CraZY ABouT SooN ToBu

What is Soon Tobu? Actually it is a Korean dish for Tofu Hot Pot. A very common comfort food among the Koreans. Recently I had the best Soon Tobu at BCD Tofu House in LA and was very determined to try replicate the taste at home in Singapore. I invited my parents over to try it and also to beef up the menu, I roasted some saba fish to go along with the rice.... Yums!

The most important ingredient in the replica would be the Korean Chilli Paste and also the chilli powder. As i did not have the time to hunt down the Korean chilli powder, I used Cayanne instead...

Ingredients for the Soup Base:

• Anchovies ( or use Dashi Powder w Anchovies)
• Seaweed
• 3-4 cloves of garlic peeled
• 4-5 shitake mushroom
• 1 large yellow onion

Throw all these ingredients into a big pot of water and bring to boil and then simmer for an hour or 2.

• Drain out all the ingredients leaving the soup base to cool.
• Dice the onion and mushrooms. Discard the rest of the ingredients.

Ingredients for the Soon Tobu:

• 3 tablespoon of Korean Chilli paste
• 1 table spoon of Korean miso paste
• 1 egg (1 egg for each pax)
• 2 packet of soft tofu (I used Fortune (for soup))
• 1/2 bowl of pork (u can use seafood or beef or chicken), marinate with a bit of soy sauce, pepper, seseme oil
• Reuse the onion and mushroom from the soup base
• Fish Sauce
• Soy Sauce
• Some sugar

In a seperate pot or you may go to the Korean shops to buy the hot stone pot for the authentic feel, heat a teaspoon of oil. Sauteed the pork, onion and mushroom with a pinch of salt.
When the pork is cooked add in the soup base. Add in the chilli paste, miso paste, tofu, a dash of fish sauce, and a dash of soy sauce. Cover the pot and bring to boil.

At any point, you may want to taste the soup and add the seasoning accordingly to your taste. I like mine hot so i added a lot of cayanne powder. Before serving, crack an egg on the surface of the soup and there you have it - A super "shoik" soup that goes really well with rice or udon.

Here are some pics of my soup... hope you will try it and do leave a comment or 2 of your trail... Enjoy~

Korean Spicy Paste and Miso Paste

Boiling awayyyy...

Teriyaki Saba Fish

Hubby's Dinner Soon Tobu and Honey Roasted Wings

Soon Tobu

BAck FroM NoT So SuNNY CaliFornIA

My Dear fellow foodie bloggers... i am back from my trip to LA. This is my first trip to the States and is really an exciting experience for me. I reached LA airport in the afternoon and was greeted by my sweet hubby holding a sign saying "My Wife" and of course the sunny sky of LA which later on rained and remain cloudy for 3 days. I miss my hubby sooo much!

I was there for 12 days and I managed to go to a few places during weekends when hubby is free and not working. And from Monday to Friday, I stayed in the hotel room and make sandwiches for dear hubby for lunches as I was forbidden to cook and make the room stink of oil... I did my daily gym routine as well. The most looked forward meal of the day was always the dinner. We ate out most of the time, even caught a movie - Resident Evil 3D - at AMC. There were only 2 other couples in the cinema... something which you do not see often in Singapore =)

During the weekends we visited Ontario Mill Factory Outlet and Desert Hill Premium Outlet where I did most of my shopping. Really shopped till I dropped .. everything was so much cheaper! We also did sightseeing at Santa Monica Beach , Hollywood, Griffith Observatory,Universal Studio and Disneyland. Oooo.. by the way, I really enjoy shopping in their supermart too... Target and another one which sell all organic food -Wholesome Food Market. How I wish I can bring the things there back...

Now.. as for the food... they have the nicest fried chicken! Yes! Sinful... but really tasty! I got to tried some nice lobster and scallops at the Red Lobster Restaurent. But to my surprise the favourite food that I tried for this trip which i enjoyed the most is the Korean Organic Tofu pot at BCD. I love it !! Super tasty !! Very spicy with a lot of tofu - my favourite food! I shall try to mimick what i have tasted there and will try to update a post of my version of Korean Tofu Pot ! Well a lot has been said.. and i shall as usual end my post with some chosen pics of my trip! Enjoy~ =)

My Dear Hubby and I

Evening Sky of Santa Ana

Fried Chix Salad

Grilled Salmon on Bamboo.. Really tasty n Fragant

It's A Small World After All =)

Homemade Sandwich with Baked Chips for Lunch

Fast food lil Chix

A Really Tasty treat Granny Smith Green Apple dip

Fruit Tart

Mango Delight

In -and - Out Burger

Not sweet Not sour ... Jus Nice

Lobster-Scallop-Shrimp Platter

Light Lunch at Universal

My Fav Organic Korean Tofu Pot

Meal at LA Airport before boarding ... Macdonald Sandwich