Dubu with Scallops

My love affair with Korean food started when my sister moved to Toronto. She took me to Korean BBQ and I was in love. The sweet and savory melt-in-your-mouth meat...When I learned that Montreal had opened a Korean restaurant, I tried it with a friend and discovered Bi Bim Kook Soo...it was so good. In the last couple of years, Korean cuisine has been popping up everywhere in Montreal.

I discovered Maangchi's food blog when i googled for the potato banchan. I can't say I've tried a whole lot of recipes from her blog, but a lot of them look delicious.

I was originally going to make Tofu Scallops that Kevin likes so much, but i find the recipe to be just OK. I remembered I had saved one of maangchi's recipes in my favorites. Dubu (dooboo) is a popular Korean dish of sliced and/or pan fried tofu served with kimchi or sliced pork. I decided to use the scallops I bought.

1 package of tofu, sliced into rectangles
Vegetable oil for pan frying

1 clove of garlic, minced
1 green onion, chopped
1 tsp garlic chili sauce (more if needed) can be subbed with pepper flakes
1 tbsp honey
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp sesame oil

1. Slice the tofu into bite size pieces (¼ inch thick rectangles). Blot each piece with a paper towel.
2. Heat a pan with vegetable oil. Add the tofu. Cook over medium heat for about 5-7 minutes or until tofu is golden. Flip the tofu and brown the other side.
3. Transfer the cooked tofu to a serving plate.
4. Make your sauce in a small bowl by mixing the rest of the ingredients.
5. If using scallops, stir-fry scallops with salt and pepper until opaque. Do not overcook.
6. Spoon the sauce evenly over the tofu, and sprinkle some roasted sesame seeds just before serving. Serve with rice.

This was a very simple dish. The tofu frying on the stove smells a little weird, but the dish is very good. Kevin said the sauce was strong, but gobbled up everything anyway. I had no idea the dish was so quick to make. I had dinner on the table in 25 min. We did not have leftovers.

Giant Scallop Pasta with White wine sauce

Recently, Kevin signed up for a costco membership. I love costco...I think it might be because of the free tastings. Most of the time, we don't end up buying a lot. We never really end up buying too much since we're just two people.

While walking through the frozen aisles, we discovered a bag of frozen "dry" giant scallops. Dry scallops mean they haven't been soaked in sodium tripolyphosphate (STP) to prolong their life. When soaked in STP, it causes the scallops to absorb water and get heavier. It means you are partly paying for water. However, does this still apply to frozen scallops?

So anyway, we bought a bag of these giant scallops. I originally wanted to bake them in a buttery white wine sauce with bread crumbs to soak up the sauce, but got too lazy to think of a side dish to go with it. So I made pasta with it.

1/2 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup white wine
1/2 lemon, juiced
1 tablespoon minced shallot
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup butter
1 pound sea scallops
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup Heavy cream (optional) or milk
Spinach
Spaghetti pasta

1. Cook your choice of pasta al dente.
2. In a skillet over medium heat, mix the chicken broth, wine, lemon juice, shallot, butter, and garlic.
3. When the sauce is gently boiling, put scallops into the sauce to cook. About 1-2 minutes each side (depending on how cooked you like them). Usually I like them just opaque. Remove them when cooked to your preferred doneness.
4. Add heavy cream (if using) into the sauce and boil until slightly reduced.
5. Optional step (if using heavy cream): you can use cornstarch mixed with a little bit of water to thicken the sauce quickly.
6. Add spinach. Toss pasta in the sauce. Add peppers and salt to taste.
7. Enjoy pasta with scallop on top.

I tried a variation of this recipe. I made this recipe twice. The first time is as written, the second time I tried a "healthier" version. I substituted the heavy cream with milk, and used margarine instead of butter. I preferred using butter over margarine. But liked using milk instead of heavy cream. I'm usually not a big fan of tossed pastas. I like having sauce, but this was good. It would be even better if I had bread to sop up some of the sauce. This was a heavy but satisfying meal.

Tofu Scallop

My mom is a great cook. If you haven't tried her dumplings, you're really missing out. Before she met my dad, she took cooking classes with this great chef. She had recipe books in Hong Kong. The chef liked my mom so much that she gave her an opportunity to travel with her as an assistant or "sous chef" around the world. My mom declined the offer. She was still finishing school.


My mom doesn't follow recipes. I guess she has a trained tongue, so she can just put a dash of this and a dash of that. Being a late bloomer in the kitchen, I am only learning now. Most of the time I just call up my mom and ask for her advice. Although a great cook, she always cooks with the same ingredients. So when Kev asked if I knew how to make my mom's tofu scallop dish, I couldn't exactly say no. I'll admit, I didn't quite know how to, but I had an idea. This is my second time cooking with Tofu. The first time I stir-fried it with bean sprouts and I ended up with bean sprouts and tofu brain. With this recipe, I do not have measurement. I cooked with "my tongue", tasting it as I went along.

• Tofu, any texture. I used semi-firm.
• Fresh or frozen scallops
• Vegetables, I used red peppers, in strips
• green onions/shallots, chopped
• garlic, minced
• Olive Oil
• Soy sauce, I used Lee Kum Kee Seasoned Soy Sauce for Seafood (available at Asian Markets)
• Sugar
• Sesame Oil
• garlic salt
• black pepper
• Ginger powder
• corn starch
  

1. Boil Tofu in water, use a sieve to scoop the tofu out of the water and put aside on the serving dish.
2. On medium-high, heat olive oil and add minced garlic. Cook until fragrant.
3. Cook Scallops with the juices (if Fresh scallops, just add a bit of water). Add green onions/shallots. Add vegetables. Cook a few minutes, scallops don't take long to cook.
4. Add the rest of the ingredients...Soy sauces vary in saltiness, add sugar if it's too salty. Use a dash of everything else. Taste often and you can adjust to the taste you like.
5. Scoop out the food on top of the tofu, leaving the sauce in the skillet. Add about 2 Tbsp of water to 1 tsp of corn starch to thicken the sauce. You can use other thickeners. Pour sauce on top of everything.
6. Serve over steamed rice.

I know this isn't exactly easy to make without measurements, but it was hard to keep track of how much I was putting into it. Kev put his stamp of approval on this first-time dish. It's not quite like Mama, but I'm glad Kev liked it. He kept going back for more.

I apologize for the pic, I couldn't get a pic of the dish right after cooking. We were so hungry that we just dug in. This picture is actually what was leftover for my lunch. Hehe

Seafood Papillote

When Kevin and I first started dating, we'd always look-up recipes online to try. Kevin's a major carnivore. I love my meats too, but after living with Rachelle for nearly two years, I didn't need to have meat all the time. Sometimes I enjoy a full vegetarian meal, or even a seafood meal. I can't remember who found the seafood papillote recipe, but I probably said I wanted seafood for dinner instead of beef/pork/chicken...

• Shrimp
• scallops
• Green onions chopped
• PC Spicy Herb & Pepper Olive Oil
• salt
• fresh ground pepper
• lemon juice
  

1. Preheat oven 400 F (200 C)


2. Cut four 12-inch (30 cm) lengths heavy-duty foil and place on work surface. Divive shrimps, scallops, and green onions evenly among pieces of foil. Drizzle each with the flavored Olive Oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Fold two opposite sides of foil up to meet on top of the seafood mixture; fold edges together securely. Frold remaining two short ends of packets up to close package securely. Place package on rimmed baking sheet.


3. Bake in center og oven for 15 minutes. Open packet carefully. Transfer contents of each packet, including juices, to a dinner plate and squeeze lemon juice over each serving.


4. Serve on top of steamed white rice.
   

We buy a pack of frozen mixed scallops and shrimps for about $6.99 at loblaws. It's enough to serve two. I think the spicy oil gives it a kick and the lemon juice is great. We don't make this very often, but it's a fast way to have dinner on the table.