Easy Korean KALBI (BBQ short ribs) recipe

How to make kalbi pretty :p

OK! As a request from one of my cousins again, I'm putting "something that is MORE meaty.";D Get excited, people!
 If there is one cuisine that my bf and I cannot survive without, it's Korean! That is why I cook a lot of Korean-inspired food since... what's not to love with all this spicy sexiness, right?
The last kalbi my Dad & I cooked was amazing--even if we had to use our conventional oven. (We live on the 10th floor of a city condo, we DON'T have a backyard.) But to those who can grill outside, consider yourself lucky! So the following is a Kalbi recipe taken from my oh-so-favourite website: Allrecipes.com. I somehow lost the Kalbi recipe that I used last time, but this one is pretty close and is more apt for those who are in the Philippines.  The ingredients here are all available over there; no North American mumbo-jumbo. Now, the secret is in the MARINADE. I tweaked the recipe a little bit to make it more awesome. If you see green, it's me adding some stuff.

Makes 4 servings

Ingredients:

3/4 cup soy sauce 3/4 cup brown sugar 3/4 cup water 1 garlic clove, minced

2 green onions, chopped 1 tablespoon Asian (toasted) sesame oil 2 pounds Korean-style short ribs (beef chuck flanken, cut 1/3 to 1/2 inch thick across bones)

Directions:

1.	In a bowl, stir together the soy sauce, brown sugar, hot sauce (if you want it spicy), water, garlic, green onions, and sesame oil until the sugar has dissolved. Put away about 1/4 cup of marinade in a tiny bowl, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate <- we will turn this into gravy later.
2.	Place the ribs in a large plastic zipper bag. Pour the [main] marinade over the ribs, squeeze out all the air, and refrigerate the bag overnight. Sorry, you won't get to eat it till tomorrow. :p
3.	THE NEXT DAY: Preheat an outdoor grill for medium-high heat, and lightly oil the grate. Remove the ribs from the bag and grill them. (Remember the small bowl of marinade we put in the fridge? Add a bit of cornstarch/flour into it and stir. Keep stirring & adding starch to make it thicker.)  Then slather the gravy on the ribs while you are grilling them. This way, your ribs will be super saucy! ^_^ Mmmm.. Now they're done! Enjoy!

our BAKED VERSION of the kalbi -- honey was incorporated in the marinade

EASY Hoisin Shrimp... Mmmm!

~*~*~*                                                                                                                                                  *~*~*~
 I was debating whether my first post should be about cosmetics or food. And, as you can see, food won! =p My cousin, Vinjo, also wanted something more "manly" in my blog, so I told him not to despair.

Now... I posted this HOISIN SHRIMP dish on my FB and people seem to salivate at the looks of it. So I decided I should share the recipe. It is SUPER easy and can be found at the back part of Lee Kum Kee's Hoisin Sauce jar. Only, of course, I like to make my own version of almost every dish. So here's the yummier version:

1. Heat oil in a wok/frying pan + Stir fry 3 cloves minced garlic, 6 bits of shaved/minced ginger, & 1 lb of shrimp for 3 mins.
2. Add 2 tbsp. Hoisin Sauce & 1 tbsp. Oyster-Flavored Sauce. Put more if you want it saucy!
3. Stir fry the whole thing and cover the pan until the shrimp is fully cooked.
4.  Take out from heat and sprinkle ground black pepper + paprika liberally on the cooked shrimp!
*Add cilantro garnish or diced green/red peppers, if you like.

And that's it! Cheap & yummy. ^_^ For better tasting shrimp, I suggest keeping the head on coz then you can suck all the juicy goodness out of it. But if you're like my bf, who thinks the shrimp's head is pleading to him with a don't-eat-me look, then take off their heads. >.< Enjoy!