Use it up!

Sometimes the most satisfying kitchen feelings come from using it all up. That last smidge of mayo in the jar, the last veggie burger in the freezer, the last olive staring like an eye. The weirdly divine feeling of scraping the end of the peanut butter and it all comes up as one chunk. Why on earth is this so satisfying? We just buy a new container and the cycle begins anew.

My dinner tonight was a super quick, corner-cutting, busy workday kind of dinner. But the best part was how I used up the last of so many things, and all thanks to Mother-In-Law's Gochujang sauce that makes everything taste divine.

Here's what I used up:

• an old floppy Japanese eggplant that was starting to get wrinkly [NO double entendres please, that emoji has been ruined forever and it saddens me]
• half of a bell pepper that looked good enough to eat, but only just
• some onion I found
• a hunk of ginger tough as nails
• a dark brown quarter of an avocado
• the last cup of rice which needs using FAST because here in the tropics we have weevils
• the last dash of soy sauce YAY I can recycle the bottle
• the last dash of rice vinegar YAY I can recycle the bottle
• the final dregs of the homemade kimchi I've had in my fridge for over a year, and yes, it tastes better than ever

Additional ingredients:

• olive oil, sesame oil
• sesame seeds
• scallions
• smoked gluten slabs that look exactly like roast chicken and it weirds me out
• some frozen vegetable dumplings I bought at the Korean store [*gasssp* PREPARED foods?? Food blog heresy. Keyword: worknight.]

Method

1. Cook veggies in oil. Add ginger.
2. Add gluten, dash of soy sauce, dash of vinegar, 1/8 jar of Mother-in-Law's gochujang sauce and some water (OR 1 tbsp of real gochujang, the concentrated stuff from the Korean store, whisked with water).
3. Let it cook down until sauce is the right consistency.
4. Put on top of rice with avocado pieces, dumplings, scallions, sesame seeds, and serve with the oldest kimchi you can find.

For those interested to know more about the gluten slabs: these are from the brand VeriSoy and it's simply called "smoked gluten." I bought them at a vegetarian restaurant in Honolulu called Water Drop (and yes, you should go, it's fab). The gluten has a chewy, layered texture with a thick smoked skin; the flavor is less appealing than the texture, since it's seasoned with soy sauce and sugar, making it weirdly sweet. I prefer my fake meats savory.

A parting gift for you: a single scallion flower.

Actually, no. This is your parting gift.