Cooking Korean: Manju (Sweet white bean buns)

I love to make buns, so when I was invited to my friend Ahsik-bot's bbq I decided I would make a sweet bun.  Maangchi had just posted a new recipe for Manju on her site - decision made.  The manju recipe is made with lima beans (for a white bean filling).  Lima beans are often sold as butterbeans.  Lima beans are nice and big ie easy to work with and mash nicely.  I'm sure you could replace them with a different large white bean (lima beans can be difficult to find in different places)



Now that you've seen the video, you know exactly what I did.  I used canned beans . . . with no negative lasting effect I think, as my buns were a huge hit.  I found I had to cook my beans a bit longer with the sugar in them to get them to thicken up.  I doubled the recipe, so I don't know if that was a factor.  I found that though I doubled the recipe and formed 16 buns, they were a bit small.  It seemed more like 1.5 the recipe - even though I did the math right.  It didn't seem to effect taste.

dough is on the left filling on the right

Going into the oven!

Coming out of the oven, they don't rise too much

Ninja trapped by manju!

As I mentioned the buns were a big hit.  I would definitely make them again.  It was quick and easy, while utilizing easy to find ingredients.  If your just starting out making buns this is a pretty forgiving recipe and dough, so probably a good place to start.

Food Fail

I had a food fail.  It was very sad.  I was trying to make a Vietnamese cake made with rice flour . . . I have a nice pudding.  It just didn't set.   I assume that when the recipe called for rice flour, it meant regular as it didn't specify glutinous.  Now I feel maybe this was an incorrect assumption.  So, I have some nice coconut pudding . . .

It looked good and bubbly like it was supposed to

Nice bubbly pan of cake . . . setting . . .

No . . . No setting.  Very sad.

Why did I blog about it?  I feel sometimes you have to put up your epic fails too.

Sunday Cooking: Sweet Potato Extravaganza!

I love making steamed buns . . . if you read this blog you know that.  My very good friend Ahsik-bot does not eat pork.  These means she has never eaten my delicious buns.  I follow a fantastic blog called My Little Space, which has just fantastic recipes.  This is where I found a recipe for curried sweet potato buns!  Doesn't that sound like the best ever!  I knew I had to make it for Ahsik-bot.  So, this is the story of our lovely Sunday dinner.
The recipe is in two parts.  One for the curried sweet potato filling (click for it).  And one for the sweet potato buns (clickity click).  Have a look and come back.  I'll wait . . . so now you know your suppose to make up the filling ahead and let it sit before using it.  As I always follow recipes to the letter, I made my filling Saturday night.  You may not that the recipe calls for things in grams, which I'm not particularly good with.  So, I bought rather more sweet potatoes than would be considered necessary.  So, a sweet potato extravaganza indeed.  I ended up making my filling and fried some extra sweet potato for my dinner - stir fried sweet potato and onions on spinach pasta topped with Parmesan cheese.  It was good . . . really. 

Fantastic chicken, sweet potato, and onion curry!

Yummy sweet potato and spinach pasta dinner . . . now with more ninja!!

Today I made up the dough.  I bought what was labeled purple sweet potatoes . . . which was really orange sweet potatoes.  So, instead of pretty purple buns I have pretty orange buns.  The taste is still delicious.  I loved the dough recipe.  It was super easy to make and the resulting dough had a great texture.  I had to add about double the water due to the extreme dryness of Edmonton.  The Edmonton effect as I call it.

Starter . . .

Sweet potato for the bun recipe . . .

dough ready to rise . . .

Big steamed buns

You can see how great the results were.  We had a great dinner of curried sweet potato buns, spinach salad, and korean spicy squid side dish! Yummy!  For desert I made black sesame cupcakes! Recipe found at TheSweetArt (click away).  I doubled it for 12 cakes.  They came out delicious and were a really great end to the meal.

Doesn't that look like a great dinner!

Black sesame cupcakes!

For a great dinner party.  Stuff and steam the buns when the guest arrive.  You can have them help, but it will take longer if they aren't used to bun making.  Make sure to remind them to pinch the dough like they don't like it.  While the buns rest for 10 minutes before steaming mix up the cake batter.  Put the buns on to steam and the cake in to bake.  My cakes took about twice as long to cook as the recipe mentioned.  Serve up the plates while the cake finishes cooking.  Salad takes no time to plate and korean squid side dish can be made in advance (up to a month in advance actually) and plated.  You may have to take the cakes out of the oven in the middle of your meal.  It is worth it though!  Perfect!

Cooking Korean: Ojingeochae muchim (spicy squid)

When I was traveling back from England I stopped at Yo!Sushi.  It is a fun little place where the sushi goes about on the conveyer and you pick the plates you want.  Different colors mean different prices.  One of the dishes I chose was spicy squid.  I love squid, so it was worth a try.  It was delicious bright reddish orange squid on a plate of greens.  Very very good . . . and the most expensive plate I got, but worth it.  It was definitely not a particularly cheap airport lunch.

it looks fun right?

Randomly I was looking at recipes before going shopping (I had no food in the house due to traveling so much lately).  I found a recipe for Ojingeochae muchim (spicy squid) at Maangchi's site that looked a lot like what I ate.  Click on the link to go to the site and watch the video if your inclined.   This recipe involves stirring the ingredients and that is all.  It doesn't get easier.  I halved the recipe as I didn't know if I'd like anything made with dried squid or not . . . half makes quite a lot.

Ninja got stuck in the squid . . .

Overall, I really like it.  It was super easy to make and apparently keeps in the fridge for 1 month.  It was very very spicy, which I like.  You may want to use caution though.  If you have any inclinaiton toward squid I would suggest it.

Green Onion Cakes!

Next, week I will be in Minneapolis for a conference and because of this I have not been buying groceries.  I also wanted to use up the groceries that I already have.  I had a bunch of green onions left over from my Korean Stir Fried Noddles.  What can I make with these?  Green Onion Cakes!  I searched the internet and found a recipe I liked at Momofukufor2.  I followed the recipe exactly so head over there and take a look.  Just a heads up my fat of choice was butter. Yummy Yummy Butter.

Dough ready to go - moist but not sticky.

Whole lot of green onions

Rolled as thin as I could get it . . . .

Coiled up, sorry the picture is bad my camera battery died right after this.

Squashed cakes taken with ipod!

Close up of one ready to be fired.

Out of the pan and on to the paper toweling.

Don't they look yummy!

It is a pretty simple recipe.  Just kind of mix and assemble.  It was super super easy.  I would put your oil a bit lower than suggested (more like medium) to ensure that the cakes cook all the way through and aren't too gummy in the middle.  They turned out delicious.  I also made a sauce.  Equal parts seasoned rice vinegar and soy sauce and a bit to red pepper paste for heat.  Yum!

Cooking Korean . . . Redue: Hoddeok . . . kinda

Awhile back I made some very very delicious Hoddeok following Maangchi's recipe. See the video for the full recipe. See my old post for my adventure.  It was super delicious and yummy, but as I was making and eating it I thought . . . what else can I put in this.  This is my new adventure with alternative fillings.


To me the best part of Hoddeok is the nice chewy sweet dough the filling is wrapped in.  So, I thought it would be good to see what else you could put in the middle of it.  For quite some time now I've had a large bag of lotus seed paste that I've been meaning to use.  It is a very delicious Chinese dessert filling.  Very rich, but not too sweet.  Much like a red or while been filling you get in some Japanese desserts.  Having picked my filling it was time to get started.

Bought at the T&T of course!

It is super thick so easy to use as a filling!

I made the dough exactly as instructed in the video.  Don't be put off by it.  It is much easier to work with then it appears.  Just make sure you have flour for your hands etc, when working with it.  You end up with 8 largish hoddeok.  The filling it really rich, so one is probably enough for a portion.  Or two is you have some tea and a break.

Nice bubble dough after all done rising twice

dough balls ready to be filled

Filling them is super easy

One done!

Filled and ready to cook!

Frying side one . . .

Flipped and smashed!

First one done . . . it goes to the ninja . . .

Big plate of Hoddeok!

The results were pretty good.  I was worried the filling might totally overwhelm the delicate taste of the dough, but it didn't.  Not as good as the original brown sugar filling, but a fun and interesting variation.  I can't wait to try other stuff in there!

Cooking Korean: Jjajangmyun (black bean noodles)

I've been cooking Korean again.  I made Jjajangmyun (black bean noodles).  I love noodles, but haven't been eating them much lately, so this seemed like a good recipe to try.  Once again the recipes can be found at Maangchi.com.  Like always the video is helpful!  Plus, the music is very fun for this one . . . I love The Clash!

Jjajangmyun from Maangchi on Vimeo.

I followed the recipe very closely, but I did use a different brand of black bean sauce and a daikon instead of a Korean radish (which I couldn't find).  Plus, I added some leftover shitake mushrooms I had.  I did find Korean noodles though! However, I decided to use the buckwheat variety.

Root veg and crispy pork belly!

Everything delicious cooking away!

Yummy fresh pasta!

The past gives me permission to add stuff to the pasta ie radish juice . . .

Sauce all done (I may have made it a bit thick . . .)

Look at that delicious pasta!

I cut everything at the start and put it in different bowls.  I think cooked the black bean paste at the same time that I stir fried the pork belly.  I also made sure it was very well cooked as I like it very crispy. I then added the root veg.  Cooked that for 3 minutes and then added the other veg and fired for 3 more minutes.   I followed the direction for the rest, but I didn't add the sugar as it was already pretty sweet (the bought paste or extra sweet sweet potatoes I don't know).

Lunch! Ninja Optional.

In the end, it turned out good.  The veggies are super soft and the pork belly super crisp.  It did turn out a bit salty though . . . I think its the black bean paste I bought.  I would use a different type next time, but I'm still pretty happy with it.  Yum!

Blood Pudding and Spinach, Feta, and Barley Salad

Tonight I struck out on my own to make dinner.  I felt like doing something that had a bit of a Greek flare as I loved how bright the food tasted there (mainly due to the lemon).  I've never made barley before.  But, I've been served it as a salad by others and really enjoyed it so gave it a try.  I paired it with some blood pudding (one of my favorite things) that I saw in the grocery store today and thought might go well with it.  If you've never had blood pudding, it is lighter than you might think.  It has a nice soft texture that I thought would go well with the chewier barley.  Since it is made with blood it also has a really rich earth flavor (from the iron I imagine).

Spinach, Feta, and Barley Salad

• 1 bunch spinach (coarse chop)
• 1 onion (chopped)
• 3 cloves garlic (chopped)
• 1 cup barley
• 2 cup beef broth, + variable amount of water
• 1/4 cup feta
• 1 lemon
• salt, pepper, and lots of dill (fresh if you have it)

Put about 1 tsp of olive oil in the pan and cook the onions until translucent.  Add garlic and saute about 1 minute. Add the spinach and cook until its all wilted.  Then add 2 cups of broth and a cup of water to start with the barley and the seasoning (not the lemon or feta).  Bring the mix up to a boil then turn it down to a high simmer and leave it.  I used pearl barley so it needs to be cooked about 45 minutes.  You need to check on it every 10 minutes or so and stir the barley and add a bit more water if it boiled off.  Don't add too much at the end.  Your making salad not soup.  When the salad has about 10 minutes left cut and fry the blood sausage.  When the barley is cooked through (soft) take it off the head and put in the juice of one lemon in.  let it sit a bit then add the feta.

Barley is cooking away . . .

Frying up the Blood pudding

All cooked up and ready to serve!

Salad and pudding all served up!

Doesn't it look yummy!

This meal turned out to be one my favorite recipes.  The salad had a great taste to it.  Not hot spicy, but full of flavor.  The blood pudding really complemented it.  A great meal and super simple to make.  It took about an hour total to make it.