Stir-fried potato and ham

Today I’m going to show you another easy, simple recipe that doesn’t require any special ingredients from a Korean grocery store or anything. Just potato, ham, and onion. It’s a stir fried potato and ham side dish called gamja-haem-bokkeum!

How many times have I made this in my life? When my kids were in school I made it once or twice a week for years, because children love it and the slightly sweet, salty, and smooth potato and chewy ham go well with rice in a dosirak (Korean lunchbox). It’s also not watery, which is a key point for any dosirak item, because it has to sit in your lunchbox for hours before you eat it, and you don’t want any juices running into your rice before that. My mom never paid attention to this rule, and I ate a lot of rice soaked in kimchi juice growing up. : )

The sliced cucumber side dish is interesting. I learned the recipe from Buddhist monks in Korea and it’s in my second cookbook. Again, the key point is to squeeze out the water tightly from the cucumber so it doesn’t seep into your rice.

I like an over easy egg on top of the rice, but you can leave it out. Even when it’s cooled down by lunchtime, the gooey yolk is tasty with rice. It reminds me of the many people I see dipping some toast in their sunny-side up eggs at breakfast.

I hope you enjoy the recipe! Let me know if you make it.

Ingredients

Serves 4

• 1 pound russet peeled potato (or Yukon gold, or any potato)
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 4 ounces onion (about ½ cup), cut into ½ inch chunks
• 3 ounces (about 100 grams) cooked ham, cut into ½ inch cubes
• ½ small carrot (about ⅓ cup), peeled and cut into ⅓ inch cubes
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• ½ cup water
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon sugar (or calorie zero swerve), optional
• 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

Directions

1. Heat a large skillet over medium high heat and add the vegetable oil, potato, and garlic. Stir with a wooden spoon for 2 to 3 minutes until the potato looks slightly translucent and the garlic turns crispy and fragrant.
2. Reduce the heat to medium and add the onion, ham, carrot. Keep stirring for 2 to 3 minutes until the onion looks semi-translucent.
3. Reduce the heat to low and add the water, soy sauce, and sugar. Stir it a couple of times and cover. Lower the heat to medium-low or low and cook for 3 to 4 minutes until the potato is fully cooked but not mushy.
4. Uncover and turn up the heat to high heat. Gently stir with a wooden spoon until the juice is evaporated and the potato looks shiny. Be careful not to crush the potato chunks. Remove from the heat and gently stir in the sesame oil.
5. Serve right away as a side dish for rice, or pack it as a side dish in dosirak (Korean lunch box). You can refrigerate it for up to 3 days.

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