Kim Chi Veg & Beef Soup

I'm sorry for the quality of these photos. I don't know how to take night photos yet don't like the harshness of the flash, and I didn't want to turn dinner into a photo shoot session.

I hardly watch TV. It's not that I don't have time. I just can't sit still in front of the box for long although I've done marathon sessions on the couch until 3 am for consecutive days watching Korean and Chinese TV series. Once in a while I'd catch some interesting program, standing up. The other day, I was walking by the TV room and the dish on a Taiwanese cooking program was sour cabbage soup with thinly-sliced sirloin. Since sour cabbage is not a common ingredient here, I thought kim chi would be a good substitute so last night this was what I cooked:


1. Put a cup of sliced kim chi into a claypot or glass/ceramic pot. Add enough chicken stock (or water + 1 chicken stock cube) to cover.


2. Add sliced Chinese napa cabbage, cover and boil about 10 minutes or until cabbage is nearly the texture you like.

 
3. Add two sliced potatoes. Cover and boil 5 minutes.

 
4. Meanwhile, sear 1/2 kg thinly sliced (these weren't thin enough) sirloin on both sides quickly. Sear the beef in several batches, each time using about 1 tsp butter. Do not cook through. Remove onto plate.

 
5. Add about 2 cups soft or semi-soft tofu to the soup, scattering them over the soup evenly.

 
6. When the tofu begins to boil, add 1 cup of chopped chives (these were from my garden. Chives are perennial so do grow some at home), spread them over evenly and cover. Taste and season with salt and white pepper.

 
7. When the soup boils, switch off the heat and add the seared beef. Serve the whole pot at the table.


8. Drizzle some chili oil on the soup and eat with plain boiled rice and another dish, such as a fried fish dish.

Wey pronounced the soup perfect and motherhood was worthwhile again.

Btw, Wey said MasterChef Malaysia is an awful and embarrassing show. Any thoughts, anyone who has seen it because I haven't. I watched Hell's Kitchen for the first time last week and I enjoyed it and was happy that Paul, the underdog, won. To be honest, I avoid reality food shows because they are so...staged. I've only watched MasterChef Australia once, the finals between Callum and Adam, and I only watched it because my friend Elaine kept calling me when the show about to start so we sort of watched it together in our own houses but with our handphones to our ears. Guess who got all the answers right? Wey. He named all the fruits and sauces (except for Romesco sauce, if I remember right) and he didn't even have to taste them!