Recipe: Kimchi Udon

I was sick last night with a fever. I thought maybe it was the cold weather or perhaps I was just tired. Whatever it was, it sure wasn't happy to be sick! I stayed in bed until lunch time today and thankfully, the fever had gone down. My appetite returned soon after and I was craving for some hot noodles to kick that cold away for good. Yuye, being such a good carer for sick people (not really since I had to tell him twice that I was hungry…), decided to make me a bowl of kimchi udon using the remaining ingredients we had after making jja jang myun the other day. The only ingredients left were vegetables so this sort of turned into a vegetarian dish.

Since I had my camera all set up as we are currently in the process of making a recipe app for iPad (Yes! How exciting!), I thought it was a good opportunity to write this up as my first recipe post. As it was a last minute decision, preparations weren't done very well so the photo of the ingredients isn't to scale and really isn't even all the ingredients listed. Anyway, just use it as a guide if you wish to make the dish. :)

The soup was full of flavour and was quite chilli which got rid of my stuffy nose. I admit though that…I cheated. As soon as I tasted the dish, I thought it was too vegetarian! There goes my carnivorous instincts. *rolls eyes*. As Yuye didn't prepare any meat to go with it, I just grabbed some pancetta from the fridge and put it on top. I know, there is no way that pancetta will be mistaken for a Korean ingredient but it sure tasted good with the noodles!

Kimchi Udon

Time to prepare: 5-10 minutes
Time to cook: 10 minutes
Serves: 2

Ingredients
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1/3 small eggplant
• 1/3 zucchini
• 2 tbsp korean hot bean paste
• 250g dry udon
• 1 litre beef or vegetable stock (or stock powder with water)
• 1/4 cup kimchi
• Small wedge of lemon (or 1 tbsp lemon juice)
• Salt to taste
• Spring onions and cucumber to garnish

Instructions
1. Heat water in a pot until boiling and put in dry udon, stir once in a while to ensure it doesn't stick to the pot, cook according to packet instructions
2. Cut eggplant and zucchini into 1cm cubes
3. Heat vegetable oil in another pot on medium heat and fry garlic until cooked but not brown
4. Add in hot bean paste, zucchini and eggplant, stirring until vegetables are coated with the sauce
5. Put in stock and kimchi, cook on medium to high heat until boiling
7. Add lemon juice and salt to the soup base according to your taste just before serving
8. Strain cooked udon and rinse under cold water to give it a better texture and make it not sticky
9. Place soup and noodle in a serving bowl and garnish with chopped spring onions and cucumber, serve with extra kimchi if desired

Note: we used dry packet udon purchased from an Asian grocery store, however you can substitute it with fresh udon or any other noodle that is available, although in my opinion, thick noodles go well in this dish. If fresh noodles are used, cooking time will decrease so please adjust accordingly.
You can also add in pork or chicken with the dish to make it non vegetarian. Just fry those together with the zucchini and eggplant.

Can't believe I'm still posting while I'm sick though, comes to show how passion can motivate someone to do anything.

Question time: Is there anything you would still do without fail even if you're sick?

Did you enjoy this post? If so, why not share it with your friends?

Share |