Yum-City

--To answer Audie and Necha's question, Kimchi is ferminted cabbage leaves mixed with other spices, I believe it's a Korean food staple. I've always wanted to try cooking with it, so when I saw it at Winco, I bought a can.

I'm trying to integrate more vegetarian meals into the meal plan lately. So, I recently purchased tofu for the first time in many many years. I've eaten tofu before, but never really cooked with it. So, in an effort to test it out, I just made this soup for lunch. DELISH!!! If you like Asian cuisine, try this soup, you won't be disappointed. Plus, it's good for you.

Kimchi Soup with Tofu and Spinach

- serves 4 -

Ingredients

3 tablespoons sesame oil
6 scallions, chopped
1 1/2 cups kimchi, chopped
8 ounces tofu, chopped into 1/2 inch pieces *
1 tablespoon Korean red pepper paste (go chu jang)
6 cups water or vegetable stock
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1/2 cup short grain white rice
Couple handfuls of spinach
Black pepper

**

Procedure

1. Pour 2 tablespoons of the sesame oil into a pot over medium-high heat. Toss in the scallions and cook for about a minute. Then dump in the kimchi, tofu, and red pepper paste. Stir and cook for 30 seconds or so.

2. Pour in the water or stock, vinegar, and soy sauce. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Add the rice, stir, and cook for about 15 to 20 minutes, or until the rice is tender. With about 10 minutes in, add the spinach. At the last second, add the last tablespoon of sesame oil and a few cracks of freshly ground black pepper.

*The recipe doesn't specify, but I would use firm to extra-firm tofu otherwise it breaks up into little pieces. . . like mine did. It was still good though.

** You can also add a teaspoon or two of flax seed meal. I add this to almost everything I cook to get my omega threes. You can't even tell it's there.