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.

Baked Catfish and Summer Salads

It was another beautiful day here and I was in the mood for another summer salad.  I paired it with some baked catfish and a light macaroni salad.  Yesterday I picked up some nice veggies at the Downtown Farmers Market, so I was all set to go.

First, I got my fish ready to go and set it baking.  I just defrosted (mostly) my catfish and then covered it with a self-created marinate.  I used about 1tbs olive oil, 1 tsp thyme, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp garlic powder, 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper, and a sprinkle of salt.  Baked at 400F for 20 minutes. I also put my water on to boil for my macaroni salad.

Aren't they cute!

Next, I cut up my veggies for the summer salad.  Mine was fresh farmer's market English cucumber, zebra tomatoes, and black olives with a light sesame dressing.  The zebra tomatoes I have are actually a black zebra tomato (green and deep red).  They are rather unbelievably delicious.  I wouldn't want to do too much to them.  A light dressing like this or just salt.  They are that good.  I believe they are an heirloom variety.  The more heirloom veggies I eat from farmer's markets etc, the more I can't believe we eat anything else.  I'm not much for gardening (I can do it, I just prefer not to . . .), but I am considering it to have lots and lots of black zebra tomatoes. 

Now that's a summer salad!

I made a light dressing for the macaroni as well.  Just a bit of light mayo and hot mustard.  Maybe 1 tbs for the whole serving.  Since my catfish was spicy I wanted to be able to cool it down and make sure I wasn't blowing out my taste buds with the heat.

Ninjas like balanced meals!

In the end it was a very delicious meal. Another great success.

Cooking Korean: Chamchijeon (tuna pancakes)

This is a super simply recipe from Maangchi! I wanted something nice and light and summery last night and this fit the bill.  I made the Chamchijeon exactly like the recipe. I know can you believe it (I would use 1/2 the amount of salt next time).  If you have a can of tuna in the house you can probably make this tonight! For the recipe watch the video!



For dinner I had my chamchijeon with a nice chopped salad (Avocado, tomato, green onion, and a little gomae dressing).

All the ingredients ready to go!

Mixed and ready to fry!

Nice little tuna pancakes!

Ninjas like chamchijeon and summer salad!

It was a great light summer mean.  I highly recommend it!

Mango Coconut Sticky Rice

I decided to make some dessert last night around 10 pm . . . I was still making my lectures for next week and I thought I could use a happy food related break.  I found this recipe at about.com - it was simple, which is always good when you start cooking at 10 pm.  It also was a pretty quick recipe.  I followed the recipe pretty closely, only I didn't use and coconut extract and I used canned mango (it is what I had).

Being enjoyed with my batman glass . . .

Close up - there is a pile of rice under the mango, it is an island in the sea of coconut sauce . . .

The result was delicious!  It really hit the spot.  Perfect for a night time work break dessert.  Obviously, if you don't have sticky rice on hand you may need to prepare to make this a bit ahead of time.  I should note that it isn't very sweet.  So it you want super sweet at sugar or if you don't like super sweet it is already perfect for you.  Also, the sauce does not get particularly think while your cooking it, but it really sticks to the rice so it is easy to eat.  You could easily make this and skip the mango (would still be delicious) or you could add a different kind of fruit.  Here's to having fun even if your working for the weekend . . .



Dance break! ♪┏(・o･)┛♪┗ ( ･o･) ┓♪┏ ( ) ┛♪┗ (･o･ ) ┓♪┏(･o･)┛♪

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!

Sticky Rice with Spicy Tofu and Mushrooms

Note: This was suppose to post before I left . . . apparently I failed to do so. 

I bought a bag of sticky (glutinous) rice after eating really good sticky rice at a dim sum place.  A friend said they had made before and it wasn't too hard.  Of course I bought a bag the next time I was at the grocery store . . . I shop at an Asian grocery store so its easy.  Then I just left the bag in my cupboard for a couple of weeks as I hadn't bothered to buy any banana leaves.  You wrap the rice in them, you don't eat them . . . though they do smell of bananas.  I finally noticed frozen banana leaves while shopping and picked up a pack.  I needed to figure out how to make a dish now. I googled a bunch of recipes but none were quite right.  So, I mixed them together and this is the recipe I came up with.

Baked and ready to be eaten!

Ingredients:

Rice:
-2cups sticky rice
-3 3/4 cup water
-1/4 tsp salt

Filling:
-small container tofu
-container of mushrooms (I used oyster as I like them)
-some oil (olive)
-some flavored/seasoned vinegar (I used red wine vinegar)
-2 cloves garlic minced
-1/2 tsp ginger
-2 tbs fish sauce
-1 tbs soysauce
-1 tbs brown sugar
-2 tsp chili paste

Other:
-toothpicks (6)
-banana leaves

Sticky rice bundle = goal

1. soak rice in water for about 1 hour. (if your banana leaves are frozen put them out to thaw)
2. stir in 1/4 tsp salt and turn on high heat.
3. when boils stir and turn heat down to medium-low and cover 3/4 of the way with the pot lid for 10 minutes.
4. when water is gone take off heat and let sit, covered, for at least 10 more minutes.  Let cool so you can work with it.
5. dice the tofu and mushrooms.
6. Heat oil (about a tbs) on medium-high in a wok or large pan and add the tofu. Cook until brown.  If the pan drys out add some vinegar. When they are brown add the mushrooms and a drizzle more oil in. Stirfry until they shrink up.
7. Turn heat to medium-low.  Mix up all the other filling ingredients to make a sauce and add to the pan. Cook until it is thick and not drippy. Take off heat and let sit.
8. Cut banana leaves into 6 squares about 1' by 1' and 6 squares about 10" by 10".  Put the smaller square inside the larger square and make sure the growth lines of the leaves go in opposite directions.  this will stop leaking.
9. place sticky rice in the middle of the leaf in a 4" x 4" x 1/2" square.  Put two heaping tablespoons (or whatever looks good) in the middle of the square.  Put a glob of rice on the top.  Wet your fingers and push the rice together so the filling is contained.
10. Wrap the rice up in the banana leaf like a present . . . fold the top, bottom, left, and right sides in.  Pin shut with the toothpick. Repeat for 6 large packets of rice.
11. Refrigerate any packets you don't want to eat immediately.  To finished bake at 350 F for 30 minutes or microwave until fully heated.

Sticky rice in a pan . . .

Filling all cooked up - it is spicy

Mostly shut . . .

hole is plugged and ready to be wrapped

Baked with the toothpick out

The result was delicious.  I felt they had just the right amount of spice!  I would make them a tough saucier next time I think.  So, if you want to increase the proportions a bit that would probably be a nice touch. Yum!

Note - this is actually pretty easy, but you can use it to show off for a dinner party!

Cooking in the UK: Omurice

I decided to make a nice home cooked meal for the great girl I'm staying with here in England.  There was the obstacle to overcome that I cook a lot of elaborate Asian food . . . not conductive to tiny British Kitchens or to the lack of a wok . . .  and 1 small pot and 1 small frying pan.  Mik-bot love ketchup, so I decided to try and make some omurice. I used my normal recipe really, but with chicken . . . cooked in a pot.



What I did:

Cute and delicious . . .

Look a tiny dragon!

Pot of chicken . . .

Giant rice pot!

Look how good it turned out!

And for desert!

It worked pretty good.  Chicken and omelet were amazing.  Cooking it in a pot didn't seem to hurt it.  Mik-bot took one bit and said "this might be what Japanese kids think of for home cooking, but this is what my kinds are going to think of for home cooking."  I guess that means it is good!

Note:  I had to use a gas stove . . . I felt a bit like I was going to die, but it worked.

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: Japchae (stirfried noodles)

I decided to make something new from Maangchi's site today: Japchae or stirfried noodles and vegetables.  It just looked so good . . . I like to stirfry things . . . woks  are fun.  The recipe also looks like it will heat up well so I can many meals out of it.  That is how I like to cook.  Complicated recipes that will last me for a bit . . . but not too hard, I don't like failure. As always I recommend starting with the video to get an idea of the recipe.

As often happens I changed the recipe up a bit based on ingredients I have/could get.  It is beautiful spring here in Edmonton (finally), so I walked to the nearby grocery store rather than going somewhere fancy.  I couldn't find the starch noodles, so I used regular rice noodles . . . okay brown rice noodles . . . they seemed the most fun of my options.  I also used ground beef that I had to use like now rather than slicing up some beef I would have had to purchase today.  Overall, I think the soul of the recipe is intact.

bowl of ingredients!

Its a ninja trap . . .

The result? Fantastic!  And super easy.  I would make this again.  I changed up the recipe a bit and cooked more of my veggies together at each step . . . but I don't think it hurt the quality . . . I was very hungry at the time.

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!