Selina S. Lee

My mom used to pack me these stuffed tofu pockets for school field trips/picnics. Yes, they are similar looking to Inari Sushi you find at Japanese restaurants. The flavor is completely different with no sweet note to them. I love that she stuffed the seasoned tofu pockets with fried rice. For my rendition, I mixed sauteed vegetables and beef into the rice. It made it less greasy. I would say the tricky part of making this is to make sure tofu pockets are seasoned well so you wouldn’t have to overly season the filling. Hope you give it a try and if you have kids, I think they would definitely love it if you pack them for their field trips! Oh, did I tell you my mom always packed some extra for the teachers? Smart mom. : )

Yubuchobap (유부초밥) – 4-6 servings (yields 20 pockets)

Ingredient
10 fried bean curd tofu pockets
1/2 lb lean ground beef
3 oz (½ medium) carrots, finely chopped
3.5 oz (1 small) yellow onion, finely chopped
4 oz (1) ae hobak (Korean squash), finely chopped
4-5 cups of cooked rice

½ cup low-sodium soy sauce
1 tbsp sugar
⅓ cup mirin

1. Add soy sauce, sugar, and mirin in a medium saucepan with 1 cup of water, then simmer it for about 2 minutes. Add tofu pockets then turn the heat off. Press down the tofu pockets in the sauce using a spoon so it will soak up the sauce. Leave it in the sauce for about 15 minutes then using the sieve, drain out the liquid but press down with a spoon. 
2. In a large skillet pan over medium-high heat, add 1 tbsp of cooking oil. Saute onions, carrots, and ae hobak until soft but not brown. Season it with salt and pepper.
3. In the same skillet pan, add ground beef. Cook it for 5-7 minutes until the meat is fully cooked. Season it with salt and pepper. 
4. In a large mixing bowl, add sauteed vegetables and beef. Add freshly cooked rice and mix everything together while the rice is still warm.
5. Using a spoon, stuff each tofu pocket. Gently press down with your fingers to fit tightly into the tofu pocket. 

Tip: You can use zucchini instead of ae hobak. If you are using a regular soy sauce, you may need to adjust the water and sugar portions. Tofu pockets may be too salty.

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I feel like Lunar New Year came around much faster this year. I’m still barely out of the “holidazz” mode, you know? In any case, big or small, I do love celebrating Lunar New Year. It’s all about the food. The kind of food that I love the most. New Year’s rice cake soup tteokguk, kimchi pork dumplings, delicious gochu japchae with bao bun, a platter of assorted jeon, braised short rib galbijjim. Today, I’m sharing something a little different. I love making traditional tteokguk with a deep rich bone broth or clear beef broth. Mainly because I know it works and it’s going to taste good. But today, I’m sharing a vegan tteokguk. The broth is rich in flavor with kelp and dried shiitake mushrooms. I used two differently shaped rice cakes for interesting textures and did not miss out on the sauteed meatless topping. I enjoyed this very much and it was a nice change from the bone broth one. Make sure to give it a try!

Vegan Tteokguk  2 servings

1 pk of toasted seaweed snack
1 cup flat oval rice cakes (frozen or fresh)
1 cup joraegi snowman shape rice cakes (frozen or fresh)
8 dried shiitake mushroom
2 small pieces (3-4-inches long) of dried kelp
1 small yellow onion
5 oz (150 g) daikon radish, cut 1-inch thick chunks
1 scallion, finely chopped 
1 tbsp soy sauce
½ tsp toasted sesame seeds
½ tsp salt & pepper
1 tbsp cooking oil

1. Soak rice cakes in cold water for about 30 minutes. In a separate bowl, soak shiitake mushrooms. After about 30 min, drain the water out then squeeze the liquid out from the mushroom by using your hand and cut off the stems that are too tough to eat. Save 4 of them for the stock and finely chop 4 of them for topping. 
2. Cut yellow onion in half. Save half for the stock (keep the skin on) and finely chop the remaining for the topping. 
3. On a skillet over medium-high heat, add cooking oil then saute both chopped onion and mushrooms. Season it with a little bit of salt, pepper, and soy sauce. Set it aside.
4. In a medium size pot, add 5 cups of water, add kelp, mushroom, onion (skin-on), and radish then bring it to a boil. Take out the kelp and boil it for another 5 minutes over medium-low heat. 
5. Take the remaining ingredients out from the stock then add rice cakes. When the rice cakes float to the surface and are soft, it’s cooked and ready, about 4-5 minutes. Season with more salt if needed.
6. Serve with sauteed mushrooms, scallions, sesame seeds, and crumbled seaweed snack.

Tip: To make crumbled seaweed snack, add seaweed sheets in a plastic bag, using your hand to crush them in the bag. You can also purchase packaged toasted seaweed crumbs at Korean markets.