DDD #58 – Vegan Spicy Korean BBQ Pork Bulgogi

All Photos © Christine Elise McCarthy 2017

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To see images of my past posts & get links to the recipes – look on my Pinterest board – HERE.

This is an easy dish that goes well over rice or served in lettuce cups.

Click the image below to watch the video.

Vegan Spicy Korean BBQ Pork Bulgogi 

Serves 4 with rice

INGREDIENTS

1 to 1 1/2 lbs vegan faux pork (I used Morning Star Steak Strips & a vegan pork belly)

1 small onion – sliced

1 small apple – peeled

2 TBS jarred minced garlic or 6-8 cloves minced

2 TBS chopped ginger

1 TBS crushed red pepper

2 TBS Gochujang (buy some here – http://amzn.to/2zdE4e8)

1 tsp black pepper

3 TBS brown sugar

1 TBS soy sauce (or tamari or liquid aminos) (buy some here – http://amzn.to/2gY3S3z)

1/2 tsp sesame oil

3 TBS rice wine or mirin (buy some here – http://amzn.to/2yr3NQX)

1/2 to 1 cup slivered carrots (optional)

GARNISH – fresh mint, sliced scallions, cilantro, sesame seeds, and serve with cooked rice or in lettuce cups)

DIRECTIONS

In a blender or food processor, blend 3/4 of the onion (reserve 1/4), the apple, garlic, ginger, crushed red pepper, Gochujang, pepper, 2 TBS sugar (reserving 1 TBS), soy sauce & sesame oil.

Heat this sauce in a large frying pan or a wok.  Add the faux meat.  Cook until the sauce reduces & begins to cling to the faux pork.  Add the remaining 1/4 onion, carrots (if using), remaining TBS brown sugar & a splash of water.  When the onions & carrots are soft, serve over rice or in lettuce cups.  Garnish with either cilantro, mint sprigs, some sesame seeds or scallion slices.

Buy Magic Bullet here – http://amzn.to/2z9pAKa

Buy Gochujang here – http://amzn.to/2zdE4e8

Buy Rice Wine here – http://amzn.to/2yr3NQX

Buy the Greenlife Tiffany blue wok here – http://amzn.to/2zgi8Px

Buy the Greenlife set of pots & pans – http://amzn.to/2xRKoEs

My favorite garlic press – http://amzn.to/2ze5qRk

My silicone spatulas – http://amzn.to/2zfumbe

My favorite bread machine – http://amzn.to/2xPMNzr

Best All-Clad pans ever – http://amzn.to/2Aas6A1

DDD #56 – 5-Minute Vegan Sticky & Spicy Indian Masala Chicken Fingers

All Photos © Christine Elise McCarthy 2017

Follow @celisemccarthy

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To see images of my past posts & get links to the recipes – look on my Pinterest board – HERE.

Click the image above to watch the video.

Today is Official Chucky the Killer Doll Day!  So – be sure to watch the UNRATED dvd version for a post credits surprise!

1989 – above.  2017 – below.

Kyle fan art by @LuxBlackArts

Isn’t that cool?  Anyway –

These take 5 minutes & are completely irresistible!  I ate the entire 9 oz of chicken in one sitting.  I recommend using Beyond Meat chicken because it really is the best on the market.  Click the link to  use their store locator.  In the pictures – I cooked these in a regular non-stick pan but I did, ultimately, transfer them to a grill pan – just for the aesthetic of the grill marks.  If you have a grill pan – use it – otherwise any pan will do.

5-Minute Vegan Sticky & Spicy Indian Masala Chicken Fingers

Serves 1-2 as an appetizer (though this would go great with rice, too)

INGREDIENTS

9 oz vegan chicken

2 TBS garam masala

1 tsp smoked paprika

1 tsp salt

1/3 cup chili sauce (the sweet Thai kind)

2 tsp soy sauce

2 TBS sriracha

1 TBS ketchup

juice of 1/2 lime

Agave nectar

Olive oil or cooking spray

GARNISH – sliced scallions, sesame seeds

DIRECTIONS

Whisk all the ingredients except the chicken, agave & garnish.  Set the sauce aside.

If you have a grill pan (or other pan) – treat it with cooking spray or olive oil.  Put the chicken in the pan on high heat.  Add the sauce & cook, turning the strips frequently, until the sauce thickens & begins to blacken in spots – likely only a few minutes.  Just before they are done – drizzle with a little agave nectar for moisture.

Serve with choice of garnish.

Spicy Chipotle Cream Pasta with English Peas & Tortilla Strips

All Photos © Christine Elise McCarthy 2013

Follow @celisemccarthy

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To see images of my past posts & get links to the recipes – look on my Pinterest board – HERE.

~~~

I have had a rough week.  Had to go to one of the most dreaded places on Earth.  Worse the the gynecologist.  Worse than the incredibly awful, boob-squishing mammographer’s office.   Almost as bad as the dentist’s office.  I had to go here:

Time to renew my driver’s license.  Despite being freshly showered & having an appointment, the staff here treated me with suspicion & hostility & looked at me like I had a load in my pants.  They spat questions at me & demanded I stand squarely behind this counter or that, cover this eye or that while reading this string of letters or that.  It was like a fucking field sobriety test and every answer or action on my part seemed to beg imprisonment or the opening of some trap door through which I could be permanently disappeared.   I am not sure why the people at the DMV are such douche bags but I am sure that they are.  More mysterious to me is how they actually PULL OFF being so intimidating.  They have no Goddamn power.  They are not cops.  Why did I panic with every irritated question they asked & quiver under the scrutiny of their surly focus?   It’s ridiculous.  Anyway – I had to run nearly their full gauntlet:  the eye exam, the written test & get a new photo.  I managed to avoid the cavity search but I have no idea how.

From there, I had to go to that other glorious bastion of government animosity – the post office – where, again, I was treated like an illegal trying to hustle female minors over a border for enslavement in the sex trade.  All I wanted to do was mail a package to Canada with a tracking number & insurance.  It took FOUR different clerks & thirty minutes before they stopped shoving my package back at me, telling my request was impossible & screaming, “NEXT in line!” over my shoulder.

They said:

You cannot track international packages.  (You can)

You cannot insure documents. (You can if they are negatives.)

You cannot insure international packages.  (You can.)

You cannot use a Priority envelope.  (You can.)

You have the wrong customs form.  (I didn’t)

Speak to that manager out there on the floor. (Who stared back at me blankly and gave me a different form.)

This form is the wrong one.  (It was – but the manager had just given it to me.)

Stand aside & fill this one out.  NEXT person in line please!

Meanwhile, the 32 minutes I had on my meter outside ticked away as the meter maid sat in her car ten feet away.  Parked in the red.

There was more – but you get the picture.  In the end – they did everything I asked but it was like some Kafka-esque nightmare of willfully ignorant bureaucracy & I was seconds from screaming, “No wonder people want to kill you fucktards!”  But, I didn’t.  I just wanted to mail a fucking valuable item to Canada.  Is that the most exotic request the Wilcox post office (the largest one in Hollywood) had ever encountered?

Anyway – with that task completed & seriously disgruntled, I headed home & tried to think of something to cook that could be made without having to venture forth and deal with anyone else in the disservice industry.  I decided to make this dish & as I went to remove my first effort at baked tortilla strips (which I baked to blackness) – I burned my arm.

I have a much grosser image of this sizable burn but this is a food porn blog & I don’t want to put anyone off their dinner.

Ok – despite the unfortunate burn – this is a really easy dish to put together.  You can use any basic pasta sauce – with or without cream.  I used a little 6 oz container of my homemade vodka sauce that I had in my freezer – so this is a recipe to feed two.  You could use a homemade or jarred vodka sauce or other pink sauce or even a marinara.  I used 4 chipotle peppers in adobo -and found that to be a tad ambitious on the spice side.  I think, in the future, I’ll cut that in half with a quantity of sauce as small as I worked with last night.  I added peas because I had them & they looked pretty.  I added the tortilla strips for the Hell of it.  Either of these two ingredients could easily be omitted with no great loss to the overall impact of the flavor of this dish.  Really – all this is is a sauce with some chopped chipotle pepper in it.  You can’t mess that up.  And it is really delicious!

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Spicy Chipotle Cream Pasta with English Peas & Tortilla Strips

INGREDIENTS

1/2 lb dry pasta

6 oz vodka sauce (or other pasta sauce)

2 chipotle peppers in adobo – chopped finely

1 tomato – diced

Parsley or cilantro – chopped for garnish

2 corn tortillas (optional)

1 cup peas (optional)

Pico de gallo – as garnish (optional)

DIRECTIONS

Heat the oven to 400.

Slice the tortillas into 1/4 inch strips.  Spray with cooking oil & bake for 5 minutes or so – until crispy.  Remove from heat & set aside.

I used fresh peas so I wrapped them in a wet paper towel & zapped them in the microwave for a minute.  This isn’t necessary with frozen or canned peas.

Warm your sauce, add the chipotle & peas, stir & heat it all through.

Cook the pasta as per box instructions.

Drain.  Toss with sauce.  Top with tortilla strips, diced tomato & cilantro or parsley.

Voila!

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