Back to Korea-- Bi Bim Bap!

I found this recipe in a travel book and the photos looked so enticing that I made it as an experiment for my entire family over Thanksgiving (that's how behind I am on my blogs!). As with many of my recipes, this is a signature dish of Korea and is widely prepared in many nearby countries because of its ease of preparation and flexibility of ingredients.

The first recorded mention of Bibimbap was in a 19th Century anonymous cookbook, and the ingredients vary depending of season, location, and station. Some historians even think that this dish originated from the historic practice of mixing food offerings together in one bowl for ancestral offering. Regardless, this dish was as fun to prepare as it was to eat.

Ingredients:
rice wine vinegar
sesame oil
soy sauce (again, I absolutely love the subtle flavor of Aloha)
fish sauce
sesame seeds
scallions
zucchini
carrot
greens (such as mustard or turnip)
wakame or other (I had to use kale prepared in a concoction of salty/fishy flavor to substitute)
dates (8-10)
ginger, minced
gochujang sauce
eggs
rice (preferably day-old)
kimchee (using my recipe posted earlier)

Modify the amount of each vegetable in accordance to your desired serving sizes. The saucy ingredients will nearly all be used to cook the solid ingredients, so I'll write instructions for each element.

Spicy Gochujang-Date Sauce:
Soak pitted dates in hot water for ~5 minutes to soften. Drain water and place in blender. Add 1 cup of gochujang sauce and blend until smooth. You can add some of the soaking water to make the sauce more silky smooth. You should be able to find Gochujang in a shop that specializes in international/asian ingredients (I like in small town Idaho and still found it, so your chances are good).

Side dishes
Carrots:
I used a potato peeler to produce long, thick ribbons of carrots that wound up having a noodle-like texture to the dish. Loved it. I used 2 large carrots for 4 people. Add your carrot noodles to a med-high heated skillet with sesame oil. Allow it to sizzle slightly, then add a sprinkle of sugar (1/4 tsp or less) and up to 1Tbsp of fish sauce or soy sauce, your choice. Remove when carrots are tender, but not completely soft. You can add a touch of chopped up ginger to this dish if you like, it's pretty tasty.

Zucchini
Slice zucchini as desired, I used small spears. Add these spears to sesame oil over med-high heat and allow them to soften. Add sesame seeds and a splash of soy sauce to finish, then remove.

Greens
Soften the greens by steaming/braising them over med-high heat with a splash of soy sauce, a touch of sesame oil, sesame seeds, and some minced ginger to taste.

Scallions
Loved, loved, LOVED this element. I'd make more next time. Thinly slice your scallions lengthwise. I cut the scallions into thirds, then sliced them in half lengthwise, then sliced itty bitty bits off of each of those. Made the work more stable. Add these thin thin slices to a shallow dish and marinate them in 1-2 Tbsp rice wine vinegar, 1/4 tsp sugar, 1/4 tsp salt.

Wakame
Not sure why I couldn't find this in my town, but if you can get your hands on some of those packages of yummy flavored "seaweed snacks" use those! You can add these to the dish at the table to give an extra layer of flavor and a slightly different texture. Just have your dinner guests crumble them over top.

Rice
Take your day old rice and pack it down into a hot hot skillet (I used a cast iron) with hot oil (I used grapeseed oil so it wouldn't burn). Allow the bottom to sear until crispy-- don't pack it so thick that the rest of your rice is cold while the part in the pan is burnt. Cut into pie-shape slices, or whatever works, and place these on the bottom of your serving bowls.

Sesame seeds
If you can't buy toasted sesame seeds, just toast some up in a dry pan.

Eggs
The eggs should be prepared sunny-side up and are the second element to enter your serving bowls. This signals the beginning of the meal!

I divided the vegetable elements onto each diner's accompanying plate (not the eating bowl) and the others were displayed in their own dishes. Your dinner guests have the joy of making their own dinners. The spicy sauce is usually placed along one edge of the bowl so the diners can dip each bit into it as they wish.

Can't wait to make this one again! It was so fun to make everything with my family-- it is definitely a dish that requires a lot of preparation before cooking. You can make all sorts of changes to the recipe by using leftover meats, fish, extra vegetables, etc. Have fun with this one!

A visit to Kasmir, India

Sorry for the lengthy delay in recipes! Shortly after my last post, I got a new job in a town 2 states away. The move was lengthy and tough, and so was my first year at this new teaching post (fellow teachers can sympathize). Things are sort of settling down, though the house may pop back up on the market in lieu of another, so I thought I'd share some of the recipes I tried in my absence from Blogger.

I got the idea to visit India, and this recipe in particular, from a TV food show, I admit. Nevertheless, this is one of the most involved and delicious recipes I could have tried. Some of the ingredients were tough to substitute, but the end product was a success. True to Kashmiri culture, I ate this dish with friends; piping hot with our fingers and seated on the floor.

Kashmir, India is in the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent, sharing borders with Pakistan and China. It has been known as an important center for Buddhism and Hinduism. One cultural practice in this region of India is a great feast known as a wazwan, in which a family cooks a meal of up to 35 separate dishes which take most of the night for their guests to consume! Traditionally, the meal consists of lamb cooked several ways and a whole slough of vegetable dishes. One important recipe in this feast is Gushtaba, spiced lamb meatballs cooked in a flavorful yoghurt gravy. I had no idea what I'd gotten myself into by seeing this dish come out on the television, but it was so worth it.

Recipe:

2 lbs ground lamb
mutton fat, if you can find it. I added a few Tbsp of beef fat I had from skimming homemade beef stock.
Olive oil (enough to fry/sear the meatballs and onions)
1-2 onions, sliced
2 tsp cardamon powder
salt to taste
4 cups mutton stock (or 1/2 beef to 1/2 chicken stock)
5 cups yoghurt (use plain, thick, Greek style yoghurt)
6-8 cloves
3 tsp fennel seed powder
3 tsp dry ginger powder
1 1/2 tsp minced ginger
4 Tbsp ghee (clarified unsalted butter)
1/4 tsp dry mint leaves

The fun began....
Fry/sautee your onions until they are soft and brown. Cool and grind them into a paste. In a bowl, thoroughly mix your ground lamb and fat (warming the fat can help it incorporate). Add 1 tsp cardamom powder and salt, continue to mix.
Form smallish meatballs called koftas (dip your hands in cool water to try to keep the meat from sticking to your paws) and sear them quickly in oil (optional). Remove and simmer them in the mutton (or other) stock for 15 minutes.
In another pan or bowl, add your yoghurt and 1/2 cup of cold water. Blend it well. It will begin to look curdled. Strain the mixture into a pan and place it on high heat. Immediately, add remaining cardamom powder (or 2-3 green pods if you have them), and up to 1Tbsp salt to taste. Stir continuously until it begins to change color (browning up a little). Add the fennel and ginger powder.
Dilute your onion paste and minced (as fine as possible!) garlic with a little stock, then add it to the yoghurt mix. Add your ghee or clarified butter. Continue to cook on high heat.
Remove the koftas from the stock and add those to the yoghurt mix but don't throw out that tasty stock! If you like, you can add some stock to the yoghurt mix, or freeze it to use for future soups or gravy. Simmer for 8-10 minutes, remove from heat, and add dried mint leaves to the top.
Serve over rice with plenty of the yoghurt gravy, and with any vegetable sides you wish (I served Paneer spinach-- delicious!).

Thailand

With all the Asian markets around me, I couldn't help but fix up this delicate soup while it was a little chilly. Tom Kha Gai literally means "Chicken Galangal Soup" and is a relatively traditional soup from this country. The balance of flavors is really incredible and there are several ways of varying the recipe.

Tom Kha Gai
3 cups chicken broth (I use one can and then add two cans of water and use the chicken in the recipe to make a more "homemade" broth flavor)
4 kaffir lime leaves****
3-5 inch section of fresh lemongrass, cut on an angle ~1/2 inch thick
6 slices of galangal ~1/8 inch thick (you may use 2 similar slices of fresh ginger if that's all you have)
1/4 cup Fish sauce (nam pla)  Don't skip this ingredient!
1/2 cup lime juice
2-3 Thai chilies, finely chopped
2 chicken breasts or thigh meat, cubed
1 large can coconut milk
Chopped cilantro

**** Kaffir lime leaves are extremely controlled in my area as the tree is known to carry a bug that is currently destroying some of the more delicate ecosystems in California. If you can't find these leaves, just use the zest of one of your limes. It's not exactly the same flavor, but you get a similar effect in the soup. Just make sure your zest does not contain the bitter white part of the peel.

Combine your chicken broth, lime leaves (or zest), galangal (or ginger), fish sauce, lime juice, and chilies in a sauce pan. Bring to a slow simmer and add the chicken and coconut milk. Simmer long enough to cook the chicken and flavor the broth (about 20 minutes). Add the coconut milk. Serve in a small bowl as an appetizer or a large bowl (with rice or rice noodles) as the main meal. Always serve with a generous sprinkling of cilantro.

I've also seen this soup with straw mushrooms and thin slivers of red bell pepper. I don't care for canned straw mushrooms, but I think the bell pepper would be fantastic. I've read that Laos has a similar dish that is garnished with dill instead of cilantro. If I had some dill I'd try it both ways.

Southeast France

I know I gush about just about every dish I've made so far, but this one was really amazing.

This week I made Pissaladiere, which looks, sounds, smells, and tastes impressive while being one of the cheapest and easiest recipes I've done so far.

This dish is a Nicoise specialty that uses a few key ingredients that this area of France is known for. Onions, anchovies, olives, and olive oil. If you think you don't like anchovies, try this recipe. You can vary the amount you use in the recipe to make it light or heavy handed in flavor. When baked, these salty fishes add a nutty element to the dish that contributes to the depth of its flavor.

Pissaladiere:

Puff pastry or pie dough (just enough for a bottom crust)
4 lbs onions (I used about 7), chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
12-15 nice olives (I love kalamatas. DON'T use canned black olives!!!)
3- infinite anchovy filets
1 sprig thyme
2 1/2 oz (or a nice dribble) olive oil
pinch of white sugar
salt and pepper to taste

Salt your onions lightly , add sugar, garlic, thyme, and olive oil and cook them until soft, over low heat, until soft and translucent (up to 45 minutes) Don't brown them! You're not making onion soup.
Place your pastry or dough in the pie dish and allow it to sit ~15-20 minutes at room temperature.
Preheat your oven to 390
Bake the dough 10 minutes to dry it out.
Remove from oven and either spread your mashed anchovy paste on the bottom or sparsely scatter a few filets. Add your onions in a very thick layer, it should fill like a pie when you add the filling.
Arrange your olives on top and add the rest of your anchovies (if you please).
Drizzle a tad of olive oil on top and bake for 15 minutes. Remove and allow to rest for a few minutes, but don't let it cool yet.
Serve it nice and hot or at room temperature (I like it piping hot).

The caramalized onions and salt from the olives with the nuttiness of the anchovy were to die for!

Burkina Faso

This week I cooked a recipe from Burkina Faso called Boussan Touba. The recipe seemed a little simple to taste very good, but I tried it anyway. I am so glad I did! The ingredients transform into a nutty, savory, cruchy and chewy cake that I will definitely be making again. I already bought the ingredients to do it again.

Blackeyed peas are one of the main agricultural products of this country (beside millet and peanuts) and is the main ingredient in this particular recipe. The actual name of the dish pokes fun at the "characteristic" large ears of one of the ethnic groups, but I think it should mean "bean recipe you'll never want to live without".

Though the recipe can vary a little, this is the one I used:

1 can of blackeyed peas, drained
2 carrots, diced small
1 onion, minced
1 egg, whisked
1/3 c flour
bread crumbs to coat (can also use flour to coat)
oil for frying
salt and pepper to taste

Sweat the carrots and onion until the carrots are soft (probably about 10-13 minutes) and add some salt and pepper. Sweating is a method of releasing the fragrance of these ingredients without searing them. They shouldn't turn brown, just get softer. Add the can of peas and heat them through. Transfer the ingredients to a bowl and mash them. It doesn't have to be perfect, there should be pieces of carrot and small chunks of onion and individual beans, but try to mash up some of it. You can use a blender if you want.
I don't own many kitchen appliances, so I find other ways of blending, mashing, and reheating. I figure most of the foods I'm cooking weren't originally made with a Cuisinart, so I should be okay.

Add the whisked egg and stir to combine. Add the flour in small amounts, making sure to combine it all thoroughly. The mixture should be thick and sticky at this point. Add more or less flour to your liking. Then use spoons to measure out balls of the mixture which you will coat with flour or bread crumb. Flatten them with your palm and fry them in oil (about 2-3 minutes per side). Light salt and pepper when they come out, then put them in your face!

As you can see from my photo, the oil was a little hot for the top bean cake but it still tasted fantastic. They're usually eaten over rice and I threw together a little butter lettuce with some parsley oil on top. The flavor is incredible and the protein in the beans and egg keep you full like you've had a serving of meat.

Bon Appetit!

visit 1 to Mexico

It was a bit chilly for most of the week and I looooove eating hot and savory soups to warm up. This soup isn't specific to Mexico; similar to my last post it is found in many varieties all over the world. Caldo de Res basically means "Beef soup", and I absolutely adore this recipe. Find yourself a good butcher for the meat dishes I'm making, for goodness sake. The flavor of food is highly affected by the quality of ingredients you use. This soup allows for a lot of creativity. You can use whatever vegetables tickle your fancy!

Caldo de Res

2-3 lbs beef shank or neck bones
1 onion, chopped
1-2 tomatoes, chopped
3-4 bottles beer (I've tried a few different brands, but I prefer using a sweeter amber like Fat Tire)
4-5 bottles of water (just re-fill your beer bottles)
2 ripe plantains (black)
2 medium russet potatoes
1 can corn (or 4 halved ears of corn)
5 celery stalks, large chunks
4 carrots, large chunks
1/2 head green cabbage, roughly chopped
1 bunch cilantro
2-3 limes

Sear your beef bones over high heat until they get a nice crust on them. Alternatively, you can roast them on low heat for a few hours with the carrots and potatoes in the pan. The taters get a great texture this way and the meat has a lovely flavor. Either way the soup turns out well. I use both methods according to how much time I have on hand. My instructions are for short-preparation. Once the beef is nicely seared, add the onion and continue on high heat for ~2 min. Salt liberally. Add all the beer at once, and then add the water. Bring to a simmer for at least 1 hour, more if you have time.

Remove beef bones and allow to cool before removing as much meat as possible to add to the soup. Keep the stock boiling! Taste and salt very lightly; it should taste fairly bland still. Add the plantain and carrot, simmer ~10 minutes. Add chopped potatoes and corn, simmer ~10 min. Add celery, cabbage, simmer ~5 min. Serve in a large bowl with a liberal amount of lime juice and a nice sprinkle of cilantro. This is supposed to be a very rustic dish, so cut your vegetables in nice large chunks!

The picture doesn't do it justice. The veggies have a great color and should be cooked lightly enough that they have great texture. The ripe plantain gives a surprising savory sweetness that contrasts beautifully with the salty acidity of the broth. If you want a more starchy effect, use the green/yellow plantain. Sometimes I buy them and store them in the cupboard until they're scary black. The blacker they are, the sweeter they taste.

I have a ton of leftovers of this soup, which was fine because it was all I wanted to eat for 2 days after making it. A winner!

Cuban fare

Last week I visited Cuba by making a Picadillo and supporting dishes. You can find a number of renditions of this dish worldwide, it's basically a modified beef and potato hash. While I like the idea of this dish, I'm not too crazy about cumin and this dish called for it. I tried only using a touch of it, but my cumin radar is too sensitive. Nevertheless, I think this recipe will also stay in my repertoire but without that specific spice.

2 large potatoes
1 can tomato sauce
2/3 c green olives, chopped
1/2 c capers
2 Tbsp oil
1 onion, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped
1/4 cup golden raisins
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 lb ground beef
2 c red wine
1/3 tsp cumin
pinch oregano

Cook the potato, drain, and set aside. Sautee garlic, onion, bell pepper ~2 min. Add beef and pinch of salt. Drain off any fat that remains after cooking (I use the lowest fat mixture I can buy from the local butcher). Add wine, capers, tomato sauce, olives, raisins, cumin, oregano. Simmer to reduce for about 30 minutes. Drink the rest of your wine during this time.  :)   Fold the potato chunks into the mixture and heat ~5 minutes. Should be sort of saucy, but not soupy by this time.

Serve over white rice with fried plantains and black beans.

1 can black beans
1 can green chilis or jalapenos
1/2 onion, minced
chopped cilantro

Sautee chilis and onion ~2 min, add beans and heat through. Garnish with cilantro.

I can't tell you how much I love potatoes in this dish, it was wonderful. A little strange coming across the olives and capers, but somehow the whole mixture just worked. I've been making breakfast burritos from the leftovers with a bit of hot sauce on them. Not totally authentic, but I like it.