Falafel November 27, 2007

falafel with the works

You know I didn’t even have my first falafel until a few years ago when I was in Amsterdam. There was a falafel store down the block from the hostel I was staying at with a few friends from summer school in England. We were only there for a few days but it was our first meal of the day for the whole weekend. Without it I would have perished! The best thing about it was the condiment/toppings bar. So many different types of salads and sauces. It was heaven for me. I am a total condiment girl.

Since then I’ve had very few falafels. The sandwich at Arax is good and the pita from Eat-a-Pita was ok. Pretty minimal though. But when I was in Paris in last winter and got to eat a delicious sandwich from L’as du Falafel memories of my first falafel came rushing back. The falafels were crunchy on the outside, soft and nutty inside. Oh man it so good.

freshly fried falafels and sauteed eggplant

I thought I would give homemade falafels a go for my friend Julie’s birthday. I fried and packed these suckers up for a work lunch congregated in her honor. I found a recipe on epicurious and the falafels turned out great. It’s deep-fried chickpea batter. That can’t be bad. I made quenelles of the ground chickpeas and fried them in canola oil. I also fried up some eggplant a la L’as du Falafel. First I sliced and salted the eggplant first to draw out some of the bitterness. Boy assisted by rinsing the slices and drying them to get them ready for the hot pan.

falafel in pita before the works

The toppings included tabouli, pickled red cabbage, pickled red turnip salad (bought), tahini sauce, cucumbers in yogurt, tomato mint salad, and the fried eggplant. Phew, I can finally cross falafels off my “to make” list! And it was a success. Double whammy. Now for the other million dishes…

Chipotle Shrimp Hash November 16, 2007

I desperately needed to use up my King Edward potatoes. I got them from Weiser Farms and unintentionally held onto them for weeks. I had grand plans for them but delay after delay they sat in the onion basket. Finally I got productive and made chipotle shrimp hash.

I boiled the potatoes whole then diced them up. I browned it well in olive oil until it was crusty then added red pepper, green pepper, yellow pepper, shallots, and a few minced chipotles with accompanying adobo. I added poached shrimps last and garnished with cilantro (excuse the clumped up mess). The potatoes were exceptionally delicious and you know I love spicy. To add even more spice I made salsa fresca with tons of minced jalapenos. Oh, and a fried egg to top it. I love fried eggs too!

Bibimbap – Rice with Vegetable Medley November 15, 2007

excuse the reflection of the lamp in the yolk! haha~

Everyone loves bibimbap. Especially when it comes in a sizzling stone pot and the rice gets all crusty on the bottom. For my home version a simple bowl had to do the job. Bibimbap is a rice bowl with a variety of vegetables and bit of meat all to be mixed together with gochujang. I used zucchini, carrots, onion, mungbean sprouts, spinach, shiitake mushrooms, and beef. All the ingredients must be cooked separately and presented in individual mounds on top of the rice.

The beef and mushrooms were marinated lightly with soy sauce and sesame oil and sauteed. The spinach and mungbean sprouts were blanched, squeezed of excess water, and tossed with a touch of sesame oil. The remaining vegetables were sauteed in a mixture of canola oil and sesame oil and seasoned with salt. Then everything was arranged in a bowl and topped with a fried egg all to be mixed together with a touch of sesame oil and gochujang.

If you haven’t tried yet gochujang has great flavor – spicy, deeply savory, slightly pungent from the doenjang. It’s the foundation of many sauces and dishes, along with soy sauce and gochugaru (Korean red chili flakes).

If you don’t feel like going through the effort of cooking all the different vegetables you can do a simple version. Just saute marinated beef and onion and mix together with rice, gochujang, and a drizzle of sesame oil. It’s fast food at home!

Dubu Samgyupsal Jorim – Tofu & Pork Belly in Pepper Sauce November 14, 2007

My grandmother, my dad’s mother, is an awesome cook. At my grandparent’s house in Korean they used chosun soy sauce that’s been passed down for generations, made kimchi and fermented it in the traditional claypots outside, made doenjang from scratch, and for celebratory events even made dduk from scratch. Everything was from scratch and everything was delicious. This tofu recipe comes from this side of the family and it is really a treasure. It has pork belly. How can it not be?

I had a hard time trying to translate jorim. It’s most often translated as a braise but that’s not quite it. The western braise usually consists of searing and cooking over low heat in a small amount of liquid, trying to keep the moisture intact in the dish. Jorim is a bit different. The verb “jo-ree-dah” means to reduce. So in making a jorim you are essentially reducing the sauce and the ingredients by cooking it down together. Perhaps a dictionary will clear this up. Anyone?

First you need to fry up some firm tofu. Make sure it’s drained well to reduce splattering. Meanwhile boil the pork belly chunks in water to parcook it. Slice the pork about the same width as the tofu and arrange them in a wide pan with the pork belly slices on the bottom. Now for the sauce. It’s mainly gochujang (Korean pepper paste) with soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic, sesame seed, and water to really loosen it up. The water’s going to evaporate anyways and you need the sauce that goes in to be pretty loose so the dish doesn’t get too salty. Now pour the sauce over the layered tofu and pork, top with one inch slices of scallion, cover and simmer over medium heat for about 15 minutes. Check on it though to make sure there’s enough moisture in the pan and that nothing is burning. My mom and I love to add mushrooms to this dish. I used king oyster mushroom and it works great because it’s pretty mild flavored and it soaks up the sauce well.

Eat with rice!

Japchae – Sweet Potato Starch Noodles with Vegetables November 12, 2007

Japchae is a sweet potato starch noodle dish with a variety of vegetables, mostly commonly with onion, spinach, carrots, and mushrooms. It is a special occasion dish made for parties, family gatherings, and holiday celebrations. This time it was one of my coworker’s birthday. (Happy Birthday Johnson!)

There is usually a little bit of marinated beef in japchae but I made mine with the vegetables only with the addition of red peppers. The onion, carrots, red peppers, and shiitake mushrooms were sliced thinly and sauteed separately in a combination of canola and sesame oil. The spinach was blanched and squeezed well to rid it of its excess water then marinated with a touch of sesame oil, soy sauce and sesame seeds. When the noodles were done cooking (seven minutes in boiling water), I rinsed it in cold water and drained it.

Then it was time to bring everything together. I sauteed the drained noodle in sesame oil for few minutes then added all the vegetables and soy sauce and sesame seeds to taste. It’s quite festive, colorful and delicious.

A Korean Birthday Dinner November 10, 2007

I cooked up a birthday dinner for my mom yesterday. I usually cook non-Korean food at home but I decided to go traditional this year and make my mom miyeok guk, a traditional birthday soup made with seaweed, along with other goodies. Newborn mothers are fed this soup for its nutritive values including a high amount of iron and its aid in cleansing the blood. So in connection with that tradition Koreans have miyeok guk as part of their birthday celebration.

Miyeok guk is quite easy to make and it is truly a comfort food. I soaked dried seaweed overnight in cold water. I cut up a piece of beef brisket into bite-sized pieces and tossed it with sesame oil and a tiny bit of soy sauce and sauteed it until browned. Then I added the seaweed, thoroughly drained and cut to few inches in length, and sauteed it with the beef for a few minutes. I added minced garlic and cold water to cover and boiled it for about thirty minutes and seasoned it with salt.

For the main dish I immediately thought of doejji bossam which is a pork belly lettuce wrap. It’s properly served with salted napa cabbage, sengchae (marinated shredded daikon), salted baby shrimp sauce and if you wish raw oysters. It’s definitely one of my favorite Korean dishes ever and there is a bossam specialty restaurant only two minutes away from my place so hooray.

I asked my mom how I should boil the pork belly and she said “juk-dang-ee” which means just the right amount. Not too much, not too little.. the reasonable amount. Other Korean kids know when they ask their mom or relatives how to make a dish “juk-dang-ee” will be the most common answer. This can get frustrating but you just learn to cook with your senses. I never use measurements when cooking Korean food. I’m sure it’s the same for other people cooking their own cuisine.

I cut the pork belly into large chunks and boiled it in water with onion, ginger, scallion, a few garlic cloves and a pinch of salt for about 45 minutes. My mom forgot to tell me that I’m supposed to also add a spoonful of doenjang (fermented soy bean paste) in the cooking liquid. Doh. Next time. Also bring the water and vegetables to a boil before putting the pork belly in. After it’s done cooking let it cool for few minutes on the cutting board before slicing it up.

For the sengchae I shredded daikon on the deathly mandolin and tossed it with a little bit of sugar, salt, gochugaru (Korean pepper powder), minced garlic, and a touch of rice vinegar. I added a sliced jalapeno to this mix. It could have used a few more though. I like spicy. This needs to marinate overnight in the fridge to draw out the water from the daikon and let the flavors soak in.

I served the pork with ssamjang instead of salted baby shrimps but you can serve it with either. My mom says the salted baby shrimps is the preferred pairing for the boiled pork belly. I made the ssamjang simply from doenjang (fermented soy bean paste) and gochujang (red pepper paste). The doenjang was of such good quality that I didn’t want to add anything except a touch of gochujang. Usually I mix doenjang with a bit of gochujang, garlic, thinly sliced scallion, sesame oil and sesame seed. It’s a variation of the bean sauce you get at Korean bbq joints for your grilled meats.

And lastly for the lettuce wrap I made pa chae (scallion salad). You can buy shredded scallion at Korean markets or you can shred it yourself at home with a scallion shredder. I seasoned this with sesame oil, gochugaru, sesame seed, minced garlic and a pinch of salt.

Now for the final wrap. I mentioned before that doejji bossam is usually served with salted napa cabbage. I love fresh lettuce wraps so I decided to skip the salted napa cabbage this time. Take a kkaennip (Korean perilla leaf) or a piece of red leaf lettuce, layer a slice of pork belly, a smear of ssamjang, a bit of sengchae and scallion salad. Such a great combination of flavors. You can even do a double wrap with a red leaf lettuce and perilla.

I also made pa jun (scallion pancake) and gool jun (egg battered oyster). I used a batter mix for the pa jun. I sliced scallions into about two inch lengths then laid them in a hot pan with a bit of canola oil. Then poured the batter over it and cooked it on both sides til browned. For the gul jun I dredged the oysters in flour, dipped it in egg, fried it in canola oil and topped one side with chili threads. My mom said I used too much but I was all in a hurry at that point and just grabbed a pinch for each oyster. I used frozen oysters from the Korean market and they were surprisingly good. Worked perfectly for the gool jun.

Dipping sauce for the jun was made with soy sauce seasoned with sesame oil, sesame seed, gochugaru, and sliced scallion.

My mom’s got quite a sweet tooth so a dessert was a must. One great thing about going to the Galleria Market is stopping by Cake House on the way out. It’s hard to resist with all that sweet bread aroma floating around you. The strawberry head totally caught my eye and I had to get it. It’s quite funny. Unfortunately when it got boxed the eyes got stuck to the top of the container and I had to stick them back on. The cake’s name is Fresia and it was awesome. Simple strawberries and cream flavor but sooooo good and not too sweet. I’m not a huge sweets person but I can’t wait to get this again. The other one I also got because it was made me chuckle. Its name is “Ghetto Mocha”. Haha I don’t know why it’s named that. Perhaps something got transliterated incorrectly.

My mom loved the dinner and was quite impressed with the spread. I should start cooking Korean more before I move out.