Weird Japanese Food!

I've found some more weird Japanese food to review.  Today we have gum and chips.  Sounds like it would be normal right?  No.  First off the gum.  A nice offering by Recaldent and made by . . . Cadbury - yes Cadbury.

Not sure why it is smart . . . maybe the neat box makes it smart!

Make sure you toss out the wrapper . . . that is smart

The gum is grape flavored.  You can see from the wrapper that it is filled . . . filled with mint.  That is correct. Mint.  The minty flavor lasts just a bit and then the grape flavor sets in.  It is actually very present, though the flavor doesn't last particularly long.  It was strangely addicting.  Offering two. Pizza flavored chips (spicy!).

Calbee pizza potatoe chips!

Roast chicken?

Weird, but oddly appealing again.  The flavor is mainly of spice, tomatoes, and maybe a hint of cheese.  I'm not sure whats up with the chicken on the back. It did not taste of chicken.  They weren't too greasy which was nice.  Just a nice normal chip.  The spice wasn't too strong, but was noticeable. Yay!

Again - two good choices!

Sainsbury Dinner

The sandwich is salt beef & tewkesbury style mustard dressing.

I like to try things I've not had before when I'm traveling.  The sandwich was one of the better boxed sandwiches I've had here.  The mustard dressing was very spicy.  The salt beef didn't taste very salty.  I really love the Prawn Cocktail chips.  They taste like mayo and cocktail sauce . . . yummy!

Haggis!

I have a great love for sausage (real sausage, stay out of the gutter).  It has not been overly documented on this blog, though I have talked about blood sausage.  Once of my favorite hardcore sausages.  It frightens people, but really its a good sausage that is some times spicy and always delightful.  This particular kind of sausage is often referred to as blood pudding (the Brits have weird ideas about pudding . . . be careful what you order).  Haggis is like blood pudding even scarier cousin.  Not to me personally, but to many many people.  Why is this?  Many people don't know whats in it but that scary Scot word sounds worse than blood. 

Doesn't that look great!

What is is is a sausage made of sheep's heart, liver and lungs, minced onion, oatmeal, suet, and spices.  Usually it is cased in sheep's stomach.  She not so scary right.  Heart and liver are both pretty good on their own.  I generally avoid the lungs ans I stay away from mostly gray tissues, but it is all ground up so its fine.  I did enjoy the haggis with my breakfast when I was in Scotland.  By why post about it today?  The Haggis adventure of course.

Its a pretty classy hut . . .

So, in honor of my friend making it back to Edmonton we are going to the The Bothy Wine and Whiskey Bar. I don't drink, but I do like Haggis! The haggis was great.  In fact, the food was all fantastic I would definitely recommend the place.  Absolutely fantastic.

Cooking Korean: Mandu (dumplings)!

Tonight I made some dumplings.  I used a recipe I found at Maangchi.com.  I just can't resist dumplings so I new I had to make these.  First, you should watch the video, so that you can see that you'll just fine making these!



I followed the recipe as exactly as I could.  I could not find round skins at the two grocery stores I went too . . . having already bought everything else I used square skins.  this means my mandu are not quite as cute, but they still turned out good.  I should note that it took me about 40 minutes to make all the mandu (I wasn't trying to go quickly, but it will take a bit if your doing it by yourself).

All the parts ready to go!

Filling all mixed up!

Ready to be stuck together . . . square isn't that bad . . .

Sealing it up . . . starting in the middle works best!

Bottom tray filled . . . clearly I experimented with shape a bit (all shapes stayed sealed equally well)

These ones are for cooking.

All fried up!

Mandu with Ninjas!

This recipe makes a bunch!  I have a nice big batch in my freezer.  Plus, I got to eat a bunch for dinner and have some cooked up for lunch tomorrow.

Isn't my lunch cute!  Particularly pig soy bottles!

 Its going to be a great bento lunch.  I'm super excited.

Double Black Sesame Buns!

For Chinese New Years my friends and I went out to eat at a nice restaurant that was serving black sesame buns.  They were fantastic and I decided I would make some.  After searching the internet I found that there wasn't to many black sesame bun recipes and that I didn't really love any of them . . . so I used my bun knowledge and what I found and made my own recipe.  It is two parts.  Part 1 is for the black sesame bun dough and part 2 is for the black sesame filling. 

Double Black Sesame Bun Recipe (makes about 16 buns)
Time: about an hour

Ingredients Part 1:
2 cups flour
50 g or about 1/4 cup black sesame powder
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
3 tbs butter
1 1/4 cup water
3/4 tbs dry yeast
2 tbs flour
1/2 tbs sugar

Ingredients Part 2:
50g or about 1/4 cup black sesame powder
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter

Making Dough -

1. Mix 1 1/4 cup water, 3/4 tbs dry yeast, 2 tbs four, 1/2 tbs sugar together and let sit 10 minutes. 
2.  Put the rest of the dough stuff together in a medium to largish bowl.  So, all the rest of ingredients part 1 EXCEPT the butter.
3. Melt the butter.
4. Combine all the dough ingredients and leave to 20 - 30 minutes (it really wont get much bigger)

Yummy dough!

Get the cups ready while you wait!

Make Filling -
1. Put all of ingredients part 2 list in a small pot.
2. Heat until butter melts and you have a paste.
3. Put paste in bowl and refrigerate or freeze (this will make it less runny and easier to work with)

Nice melty black sesame paste!

Cooled, just stir and your ready to go!

Make Buns-
1. Grab a nice golf ball size handful of dough.  Spread it out in your palm to make a circle.  You may need to flour your hand. More dough is better to prevent explosions.
2. Put 1 tsp of filling in the center.
3. Pinch bun shut.
4. Put in cupcake cups or on parchment paper squares.

Handful of dough . . .

Tsp of filling . . . sorry its hard to take pictures while covered in dough . . .

Seal it up . . .

Put it in a paper cup . . .

Steam Buns -
1. Get your steamer ready to go.
2. Arrange buns in steamer.  They will expand so make sure they have at least 1/2 an inch, but 1 inch is better.
3. Steam for 10 minutes. If you put a dish towel between the lid and the top steamer try your will prevent pitting!

Note the small explosion to the top left and the perfection that is the top right . . .

This is the awesomeness when you eat it!

Mine turned out great (this was confirmed by friends). I did have a small problem with explosion.  Most of the filling stayed in though so it was okay.  I also had some thin spots that resulted in an uneven look.  This is because my dough was a bit wet.  I thought it would be okay, but in the future if the dough is sticky I'll add just a touch more flour.  The taste is great though!

Cooking Korean: Bibimbap! (mixed rice)

I finally had time to make a full dinner this Sunday.  It was pretty exciting.  I went Korean again.  A friend of mine had mentioned how she loves getting Bibimbap at Korean restaurants and I remembered seeing a recipe at Maangchi.com . . . so I decided to make it.  Bibimbap is mixed rice . . . but that doesn't really do it justice.  I is just a great mix of veg and meat and rice.



I love Maangchi's videos.  For once I did everything like she did.  I used brown rice though.  I even found the fern brakes (which taste good!).  I got the fresh kind, so I didn't have to rehydrate them.  I will mention that it takes awhile to make all the parts.  They are all really delicious though, totally worth it.

Arranged on the plate!

With my poorly fried egg . . .

Mixed and ready to eat!

I would definitely make this again.  Its pretty healthy overall and delicious!

Cooking Korean: Gaji namul

Gaji namul is a Korean Eggplant side dish.  Eggplant is one of my very favorite things, so I was super excited to try this recipe from Maangchi.com.  Its also super simple.  Watch the video to find out how to make it.



After that helpful video you should be ready to go.  I should note that my version is a touch different.  First, I made a smaller batch . . . because I only have two smallish Asian eggplants.  Also, when I went to make this I realized the green onion I saved for the meal was bad. Other than that I did what I was told and it was delicious.

Hand ripped eggpland

All mixed up

Lunch is served: Korean eggplant and rice and leftover Japanese pancake

 If you don't like the sliminess of eggplants this dish is probably not your thing the combo of the steamed eggplant and the sesame oil is a touch slimy. But, delicious if you like that sort of thing . . . and I do!

Hobakjuk: Butternut squash porridge!

Tonight I made Hobakjuk.  Your right I found the recipe at Maangchi.com (this will bring you to the right place).  I picked it because I love Butternut squash . . . squash in general really.  Plus, I had everything (but the squash) already in my house! I keep sweet rice flour (mochiko) in the the house, but if you don't you'll need to go buy some.

I found Maangchi's video to be very helpful:



I followed the recipe pretty closely.  It was super easy though it did take a bit to make.  I used a 3 small squashes and when it came time to boil the squash in the water the second time I used only 4 cups of water.  I also topped the porridge with cinnamon when serving (which was a good touch).

No cling wrap? Use a ziplock!

I'm not lazy so I made small ones . . .

Aren't they cute!

All set to go . . .

Look at that yummy soup . . .

Topped and ready to eat

A mochi in every bite!

In the end I found the porridge to be delicious.  I may put a bit more sugar in it next time and maybe a bit more spice.  The rice balls really made it.  The texture was much like gnocchi.  I might try mochi balls in some other soups.  This is a fantastic recipe and worth trying.

Glutten Free Gingerbread House: Part 1 Baking

My dad and I make a Christmas project ever year.  It usually involves cake or cookies.  This year we decided to make a gingerbread house.  This is complicated by the fact that my father is now on a gluten free diet.  Baking challenge accepted!

We started by picking a recipe.  If you've ever cooked gluten free you know that it can be difficult.  The ingredients are often expensive and recipes often require a huge amount of ingredients.  In the end I settled on one that we already had most of the ingredients for.  I used a recipe found at Jenn Cuisines.  The author of the recipe also used it to make a gingerbread house, which I thought was a good sign.  I should warn you that my batch turned out a bit dry and I only added 1.5 cups of millet flour.  I should also mention that the cookies are not very sweet.  If I make this again I'll add a bit more sugar.  In the end we had enough for the house, but not much else.

Half the dough ready to be rolled out!

The next stage is picking a pattern.  I looked all over at free patterns.  We flirted with the idea of designing our own, but as this is our first time decided to use something we were pretty sure would work (fingers crossed).  In the end we went with the Swedish gingerbread house design found at Marthastewart dot com.  It was the right amount of classic and interesting . . . and the patten was free!

Patterns ready to be cut!

We made up the dough and cut out all the bits!  It was rather stressful due to the dryness of the dough.  However, we ended up with what appears to be very sturdy house pieces.  Construction has not yet began due to time constraints, but you'll get a blog as soon as possible!

Unbaked with the windows being popped out . . .

First sheet out of the oven . . .

The front!

Side of the house

Most of the parts baked and ready to go!

Ikkin-bot baker extraordinaire!

So far the project has been great.  I recommend family christmas projects.  It is a great way to relax and make sure you actually see people at the holidays instead of just running around stressed out. 

Korean Food: Sigeumchi namul!

Sorry I haven't posted in awhile. I've been having some personal stuff happening, which has made me very very busy. But, tonight I had a couple of friends over for Korean pork buns (Jjinppang mandu). Yecal-bot requested these as birthday treat. To go along with this I made a spinach side dish (Sigeumchi namul) I found on Maangchi.com (click me to see!).  It was a huge hit!  I made 1.5x the recipe for 3 people and had about 3 tbs left after the meal.  Yecal-bot in particular was pleased.  I would highly recommend the recipe (if you like raw garlic) as I would all of Maangchi's recipes. 

Other than making a larger batch I didn't change anything . . . okay I used more than 2 cloves of garlic . . . I really like raw garlic . . . luckily my friends do too!

Yum!

Jjinppang mandu and Sigeumchi make a great dinner!

Watch Maagnchi's video!

Panfried Tofu: Dubu buchim yangnyumjang and dubu ganjang jorim!

I did some more Korean cooking today.  I have been trying (and failing) to make delicious tofu for awhile now.  It is a good source of protein, I just didn't really know how to use it.  This may surprise you, but it isn't a super common ingredient in the Midwest where I grew up.  I noticed that Maangchi had two recipes (utilizing 1 block of tofu) over at her site and have been meaning to try it ever since (please follow my link to the recipe).  Today I did.

1 block of tofu cut into 20 pieces

Panfried is part of the title . . .

First, I made the spicy Dubu buckim yangnyumjang first (I think I will refer to it as spicy tofu as the Korean is a bit of a mouth full!) I made this one completely as instructed.  I did have a really large green onion though . . .

Sauce ingredients . . .

Mixed up it looks delicious!

All done!

Happy skeleton says "Yum"

Next, I made the sweet dubu ganjang jorim (sweet tofu, once again the Korean is a bit of a mouthful!).  I was out of corn syrup (which I realized while cooking), so I used golden syrup instead.  I don't think this effected anything much . . .

Caramelizing the sweet sauce . . . 

All done!

Happy Skeleton say "Yum"

I loved both dishes but the spicy dubu buckim yangnyumjang was my favorite.  Good enough to be made again and again!  I'm very happy I finally found a tofu recipe that I find satisfying!

Thanks Maangchi!
 ~I recommend trying anything she makes! (watch the cute video)