Semiserious Chefs

‘Ground Provisions’ was a rather obscure sounding dish when I first came across it. Interestingly it’s a pretty straight forward idea. They are simply ground-based vegetables, AKA roots, tubers, corms, and rhizomes, that are providing the carbohydrates for the meal. These are most often potatoes, sweet potatoes, African/Asian yams, taro, cassava, squash, or plantains, even […]

Taro is a starch used by nations all around the world, and in a lot of different ways. Having started with a Trinidad inspired dish involving coconut, it was only fitting to head to Asia, strongly believed to be the traditional home of the taro root, and create an entirely different dish that also uses […]

The idea for this dish is pretty straight forward. Perico means ‘Parrot,’ which the dish is supposedly named for it’s many colors. The most basic recipe for perico involves eggs, onions, and tomatoes, with salt and pepper. Many people like to substitute green onions for some or all of the onions, as I have done […]

This recipe calls for Asian Yam. This is not to be mistaken for what gets marketed as ‘yam’ in the US. Despite popular belief, both the yellowy sweet flavored potato that is labeled ‘sweet potato’ and the orange fleshed extra sweet flavored potatoes named ‘yam’ are both just that, sweet potatoes. The cousin of the good-ole reg’ya’la […]

This punny recipe came about with my desire to learn new uses for African and Asian yams. When I say yam, you probably think of those dark orange sweet potatoes they sell in most every US market. They are, in fact, exactly that, sweet potatoes. I know, this is where you say, “No, no, no! Sweet […]

This incredibly easy to make recipe is a fan favorite of both adults and children. It doesn’t require very many ingredients, all easy to come-by, or any special equipment. …Although using a dolsot or ddukbaegi pot sure is fun! The name Bulgogi (불고기) comes simply from the Korean’bul’ for fire and ‘gogi’ for Meat. You […]

I have been very excited to finally have an excuse to buy the beautiful king oyster mushrooms that are currently in season. Raw, these large mushrooms have a pleasant aroma similar to a good sourdough, but when simmered they bring incredible umami flavor to a dish. The other main ingredient, dried bean curd sticks, take […]

This recipe was created after my recent discovery of dried bean curds. There are a lot of recipes floating around for simple salads and soups using these tofu skins, but I so much enjoy kkakdugi (Quick Korean Radish Kinchi) that I thought for sure you could use bean curd sticks for a similar snack. After […]

This super easy and very cheap salad can be served warm or cold. The recipe below makes for a mildly hot dressing. You can of-course add more chili as desired. The same goes for the sesame oil. I tend to only like a little bit in my dishes, but feel free to add more to […]

Sigeumchi-namul 시금치나물, from sigeumchi for spinach and namul because it is a vegetable dish, is one of the most common banchan (Korean side dish), and also one of the easiest! Best of all it isn’t spicy, so everyone can enjoy it! It’s funny to me that even as a family that isn’t particularly fond of […]