Thing to do with Leftover Turkey: Kimchi-Jjigae (Korean Kimchi Stew)

It may not look pretty, but the stuff in this bowl tastes like a punch in the face from God.

 

It’s not even Thanksgiving yet, and I’m already on the leftovers.  I’m particularly pleased with this concoction, which is a by-no-means-authentic version of Korean kimchi stew.  Kimchi is a kind of spicy pickled, slightly fermented vegetable (cabbage is the most popular) that is basically a Korean superfood.  It’s low fat, low calorie, full of antioxidants and will basically do everything healthy for your body bar hauling your lazy ass down to the gym for you.  It is also incredibly delicious, and partially responsible for Korean becoming my second-favorite Asian cuisine (Vietnamese is the tops).  I’ve been wanting to try making my own kimchi for a while, but it takes about a week to ferment, and by the time you’ve bought all the ingredients, you might as well just buy a packet of the ready-made stuff.

So, last week after a dinner at Woo Jung, I popped into the Centre Point Food Store – which looks like a bog-standard corner shop, but is actually an emporium of Korean foodie delights – and scored myself some kimchi and gochujang (Korean chili paste).  Gochujang is amazing stuff and I highly recommend getting a tub of it to keep around.  It makes pretty much everything taste amazing – barbecued chicken, squid, pork… I’m starting to use it on a freakishly frequent basis, kind of like those ketchup obsessives who slather it on pizza.

Anyway.  The stew, which is actually more like a soup.  Here’s the Asian ingredients you need:

L-R: Gochujang, Kimchi, sesame oil, sweet mirin, soy sauce (Please disregard the agave syrup. Camera hog.)

Obviously you can get soy sauce and sesame oil in most supermarkets, but lose your fear of the Asian supermarket because it’ll be much cheaper in there. That bottle of soy sauce is about a litre and still costs less than a bottle of the supermarket stuff one third its size.  It also tastes much better than Amoy, Sharwood’s and all the usual supermarket brands (mine is called “Healthy Boy” – I chose it mainly because it was the cheapest and the name made me giggle.)  You’ll definitely need to get the chili paste and kimchi in an Asian supermarket anyway.

Korean Kimchi Stew with Leftover Turkey

• 1 tbsp Gochujang (or less if you are wimpy with chili)
• 1.5-2 cups kimchi
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 1 tbsp sweet mirin or 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• leftover turkey or meat / shellfish / tofu of your choice
• 6 mushrooms, sliced
• 3/4 pint chicken stock
• 2 spring onions, sliced (for garnish)

Drain the the kimchi.  You can cut it up into smaller pieces if you like.  I like big pieces, so I left it as is.  Bring the stock to a boil.  Toss in kimchi, chili paste, soy sauce, mirin, and mushrooms.  Simmer for 5 mins.  Chuck in the leftover turkey and simmer till heated through.  Stir in sesame oil.  Spoon into bowls, sprinkle with spring onions, and devour.

You can bulk it up with cooked noodles if you like.  I was too impatient.

Verdict: AMAZING.

Vegetables I Used To Hate: Fennel (Finicchio)

I couldn’t stand asparagus as a kid – possibly due to the fact that, in my mother’s kitchen, it mostly came out of cans (newsflash to all the trendy revivalists – the 80s SUCKED) – and now I’m pretty much obsessed with it.  Mushrooms, courgettes (actually, “zucchini” where I’m from), aubergines (eggplant to us Yanks), artichokes – I used to hate them all.

Fennel, or finnichio in my Italian-American family, is another one that I roundly dismissed for about 25-odd years.  My mom hates the stuff, so I never had that much exposure to it.  I’ve also heard that in Italy, “finnichio” is also used as a derogatory term for homosexuals, but I’m not sure how reliable my source is, and I doubt that would be why my mother never cooks it.

One of my favorite recipes is the Fennel, Tomato and White Bean soup from James Peterson’s Splendid Soups book, a hefty volume with over 300 recipes for every kind of soup imaginable, and a billion different ways to make stock.  I first made this for a vegetarian friend, who later told me she’d never liked fennel till she’d tried this soup, so I think this might be the one to convert my mom.  It’s one of those recipes that’s very healthy without being preachy about it – there’s hardly any fat at all, aside from my own addition of the cheese.