Hayashi raisu (Hayashi rice)

Ingredients

• 450g / 1 lb thinly sliced beef
• 4 medium onions, thinly sliced
• About 10-12 mushrooms, sliced
• 1 medium carrot, thinly sliced
• Butter or oil
• 1 garlic clove, chopped
• 1 cup (240ml) red wine
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tsp. dried thyme
• 1 Tbs. Worcestershire sauce or Bulldog chuunou sauce
• 1 Tbs. soy sauce
• Parsley or green peas for garnish

The sauce ingredients:

• 1/2 cup demi-glace or 4 cups strong beef stock
• 1 16-oz or 440g can of canned tomatoes
• 1 Tbs. tomato paste
• 2 Tbs. butter
• 3 Tbs. flour
• Water

OR

• 6 blocks (or more if you like it thick) from a hayashi rice roux packet
• Water

Equipment: a large frying pan or sauté pan, a heavy bottomed pot for stewing or a crockpot

Cut the meat up into bite-sized pieces. Heat up a frying pan with butter, oil or combination of both, and sauté the beef until browned. Take out the meat and set aside.

In the same pan, add a bit more butter (no this is not diet food) and add the onions. Sauté over medium-low heat until limp and slightly brown. Add the garlic, mushrooms and carrot. Sauté until the mushrooms are turning limp.

Put all the vegetables in a heavy-bottomed stew pot (a crockpot will do nicely too).

Add the wine. If you’re using the hayashi rice roux blocks, add about 4 cups of water (don’t add the roux at this point yet). If you’re using the other sauce ingredients, add either the demi-glace plus 3 cups of water, the canned tomato and tomato paste, or 4 cups of strong beef stock and the canned tomato and tomato paste. Add the bay leaves and thyme.

Let it all simmer until the liquid has reduced to about half. Add the beef to the pot and contine simmering - the beef should be very tender.

If you’re making your own sauce, make a roux by melting 2 Tbs. of butter in the frying pan and adding the flour. Stir until the flour is grainy and a little bit browned. Add to the stew and stir. Add the Worcestershire sauce and soy sauce.

If using the roux blocks, add them now and stir well to melt.

Add a little water or stock to thin out if it looks too thick. Simmer a few minutes.

Taste and add salt or pepper as needed. Take out the bay leaves.

Serve over rice that’s been mixed with a little salted butter. Garnish with chopped parsley or a few green peas.

This makes 6 to 8 servings.

Budaechigae (Korean Army Base Stew)

Budae Chigae was invented during the famine years of the Korean war and post-war period. Koreans managed to use leftover meat discarded or handed-out from the U.S. army bases to make this dish ("Budae" means military base and "Chigae" means stew in Korean). It's a recent invention with a thousand variations, but it's mostly a lip-smacking mixture of Western meat, ramen noodles, vegetables, and spices.

There is no exact recipe for Budaechigae, but popular meats for the stew are Spam, hot dogs, ground beef, and sausages; popular vegetables are sprouts, scallions, onions, and sookat (chrysanthemum leaves).

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups meat in small chunks (Spam, hot dogs, ham, small meatballs, or a combination)
• 1 1/2 cups sliced vegetables (combination of any: mushrooms, bean sprouts, chrysanthemum leaves)
• 1/2 an onion, sliced
• 3 Tbsp kochujang (Korean hot pepper paste)
• 1 package ramen noodles (just noodles, not spice packets)
• Kimchi (optional)
• Sliced rice cakes (optional)
• Canned baked beans (optional topping)
• Sliced American cheese (optional topping)

Preparation:

1. Put all ingredients into a large pot.
2. Cover with enough water to just cover ingredients.
3. Bring to a rapid boil.
4. Reduce to simmer for 20 minutes.
5. Enjoy with white rice.

Louvia (Black - Eyed Peas Stew)

Ingredients

• 3 cups dried black-eyed peas
  
• Water
• 2 onios, chopped
• 5 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 cup fresh dill, chopped
• 1 cup fresh parsley, chopped
• 2 fresh tomatoes, diced
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
  
• Salt

Directions

1. Step 1

   Wash the peas and boil them in a pot with water and salt for 45 minutes. Drain them.

2. Step 2

   In another pot put the olive oil and the onion. Stir and cook for 2-3 minutes. Then add the garlic, the tomatoes, the tomato paste, the parsley and the dill. Let them cook in medium hear for 30 minutes. Add some salt.

3. Step 3

   Add the peas to the sauce, mix and cook in low heat for 15 minutes.