Little Dishes #2

 

An assortment of things I figured would go well together: Korean-style lentils I had in  my freezer, coleslaw from Dolly Parton's recipe (but veganized with vegan mayo), Korean spicy carrot salad, Korean cucumber salad, brown rice with everything bagel seasoning, hobak buchim (Korean zucchini pancakes) with a dipping sauce, and sauteed bell peppers and onions.

I have a way of wanting to eat every vegetable in my fridge, don't I? I can't apologize for that, I guess. My freezer is still half-full; I am making progress, though! And I'm slowly changing my own habits related to how I approach meal planning, so I made this out of a desire to just enjoy what I had before shopping again.

It's amazing how much food I have when I think I'm running "low" on things. And I am running low on some things! I am completely out of gochujang, for example, and I'm getting more comfortable with just letting myself be out of something and picking it up the next time I happen to be at the store, rather than making sure I have every single "staple" (i.e., something I use frequently enough to know I'll always use it up without much effort) on hand.

Dolly Parton's coleslaw is maybe the head-scratcher here, given that all the other flavors are Korean, but it goes so well with this! It's the most unusual recipe I've ever seen and I think it's more like a cabbage salad than coleslaw, if that makes sense. It has pickles in it. And bell pepper! It also has more sugar than most recipes, which seems to be a remarkably common ingredient in Korean cooking, so...it was perfect. And I say that as someone who isn't usually a coleslaw person.

Simply Recipes has a tutorial on her recipe, if you want to check it out. I found it seriously addictive. And I finally used up the end of my cabbage! (I made just 1/4 of a recipe, which actually made quite a bit, incidentally--enough for what I would call four generous servings.)

I'm also surprised by how long one bag of Korean pancake mix is lasting me. I had a conversation with myself about it, though--I will, at some point, run out of it, and I can take a break from having it around. Korean pancake mix is not a staple. I can thoroughly enjoy what I have without needing to have more the instant it is gone, just like I am doing with the gochujang.

It's also kind of fun to just figure out what I can make with what I've got. And enjoying that is also making my using-what-I-have quest this year so much better.

I've had false starts. I've made mistakes. But I regrouped for the summer and things are going well. I look forward to showing you my next meal!