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In her new book, Esther Choi shares the recipe for Kimchi Seafood Hot Pot, using tomato puree, kimchi and fish sauce to create a belly-warming soup base, and emphasizes that the seafood can be flexibly changed according to local ingredients.
Associated Press reports,new york city FamousKorean American chef and cookbook author Esther Choi includes 100 classic and innovative recipes in her new book, “Hand Taste: Cook Like a Korean Grandmother,” which showcases a blend of Korean, Italian and American cooking styles. Esther said that out of all the dishes, Kimchi Seafood Pot was her mother’s favorite and she would always beg her to make it. The essence of Esther’s Kimchi Seafood Hotpot is seafood hotpot with tomato sauce as the soup base, and then adding kimchi and fish sauce to enhance the flavor, just like Korean style.Italy Seafood Soup (Cioppino).
When shopping for canned tomatoes, a 24-ounce can of Tomato Passata is the perfect choice, says Esther. She prefers tomato puree instead of canned chopped tomatoes. Its delicate texture is more suitable for seafood. If you only have canned diced tomatoes, you can use a food processor to puree them first.
As far as the type of seafood you choose is concerned, it doesn’t matter. Esther says the main thing is to use high quality ingredients. If the best ingredients in your area are clams and shrimp, and scallops are extremely expensive, choose the first two to compensate by increasing the portion. Or use squid or white-fleshed fish fillets instead of scallops, adding them at the end to avoid overcooking. Esther likes to serve it straight from the pot with crusty bread broken into small pieces, but she is also happy serving this dish with pasta or rice.
Seafood: 2 pounds mussels, 1 pound clams (or more mussels), flour, kosher salt, about 8 large shrimp, 8 ounces scallops.
Soup base: vegetable oil, ½ cup chopped carrots, ½ cup chopped onion, ½ cup celery pieces, 1½ tablespoons minced garlic, 2 shallots sliced crosswise, ¼ cup chopped fresh parsley (a little more for garnish), 1 teaspoon kosher salt, ½ cup chopped kimchi, 1 tablespoon gochujang, ½ cup white wine, 3 cups tomato puree (24 ounces), 1 tablespoon Fish sauce, ½ tsp red chilli pieces.
Serve with: 1 lemon, 1 loaf of crusty bread.
Handle seafood: Carefully rinse and drain the mussels. If the mussels are not tightly closed, remove them; Place the mussels in a bowl, cover with a wet kitchen towel and refrigerate.
Place the clams in a bowl and add a pinch of flour and salt. Pour cold water over the clams, let stand 10 to 15 minutes, then drain, removing sand from the bottom of the bowl and discarding any clams that do not close tightly. Cover with a wet kitchen towel and refrigerate.
Cut the shrimp back and remove the slime line, leaving the shrimp shell and tail. If you don’t like peeling shrimp when eating it, you can also remove the shell of the shrimp first. If the scallops are large, cut them in half so they can be heated evenly when cooked with the shrimp.
Make the sauce: In a large cast iron skillet or deep pot, heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium heat. Add the carrots, onions, and celery, stirring frequently, until the onions begin to soften, about 2 to 3 minutes. Add the minced garlic, green onion, and parsley and continue stirring until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add salt and kimchi and cook for about 2 minutes, until kimchi begins to soften.
Mix the Korean chili paste, making sure it is evenly distributed, then add the wine. Turn the heat to medium-high and let the wine reduce by half. Add tomato puree, fish sauce and red chilli pieces.
Cook the seafood: Add the mussels and clams to the pot and bring to a gentle simmer. Cover the pot and cook for about 5 minutes, until all the mussels and clams have opened. Discard anything that hasn’t opened. Add the shrimp and scallops and cook, uncovered, stirring frequently, until all the seafood is cooked through, 2 to 3 minutes more.
