Korean Fried Zucchini (Hobak Jun or Jeon)

Korean Fried Zucchini

"A delicious and healthy Korean side dish, Hobak Jun (or Jeon) is easy to prepare and goes well with almost every Korean meal. The zucchini is coated in a thin batter of flour and egg, sauteed on both sides, and served with soy sauce for dipping."

               Prep Time: 5 minutes

              Cook Time: 15 minutes

              Total Time: 20 minutes

               Ingredients:

• 1 medium-large zucchini, sliced into 1/4 inch coins
• 1/2 Cup Flour
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 tsp salt
• 1-2 Tbsp vegetable or olive oil (for saute pan)

            Preparation:

1. Distribute 1 tsp salt over zucchini slices.
2. Add remaining 1 tsp salt to beaten egg.
3. Put flour and egg in separate shallow dishes next to stove.
4. Heat lightly greased saute pan to medium heat.
5. Coat zucchini coins first with flour, and then dip and coat with beaten egg and place into pan.
6. Saute zucchini for about 3-4 minutes per side, turning once, or until they are a light golden brown.
7. You can serve with the basic or spicy dipping sauces or nothing at all.

Beat the eggs. I seasoned them with salt and pepper.

I seasoned the flour with salt and pepper, too. 

Cook them a few minutes on each side in a little bit of vegetable or canola oil. 

These cook quickly and they are quite tasty! I dipped mine in some ponzu sauce, because I was short on time to make my own, but you can make your own dipping sauce of your own liking.  Oh, and I seasoned the cooked zucchini with a light sprinkling of sea salt after I removed them from the pan. 

Spicy Dipping Sauce:

A spicy dipping sauce for Korean dumplings, scallion pancakes, and tempura. A twist on the basic soy sauce and vinegar version, this adds a lot or a little spice to your meal.

              Prep Time: 5 minutes

              Cook Time: 5 minutes

              Total Time: 10 minutes

              Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• 1/3 cup rice wine vinegar
• 1 Tbsp sesame oil
• 1 Tbsp chili pepper flakes (kochukaru)
• 1 Tbsp scallions, thinly sliced
• 1 tsp finely chopped garlic

Korean Fried Zucchini and Spicy Dipping Sauce recipes are courtesy of: http://koreanfood.about.com/

Little Thai Turkey Loaves

Little Thai Turkey Loaves is a great, quick recipe. It's yummy and it's fast because you just pop all the flavorings (cilantro, lemongrass, garlic) into a food processor and let that do all the work for you!  It comes together quickly after you add the coconut milk, peanut sauce, sesame oil and brown rice to the ground turkey.  What I love about this recipe is that it takes advantage of my muffin tin (which has been sadly neglected lately) and puts it to good use!  By putting the turkey mixture in a muffin tin, it cuts the cooking time down to 30-35 minutes! While it bakes in the oven, you can make a vegetable side dish, too! I just whipped up a quick stir fry with zucchini, shredded carrots and bean sprouts. I threw it all in a hot wok, added chopped garlic and some teriyaki sauce and called it a day! This recipe makes about 12 muffin-sized loaves. I ate two for dinner, but could easily eat three! Oh, and the best part is the yummy peanut sauce that you pour on top!

Enjoy!

Ingredients

- 6 medium scallions, trimmed and chunked (include some green tops)

• 1/3 cup packed fresh cilantro sprigs
• 1 (5-inch) stalk lemongrass, cleaned and thickly sliced, or the zest of 1/2 medium lemon, removed in strips with a vegetable peeler
• 2 medium garlic cloves
• 1 pound ground turkey (preferably a 50 to 50 mix of light and darkmeat)
• 1/2 cup instant brown rice (right out of the box)
• 1 (14-ounce) can unsweetened low-fat coconut milk
• 3/4 cup Thai peanut sauce
• 2 teaspoons Asian toasted sesame oil
• 1 tablespoons raw (turbinado) sugar
• 6 fresh cilantro sprigs, optional

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Coat 6 muffin-pan cups with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.

Pulse the scallions, cilantro, lemongrass, and garlic 8 to 10 times in a food processor fitted with the chopping blade (or in an electric blender) until finely chopped.

Scrape into a large bowl, add the turkey, rice, 1/2 cup each of the coconut milk and peanut sauce, and the sesame oil ad mix thoroughly with your hands.

Pack the turkey mixture into the muffin-pan cups and bake until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center of a loaf registers 170 degrees F, 30 to 35 minutes.

Meanwhile, make a sauce by whisking the remaining coconut milk with the remaining peanut sauce and the sugar.

To serve, unmold the loaves onto a heated platter and garnish with a sprig of cilantro, if desired. Pass the sauce – either at room temperature or slightly warmed.

Little Thai Turkey Loaves recipe is courtesy of Foodnetwork.

Eastern Conference Champions, "Don't Think Twice, It's Alright"

Eastern Conference Champions' cover of Bob Dylan's "Don't Think Twice, It's Alright" showed up on the last episode of Gossip Girl (season 3), and I was very surprised! Everyone seems to cover Bob Dylan songs and it just makes me wonder if these youngsters watching Gossip Girl even know the original roots of that song!  In any case, it just goes to show that Bob Dylan influences and inspires so many musicians.

Here is Eastern Conference Champions's version of "Don't Think Twice, It's Alright":

Shoesteal Coupon: Extra 20% off for Memorial Day Weeekend

Shoesteal.com is offering 20% off shoes! Use coupon code: STEAL20 at checkout to receive an extra 20% off sitewide for their Memorial Day weekend sale. Shoesteal is the official outlet for shoes.com, which means extra markdowns and more savings! Just don't forget to input the coupon code STEAL20 for an extra 20% off already marked down shoes.

Call for Submissions for "More Voices"

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS. .."MORE VOICES" To give voice to the rich collection of personal experiences of international adoptees, Yeong & Yeong Book Company has generously agreed to publish a sequel to "Voices from Another Place", an anthology of creative works produced by the first generation of Korean adoptees. 

Holt International is inviting all international adoptees worldwide, born before 01-01-92 to submit stories, essays, poems, vignettes, photographs, photos of multi-dimensional art work, and other creative expressions of their adoption experience. "More Voices" is intended to be inclusive and seeks submissions which represent a broad range of experiences and perspectives on the theme of adoption. Selections will be made by an adoptee editorial committee. For more information, guidelines, and submission form visit www.holtinternation al.org/adopteest oday/morevoices. shtml.

This is an important opportunity to be heard and to share your experiences!  If you know fellow Korean or other international adoptees born before January 1, 1992, pass this information on, please! 


Deadline for submission is September 30, 2010.  

Crocs 15% off Coupon, Plus free economy shipping!

Use this Crocs coupon to take an extra 15% off sitewide via code CROCSFRIENDS15. Plus, economy shipping is currently free.
This code works sitewide with no minimum on regular priced items as well as outlet already reduced up to 60% off.


I don't know how long this coupon is valid, but my friend just told me about it, so I'm guessing it's valid for a while. I just found these new Madeira Crocs on the website and already I'm tempted! They are SO CUTE!!! I love the bubblegum/fuchsia color and the cute little heel! It comes in lots of other colors, too, including black, navy/skyblue, espresso/bubblegum, and gold/espresso. I haven't visited the Crocs website in a while, but now that I have, I see that there are a TON of new styles that have come in for Spring and Summer! Too bad my birthday was two months ago! This would have been on my wish list for sure! My feet always LOVE Crocs because they are so comfortable!

Free Limeade Sparkler Coupon at Taco Bell

Get a free Limeade Sparkler at Taco Bell with this store coupon, valid until 05-25-10 or until 500,000 coupons have been redeemed! Talk about a cap on a promotion! Better hurry in to try one! Taco Bell gives you the choice between cherry or limeade to try. Limit one per person.

I just printed mine out today and will try to redeem it later today if I have time!

Print your Free Limeade Sparkler Coupon at Taco Bell.



Find a Taco Bell near you.