Improv Dinner

So my parents decided to come down for a visit last night, which meant when I got off work at 9pm I had one hour to make dinner. Fortunately, I like the challenge. I made rice, beef lettuce wraps w/ bean paste, cucumber salad, bean sprout soup and roasted potatoes korean style.

Beef Lettuce Wraps
Lettuce wraps are a Korean traditional way of consuming greens and meat and very simple to make.

Cook your beef and wrap it in lettuce. You can find thinly sliced meat in Asian Markets or cook a nice thick steak and slice it very thinly once its cooked.

I did a sesame oil (1 tblspn) and salt (2 tspn) dip and a dark bean paste (or miso) dip which is one part bean paste mixed with one part fermented red chili paste with sesame seeds.

Cucumber Salad
1 large Cucumber (select one with a very small nipple... it contains less seeds)
2 medium grapefruit peeled and sliced w/ juices
2 tbsp Rice Vinegar
1 small red onion, sliced thinly
2 tspn ginger
Pinch of Salt

Toss all together and let it marinade for at least one hour.

Roasted Korean Potatoes

1.2 lb Small Yellow Potatoes (smaller the better between size of quarter and a silver dollar)
1 cup soy sauce
2 tbsp corn syrup (or honey)
Water

Heat soy sauce in a heavy skillet until it starts to boil. Add the washed potatoes to the skillet and cover. Turn the potatoes to allow it to cook evenly for about 15 minutes. Watch the soy sauce, it will reduce. If it reduces too much before the potato is cooked, add a table spoon of water each time to prevent the soy sauce from becoming too thick and burn. Add the corn syrup with another tbsp of water, stir and watch the syrup coat the potatoes. Remove from heat and serve.

Bean Sprout Soup

2 cups of water
2 cups of bean sprout
8 medium sized dried anchovies
1 tbsp Salt (or to taste)
1 tbsp crushed dry red pepper flakes (or 2 tsp cayanne pepper)
2 garlic cloves crushed

Boil water w/ anchovies, red pepper flakes and garlic. When the water is boiling, add the bean sprouts and boil for 5-10 minutes then add salt to taste.