Jul 25, 2010

YAKSIK - Sweet Rice with Nuts and Korean Dates

INGREDIENTSsweet rice (2 cups)
cooked chestnut (2cups)
dried dates (12)
(If you want you can add walnuts and pine nuts .)
[4 water for boiling sweet rice]
water(1cup)
brown sugar (7table spoons)
starch syrup (2-3 table spoons)
soy sauce (3 table spoons)
sesame oil (2 table spoons)

cinnamon powder (1/2 table spoon)
ginger powder (1 tea spoon)
salt (pinch)




Yaksik is kind of dessert(It's little bit sweet) and it is also good for breakfast. Actually, this is little bit heavy dessert for me, so I usually eat this instead of breakfast or brunch.

Before starting, you need wash sweet rice and sock it in water for 2~3hours. While sweet rice is sock in water, we will prepare special water(4 boiling sweet rice) and nuts. Just put all of ingredients of [water for boiling sweet rice] in a bowl and whisk it until brown sugar is melt(Unless brown sugar is not melt, you'll get too sweet spot!).

NUT TIME~~. We ganna take dried dates seeds out. It is not hard. Grap it and cut like peeling apples around seed. Unroll your dates without a seed. - OMG. my nail..... it is kinda of "VINTAGE STYLING"-_-; -. Anyway, Lay them making layers for cutting easily. I bought cooked chestnuts. It makes me to cook easily, but if you bought whole chestnuts, you must peel off and steam them. And cut chestnuts as bite-size. Yeah~~ every preparation is PERFECT.


I hope you guys have a ELECTRONIC RICE COOKER. From this section, we use that(I must put electronic rice cooker on ingredients). I suppose you have it..... Well, let's put sweet rice(without water), chestnuts and dates in a rice cooker, and pour our special water. Almost done. PUSH THE START BUTTON~!!!!!!!! AND WAIT~~~~~~

Done? My rice cooker is sooooo kind. She says "your rice is done", whenever she finish her job. When the rice is still warm you mix it. It is for balanced flavor. If every thing is done, put them all any bowl. I put it in a glass lock and lock. Using a cupcake pan is good idea.

Serve Yaksik cutting like brownie. Did you put it in cupcake pan? If you did you don't need cut. Did you leave over some pieces? I did. Don't worry. You save for breakfast and snacks. Wrap tham up and put them in a freezer and whenever you wanna eat, reheat in a microwave.

"ENJOY YOUR YAKSIK"

Jul 22, 2010

DOENJANG JJIGAE - soybean paste stew (Korean)

INGREDIENTS
3 cups water
6 cubes stew beef
2 table spoons doenjang(Korean soy paste)
1/2 table spoons gochujang(Korean cilly paste)
half Jalapeno
1 green onion
1/2 italian zucchini

3.5oz enoki mushroom
8oz tofu








"Doenjang Jjigae" is popular and traditional Korean home cooking. Maybe it is really strange taste for people who is unfamiliar with Korean foods, but if you get a taste for this, you're addicted to "DOENJANG" <(^!^)>. It is made from soy bean taking long time. Yeah~ this is good for health especially for women.
If you don't want to eat meat, you can use anchovy stock(Ummmmm.... this is also meat...) or vegetable stock. Those are good with Doenjang. Anyway this time I use beef ( My chef Duck like Doenjang Jjigae with beef). Before you pour water, Roast beef. Roasted beef give good smoky flavor. Now~!!!!! pour 3cups water and boil it. While water is boiling you can see some kind of brown bubble. Please scoop up that bubble. That contains impurity.

When water with beef boils hard, put doenjang and gochujang. My mother-in-law brought special home made Doenjang from Korea. It is really nice. However getting home-made Doenjang in USA is not easy. This stew is effected by which Doenjang is used. So it is really important choosing good Doenjang(I'll post about this, soon).
Let's prepare vegetable. Just cut bite-size. I'm little bit ashamed of talking about this. ^^*
Oh. this picture has not tofu. You also need to cut tofu.
While you prepare vegetable and tofu, soup based doenjang is ready to take them^^. Put enoki mushroom at the end.
Cook this on low 30~40min. covering. You are careful not to boil over.
" ENJOY YOUR DOENJANG JJIGAE "

Jul 19, 2010

OMG~ I'M ADDICTED TO

I've been gain weight since this year begin.... (almost 5lb T_T). I gave up checking my weight since last month. OMG OMG~~~~~~~
I have many excuse for eating snacks - Mother nature comes to me, I feel upset, I don't want to eat alone, ...... etc etc. Actually I don't enjoy all kinds of tea but I really like tea flavor snacks( l really like coffee but I don't like coffee flavor snacks and candies).
I often go to a maket near by my house. There are many kinds of ingredients and snacks from worldwide. I love that place(my Chef Duck calls the place to a treasure island). Anyway, I found this treasure - really creamy and full of green tea flavor - Uji macha cookie.
However, It has BIG PRPBLEM~! That is what it contains only 8piceses cookies. Most of asian snacks has small, small amount.

Jul 16, 2010

PERILLA SEED SUJEBI - Korean style pasta soup

INGREDIENTS
[4 Dough]
2 cups all propose flour
3/4 cups water
pinch of salt
1 tea spoon vegetable oil
[4 Soup]
6 cups water(for anchovy stock)
20 dried anchovies
3 or 4 pieces kombu
2cups water(for perilla seed mix)
1cup perilla seed


Are you ready to enjoy this special food? You might be love this.
I usually eat perilla leaf with Korean BBQ or steam rice AND seeds~~with adding some soup(it give to soups nutty taste, l like that, yum-yum).
Sujebi is a kind of noodle(?) or pasta(?) soup. I eat Sujebi as weekend special. This soup is easy to cook(Everybody wants to stay lazy, Don't you think?)

First~! Let's make a dough. Did you check ingredients for dough? Just mix all of them and make shape like a ball. Dough wraping up needs to rest in a refrigerator from 1 hour to 2days.


Well, It's time for anchovy stock. Anchovy stock is reaaaaallllly good with noodle. Before pour water, roast anchovies without any kinds oil for only 1min or less. This process makes that anchovy stock has less fishy. And than 6cups water with 20 dried anchovies and 3 kombu pieces will be boiled for 20min.

While the anchovy stock is boiling, we make perilla seed mix. I used grind seed. You can use whole seed but you have to roast seed like to roast anchovies. than grind seeds + water even if you use grind seed. Let's make it as like milk~~~~.
Add the perilla seed mix to anchovy stock, and (of course) boil it~~ Is that smell really nice?

Time to shape dough. Take a little piece off from a dough(like below) 1.pull a dough 2. just take it off from big one. The size?BITE-size (We will eat sujebi with a spoon (^^)/)
Put them(I am sure that you didn't make ONLY ONE BIG PIECES) all into boiling soup. Is shaping dough flouting on the soup? Yeah~!!!!! Time to eat~!
I usually eat this Sujebi with soy sauce(with green onion, jalapeno, chilli powder and sesame oil). You can enjoy with salt and pepper or soy sauce like me.
" ENJOY YOUR PERILLA SEED SUJEBI~! "

Jul 11, 2010

TAMAGOYAKI - Japanese rolled egg

INGREDIENTS
5 large eggs
0.2lb yamaimo
1/3 cup kazobusi broth(Kombu, Kazobusi, 2cup water)
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon mirin(rice cooking wine)
1 pinch salt




Japanese usually say that If you want to know which sushi restrant is good or not, you must eat a tamagoyaki first. That maybe means that it is not easy food to cook well and delicious.
Lat's cook a tamagoyaki easy~ however I guarantee that it is really good(self-praise ^^). First of all, we make Kazobusi broth. Prepare Kombu, Kazobusi(buy indivisual packing) and 2cups water.(I bought Kombu from Whoe Foods. If you there are Asian grocery near by you, that is the better way to buyall of ingredients by one stop.)
I usually put Kazobush in a tea pack. Kazobusi flakes make mass however if you love flakes, it is no matter to use that without a tea pack. All of these and 2cups water is boil for 20 min. with covering the pan and than cool down enough not to cook egg mix(Don't take out Kazobusi and kombu. they will work for thicker broth.CHEER UP!).

Well, let's make the egg mix. Before making it, we grind chamma. You can use your blinder, but I use grater. yamaimo is very sticky. That makes a tamagoyaki to smoother. And this is really good for your health. I and my Chef Duck eat breakfast instead to, at every morning, we drink grind yamaimo with milk for our shinny and healthy life. You will have to try~!

Anyway, mix all of ingredients without bubble. I whisk egg with chopstick or fork. If the egg whites show, tamagoyaki has white parts---->like mine T_T
I don't have a tamagoyaki pan-it has square shape. So I fried egg mix on normal pan(I mean the pan everybody has). Before fring egg mix you must remember these rule. - Don't pour the egg mix one time. Divide into 2 or 3. And roll egg mix when it is cooked half.

Shaping is big problem for me BUT I have little tricky tip ^_^* . Follow me~. We need a baking sheet and a pound cake pan. Put a tamagoyaki on a baking sheet. Then make shape wraping up the rolled egg and~~~ put that in a pound cake pan.

Cut the tamagoyaki after cooling down. "ENJOY YOUR TAMAGOYAKI~!!!!"