Random Meals – 2/14 – 2/26/22

Here it is! The Kimchi Challenge I gave myself! It was an interesting experience, and I’ll go into detail why. If you recall from my previous weekly meals post, I wanted to challenge myself to have kimchi in my dinner and lunch meals. How did that turn out? See below!

• Kimchi Tempeh Taco (and taco bowl)
  • This was probably my favorite kimchi-based dish I made! It never occurred to me to put kimchi in a taco, but it was DELICIOUS! And for the “taco meat,” I tried a new plant-based meat substitute – tempeh – which is a traditional Indonesian food made from fermented soybeans. I would definitely make this again because the flavors all worked well together for a tasty experience.
• Kimchi Brisket Bowl
  • Another gem dish to be honest. There’s no specific recipe for it because it’s more of a put all these things together and see how the different flavors complement each other. I already eat thinly sliced beef brisk with kimchi and rice for my normal “homemade” Korean BBQ, so adding more veggies to the plate with a sriracha/vegan sour cream/mayo sauce was -chef’s kiss! The first time I made it, I marinated the meat, but I think it tastes better un-marinated because there are already strong flavor profiles competing against each other.
• Kimchi Fried Rice
• Kimchi Soondubu Jigae
  • I’ve shared Kimchi Soondubu Jigae before, but I’m bringing it back because it was a great dish to eat during the cold-cold weather we’ve had recently in Texas!
• Carbonara-inspired Veggie Pasta
  • So, this is where things got … interesting. I ran out of kimchi before the week was over, so I did a quick trip to the grocery store to get a new container. Well, that evening I wanted to make kimchi pasta, but there was mold in my new container!!! I was immediately turned off and returned it. Instead, I just made a carbonara-inspired spaghetti dish, which was pretty good for thinking on the fly!
• Plant-based Flatbread Pizza
  • This was supposed to be a kimchi pizza, but see above not having any kimchi and was turned off for a bit. Nevertheless, I did enjoy making and eating this, but what’s tricky is the plant-based shredded mozzarella takes FOREVER to melt.

All in all, it was a good two weeks with a focused theme meal plan. I learned some new recipes that I will definitely incorporate into my everyday lifestyle. As far as “weight loss,” I already had a feeling it wouldn’t make a dent, especially because other items were on my plate. I don’t know if I could fully commit to ONLY kimchi and rice, but I honestly don’t need to anyway.

Do y’all like kimchi? If so, what are some of your favorite dishes with kimchi?

xo
Siri