A month ago, I visited Dubai for my best friend’s birthday.  During the party, I was introduced to her friend who works in a Kitchenware company. When I returned to Singapore, he introduced me to his Singapore office. I wasn’t sure which company I was being introduced to.  Well, guess where he works? Luminarc!!!

I was invited to their  showroom to check out the range of products and they decided to provide a range of kitchenware for my classes. I was over the moon! One of the products I was given, which I was very intrigued by, was their new casserole range.

To test drive them, I decided to cook Seafood silken tofu jji ge(해물 순두부 찌께). I knew I could put casserole dish in the oven but on the stove?  The casserole is made of vitro-ceramic and Luminarc claims that they cook just as good as pots made of stainless steel, cast iron or cast aluminum. Well, I will be the judge of that. 🙂

I must say it’s more appealing to the eyes using a pretty casserole dish than boring black stainless steel especially when you are taking photos for your blog.

How to cook Seafood silken tofu jji ge:

Ingredients

2 bags of silken tofu, different types of seafood (prawns, squid, clams), 1 tbsp minced garlic, 3 tbsp of chilli powder, 1 tsp of salt, 3 tbsp vegetable oil, 2 spring onions, 1 egg, 3 cups of seafood stock (boil prawn heads and shells in water to make the stock)

In a pot, add 3 spoonfuls of vegetable oil and 2 teaspoons of Korean chilli powder. Cook on a low heat to make chilli oil. Be careful not to burn the chilli oil – if you do, your soup will be bitter and you are better off starting a new batch. I made the chilli oil before when I cooked seafood jjambong. So for those who wanted to see the photos of chilli oil, here you go!

Once you make the chilli oil, add the stock and clams and let it boil for a while.

Add the silken tofu and salt to season.

Finally, add the rest of the seafood and spring onions and cook for a few more minutes. When it is boiling furiously, you crack in an egg and serve straight away.

I made enough to serve an army! It was not too spicy and the soup had a good seafood flavour. I served it with steaming hot rice. I also made acorn jelly salad (도토리 묵) which was plated on a Luminarc dinner plate, adding extra colour to my salad.

So what’s the verdict on the casserole dish? I boiled the soup for over 40mintues and it didn’t get too hot to handle. The soup was just as good as cooking in a stainless steel pot. The biggest advantage of using this for me was that I didn’t have to plate the soup in another bowl.  I just took the casserole dish straight out to the table to serve. This made for less washing up afterwards! I might try cooking ginseng chicken next time to see how it handles being on the stove for 2 hours! Watch this space!  😉