Japanese Cucumber

Too vinegary on toast for me, but good with pasta.

Ingredients:

• 1 cucumber
• vinegar
• soy sauce
• 1 TBSP sesame oil
• 1 TBSP sesame seeds
• 3 slices of ginger
• 3 cloves of garlic, smashed once with a knife (unnecessary to cut into pieces)
• pasta, noodles, toast, rice

Directions:

1) Cut the cucumber into chunks.
2) Place into a container you can keep it in overnight or for a few days.
3) Add 2 parts soy sauce for every 3 parts vinegar (I estimated with my eyes).
4) Add the sesame oil, sesame seeds, ginger and garlic.
5) Serve with pasta, noodles, toast or rice.

Cold Sesame Noodles

These are the simplest and best noodles I've made so far! Why did I not make them before?? You need to have the stocked Asian kitchen though...Recipe taken from here.

Ingredients:

• 10 oz noodles
• 2 TBSP rice vinegar
• 2 TBSP sesame oil
• 1 TBSP soy sauce
• 2 tsp sesame seeds
• 1 tsp grated ginger
• 1/2 tsp salt
• handful of green onions
• 1 tsp crushed red pepper

Directions:

1) Cook the noodles.
2) Let cool.
3) Mix the rice vinegar, sesame oil, soy sauce, sesame seeds, ginger, salt, green onions and red pepper together.







4) Combine the noodles and sauce.
5) Serve with sesame seeds, spring onions and crushed red pepper on top.

Noodles with Tofu and Greens

Recipe taken from here.

Ingredients:

• 8 oz noodles
• 1 block tofu, cut into slices
• salt and pepper
• 4 TBSP peanut oil OR 3 TBSP sesame oil mixed with 1 TBSP vegetable oil
• 1 bag of greens (cabbage, spinach, mixture...) (I used spinach)
• bunch of green onions
• 1 TBSP red pepper flakes
• 3 TBSP soy sauce
• pinch of sugar

Directions:

1) Cook the pasta and reserve 1/3 of the water.
2) Pat the tofu dry and season the tofu with salt and pepper.







3) Heat 2 TBSP of the oil in a pan.
4) Cook the tofu for about 3 minutes on each side, until starting to brown.
5) Heat 1 TBSP of the oil.






6) Add the greens and let cook for 2-3 minutes.








7) Add the scallions, red pepper flakes, soy sauce, sugar and reserved water and let simmer for a few minutes.
8) Mix with the pasta and serve with the tofu on top.

Leftover veggie fried rice

Have vegetables left over from making the stock here? You should, unless you used veggies that were going to go bad in a day anyway. Make more fried rice!

Ingredients:

• vegetable oil
• 2 cloves chopped garlic
• 1 tsp chopped ginger
• 1 cup cooked vegetables, leftover from stock (carrots, mushrooms, onion, leeks, tomatoes)
• 2 cups of cooked rice
• 2 TBSP soy sauce
• 1 TBSP sesame oil
• salt and pepper

Directions:
1) Heat the oil in a pan.
2) Add the garlic and ginger for 2 minutes or so.
3) Add the vegetables and cook until heated through, about 5 minutes.
4) Add the rice, soy sauce and sesame oil and cook until heated through, about 5 minutes.
5) Add salt and pepper if necessary.

See photos of the fried rice if you need to!

Ramen Noodle Soup

I followed this recipe for the soup, and made a few changes due to liking green onions more than ginger. I thought it would be a bit difficult to find vegetable stock in Korea, so I made some following this recipe, loosely. It seems like you can throw any vegetables into water to make broth.

Ingredients:

• Stock
• water to cover
• vegetables
• carrot
• mushroom
• onion
• leeks
• pepper
• Noodle Soup
• stock
• 2 TBSP soy sauce
• 1 TBSP sesame oil
• 2 TBSP fresh ginger
• 4 green onions
• 3 TBSP vegetable oil
• 1 block of tofu
• 1 package of Ramen noodles
• 2 cups of spinach

Directions:

1) Chop the vegetables for the stock and place them in a pot.
2) Cover with water.
3) Bring to a boil.






4) Add the pepper and stir. Cook for 1 hour.
5) Strain the vegetables out and put the liquid back into the pot.







6) Add the soy sauce, sesame oil, ginger, and green onions and bring back to a boil.
7) While it is boiling, heat the oil in a pan.







8) Add the tofu and cook for about 4-5 minutes on each side, until it is brown.







9) Add the Ramen to the stock and cook for 8-10 minutes, until cooked through.








10) Add the spinach and cook for 2-3 minutes until wilted.









11) Add the tofu and cook for 2-3 minutes until heated.

Spicy Noodle Salad

 Recipe taken from here.

Ingredients:

• Noodles
• 2 TBSP sesame oil
• juice of 1 lemon
• 1 TBSP soy sauce
• 1 TBSP honey
• 1 TBSP red pepper paste
• 1/4 cabbage, sliced thin
• 1/2 red bell pepper, sliced thin
• 1 carrot, sliced thin
• 1 cucumber, sliced thin

Directions:

1) Cook the noodles and run under cold water until they are completly cool.
2) Mix in the sesame oil.







3) Mix the lemon juice, soy sauce, honey and red pepper paste well (honey and red pepper paste are thick). Add a bit of salt and pepper to taste.
4) Mix the sauce into the noodles.






5) Add the vegetables and mix again.

Cucumber Salad (with Sweet Chili Vinaigrette)

Recipe taken from here.

Ingredients:

• 2 TBSP rice vinegar
• 2 TBSP sweet chili sauce
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1/4 tsp sugar
• 1 clove of garlic, chopped
• dash of salt
• 1 cucumber, sliced thin
• 1/2 of an onion, sliced thin

Directions:

1) Combine the rice vinegar, sweet chili sauce, sesame oil, sugar, garlic and salt and mix.








2) Add the cucumber and onion and mix.
3)  Place in the fridge for at least 1 hour, covered.
4) Serve cold.

Vegetable Fried Rice

I finally got more Asian ingredients (sesame oil, olive oil, sugar, etc) so I'll be posting more interesting foods.

Recipe taken from here.

Ingredients:

• 2 TBSP vegetable oil
• 1/2 a block of tofu
• 1/2 tsp grated ginger
• 1 tsp finely minced garlic
• 1 cup of vegetables
• 4 cups cooked rice, cold
• 2 TBSP soy sauce
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• salt and pepper

 Directions:

1) Heat half the oil in a pan.
2) Chop the tofu and place it in a pan for 3-5 minutes and then flip.
3) Remove the tofu.
4) Heat the rest of the oil.
5) Add the ginger and garlic and saute for 15 seconds.




 6) Add the vegetables in order of what takes longest to cook and cook until they are almost done. For me this was peppers and mushrooms, then onion, then tomato and lettuce, then chives.






7) Add the rice, soy sauce, sesame oil and salt and pepper and cook until the rice is heated through.