I used dried shiitake mushrooms and re-hydrated them, saving the mushroom broth to use when cooking the japchae instead of water. I would much rather use dried shiitakes and re-hydrate them instead of using fresh shiitakes because there is a depth of flavor from the drying process that concentrates the mushroom flavor to a whole different level of umami. Like a dry-aged steak, the flavors of the aged beef are more pronounced and richer when dried than a fresh cut. Also, the mushroom broth that comes out of rehydrating is great for cooking and replacing vegetable stock in recipes. 

When I boil the noodles, I also cook the veggies at the same time, starting with the carrots. Then the garlic and mushrooms go in, and lastly the spinach. From there, the noodles are tossed in and the sauce joins the party! 

With a sprinkling of sesame seeds and fresh chopped scallions, the dish is complete and ready to eat. Enjoy as a meal by itself, or cook it as a side dish to eat with Korean bbq at home--grill up some meat, serve with fresh lettuce leaves, kimchi, potato salad..the list goes on. I am seriously missing Kbbq right now. 😞 

INGREDIENTS:

• 5 shiitake mushrooms
• 1/4 large carrot
• 1/2 medium onion
• 2 cups spinach leaves
• 1 bundle japchae sweet potato vermicelli noodles (daengmyeon)
• 1 cup shiitake mushroom broth
• 2 tsp olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tbsp dark soy sauce
• 3 tbsp lite soy sauce
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 1/2 tbsp sesame oil
• sesame seeds (garnish, optional)

Protein (optional)

• 3 boneless, skinless chicken thigh or 1/4 lb flank steak, sliced

We hope you enjoy this Korean staple dish as much as we do!

When I was a young lad in school, my mom would make this oxtail soup to pack for my lunch in a thermos mixed with rice. I was probably the only kid with a hot, homemade lunch, while most other kids ate sandwiches with PB&J. I was a lucky kid (despite most kids at school making fun of me for those lunches).

Whenever I think about this oxtail soup, I can only think of how yummy it is and that the only person who makes it just right is mom. (Jenny knows this too 😉) When we were young, we weren't rich and tried to save money where we could. Usually we didn't turn on the AC and depended on fans to stay cool. The soup itself takes several hours to make, and the boiling water would make the kitchen hot and humid, which was worse during the summer months—but mom would cook it for us anyway, simply because she knew we liked it a lot. There was a lot of love that went into this soup, and every time she makes it for us is a reminder of her love and care for us. When Jenny first had this soup, she said that it was "The perfect warm bowl of soup after a long, stressful day." 

This soup is stew like in that the ingredients are typical of what you might find in a stew. Carrots, onions, potatoes, tomatoes + beef (oxtail). The carrots and potatoes and beef give the soup a heartiness that warms and fills you up. Because we cook the soup for a long time, the oxtail is fall off the bone tender, soft and delicious. The onions provide depth and sweetness, while the tomatoes give a slight tang to the soup. Mom also puts in some chen pei 陳皮, or dried tangerine peel, which is popularly used as a seasoning in Chinese cooking, which adds an extra flavor to the soup that makes it really great. I can't pinpoint what it is, but without, the soup feels like it's missing something. Just that little something something.
​
For a long time, we never knew how to make this soup, but for the sake of the WAI SIK blog, we got my Mom to show us! See recipe below. In terms of amounts, there's really no set amount of each ingredient that you have to have. It's based on personal preference. If you want more oxtail, add more oxtail. If you want more potatoes, go ahead. 

This soup is stew like in that the ingredients are typical of what you might find in a stew. Carrots, onions, potatoes, tomatoes + beef (oxtail). The carrots and potatoes and beef give the soup a heartiness that warms and fills you up. Because we cook the soup for a long time, the oxtail is fall off the bone tender, soft and delicious. The onions provide depth and sweetness, while the tomatoes give a slight tang to the soup. Mom also puts in some chen pei 陳皮, or dried tangerine peel, which is popularly used as a seasoning in Chinese cooking, which adds an extra flavor to the soup that makes it really great. I can't pinpoint what it is, but without, the soup feels like it's missing something. Just that little something something.
​
For a long time, we never knew how to make this soup, but for the sake of the WAI SIK blog, we got my Mom to show us! See recipe below. In terms of amounts, there's really no set amount of each ingredient that you have to have. It's based on personal preference. If you want more oxtail, add more oxtail. If you want more potatoes, go ahead. 

INGREDIENTS:
• 2 packages oxtail
• 2 Carrots (chopped)
• 2 Onions (chopped)
• 3 Potatoes (chopped)
• 2 Tomatoes (chopped)
• 1 piece Dried Tangerine Peel 陳皮, chopped
• Salt
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DIRECTIONS:
1. Prepare the oxtail by trimming off any excess fat. Bring a large stock pot to boil and boil the oxtail to remove fat and bloody flavor. You'll know it's ready when the oxtail is no longer raw and the blood has boiled off the oxtail. Throughout this stage of boiling the oxtail, you'll want to be skimming the broth of any brown froth that bubbles up. Once all the blood is gone, you can drain and rinse the oxtail, scrub off any excess blood/residue off the bone.

2. Boil the tomato until the skin comes off easily with a knife. Remove the skin and chop up the tomato and set aside.

3. Now, you're ready to begin cooking the soup. In large pot, boil the cleaned oxtail for 1/2 hour.

4. After 30 minutes, add cut carrots.and boil for 15 minutes.

5. Add onion and boil 15 minutes, then add potato. Boil another 15 minutes, add tomato. 

6. Bring to high boil, then reduce heat to medium boil for 1 hour.

7. Season with salt to taste and serve as is, or with bread or rice.

Skim off any excess oil on the top, or refrigerate overnight and skim off the fat the next morning. It tastes light and warm! This soup has been in our family since I was a kid, and the work that goes into it is the epitome of love. We hope you enjoy it as much as I have growing up!

Growing up, my grandmother loved to cook fish, normally steamed as she enjoyed simple, healthy foods. Her dishes were never complicated, and her style of cooking often simply let the main ingredients shine without a fuss. Whether it was dried salted fish or fresh fish from the market, she would skillfully prepare it and steam the whole fish to perfection, topping it with ginger, scallions and my favorite seafood soy sauce.

​Now when I eat Chinese style steamed fish, it brings back memories of my grandmother scooping a steamy bowl of fluffy white rice from her clay pot and spooning the seafood soy sauce from the side of the steamed fish dish onto my bowl of rice before handing it to me. The slightly sweet seafood soy sauce mixed with the freshly steamed juices of the fish was incredibly aromatic and was SO GOOD over rice. Honestly, I enjoyed eating plain white rice with the steamed fish sauce more than eating the fish itself as a kid. It was simple, but delicious.

Another favorite part about steamed fish? Eating the cheek of the fish, right below the eye. It was always the most tender piece of fish meat and something my grandmother and father always dug out for me or my sister to enjoy. It made me feel loved and special to be given the best part of the fish.

Wilson and I recently visited Shan Shan Noodles on Route 46 in Parsippany, NJ and we had ordered a steamed fish dish with chili peppers off their specials menu. Despite how full we were from our usual noodle orders, we somehow were able to try and eat the fish dish, and boy were we glad that we did. Immediately, we fell in love with the authentic, fresh flavors and the ease in eating the smooth, velvety flounder fish fillets without worrying about bones or skin. We loved that every bite was fish, and I especially loved the hint of heat from the chili peppers. The dish itself is not spicy so you could easily remove the chili peppers as well.

This recipe that I am sharing today is my take on the dish from Shan Shan Noodles, with some influence from my grandmother's cooking of steamed fish as well. Topped with chili peppers, ginger, scallion, shiitake mushrooms, fried garlic bits, prickly ash oil, seafood soy sauce and mirin, the steamed marinaded flounder filets are sweet with a slight kick from the chili pepper and mild "numbing" from the prickly ash oil. The shiitake mushrooms then add a bit of earthiness to the dish while the fried garlic bits provide a bit of texture and umami flavor boost.

INGREDIENTS
Serves 2-3
• 2 fillets of flounder, cut into pieces
• 2 teaspoons white pepper
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 tablespoon cornstarch
• 2 inch knob of ginger, slices thinly and julienned
• 2 scallions stalks, sliced finely
• 2 teaspoons sesame oil
• 2 teaspoons prickly ash oil
• 1 long chili pepper
• 1 tablespoon mirin
• 1 tablespoon of the seafood soy sauce
 
DIRECTIONS
1. Slice the flounder fillets into sashimi sliced cuts, round 2-3 inches per slice. The should resemble small chicken tenders in size.

2. Place sliced flounder into a mixing bowl and add salt, white pepper, sesame oil, mirin, and cornstarch. Mix well until flounder is well coated.

3. Slice up the ginger and scallion into fine thin strips. Chop up the chili pepper and place half of the sliced ginger and scallion on a plate for the fish to steam on.

4. Place the fish slices onto the steam plate, feel free to sprinkle some ginger, scallion and chili pepper in between layers of fish if you are piling the fish into a smaller steaming plate or bowl. Lastly, place the steam fish plate into the steamer rack and steam for 15 minutes. The fish should be completely white and opaque, and easily forked apart to be cooked through.

5. When the fish is done steaming, remove from the steamer and top the fish with the seafood soy sauce, prickly ash oil and sprinkling of fried garlic bits. And that's it! Enjoy over a bowl of white rice and you're good to go!​​

​I hope you enjoy this dish as much as we do. It's fresh, healthy, and also a great dish to serve to young ones (minus the chili pepper and prickly ash oil) because you don't have to worry about fish bones, and they'll enjoy the fish sauce over rice too!