Kelly Choi Talks About Hosting 'Top Chef Masters'

Host Kelly Choi stopped by the studio to talk about the Bravo series Top Chef Masters.

According to Bravo, "Top Chef Masters will pit 24 world-renowned chefs against each other and see how well they fare in the tried and true format of Top Chef. [...] The winning chef will receive $100,000 for the charity of their choice."

Choi is an Emmy-nominated TV personality, who began her career as a Ford model. She was the producer and host of NYC-TV's weekly series Eat Out NY. In the series, she selects a restaurant, visits its kitchen and learns how to prepare a dish with the chef. She was also the host of the nationally syndicated and Emmy Award-winning series Secrets of New York, which explotred little-known facts and mysteries of Manhattan. This food journalist graduated from Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism with a Masters degree in magazine writing, and just published her first book The 20 Most Delicious Dishes in New York.

Top Chef Masters airs Wednesdays at 10pm on Bravo. For more information, visit www.bravotv.com/top-chef-masters.

Chajang Myun - Black Bean Noodles
This Korean-Chinese fusioned noodle dish is one of my favorites, and a totally homey comfort food. It's made with fermented black soybeans, not the typical black beans that you usually see at your grocery store. You can find the black bean paste (no substitutions) that my recipe calls for at most Asian markets and at most all Korean markets.

Ingredients:
1/2 lb pork belly, cubed 1/3 inch thick
2 heaping tablespoons of chunjang chajang paste (the black bean paste that's usually in a chocolate brown tub) udon noodles or any thick noodle. Rice is also a great base for this sauce
1 teaspoon chopped ginger
1/2 cup each, cubed into 1/3 inch chunks of:
Potatoes
Onions
Zucchini
Korean radish (can substitute daikon radish but Korean radish is a bit milder)
Olive oil
Low sodium chicken broth
Water
Potato starch, about a tablespoon or so
1 teaspoon sugar
Salt to taste if desired
Julienned cucumber (kirbys are best because they have tiny seeds) pickled daikon as a side dish

Method:

Add tablespoon of olive oil to hot wok or large and deep pan. Add cubed pork belly and chopped ginger. Cook until crisp, about 8-10 min.

Pour about 2 tablespoons of pork oil into small bowl and set aside. Add a touch more olive oil to wok, then add cubed potatoes. Cook for 2-3 min until potatoes get browned.

Add zucchini, onion, radish. Cook another 2-3 minutes.

Add chicken broth and some water until the ingredients are almost all submerged.

Cover and let boil until potatoes become soft (they take longest to cook, so it's the best indicator of doneness)

In a smaller frying pan, add the pork grease that was set aside. Add 2 heaping spoonfuls of black bean paste. Fry the sauce and incorporate it well with pork oil.

When big wok / pan of vegetables and pork belly is done, add the black bean sauce. Mix well.

In a small bowl, mix potato starch and same amount of water to make a slurry.

Add 1 teaspoon or so of sugar to the pork vegee mix. Begin to add in small amounts the potato starch slurry until the sauce thickens into a black lava consistency. It shouldn't be water or runny.

Cook noodles or rice according to directions. Noodles should be chewy and toothsome. In large bowl, add noodles or rice. Pour and smother the noodles with the chajang sauce.

Add julienned cucumber on top as garnish. Mix together. Slurp it up and enjoy with pickled daikon!