha powder
1/4 tsp fine Himalayan sea salt
3 sheets roasted seaweed snack

Procedure

Combine matcha and salt in a small bowl until salt is completely coated by the matcha powder. Set aside.

Place seaweed snack sheets into a zip-top bag and crush into small flakes. Set aside.

Fill a small heavy pot about 1.5 inches deep with oil. Heat the oil and work in batches to deep fry the mini wontons. Allow excess oil to drain on paper towels.

While mini wontons are still hot, divide into two equal portions. Sprinkle 1/4 teaspoon of the matcha salt over one portion.

In a small saucepan, heat butter on low until it just finishes melting. Stir in honey and keep stirring until the mixture starts to foam. Pour over the remaining unseasoned mini wontons and gently toss to coat.

Right before serving, toss together matcha salt mini wontons with an additional 1/4 teaspoon matcha salt and the crushed seaweed (you will have some seasoning left over). Plate both sets of wontons on a single plate. Sprinkle sesame seeds on top of the honey butter wontons.

Thank you so much to Bibigo USA for sponsoring this recipe! For more recipe ideas and to learn more about their products, visit their website!

Recipe: Corn Cheese With Mandu

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Corn-based snacks/drunchie foods are some of my absolute favorite indulgences ever. So when I go to a Korean bar or KBBQ place, I am always in search of the corn cheese. There used to be a Korean snack/karaoke place here in San Francisco that would give you corn cheese FOR FREE as a sort of appetizer before the banchans, and ever since it closed there has been a dark void in my heart. It really never occurred to me until pantry recipes came in vogue with the pandemic lockdown, and I was keeping more cans of corn around than per usual, that I could make my beloved corn cheese at home. After all, it is literally just corn + cheese.

Or is it???

Yes, I found that you really can just make corn cheese with canned corn and melted cheese. BUT you can also elevate it to the next level of awesomeness with really not that much additional trouble at all by adding some elote-inspired seasonings and garnishes. And then at that point, you may as well add some juicy dumplings so you can justify eating corn cheese as a full on meal. After all, you only live once. I recommend serving this incredible masterpiece on some sort of tabletop burner if you have one, to keep the corn cheese melty and dippable while you indulge.

How to Make Easy Corn Cheese with Mandu

Ingredients

8 Bibigo Beef and Vegetable Mandu
Cooking oil, for frying
1 cup canned corn, drained
6 oz mozzarella cheese, freshly grated*
2 oz cream cheese, softened

Toppings

Gochugaru, finely ground
Cilantro, chopped
Cotija cheese, crumbled
Mayonnaise

* Pre-grated mozzarella contains stabilizers that keep the cheese from clumping together, and also keep them from melting smoothly. It is worth the effort to grate it yourself!

Procedure

Fill a heavy medium pot with enough oil to submerge the mandu. Heat the oil and deep fry the mandu, working in batches if necessary. Allow excess oil to drain on paper towels.

Mix together canned corn, mozzarella, and cream cheese. Spread mixture in even layer in a cast iron skillet. Heat on medium until the cheese is completely melted, about 5–6 minutes. If desired, place under broiler for an additional 3 minutes or until the surface starts to develop golden brown spots.

Arrange prepared mandu on top of corn cheese. Top with gochugaru, cilantro, cotija, and mayo as desired. Serve immediately.

Thank you so much to Bibigo USA for sponsoring this recipe! For more recipe ideas and to learn more about their products, visit their website!

Easy Chimichurri Shrimp Tacos

Ever since we have been sheltering in place, I have found that keeping a big bag of jumbo “e-z peel” shrimp in the freezer has been super useful. They are quick to defrost and cook, and they feel pretty luxurious when they are a nice large size.

This taco recipe that I developed for my friends at Nomtastic Foods is summery, fresh, and pretty dang easy to put together. While the shrimp make it super satisfying, the star is the chimichurri—a raw Argentinian condiment that is typically served with steak but really goes great with everything.

CLICK HERE to get the recipe!

How to Steam Dumplings Without a Steamer

With a bonus Chili Garlic Dipping Sauce recipe!

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Yes, this is a sponsored post, but in all honesty, Bibigo makes the BEST frozen dumplings I have ever had. Don’t believe me? Then at least take the word of Korean home cooking queen, Seonkyoung Longest.

Specifically for me, Bibigo Beef & Vegetable Mandu in particular are the most amazing. They are crazy juicy and flavorful. I don’t see a lot of beef filled frozen dumplings out there, so I think the taste of the filling is also quite unique as far as frozen dumplings go.

My favorite way to have these dumplings is pan-fried, but Bibigo USA asked me to share a hack for folks who want to have them steamed yet don’t have a bamboo steamer (or any sort of device designed for steaming) at home. I totally get it because my kitchen storage space is very limited as well, and I avoid buying new gadgets (especially bulky ones) as much as I can. So, I hope this hack is useful!

How to Steam Frozen Dumplings Without a Steamer

Ingredients

10 Bibigo Beef & Vegetable Mandu
5 napa cabbage leaves

Equipment

cooling rack (for baking)
shallow, wide pot or pan
aluminum foil

Ingredients for Chili Garlic Dipping Sauce

5 tsp soy sauce
1 tbsp black vinegar
1 tbsp sugar
1 clove garlic, minced
2–3 red Thai chilies, sliced
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tbsp water

Procedure

Place a pot of water on high heat and bring up to a simmer. In the meantime, tear each napa cabbage leaf in half. Place leaves on top of a metal cooling rack to prevent the dumplings from sticking, then place a frozen mandu on top of each piece. Cover the cooling rack in aluminum foil, forming a loose tent over the dumplings but crimping around the edges of the rack to form a seal. Place cooling rack with dumplings carefully over the pot of simmering water and allow them to steam for 7–8 minutes.

While waiting for dumplings to steam, combine all the dipping sauce ingredients in a small pot on medium-low heat and bring to a simmer. Then transfer to a small dish.

When dumplings are ready, remove the pot from heat and, wearing an oven mitt, carefully remove the foil.

Serve steamed dumplings with dipping sauce.

Thank you so much to Bibigo USA for sponsoring this recipe! For more recipe ideas and to learn more about their products, visit their website!

Recipe: Bulgogi Tteokbokki

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I had very little appreciation for the simple stir-fry growing up; I always longed for those Western foods (macaroni and cheese, spaghetti) that felt so very novel and different from my parents’ homecooked meals. But as an adult, I see now how one-dimensional those other foods are (keeping in mind I only knew them in boxed and jarred forms at the time) and how layered in flavor and diverse in starring ingredients even the quickest of stir-fries can always be. I now know how handy it is being able to quickly bring together some veggie scraps and some sort of rice-flour-based carb, and with the power of my Asian pantry of seasoning sauces and the magic of the maillard reaction, everything gets transformed into a quick and tasty lunch.

My spouse is quite enthusiastic about Korean rice cakes, or tteok, so I am always tossing them into a meal when I see the opportunity. They are quite fun to chew, like a more firm version of mochi or rice noodle roll. They come in various shapes and sizes and can usually be found at any Asian supermarket. I believe they are most commonly known for swimming in a sweet-spicy bright red tteokbokki sauce but they also work really well as part of a stir-fry, as you’ll see here.

For this recipe, bulgogi beef slices, marinated in Bibigo Original Korean BBQ Sauce, serve as the protein for the dish, hence the name, Bulgogi Tteokbokki!

How to Make Bulgogi Tteokbokki

Ingredients

1/2 lb sirloin steak, sliced thinly against the grain
4 tbsp Bibigo Original Korean BBQ Sauce
1 lb Korean rice cakes, or tteok
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 carrot, sliced
1/4 onion, sliced
2–3 oz beech mushrooms, ends trimmed
1/2 green bell pepper, sliced
1 scallion, thinly sliced
1 tbsp sesame seeds, toasted
Cooking oil

Note: Vegetable types and quantities are just a suggestion. Use whatever suits you!

Procedure

Combine the steak and marinade in a bowl and place in the refrigerator.  Allow to marinate for at least 30 minutes.

If rice cakes are frozen, soak in cold water for 10 minutes to thaw. (I always keep some on hand in my freezer!) Skip this step if rice cakes are fresh.

Bring a pot of water to a boil and add rice cakes. Boil, stirring occasionally until rice cakes begin to float to the surface of the water, about 2–3 minutes. Cook for an additional minute after they float, then drain. (Note: Different brands of rice cakes tend to have slightly different textures. Be sure to try one and make sure the texture is to your liking before draining.) Combine rice cakes with soy sauce and sesame oil and set aside.

Heat a large skillet or wok. Drain most of the excess marinade from beef. Add enough cooking oil to coat the bottom of the pan, then add beef. Stir-fry for 2–3 minutes, then add carrot, onion, and bell pepper in that order, giving a quick stir in between each. Stir-fry for 2 minutes, then add mushrooms and rice cakes. Stir fry for an additional 4 minutes, or until parts of the rice cakes are lightly browned and everything is cooked through.

Transfer to a serving dish and garnish with scallions and sesame seeds.

Thank you so much to Bibigo USA for sponsoring this recipe! For more recipe ideas and to learn more about their products, visit their website!