Downloadable Pumpkin Wallpaper

Just popping in to share a casual photo of some cool looking pumpkins that I took last weekend at Clancy’s Pumpkin Patch. The staff seemed nice and attentive there and they had a cool variety of pumpkins of all sizes. I went home with some mini white ones and mini orange ones with really interesting looking stems, but I would have liked to bring home this big gray one!

Save the images to your phone to use them as your wallpaper (these are sized for the iPhone X).

>> Click to download Pumpkin Patch wallpaper <<

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Please note that these are for personal use only and not to be used for any commercial purposes. All copyright of these images is retained by me, Lily Morello.

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.

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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.

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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!

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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

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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!

JUMP TO 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!

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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!

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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!

Recipe: Chicken Satay

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Satay is a common street food in Malaysia, where my parents are from. Any sort of meat can be cut into small pieces and grilled on a skewer to be satay and it is fun (for me at least) to taste all the offal-ly bits. Vendors repeatedly fan the charcoal grill and flip handfuls of skewers back and forth for that signature char. I have fond memories during visits with my relatives where we would go to bigger satay joints and they would bring piles of satay to our table and we would feast on them stick by stick. Back when I was a kid those places used to bill by a somewhat honor system of counting the number of empty sticks we had at the end…and boy, did we have a lot.

Satay made of marinated chicken thighs is the easiest for me to recreate on my grill at home. Chicken thighs stay relatively moist when grilled and cook quickly. I developed this recipe from my memories of what it should taste like so I am not sure if it is the most authentic, but it does taste right to me!

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How to Make Chicken Satay

Ingredients

1 1/2 lbs boneless/skinless chicken thighs, in 3/4–1” cubes
1 tbsp ginger, grated
3 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp fish sauce
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp turmeric
1/2 cup coconut milk
2 tbsp neutral oil, plus extra for grill
peanut butter, to taste
hoisin sauce, to taste

For Serving

cucumber, cut into small chunks
red onion, cut into small chunks
cilantro
peanuts, chopped

Procedure

The night before, place 12 bamboo skewers in water and let soak overnight. This will help prevent them from burning to a crisp on the grill.

Also the night before, whisk together grated ginger, brown sugar, fish sauce, cumin, turmeric, coconut milk, and oil to make the satay marinade. Combine with chicken cubes and coat the chicken thoroughly. Cover/seal and store in refrigerator to marinade overnight.

Spear chicken onto the skewers and leave covered in the refrigerator until ready to grill. (If making ahead, wrap exposed bamboo with a damp paper towel to prevent from drying out.)

Pour the leftover marinade into a small sauce pan and bring to a full simmer. Whisk in hoisin sauce and peanut butter to taste. Set aside until ready for serving.

A charcoal grill is recommended to get that smoky grilled satay flavor. When grill is ready, brush the grill rack with a bit of extra oil. Add chicken skewers to the grill, turning occasionally until the chicken is cooked through. As the pieces of chicken are small, these will cook fairly quickly, so be sure to monitor.

Transfer peanut sauce to a serving dish and top with chopped peanuts. Serve satay with cucumbers, onion, cilantro, and peanut sauce.

This recipe was originally written for my friends at Nomtastic Foods.

Recipe: Bulgogi Rice Balls

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Korean rice balls, or jumeokbap (translation: “fist rice”), are typically a pretty humble food, served as a snack or as a common component in a dosirak, or packed lunch box. They get compared to their fancier-looking Japanese onigiri or temari sushi counterparts, but I think there is a lot to love about the Korean version. They are super easy to make (as easy as mixing some fun seasonings and cooked rice together and forming them into golf ball sized balls), really kid-friendly and picky-eater-friendly what with the lack of raw fish and with cute portions, and they are a visually interesting way to present a staple side dish without a whole lot of extra effort. The rice balls here feature bulgogi beef in two ways: some of them have strips of steak placed on top, while others have flavorsome ground beef mixed into the rice itself. You can make them as simple or as complicated as you’d like, and the garnishes that you see here are entirely optional (but I personally had a lot of fun decorating them).

I will seize any opportunity to decorate my food with edible flowers from my garden. I am sure among professional circles there is some culinary school of thought that garnishing food in this manner is superfluous. But you know what?—I am not planning on opening a restaurant any time soon and my objective is to help you, the home cook, make something that brings joy to your dinner table. I think that a little edible flower magic is an easy cheat to accomplish that. So, when Bibigo USA asked me to develop a bulgogi rice ball recipe for them, I bugged them to let me exercise some creative license with the garnishing. I encourage you to get creative with your own versions, too! Don’t worry about having the exact same ingredients that are listed in the recipe; those are meant to be guidelines, and to clarify what it is that you see used in the photos. Use what you have handy. For example, sometimes on stemmed herbs like basil, the large leaves wilt and break down first but there are still teeny leaves clinging on in relatively good shape; this would be a great way to let those shine instead of going to waste. If you don’t have access to edible flowers, cutting slices of carrot or radish into flowers are a great (and honestly more functional) alternative. Jumeokbap are so fun to eat, so I hope you have fun making them as well!

Here’s a before and after of these bulgogi rice balls before and after garnishing:

How to Make Bulgogi Rice Balls

Ingredients

4–5 oz ground beef
1–2 oz sirloin steak, sliced thinly against the grain
4 tbsp Bibigo Original Korean BBQ Sauce, divided
1 cup uncooked rice, washed and drained
1 1/2 cups water
1/4 cup Korean crushed seasoned seaweed snack*
1/2 tsp salt
3 perilla leaves, thinly sliced (optional)
1/2 tsp soy sauce
Sesame oil
Cooking oil

For Garnishing

Chives, chopped
Scallions, sliced thinly
Radish shoots
Pickled daikon, sliced thinly
Edible flowers
Sesame seeds, toasted

*I found this at a Korean grocery store and it’s specifically for jumeokbap, but if you don’t have it, feel free to substitute with furikake or crush up seaweed sheets and mix with a little salt.

Procedure

Soak rice in some water for 5 minutes, then drain. Combine rice and 1 1/2 cups water in rice cooker and set to cook.

Combine steak with 2 tablespoons Bibigo sauce and set aside to marinade. 

In a separate bowl, mix together ground beef and the remaining sauce, making sure to break down any clumps of beef.  Pour mixture into a small pan on medium heat and simmer until cooked, about 3 minutes. Set aside. 

Add enough cooking oil to coat the pan, turn up to medium-high heat, and sear the pieces of steak in a single layer for about 30 seconds on each side. Remove from pan and set aside.

When rice is cooked and slightly cooled, divide into two portions. For one of the portions, combine rice, cooked ground beef, seaweed, perilla, and salt into a bowl and gently mix to combine. For the other portion, combine rice with soy sauce.

Pour some sesame oil into a small bowl. Dip clean hands into the oil and lightly coat them to prevent sticking. Use hands to form the ground beef and rice mixture into small balls, about 1 to 1 1/4-inches in diameter. Repeat the process with the soy sauce rice, continuing to dip hands in sesame oil as needed to prevent rice from sticking.

Plate rice balls. Top soy sauce rice balls with pieces of steak. Then garnish all the rice balls as desired.

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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!

Downloadable Peony Wallpapers

Peony Season 2020 has come and gone. But back in mid-May, I shot a couple of photos that I thought would make lovely iPhone wallpapers, so I thought I’d share them here. I am trying to think of other types of blog posts and other forms of content that I want to share on here besides recipes, so I am hoping that more wallpaper-worthy photos can be shared here on occasion.

Save the images to your phone to use them as your wallpaper (these are sized for the iPhone X).

Please note that these are for personal use only and not to be used for any commercial purposes. All copyright of these images is retained by me, Lily Morello.

Recipe: Mini Wonton Tangsuyuk

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I am a total sucker for funky mashups when it comes to food, and I am really happy with how this turned out. I love how my partnership with Bibigo USA has challenged me to think of creative ways to use frozen dumplings, such as in place of salad croutons, or in place of regular ol’ strips of meat here. (Credit to the YouTube channel Aaron and Claire as well, for inspiring me to find creative ways to use Korean frozen and pantry items while in quarantine. Their videos make me so happy!)

Tangsuyuk is typically the Korean version of sweet and sour pork/beef. There are some similar elements to its Cantonese-American counterpart, like crisp veggies and chunks of pineapple, but it tends to be more naturally colored and does not rely on tomato for its sweet-sourness. Instead, like many savory-sweet Korean sauces, it turns to fruits to get that natural fresh sweetness. (Yes, I know tomato is a fruit too, but I do feel it’s in its own category separate from apples and pears and pineapples.) For this recipe, I swapped the meat for adorable and flavorsome Bibigo Pork & Vegetable Mini Wontons. Heating them up by pan frying, and then keeping them hot in the oven until the very last moment before tossing with the sauce keeps them crisp and satisfying.

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How to Make Mini Wonton Tangsuyuk

Ingredients

40 Bibigo Pork & Vegetable Mini Wontons
1/2 carrot, sliced
1/2 green bell pepper, cored and cut into chunks
1/2 red bell pepper, cored and cut into chunks
1/2 small red onion, cut into chunks
3/4 cup canned pineapple chunks
2 tbsp cornstarch
3/4 cup + 2 tbsp water, divided
1/4 cup sugar
4 tbsp apple cider vinegar
4 tsp soy sauce
3/4 cup canned pineapple juice
1/2 tsp sesame seeds, toasted
Salt
Cooking oil

Procedure

Heat a large skillet or wok. In batches, pan-fry mini wontons with cooking oil according to package instructions. (Alternatively you could also deep fry them.) Transfer to a baking tray and place in the oven at 200°F to keep warm.

Add enough cooking oil to coat the bottom of the hot skillet or wok. Add carrot slices and stir-fry for 1 minute. Next, add bell pepper chunks and stir-fry for 1 minute more. Then, add onion chunks and a pinch of salt, and stir-fry for an additional 1 minute. Remove from heat and set aside.

In a small bowl, whisk together 2 tablespoons water with cornstarch to form a cornstarch slurry. Set aside.

Bring 3/4 cup water and pineapple juice to a simmer in a small pot. Add sugar and stir to dissolve. Add apple cider vinegar, soy sauce, and a pinch of salt and stir to combine. Add the cooked vegetables and pineapple. Bring to a gentle boil, then give the cornstarch slurry another whisk before adding to the pot. Stir contents of the pot until the sauce becomes homogenous and syrupy. Remove from heat. 

Transfer mini wontons to a serving bowl and pour sauce and vegetable mixture on top. Garnish with 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!

Road Trip Through the Pacific Northwest

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I did a Q&A on Instagram about my experience as a first time RVer, so I also thought I’d capture some of my favorite photos here and share some takeaways, too.

I am really about the least outdoorsy person you will ever meet. I love traveling to cities across the world, enjoying their local foods, admiring unique architecture, and getting caught up in the hustle and bustle of life in a place full of people. I don’t like to hike or really do any walking unless it involves exploring a unique street market or moving towards a delicious restaurant meal. But with COVID-19 locking us all down in our homes, I started to think about how I could safely enjoy a new change of scenery and a new experience, and a home on wheels seemed an intriguing solution. Unlike my city adventures across the globe, this could be a way to explore and appreciate some of those National Parks that my own country seemed to be so famous for—something I may never have done as a U.S. citizen were it not for the unique circumstances of a global pandemic.

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So, my spouse and I rented the smallest RV we could find with a complete kitchen and bathroom that allowed us to bring our dog, Oolong. We wanted to be as self-contained as possible out of consideration for health guidelines. We ended up going with El Monte RV, but I wouldn’t necessarily recommended it because the RV presented minor inconvenient flaws throughout the trip (leaky sink, side mirror wouldn’t stay in place, reverse camera stopped working, stove stopped igniting without a lighter). But it did feel clean and spacious. Here is a very detailed video on the RV I rented, which we found on YouTube from a WA-based company; we were grateful to have found it because our own RV walkthrough from the company we used did not provide nearly enough of the necessary information as this video did.

Here are some quick notes based on the questions I received:

  • It cost $4000 for us to rent for 13 nights. We also spent about $900 in gas.

  • Dumping the waste tanks was okay once we (by “we” I mean my spouse) knew what we were doing. “Gray waste” from the sinks and shower and “black waste” from the toilet are both stored in tanks outside of the RV cabin, and we didn’t experience any foul odors getting in. The process is to connect the provided hose to the pipe on the outside of the vehicle and to insert the other end into the hole at the dump site, then release the black waste first followed by the gray. The gray waste helps flush out the hose to prevent the process from being smelly.

  • We parked in a combination of free rest stops and “sno-parks”, national park campsites, other foresty camp parks, and random pullouts along the side of the road (so long as there were no signs prohibiting overnight parking and other RVs/campers were also parking there). We avoided “RV parks” that were just parking lots without separation between the spots.

  • I would not recommend trying to drive the RV around for lots of different activities in a city with small streets and tight turns. When we were in Seattle, we parked the RV near a large park and walked downtown to avoid driving on streets that were not conducive to a large vehicle.

  • Having a dog with is did not hinder us at all on our trip. However, we did choose to travel through the PNW because of the weather, knowing it would be safe to occasionally leave Oolong in the RV without it being to hot if we wanted to do a non-dog-friendly activity. We thought Oolong would have the best time of her life on this trip, because she loves going to the beach or sniffing trees, but we could tell on the road she had mixed feelings. She was anxious about the drive and bothered by the loud noises of everything rattling through bumps and turns, and she got carsick from a particularly windy road. However, we think she particularly enjoyed the Oregon Dunes, the Hoh River, and in general getting to sniff lots of different trees and bushes.

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Highlights for me included:

  • Digging for clams in the Puget Sound area and foraging for blackberries in Northern California

  • Take-out Thai chicken rice from Nong’s Khao Man Gai in Portland

  • Cooking over a campfire

  • Having lunch while overlooking Crater Lake

  • Picking up some amazing smoked salmon from Jack’s Fish Spot at Pike Place Market

  • Waking up in a new place every day that was quiet and smelled of either the forest or the sea

I realize that many of my highlights involve food. Hmm…

Here is a map of some stops that felt notable to me:

Recipe: Sweet and Savory Marinated Eggs

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I can never resist a perfectly boiled egg with a runny yolk but these are even more addictive that your typical soy sauce marinated eggs. Bibigo USA asked me to test out whether their Original Korean BBQ Sauce for bulgogi would work well as an egg marinade, and as it turns out, the answer is absolutely yes! Their convenient sauce has pear and apple purees in it, giving the sauce a rich sweetness that balances well with the savoriness and, when absorbed by the eggs, is super yummy. This recipe was inspired by Korean marinated eggs—in Korean, they are called mayak eggs, which translates to “drug eggs” because of their addictive quality!

I learned the best technique for making boiled eggs from this blog post by Eat With Your Eyes Closed. As instructed in the post, after slowly lowering the eggs into the pot of boiling water, I meticulously stand over the pot of boiling eggs and keep spinning them around and around with a chopstick for the first two minutes in order to ensure that the egg whites set with the yolk perfectly positioned in the middle. Don’t sleep on this technique!

I think that a 6-minute egg is the most perfect—the whites are set and tender and the yolks are still super runny when you cut into them. But, of course, feel free to cook them to your liking. The marinate will be delicious either way.

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How to Make Sweet and Savory Marinated Eggs

Ingredients

4 eggs
3/4 cup Bibigo Original Korean BBQ Sauce
1/2 cup water
1 tbsp mirin
2 scallions, thinly sliced
1 tbsp sesame seeds
1 red Fresno chili or 5 Thai chilies, sliced (optional)
Sesame oil, for serving (optional)

Procedure

Stir together Bibigo Original Korean BBQ Sauce, water, scallions, sesame seeds, and sliced chili in a bowl. Set aside.

Bring a small pot of water to a vigorous boil. Meanwhile, use a safety pin or the tip of a very fine knife blade to carefully poke a small hole at the bottom (wider end) of each egg. (This helps air escape and allows the set egg to better conform to the shape of the inside of the shell.)

When the water is boiling vigorously, gently lower eggs and boil for 6 minutes for runny yolks or 10 minutes for cooked yolks.

Immediately transfer eggs into an ice bath. When eggs are completely cold, peel carefully.

Place a zip-top bag inside a bowl. Place eggs into the bag and pour marinate on top. Close bag, making sure to squeeze out as much air as possible. Place bag and bowl in the refrigerator. Eggs will want to float initially, but you want to make sure they are completely covered in the marinade. If you remember, occasionally rotate the bag or gently shift the eggs around to ensure that all surfaces have time to come in contact with the marinade. (Otherwise, you may end up with irregular patches of white if the egg is not fully submerged.) Allow to marinate overnight or for up to 3 days.

To serve, spoon egg and some marinate over rice. Drizzle with a bit of sesame oil.

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: Korean Fire Ribs with Melted Cheese

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I have probably already said this on here before, but I love my old school slow cooker. I know all the cool kids are about that instant pot life, but my slow cooker is reliable and I trust that it won’t blow up in my face. I love it for pretty much every situation where I’d want super tender meat, including fall-off-the-bone baby back ribs.

One of my favorite flavor combinations in modern Korean cuisine is super “fire-y” spicy meat with ooey gooey melted cheese. So I worked with Bibigo USA to develop this recipe for spicy ribs served piled high in the middle of a moat of melty cheese. Pro-tip, if you have a tabletop induction burner like I do, serve this whole skillet at the table with the heat set to a low setting to keep the cheese melty—we made some epic cheese pulls!

Other Variations for this Recipe

  • If you can’t find the sauce mentioned in the recipe below, Bibigo Original Korean BBQ Sauce (a.k.a. bulgogi sauce) seems to be easier to find. Whisk together 3/4 cup of that sauce (or your own favorite bulgogi marinade recipe) and 1/4 gochujang and use that to substitute for the 1 cup of Bibigo spicy sauce.

  • If you love Korean corn cheese, mix in half a can of corn (drained) into the cheese mixture.

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How to Make Korean Fire Ribs with Melted Cheese

Ingredients

1 rack baby back ribs
1 cup Bibigo Hot & Sweet Go-Chu-Jang Sauce
2–3 tbsp gochugaru (or more!)
10 oz mozzarella cheese, freshly grated
1–2 oz cream cheese, softened

ingredients for Garnishing

1–2 scallions
1 red Fresno chili, thinly sliced
1 tsp sesame seeds, toasted

Procedure

Pat baby back ribs dry. Divide in half for fit if needed and place into the pot of a slow cooker. Combine Bibigo Hot & Spicy Korean BBQ Sauce with gochugaru to taste; pour half of the sauce mixture into slow cooker and thoroughly coat the exposed meat of the ribs. Set remaining sauce mixture aside. Cook ribs on low for 5 hours.

To make curly scallion garnish like the ones in the photos, slice green parts of scallions lengthwise into narrow strips and place in a bowl of cold water. Place bowl in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.

Remove cooked ribs from slow cooker and allow to rest for 20 minutes. In the meantime, prepare a foil-lined baking tray. 

Mix together mozzarella and cream cheese in a bowl. (Note: Please avoid using the pre-grated mozzarella, as this has additives to prevent the shreds of cheese from clumping together, and will also prevent the cheese from melting together smoothly.)

Cut in between bones of rack pieces to separate into individual ribs and place on foil-lined baking tray. Brush on the remaining sauce mixture. Place tray on the top rack of the oven and turn on the broiler setting. Broil ribs for 7–10 minutes until the edges are slightly charred.

Place cheese inside a cast iron skillet to form a ring. Heat cheese on stovetop on low until cheese just starts to melt, about 2–3 minutes. Then place under the broiler for 1–2 minutes until a few brown spots form. 

Pile ribs in the middle of the cast iron skillet. Top with scallions, sliced chili, and sesame seeds.

Grilling Method (Note that this version will not be as tender as the slow cooker option.)

Pat baby back ribs dry and remove the silverskin membrane.  Cut in between bones to divide into individual ribs. Combine Bibigo Hot & Spicy Korean BBQ Sauce with gochugaru to taste. Add ribs to a large zip-top bag along with half of the sauce mixture. Mix ribs and sauce until thoroughly combined and allow to marinate in the refrigerator overnight. Refrigerate remaining sauce mixture separately. 

Prepare grill. When ready, place ribs on the grill. Continuously brush ribs with remaining sauce mixture and turn until all ribs are cooked evenly.

Follow same steps for preparing cheese and garnishes as above.

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: Spicy Bibimbap Burger

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Bibigo USA challenged me to develop a recipe that used one of their products plus only 5 additional ingredients to make a delicious and flavorful meal. One of my favorite products of theirs is their version of gochujang—unlike the typical gochujang that is a thick paste in a plastic tub, Bibigo Hot & Sweet Go-Chu-Jang Sauce is much more conducive to being used as a sweet, spicy, tangy condiment. I knew it would be the only condiment necessary to make a delicious burger, so it inspired me to develop this bibimbap burger recipe.

My key to making a delicious burger at home is the super high-quality, fatty ground beef that I use for the patty. There is a tiny butcher shop in my neighborhood, The Butcher Shop by Niku, that sells ground domestic wagyu beef for a very reasonable price. I asked them once what their fat percentage is for this beef, and they said it was upwards of 40%, which is much higher than the ground beef I see at the normal grocery store meat counter. It really makes a difference, and I have not been able to make burgers with any other ground beef since…nor will I ever order a burger at a restaurant, because I know mine will be better! (Fast food chains do not count in this contest.) However, if you do not live near me and do not have access to affordable ground wagyu, I learned an interesting trick from my friend Dinesh (@myasiankitchen) for how to get your burger patty to be more tender and juicy: freeze a stick of butter and grate some of it into your ground beef! This will up the fat percentage of your patty and make it amazing!

For this burger recipe, I used ingredients that I thought were typical of bibimbap, to build upon the Korean theme. However, I encourage you to use your own favorite bibimbap ingredients and get creative! Or, even if you are making a regular cheeseburger, I honestly recommend trying Bibigo Hot & Sweet Go-Chu-Jang Sauce instead of ketchup because it’s such a complex and flavorful condiment.

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How to Make Spicy Bibimbap Burgers

Ingredients

3/4 lb ground beef, high-fat recommended
2 hamburger buns (I used brioche ones)
1 oz spinach leaves, washed
6 medium shiitake mushrooms
2 eggs
Bibigo Hot & Sweet Go-Chu-Jang Sauce, to taste
Salt
Pepper
Cooking oil

Procedure

Divide ground beef into 2 equal portions. Here is the trick to getting perfect looking patties for your burger: Shape each into flat, round patties that are 125% the diameter of your hamburger buns, to account for shrinking when cooking. Then, gently make an indentation in the center of each patty; this will also help prevent the patty from swelling up and getting too tall to fit in your mouth. Note how my patties are exactly the same diameter as my buns when cooked—that’s how I did it! Place shaped patties in the refrigerator until ready to cook.

I used fresh shiitake mushrooms; if you are using dried, soak them in hot water until they are rehydrated. Trim off tough parts of shiitake stems and discard. Slice thinly. Heat a small skillet on medium-high and add a small amount of oil. Add mushrooms and sauté until cooked, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and set aside.

Heat a cast iron skillet on high heat. Season patties generously with salt and pepper on both sides. When skillet is very hot, turn down the heat to medium high. If using lean ground beef, add a small amount of oil to the skillet; skip this step if the meat is over 30% fat. Place patties on skillet. For medium rare, cook for 2.5 minutes, flip, and cook for another 2.5 minutes on the other side.

While patties are cooking, toast buns if desired. (Why wouldn’t you, though…?)

Remove patties from heat and allow to rest on a separate plate for 2–3 minutes. 

While patties are resting, heat 2 tablespoons oil in a small skillet and cook eggs over-easy.

Spread a generous amount of Bibigo Hot & Sweet Go-Chu-Jang Sauce on the inside of each half-bun. Assemble burgers in the order desired. I did spinach first, patty, fried egg, then mushrooms.

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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: Biscuits Two Ways

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At my house, we are deeply divided between Team Sweet and Team Savory. My husband loves chocolate, pancakes, and PB & J; I love cheese, tater tots, and scrambled eggs. Fortunately, I am in charge of the cooking, so I get to feed us whatever I want, and my husband (the dish washer) is at the mercy of my charitable pancake breakfast and cookie baking every now and again.

But when I can, I try to adapt recipes into sweet and savory versions so we are both happy and get our cravings satisfied. If found that this is pretty doable when it comes to batter- and dough- based recipes, and usually causes only one extra dirty bowl at the most. For example, when I make a batch of waffles, I’ll follow a standard recipe for my husband that he can pour syrup and fruit over, and then part-way through cooking them I’ll add grated cheese and herbs into the bowl of batter to turn it savory.

I decided to experiment with this concept and turn a batch of biscuits into a sweet and savory version. I used BA’s Sour Cream and Onion biscuit recipe as a starting point for the ratios of the key ingredients, but my execution was pretty different (and IMO, easier). After making a base I split the dough into two portions: a sweet version with honey and a savory one with cheddar, scallions, and black pepper. These don’t have a huge rise because I intentionally made them big and flat for purposes of making breakfast sandwiches, but they could be made taller and smaller if you so choose.

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I think these are best when they are fresh from the oven and just barely cool enough to tear open with my hands. So, I recommend only baking what you plan to eat right away, even if it’s just one of each, and freezing the rest. Freeze them on a parchment-lined tray first and then you can transfer them to a freezer bag. When ready to bake, pop them directly from the freezer to a parchment-lined tray and bake them for an extra 5–10 minutes.

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How to Make Two Kinds of Biscuits in One Batch

Ingredients for base

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour, plus extra bench flour
1 3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp sugar
10 tbsp butter, plus extra for finish
1 1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt
kosher salt

Ingredients For Savory Biscuits

2 scallions, chopped
1/3 cup cheddar, grated
lots of freshly cracked black pepper

Ingredients For Sweet Biscuits

1 1/2 tbsp honey, plus extra for finish

Procedure

If you have the half-cup sticks of butter like I do, start by throwing at least one stick into the freezer; if working with a block, freeze all 10 tablespoons.

Stir up your Greek yogurt to be an even consistency. If it is super thick, add a teaspoon of water to thin it out.

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, and a pinch of salt and whisk together.

If you have a portion of butter that you did not freeze, cut that portion into tiny cubes, trying to keep it as cold as possible. Add that to the dry ingredients and use cold hands to smash into small crumbles. Then use a box grater to grate in the frozen butter, and once again use your hands to incorporate the butter with the dry ingredients into a crumbly-looking mixture.

Pour about 40–45% of the mixture into another bowl. (Just eyeball, it will be fine. I did this because the savory ingredients will add more volume and I wanted all the biscuits to be uniform in size. If this does not matter to you, just divide evenly.)

Make the savory biscuits: In a small bowl, combine scallions, cheese, and pepper and toss to combine. Add these to the smaller portion of dry ingredients and whisk together. Create a well in the center. Pour half of the yogurt in the well, then use a fork to slowly incorporate the flour mixture into the wet yogurt. Once all the yogurt is absorbed, use your hands to gather the dough together and fold it on itself a few times until it is a cohesive dough.

Make the sweet biscuits: Drizzle honey over the remaining flour and butter mixture. Then form a well in the center and repeat the same process of incorporating the remaining yogurt as before.

Preheat your oven to 425°F.

For each portion of dough, you will do three sets of letter folds to create layers in your biscuits. Dust your work surface with flour and do so throughout the process as needed to prevent sticking. Shape one portion of dough into a 9” x 3” rectangle, fold in a third from the right and then a third from the left (like you would fold a letter). Then rotate 90 degrees and repeat the shaping and folding. Rotate again then do the process one more time. Finally, rotate, shape, and cut your dough into 3 biscuits. Repeat this process with the other portion of dough.

Place biscuits on a parchment-lined baking tray. Optionally, spread a tiny bit of melted butter on top of the savory biscuits and top with a bit of coarse salt; and spread a small amount of extra honey on top of the sweet biscuits.

Bake for 17–20 minutes.

Recipe: Korean Egg Toast / Gilgeori Toast

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I partnered with Bibigo USA to help their audience “travel” through food at home by developing a recipe for a classic Korean street snack. One thing I noticed about the street foods when I was in South Korea last year, was that a touch of sugar was often included in otherwise savory snacks. Even the famous cheese-filled Korean “hot dogs” (a.k.a. battered and fried cheese on a stick that allows you to make the most epic of cheese pulls!) come dusted in sugar on the outside.

Gilgeori toast (which means “street toast”) is no exception. This toast typically involves shredded veggies and egg cooked together into a square and topped with a sprinkle of sugar and a squirt of ketchup or jam; it’s then served rolled up in a slice of soft, gently toasted, buttered white bread, either in a paper cup or wrapped in foil. For this version, I used Bibigo Hot & Sweet Go-Chu-Jang Sauce instead of ketchup, which helped bring together the sugar and the savory ingredients really well. Other variations I’ve seen include adding ham or different types of cheeses, either inside the egg patty or layered on top. This is a great recipe to help use up random scraps of ingredients that you have in your fridge, and it is really fun to experiment to find your favorite combo!

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There are other “egg toast” places in South Korea where the toast is actually more like what Americans would call a sandwich, served with two slices of bread in a cute cardboard holder. I decided to make my gilgeori toast look more like those. For those of you who live in the SF Bay Area, I’ve found that the thick milk toast sold at Manila Oriental Market (shown in the photos for this post) works really well for Asian toasts and sandwiches that typically have a soft white bread. Another place I like for milk bread is Andersen Bakery, where they sell whole loaves so you can slice to the thickness of your liking.

I was also excited that this recipe helped me find another use for my little rectangular omelette pan that I bought in Seoul. It is meant to be used to make rolled egg omelettes (typically known in the States by the Japanese name tamagoyaki) but it came quite in handy for making these square egg patties for gilgeori toast. Don’t worry if you don’t have one, though; just pile your ingredients in the center of a skillet or flat griddle and use a pancake turner/spatula to help shape your ingredients into a square.

How to Make Gilgeori Toast

Ingredients

2 slices milk bread
1 large egg
1/2 cup cabbage, finely shredded
1/4 medium carrot, julienned
1 slice (1 oz) ham, thinly sliced
1 scallion, thinly sliced
2 tbsp butter, divided
1/2–1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp Bibigo Hot & Sweet Go-Chu-Jang Sauce
salt, to taste

Procedure

Combine shredded cabbage, carrot, and scallion into a mixing bowl. Add a pinch of salt and gently massage everything together to combine and soften. Mix in ham. Set aside.

Heat a large skillet or griddle on medium heat. Add 1/2 tablespoon butter and allow to melt and coat the cooking surface before adding the bread. Allow bread to toast on one side for about 1.5 minutes or until golden. Remove bread, melt another 1/2 tablespoon of butter, and toast the other side of each slice. Set toasted bread aside.

Crack egg into a separate bowl and beat vigorously. Add beaten egg to the vegetable and ham mixture, and gently mix to combine. 

Heat a rectangular omelette pan or small nonstick skillet on medium heat. Melt 1/2 tablespoon butter. Add the egg mixture as one small pile, then use a cooking spatula or turner to flatten the pile and shape it into a square as the egg sets. Cook until the bottom starts to turn golden, about 2 minutes. Add remaining 1/2 tablespoon of butter on top, then carefully flip over and cook until the other side starts to turn golden.

Place omelette on top of one slice of toast. Sprinkle sugar over the top, then drizzle Bibigo Hot & Sweet Go-Chu-Jang Sauce. Top with the remaining slice of toast. 

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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: Galbi Vegetable Wraps with Ssamjang Sauce

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With the ability to travel internationally still being very iffy, I have been trying to scratch that travel bug itch at home by creating themed meals. Oftentimes they are based on places that I have visited before—trying to recreate fond eating memories or satisfy nostalgic cravings. And the best themed dinner nights are the ones where the meal also lends itself to being interactive, so that communal eating at the dinner table also becomes a stay-at-home activity. We have been making hot pot and budae jjigae more often than before, but Bibigo USA asked me to develop a recipe that could help others capture the Korean BBQ experience at the dining table, even for those who don’t have a tabletop burner or cooktop. For this recipe, the meat is cooked on the stovetop first, and then served at the dining table with leafy veggies, dipping sauce, and fresh garnishes so that you and your quarantine companion can enjoy assembling and eating wraps together.

Back when eating at restaurants was a thing, I loved going to KBBQ restaurants with friends, cooking tons of meat together at the table, and eating it piping hot wrapped in different vegetables. And when I visited South Korea, I noticed that giant perilla leaves were popular for these ssam (which means “wrapped” in Korean); they definitely became my favorite to use for wrapping up the juicy marinated meats. I am lucky enough to have a great local Korean grocery store (Kukje Supermarket) where I can buy them to use for my homemade ssam, but shiso or regular leafy lettuce are also great.

Because the convenience of Bibigo’s Korean BBQ sauces makes the marinating process basically effortless, I used the saved time to make sure I also had an awesome dipping sauce (a.k.a. ssamjang) to serve with my wraps.

How to Make Galbi Ssam with Ssamjang Sauce at Home

Ingredients for the Galbi

1 1/2 lbs galbi-cut beef short ribs (cut flanken-style)
2/3 cup Bibigo Original Korean BBQ Sauce or Bibigo Hot & Spicy Korean BBQ Sauce
Cooking oil

Ingredients for the Ssamjang

2 tbsp doenjang (Korean fermented soybean paste)
1 tbsp Bibigo Hot & Sweet Go-Chu-Jang Sauce
1 tsp honey
1 clove garlic, chopped
2 tbsp onion, finely diced
1 scallion, sliced
2 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp sesame seeds, toasted

Ingredients for the Wraps*

6–8 lettuce leaves
6–8 perilla leaves
2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
1 jalapeño, thinly sliced
1–2 scallions, thinly sliced
1 tbsp sesame seeds, toasted

*These are just estimates; use as much as you’d like to enjoy your ssam-making experience!

Procedure

Place short ribs in a zip-top plastic bag. Add marinade and coat meat. Seal bag, removing as much air as possible. Place in the refrigerator and allow to marinade for at least 30 minutes—I marinated mine overnight and they turned out so flavorful and delicious!

Combine ingredients for ssamjang into a small bowl and stir together. Cover and place in refrigerator until ready for serving. (Can be made up to 3 days in advance.)

Heat a large cast iron skillet on medium-high. Add about 1 teaspoon of cooking oil, then add marinated short ribs in a single layer. Cook for 1 to 1 1/2 minutes, until meat looks seared. Flip and sear the other side. Repeat in batches, adding 1 teaspoon of cooking oil when necessary.

Serve galbi with other wrap ingredients at the table, family style. To make each wrap, use kitchen shears to cut away the bones and cut the galbi into small pieces. Spread ssamjang on a vegetable leaf to taste (I like to slather on a lot!), add a few pieces of galbi, and garnish as desired.

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!

Focaccia Garden

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Really quite proud of this “focaccia garden” that I made the other day. I gathered a little pile of clippings from my backyard garden to decorate it, which included crown daisies, violas, bachelors buttons, parsley, mint, sorrel, and anise hyssop.

Here is the recipe I used for the focaccia, but for this version I did the following modifications:

  • After the dough’s first proof, pour some olive oil onto a baking sheet. Shape the dough into an oval on the sheet, cover it with a damp kitchen towel, and let it proof for 20 minutes more.

  • After poking holes in the dough and drizzling with olive oil, decorate the dough with the edible flowers and herbs before sprinkling coarse kosher salt over the surface instead of everything seasoning.

Here’s what it looked like before baking:

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