Chilly weather? Warm up with Spicy Pork (Jeyeuk Bokkum)!!!

Ah~ Finally, the Bay Area is cooling down. I like it! I can finally bust out all my winter fashion and enjoy the cold weather's charm and fun. Some reason, cold weather makes me think of Korean BBQ and/or apple cider. Strange combination... but both majorly delicious. So neglecting to do a hardcore study session for my 2nd microbio exam (which no doubly, I bombed), I decided to do hardcore research into some yummy recipes I can try my hands on (reason for exam failure is because of that).

Do not overlook where you may find an interesting recipe. This month of October, I suddenly fell into a Korean BBQ type of mood. But thinking about Korean food makes me think of all the prep work involved, and that deters me from cooking Korean dishes. Strangely enough during work, I had a small down time and decided to kill it with browsing through some newly delivered magazines before I place them into the waiting room (I work in a doctor's office). I came across a copy of Men's Health (the manly version of Cosmo?), seeing Joseph Gorden-Lovett's smiling cuteness gracing the covers, I decided to flip through. About to give up from all the overload of testosterone-filled-machismo-handsomeness, I managed to flip to a small article about cooking. Closer inspection, it was about cooking Korean food. Much closer inspection, it was about cooking spicy pork (Jeyeuk Bokkum)! Bonus, it was pork belly meat! Being that it is a magazine tailored towards men, it only means that everything was spelled out simply... EASY TO DO! No fuss, No mess. (I'm sorry, I can't seem to find the recipe on Men's Health website. I only have it via hardcopy from the October 2013 issue if you are interested.)

My recipe is adapted and unaltered from that particular issue, therefore I will credit to whom they credited: chef Hooni Kim of Hanjan restaurant in NYC. Only thing I did was double the quality (cuz I cook for a squadron of people, but if you are making for less people or like sensible sizes, just cut the amount by half) and added greeneries (I added zucchini and lettuce... because it was just sitting there in the veggie bin at home, beckoning to be cooked). This is pork belly meat... yes that means bacon. Don't want to forfeit your precious pork belly meat? Buy the pork belly at a good butcher shop, and try to ask for a leaner cut with less fat on it, or you can trim the excess at home yourself. There is a momentary need to wait overnight before eating this dish because of the marinating process. The wait will definitely be worth it. Now... Onward!!!!

Spicy pork belly, two ways: spring roll-style and traditional lettuce leaf wrap

Ingredients:

2lb pork belly slices (unsmoked, halved widthwise, and trimmed of excess fat)

1 large onion (halved, and sliced thinly)

6 tbsp Gochujang

6 tbsp soju (I used Jinro Chamisul. Japanese sake works too)

6 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp Mirin

2 tbsp sesame oil

2 tbsp sugar (regular white granulated is fine)

5 - 6 cloves garlic (finely minced)

1 nub ginger (about more or less the length of your thumb, finely minced)

3 - 4 zucchinis (halved widthwise, sliced lengthwise)

salt to taste

1 - 2 head of red leaf lettuce (Destalked into individual leaves, washed, and dried; optional)

1 package rice paper wrap (optional)

Cooked jasmine rice (optional)

How-To:

Night before...

- Prep everything, and then mix items #3 - #10 in a big mixing bowl.

- Add spicy mixture, pork belly slices, and sliced onions into a big gallon-size zip-top bag, squish around to evenly coat meat with spicy mixture, and allow to marinate overnight in refrigerator.

Next day...

- Prep your vegetables.

- Heat a large pan with a touch of sesame oil, and cook zucchini slices. Add a touch of salt. On a plate, transfer cooked zucchini and set aside.

- Using same pan, DO NOT ADD ADDITIONAL OIL (your pork belly will provide it), pan-fry in batches of the pork belly slices as you would bacon until throughly cooked. Do so with all or as much of the pork belly slices as you desire.

- Once done pan-frying pork belly slices, in same pan, add in the cooked zucchini and cooked pork belly. Toss to throughly mix both ingredients, so everything gets smothered in the spicy red sauce. Plate and serve!

Eat it wrapped in the lettuce leaf. As my uncle suggested, wrap the spicy pork in the lettuce leaf, and then wrap it in the rice paper/spring roll wrap... kind of like the Vietnamese fresh spring roll. To use spring roll rice paper wrap, just take a sheet and dunk it in some luke warm to hot water (careful, okay? It is hot water) until it is malleable. Or nix the lettuce leaf and just eat it with the rice paper wrap. Or 86 the wrap-gears and go old fashion with a big bowl of hot, fluffy cooked rice. Which ever way you choose to devour this dish, it will be delicious. Enjoy!

A late summer dessert: Pomelo Mango Papaya Sago Dessert (楊枝甘露)

Hello world! I'm sorry I haven't been active like I use to. I've been so busy with a night science class, busy working in the morning before class at night... babysitting my brother's high energy dog in between. But there has been a crazy late summer heat here in the Bay Area. This so call "Indian Summer" heat... I will welcome a nice cold winter with open arms.

But none the less, I made some nice summery desserts lately. I go out at night with some friends to some Asian (mainly HK or some Taiwan-based) dessert houses, and this is one of those popular desserts... 楊枝甘露. I don't know how to translate that, but it is basically a pomelo mango sago dessert. It is sweet, mango-y, touch bitter from the pomelo, milky, little creamy... real good served ice cold.

I don't remember how I picked the pomelo, basically make sure the fruit is heavy and firm... but if you can't find pomelo or you don't like the taste of it, you can substitute it with pink grapefruit. The pink will give the dish a nice little sprinkle of blush pink from the flesh, and will probably won't be so bitter. I find the taste of pomelo more bitter, but both fruits are quite similar in taste to me. I think this is where the mango comes in to help sweeten the dish. Nice ripe mangoes will do, whether it is Manila/Honey/Champagne mangoes or big ol' Common mangoes. I added papaya into this dish. I've seen it added and not added in some dessert houses. So this is optional. But I added it because papaya is good for you, and it adds a little something more to munch on. I chose Hawaiian papayas because when perfectly ripe, they are sweeter, texture is more solid but still have that papaya mushiness, and more floral in fragrance.

One thing I like about dessert recipes like this is that you can add as much or as as little of certain ingredients as you like. I pretty much used the recipe from GourmetTraveller88, but omitting the confectioner's sugar, but adding papaya cubes and adjusting the taste to my own and my family preference. Here is a quick wikihow on how to open a pomelo, cuz these suckers are hard to deal with. There is a special dish made with pomelo skin. My grandmother makes it, and it is delicious. It has a spongy texture, and best part for the diet-crazed individuals... it is said to be low in calorie and cholesterol... like seriously. Haha! Plus it is a humble from-the-village dish, the recipe isn't something you will find in any Chinese restaurant. Very homely. If I can catch her making it again, I'll try to get the recipe from her.

Sweet and refreshing, great for a summery day.

Ingredient:

1 large pomelo; skinned, sectioned, and flesh separated into chunky pieces

3 - 5 ripe mangoes, cubed (I used big super ripe Common mangoes.)

1 - 2 ripe Hawaiian papayas, cubed (optional)

½ - 1 cup sago

¾ cup water

1 cup coconut milk

1 cup crushed ice (optional)

How-To:

- Cook sago according to package. (I say look into Step 4 in GourmetTraveller88's recipe, linked above). Once done, set aside.

- In a bowl, peel, section, and "flake" pomelo (see above link on how to open a pomelo). Set aside into the refrigerator.

- In another bowl, peel and cube papaya. Set aside into refrigerator.

- In another bowl, cube mangoes. Reserve ½ - ¾ bowl for the next step. Set aside the rest (I say leave about 1-1½ mangoes worth, or the amount of how much you like mango) into the refrigerator.

- Taking the reserved mangoes, puree it in a blender. Add water and coconut milk, and mix to incorporate. Refrigerate to chill.

- When ready, in a large container or punch bowl, gently pour chilled mango mix in. Add sago, and mix to incorporate.

- From the fridge, gently add cubed papaya and mangoes, and pomelo flesh into mango-sago mix. Gently stir to mix.

- To serve, ladle into a cup or bowl.

- Add a bit of crushed ice for extra coldness to serve.

If you want to get extra fancy, break pomelo flesh chunks into little pearls for the dish/for garnishing. But that takes a lot of time and patience to turn a whole pomelo into little pearls, but it is nicer for presentation. But big chunks of fruit is more delicious to me. Of course, add some sugar syrup or melted-then-cooled rock sugar syrup for added sweetness if mangoes/fruits are not in season/at their ripest. It totally beats paying about $4-5 for a tiny bowl at the dessert houses. I hope you guys like it. 

New semester calls for super chocolatey brownies... with a chew

Long time no post everyone~ So summer semester ended, left me two weeks of freedom that was dominated by work, and then the new autumn semester began! Yippie-skippie? Not really since the new autumn semester is all microbiology at night. Granted it is only for two nights each week, but still... so much to soak in. I've already messed up a lab experiment that was done last Thursday, and didn't realize it until on Tuesday. Basically, had to redo the whole thing. Bleh~ So today's post really does help with some of the stress. When you're stressed, what is the one food everybody says helps? (At least I think it does... sometimes...)

CHOCOLATE!!!!

... And what's even better?...

Chocolate BROWNIES! 

Lol! So today's recipe was adapted from justJENN's Chocolate Mochi Brownies. What makes mine different? I added an additional half a bar of Lindt's 90% Dark Chocolate, but decreased the amount of regular milk chocolate chips for the melting process. If you don't like the taste of dark chocolate, ESPECIALLY 90% dark, then opt it out and just follow justJENN's recipe. Adding the 90% dark chocolate helps cut the sweetness, and gives it a very slight hint of that distinctive dark chocolate bitterness. Instead of evaporated milk, I think I used whole milk because I did not have any evaporated milk in the pantry. Why mine turned out more flat and chewie, rather than more brownie-like... I don't really know. Haha. May be I lacked enough or missed out on the baking soda? May be I missed out of the egg? I don't remember.

Want the know the reason why I added the 90% dark chocolate? It is a stupid reason, but its sadly true...

1) I grabbed a bar thinking it was the Fleur de Sel flavor, paid for it, ripped it open, stared at it while thinking "Why is it so... dark?" and later thought "What did I grab again?" Sniffed it (EWW! BITTER!), then silently but neatly tucked it back into the box.

2) I think I saw something online that deterred me from revisiting/attempt to try my bar of 90% dark. Someone online challenged viewers to attempt to eat a whole bar of 90% dark chocolate, and submit their disgusting video results to them. Let's just say, it wasn't pretty.

3) I finally bit the bullet when I brought it with me to a friend's house, we all looked at it, and then they questioned me... "WHY?!?!?!" Two brave souls and myself, each took a tiny nibble of one square... my gosh! It was not edible. I think it is much more bitter than drinking the bitter Chinese herbal teas... and MUCH more than just black coffee. 

... and that's my story. Now onto the recipe!

Brownies~ Ｏ(≧▽≦)Ｏ

Ingredients:

1 cup mochiko (sweet rice flour)

1 cup sugar (regular granulated white)

1 tsp baking soda

pinch of salt

4 tbsp unsalted butter

⅓ cup milk chocolate chips

½ bar 90% dark chocolate (Lindt's)

12 oz whole milk (best to have it at room temperature)

1½ tsp vanilla extract

1 egg

½ cup milk chocolate chips

How-To:

- Prep you pan with non-stick baking spray. (I forgot the parchment paper, but I used a heavy-duty non-stick pan.)

- Pre-heat oven to 350˚F.

- In a small pot, melt butter. Then add the ⅓ cup chocolate chips and the ½ bar of 90% dark chocolate, and stir until melted. Let cool a little.

- In a bowl, mix mochiko, sugar, salt, and baking soda.

- MIMI'S TIP: I saw it on foodnetwork... gently coat the ½ cup of chocolate chips in mochiko (or flour). It should help the chips from sinking to the bottom of the pan during the baking process.

- In same bowl with the dry ingredients, slowly add and mix the melted chocolate mixture, milk,  vanilla, and the egg. 

- Pour everything into the prepped pan. Sprinkle the ½ cup chocolate chip on top.

- Put into the oven, and bake for 30 - 40 minutes until center is done / the brownie gives a little bounce to the touch like regular mochi does. 

- Take out of oven, invert pan over a cooling rack (or an extra large Asian metal steaming rack), and let cool for 10 - 20 minutes.

- Cut into squares for serving.

Its all fairly easy. I made this out of whim, so I don't remember everything so clearly. But I hope everyone will try this, at least try justJENN's recipe. Enjoy and good luck guys! (^o^)/

It's Spring! Strawberries are here!

Spring is here! Sorry for my long absence. I blame my physiology class. For one class this semester, it is a headache and too much to deal with. So yeah~ I've been ignoring life, in general. The only thing that I have a little time for between class, work, and assignments are the little silliness and quick entertainment such as 9gags.

I was sitting with my cousins a few weeks ago just chillin', one of my cousins looked at me, pushed his phone's screen right at my face and with a straight blank face, and he said "Make it." I had to adjust my vision to see what the picture was of, his phone was WAY too close to my face. It was a 9gags submission of a plate of strawberries stuffed with Nutella. It looked good. So I, also with a straight blank face, was like, "Okay." Couldn't have been a better time too! I was walking home from the bus stop, looking at what the local mom-pop produce store was selling, and big boxes of ruby red giant strawberries were stacked high on the stand, and was on sale too! So the next day, I went strawberry shopping. Went home, and realized I was more than half of container out of Nutella. THE TRAGEDY! So had to walk back out to get a new container of Nutella.

I don't normally like to eat strawberries because I have bad memories of them: either they are super sour, or I get to eat them when they have been drowned in a mountain of granulated sugar to the point where they ONLY taste and feel like sugar. But I like Nutella. The chocolaty hazelnut spread is creamy, rich,  and so good on just about anything. If chocolate and strawberries has been a tried and true tasty classic combo, Nutella and strawberries will be just as tasty of a combo. The creamy and sweet chocolaty taste of the Nutella just compliments the sweet tartness of the strawberries. Oh such a perfect dessert to have as an escaping indulgent moment from reality.

This recipe, I worked off of a photo reference on 9gags, because this recipe couldn't be easier. 2 ingredients, and it is yummy, but it is so messy.

This was one box of strawberries, and more than half tub of Nutella.

Ingredients:
1 box Ripe Strawberries
1 container Nutella

How-To:
- Wash your strawberries in a little bit of salted water, and rinse with fresh cold water.
- Pat each strawberry as dry as you can.
- With a sharp pairing knife, cut off the stem and a little bit of the top to slightly expose the core.
- With the sharp pairing knife, hollow out the core a little bit more with a gentle twisting motion to allow more room to stuff the Nutella into. *Use a bowl, a container, or over the sink to catch the juices and bits of flesh you dig out.
- Set the hollowed out strawberries to the side.
- Open Nutella, and gently mix the spread loose to a nice semi-runny consistency.
- In a zip-top sandwich bag (or if you have the fancy piping bags) in a small cup or empty jar, fill a corner of the bag with some Nutella. Twist the baggy to trap the spread in the corner. With a pair of scissor, snip off a small bit of the corner filled with the spread. Now you have a make-shift piping bag ready.
- Take a strawberry in one hand. In the other hand, take the Nutella-filled baggy, stick the open tip into the hollowed-out strawberry and gently squeeze the spread in. Top off the strawberry with a bit more if you wish.
- Repeat until all strawberries are filled.
- Serve immediately, or chill in refrigerator until serving time.

How easy was that?!?!?!?!? And let me say, my cousins each can inhale a strawberry container of these to themselves. Chilling them in the fridge until serving gives it a nice refreshing feeling. The Nutella's sweetness counters the tartness of the strawberry, which is a nice pairing. A great finisher to a nice dinner. Or even a nice simple gift to someone you care/love. If you don't want to stuff the strawberries, you can do is scoop some Nutella into a bowl and dip them for an even faster satisfaction. Hope you all enjoy this! (^-^)

Wintertime means Kimchi time: Radish and Napa Cabbage

Okay, so with back-to-back holidays, filling-in for my manager for 2 weeks, and just wanting to make time for myself... yes... I ignored this blog for a bit. So, I'm sorry. To make up for it, I'm putting up 2 recipes. Both... kimchi related: Kakdugi (radish kimchi) and Kimchi (napa cabbage kimchi).

Super long post time!

Something about wintertime and the season for napa cabbage harvesting, I really thought about kimchi. I remember some of my friends tell me to make kimchi... I didn't get why then, I didn't really like kimchi then either... two words: Kimchi Breath. But... I had a change of heart with this winter season's super cold weather and seeing so much napa cabbage on sale in the markets.

My family loves kimchi. The spicy kick. The garlicky aroma. A bite of something savory, while enjoying the veggie's sweetness. My cousin, oldest of two, discovered how delicious it is over a simple bowl of hot, fluffy white rice. My uncle and my cousin likes this one place on Geary St, their kimchi is fresh, sweet, crunchy, and a bit spicy. It was more or less recently, my uncle said, "Man, I think making kimchi would be cheaper than constantly purchasing it." So... I bit the bullet and said, "I'll try to make kimchi."

*A lot of referencings (image and step by step) will be from Maangchi.

I basically followed the recipe to Maangchi's Napa Cabbage Kimchi. I like her pic-by-pic on how to prep kimchi through her Easy Kimchi Recipe, as well. The only difference I did from her's is that I totally omitted the raw oyster/squid. My family is very cautious about cholesterol, and seafood is always red flagged. But overall, the taste is still the same. My recipe will make about 6 liters of kimchi (yeah, I went out and got a 12 liter kimchi container at the Korean market, JUST for making kimchi), and lunchbox-size of kakdugi.

* Mimi's Tip: How to pick a good napa cabbage. *
I use to pick one that is huge and green. WRONG! Turns out, it isn't how green it is, but how yellow it is. Yellow leaves mean young tender leaves. Very much like the inner core of the napa cabbage. So pick one that has more yellow-green leaves. As few blemishes like dark spots/"freckles". Tight leaves. Make sure that the head of cabbage has a good weight to it. You should be good to go. If all else fails, you can totally ask the workers in the produce section to help. I give 2 thumbs up for the super great help from the guy in the Korean market.

Not exactly the best shot, but dang was it good.

Ingredients:

5 large heads of napa cabbage (quartered into wedges)

1 small Korean radish; 1/4 julienned (3/4 cubed reserved for Kakdugi)

1 medium carrot; peeled and julienned

2 bunch asian chives; cut into about 2" sections

1 bunch green onion; cut into about 2" sections

1 small onion

1 handful of garlic

1 cup Mochiko

3 - 4 cups water

1/2 cup sugar (plain white granulated)

1 cup fish sauce

Lots of sea salt/kosher salt (I used sea salt, it didn't turn out salty, just a light taste)

3 - 4 cups hot pepper flakes (I use Wang: Maewoon Gochu Gaaroo)

How-To:

Salting Napa Cabbage:

- Clean, trim, and quarter napa cabbages. In a large bowl/roasting pan, start salting EACH leaf. Let stand for about 1hour and 30 minutes, rotating each wedge of cabbage every 30 minutes.

- Once time is up, rinse out each wedge of cabbage under cold water. Takes about 3 washes to get the salt out. Squeeze out the excess water. Set aside to dry a bit.

Kimchi Paste: 

- In a food processor, puree garlic and onion.

- In a medium pot, cook Mochiko with water and sugar until thickened (about glue-consistancy).

- In a large bowl, pour out garlic-onion puree and Mochiko mix.

- Add in julienned carrots and radish. 

- Add chives, green onions. 

- Add hot pepper flakes.

- Add fish sauce.

- Mix everything in the bowl.

Napa Cabbage Kimchi:

- Strap on some gloves and roll up your sleeves! Its time to apply a good smear of the kimchi paste mix to the cabbage... LEAF BY LEAF! Put each freshly "painted" cabbage wedge into an airtight container. Make sure to place each wedge tightly together, and to press out as much air out of the kimchi mass. You want to make sure that there is no pockets of air that can have bad bacteria form during fermentation.

- Eat right away, or you can put a layer of plastic wrap on the kimchi to cover it for more protection and refrigerate to ferment. 

...

Great, do you have some leftover kimchi paste? Remember that reserved bit of radish?

As soon as I finished making it, it was eaten up.

How-To:

Salting Radish:
- Cube leftover radish.
- In a bowl, sprinkle with enough salt help draw out the extra water in the radish cubes. Toss to coat evenly.
- Wait about 1 - 1.5 hours, stirring the radish every 30 minutes.
- Rinse out under cold water, about 3 washes to take out the saltiness.

Kakdugi/Radish Kimchi:
-In a clean airtight container, pour leftover Kimchi Paste over radish. Mix. Eat right alway or put into fridge to ferment.

Done. That's it. Pretty easy overall. The hardest part is the wait time during the salting process. I had a lot of fun making it.  Fresh kimchi is sweet and crunchy. Fermented kimchi spicier, bit saltier, while still crunchy. I hope you guys try your hands on making your own kimchi. Enjoy!