Soy Ginger Braised Short Rib

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This is one of the most time consuming recipes here, but I promise it’s worth it!

What you’ll get in the end of the 3 hours is juicy, fall off the bone short ribs.

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Ingredients:

• 3 lbs Flanken style short ribs (Korean BBQ style)

• 1 tbsp OIl

• 1 1/2 inch Ginger, thinly sliced

• 4 Garlic cloves, crushed

• 1/2 lbs of shiitake mushrooms, stems chopped and cap sliced

• 6 Scallions, whites chopped, green parts thinly sliced

• 1/2 cup Soy sauce

• 1/2 cup Sake (if you don’t have this, Chinese Rice Wine should be ok too)

• 1/4 cup Brown Sugar

• 2 cups Chicken or Beef Broth (if you don’t have this, water would be fine)

Optional:

• Cinnamon

• White Pepper Powder

• 1-2 Onions, sliced

Required Equipment:

• Dutch Oven or large pot that’s oven safe

What’s Next:

1. You can step 2 to 7 up to 2 days ahead of time. For best results, start at least 4 hours before you’d like to serve.

2. Put a rack in the lower part of the oven, preheat to 325 degrees

3. Heat up the dutch oven with low heat, add 1 tbsp of oil

4. Season the short ribs with salt and pepper, sear both sides in the dutch oven until brown. You’ll likely have to do 1/3 or 1/2 of the short ribs at a time, work in separate batches. Transfer the ribs to a plate. Drain all but 1 tbsp of drippings from pot

5. Add shiitake stems, white parts of scallions, garlic, ginger into the pot. Cook and stir occasionally until fragrant.

6. Add broth / water, soy sauce, sake / rice wine and brown sugar (and cinnamon if you’re adding) into the pot. Bring to a simmer

7. Return the ribs back to the pot, in as few layer as possible. Try to make sure all ribs are submerged in liquid. Cover the pot with lid and braise in oven for 2 hours. Check occasionally to make sure the ribs stay submerged and not too much liquid has evaporated

8. Let the pot cool slightly for 20 minutes. Pour the liquids from the pot into a small bowl. Short cut here is to wait until the bowl has cooled down significantly, then put into fridge until all the fat has solidified. Remove the fat then pour the broth back to the pot. Cover, chill and let rest for at least 3 hours

9. 20 minutes before you’re ready to serve. Return the pot back to the stove, reheat under low-medium heat. Add rest of the mushrooms and onions into the pot, if there’s not enough liquid to submerge, add some additional broth/water and let simmer for 20 minutes. Serve when the ribs have been fully reheated and onions and mushrooms are cooked through!

Sambal Coconut Charred Chicken

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The marinade for the chicken is extremely easy, 0 chance for failure. If you like the southeast asian sweet and spicy flavor, this will be your favourite chicken recipe.

The reason why I wrote “charred” is because you can either grill or broil these chicken!

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Ingredients:

• 3 inch piece of Ginger, grated

• 6 Garlic cloves, minced

• 1/2 cup of Coconut milk

• 1/4 cup of Sambal Oelek

• 1/4 cup of Lime juice

• 2 tbsp of Brown sugar (or coconut palm sugar - I think this gives a lot more complexity to sweetness)

• 2 tsp of salt

• 2 lbs of Boneless chicken thigh

Optional:

• Cilantro, garnish

• Lime wedges, garnish

What’s Next:

1. Mix ginger, garlic, coconut milk, Sambal Oelek, lime juice, salt and sugar together in a small bowl, until sugar dissolves

2. Line chicken in a shallow dish, pour the marinade over and massage lightly

3. Let sit for 2-4 hours

4. If you’re broiler, line a broiler-friendly pan with foil, place the chicken in single layer. Turn on broiler, broil for 20-30 minutes or until the chicken is charred

5. If you’re grilling, then go right ahead! Should take about 10 minutes, until you see grill marks

6. If you like this dish saucier, pour the remainder of the marinade into a small sauce pan and boil until it thickens to coat the back of a spoon. Or make extra marinade and proceed with this step!

Braised Gochujang Chicken

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Who doesn’t like tender, fall of the bone chicken? I find myself gravitate towards this recipe because of the depth of flavor, no-frills preparation and most importantly super pantry friendly. Almost all the ingredients on the list are shelf-stable or are perishables with long-ish shelf life.

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Ingredients:

• 2lbs Chicken thighs or legs

• 4 tbps of Butter

• 2 tbps of Vegetable Oil

• 1-2 Onions, chopped in strips

• 1 1/2 inch Ginger, grated

• 8 cloves of Garlic, finely chopped

• 1/4 cup of Gochujang

• 1/4 cup of Soy Sauce

• 2 tbps of Sugar

• 1 tbps of Mirin

• 1 tbps of Sesame Oil

• Black Pepper

• 2-3 cups of Chicken Broth (I’ve also made this with just water, so don’t sweat it)

Optional:

• 4 Scallions, white and pale green parts only, chopped in 1 inch pieces

What’s Next:

1. Mix ginger, garlic, gochujang, soy sauce, sugar, mirin, sesame oil and black pepper in a small bowl. Set aside

2. Heat up butter and oil in a dutch oven or high walled pot, medium heat. Meanwhile season chicken with salt.

3. Once butter starts to foam, lay the chicken carefully down (it may splash!) into the pot. Turn occasionally and sear until lightly brown, about 5-10 minutes.

4. Add onions and let soften until translucent, about 10 minutes

5. Add the reserved sauce and coat evenly onto chicken and onions. Bring to simmer

6. Add chicken broth or water into the pot. Just enough that the chicken and and onion are submerged

7. Partially cover the lid and turn the heat down to low. Simmer for 40-50 minutes

8. Add scallions now if you like, cook for 2-3 more minutes. Season with salt & pepper. Enjoy!