This is the first post in a series where I share delicious recipes I either came up with or came across in recent weeks.
Quarantine Comfort Food series
First up, a few weeks ago I worked on a project for Colorado ASDA social media where I sought out and gathered some recipes from our multicultural student body. You can check them out right here:
감자 조림 – Gamja Jorim
Next, one of my favorite side dishes as of late, 감자 조림 (gamja jorim). It’s a dish of sweet and salty braised potatoes and really simple to make. I got the initial recipe from here: https://mykoreankitchen.com/gamja-jorim-korean-braised-potatoes/#more-21811
I got a bag of these little potatoes from Trader Joe’s and I just have the other ingredients lying around. I only pay attention to getting the ratio of the braising sauce right and then eyeball the rest of the ingredients and boil off more to thicken the sauce if I need to. Still tastes amazing reheated from the fridge for the next few days.
Main
- 1 kg little potatoes
- 1 cup water
- honey
- sesame oil
- sesame seeds
Braising sauce
- 5 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp rice wine
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- Roast potato in the oven at 395 for 30 min.
- Once outer layer is cooked and browned, move potato to stove top and add water and braising sauce.
- Bring to boil and reduce heat to medium to simmer the potato until most of the sauce is boiled away (15 min).
- Reduce heat to low and add honey, sesame oil, and sesame seeds.
- Continue to simmer to have darker colored potatoes and thicker sauce.
Honey Crispy
I was thinking about a dish I often got from nearby asian restaurant as a kid called Honey Crispy Chicken (before I started religiously ordering sushi). My take is vegetarian and I used a pack of fried tofu from the local asian market to keep that crispy texture, but you could replace it with whatever fried meat or fish you want.
I didn’t keep track of any proper measurements since this was just an experiment that turned out well. The most important part of the sauce is the honey which you need a lot of for the sauce thickness. I also added some potato starch to thicken up the sauce a little more. Add some yellow bell peppers for color and crunch and you’ve got a sweet crunchy treat that pairs perfectly with rice.
Sauce
- honey
- soy sauce
- sesame oil
- chili flakes
- potato starch
- water
- garlic
- rice vinegar
Main
- fried tofu
- onion
- (yellow) bell pepper
- panko bread crumbs (garnish)
- green onion (garnish)
- Boil sauce ingredients and then bring down to low simmer to thicken.
- Stir fry main ingredients all at once.
- Mix sauce in and serve.
Zachary Holloway 