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This is Dan’s favourite Korean dish. He reckons the best tasting one came from Wah Korean Restaurant in the city by their previous owner. He was very disappointed in the taste after the restaurant was bought over by someone else.
To end his misery, I decided to learn how to cook this at home. I tried a few recipes and spoke to a few people to get this close to his favourite. My first trial from an online recipe uses Gochujang which makes the soup very thick and sweet. The lady at our local Korean sore store gave me her recipe and suggested replacing Gochujang with Korean spicy soup base. My Korean friend, Teri recommended adding beef stock to balance the flavour.
I have finally perfected this after a few attempts. Dan gave his seal of approval and made this his favourite. I can assure you that there’s no violence or coercion involved in this! :-)
Ingredients: (serves 4 as sides or 2 as mains)
1 cup ripened Kimchi
½ pack of firm tofu
1 stalk of sliced shallots
250 grams of sliced pork medallion (we prefer lean meat but you can use sliced pork belly)
2 teaspoon rice cooking wine (Korean Mirin)
4 teaspoons of Korean spicy soup base
4 cloves of minced garlic
Few drops of sesame oil
1 cube of beef stock
3 cups of water
1 teaspoon Korean chilli flakes
1. Marinade sliced pork with minced garlic, rice cooking wine, spicy soup base, sesame oil for 10 minutes.
2. Cut Kimchi into bite sized pieces (not required if buying pre-cut Kimchi).
3. Heat up a soup pot. Add 1 teaspoon of Olive Oil and stir fry pre-marinated pork.
4. Add in Kimchi pieces once the meat is half-cooked and stir-fry together.
5. Add water, beef stock and Kimchi juice to the pot and bring to boil.
6. Add Korean chilli flakes to taste.
7. Once Kimchi is tender, add sliced tofu and shallots and simmer for a few minutes.
8. Remove from heat and it is ready to be served.
This is best eaten with a bowl of rice. You can add a handful of freshly sliced shallots for dressing. Here's a picture taken from an earlier attempt.
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This was inspired by yesterday’s Masterclass (MasterChef Australia). After watching Michael Klausen show the contestants how to bake Schiacciata Con L'uva, I decided to try it myself. I replaced grapes with strawberries and called this Schiacciata Con Fragole, meaning ‘with pressed strawberries’.
I cheated a bit by using an electric mixer with dough hook attachment instead of mixing it traditionally by hand ;-)
Ingredients:
420 gram plain unbleached flour
10g instant dried yeast
10g salt
10g extra virgin olive oil
285g water
1. Pour all ingredients into a mixing bowl and mix it with an electric mixer with dough hook attachment until well mixed.
2. Cover the dough with glad wrap and let it rest for 5 minutes.
3. Transfer the dough to the table and knead it for a minute.
4. Then, oil a clean bowl and transfer the dough to this new bowl. Cover this with glad wrap and let it proof for 1 hour.
5. Take the dough out of the bowl and fold it 4 ways into a square. Round the dough and put it back in the bowl. Cover it with glad wrap again and let it proof for another 30 minutes.
6. Preheat the oven to 210°C.
7. Divide the dough into 2 portions.
8. Stretch the dough into an oval or round shape on a greaseproof paper.
9. Gently press strawberries on the dough.
10. Drizzle a bit of olive oil on the dough.
11. Sprinkle some granulated sugar on top.
11. Bake it for 15 minutes.
The Masterclass video from MasterChef Australia is available from the link below (this may not be viewable on other regions outside Australia):
http://www.masterchef.com.au/video.htm?channel=Full+Episodes+Complete&clipid=2729_548MC170610CR&bitrate=300&format=flash
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I learnt this from a bread making class during my visit to Montréal, Canada. The class was conducted mainly in French but the teacher was kind enough to send me the recipe in English.
I have made this a few times and it has always turned out praiseworthy. The only warning I have is, “Do not attempt this recipe unless you have at least half a day to spare”. It takes a long time to leaven the dough.
Ingredients:
10 grams of dry instant yeast
240 grams of water (25°C – 35°C)
40 grams of sugar
25 grams of milk powder
8 grams of salt
400 grams of bread flour (unbleached & untreated)
1 fresh egg
80 grams of cold melted butter
Instructions:
1. Pour flour, sugar, salt, milk powder, egg, butter, yeast and water into a large mixing bowl.
Note: If using fresh or active dried yeast, mix yeast with water first before pouring into the rest of the mixture.
2. Mix the ingredients for a few minutes using an electric mixer with dough hook attachment. If you do not have an electric mixer, you can mix by hand using a spatula and then fold it on the table for about 15 times.
3. Clean around the mixing bowl and cover it with cling wrap. Let the dough rest for 1 hour.
4. Divide the dough into half.
5. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough on a lightly floured surface into a rectangle. Sprinkle chocolate chips on the first batch and raisin on the second batch.
6. Roll up the dough again to form a cylinder.
7. Divide the dough into desired weight (approx. 65 – 70 grams)
8. Gently round the dough and let it rest for another 20 minutes.
9. Lightly floured two round baking tins.
10. Shape the dough and arrange it on the baking tins.
11. Let it proof for about 75 minutes.
12. Preheat the oven to 175°C.
13. Brush with eggs to give it a nice brown colour.
14. Cut the top into a cross-shape.
15. Optional: Sprinkle with sugar crystals to give it a crunchy bite.
16. Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden.
Here is a picture of one I baked earlier using a bigger tin. This recipe makes about 14 -15 brioches.
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The basil plant in our garden is thriving and becoming more like a bush than a plant. After it was planted by my father-in-law, the bees went crazy with pollinating it. At one point, it was surrounded with a swarm of bees that we could not go anywhere near it.
There is no way for the two of us to use that much basil in our cooking. A brilliant idea came up while I was cleaning the fridge. I threw out a bottle of expired pesto and decided that I could make one with the fresh herbs from my garden.
Ingredients:
2 cups of basil leaves
2 cloves of garlic
45g pine nuts
½ cup of extra virgin olive oil
140g grated parmesan
Cut a bunch of fresh basil leaves from the garden. Wash and dry the leaves. Sprinkle a few drops of lemon juice on the leaves to prevent oxidization.
Grind pine nuts, garlic and parmesan in the food processor for 30 seconds.
Mix in the basil leaves and continue grinding. Gradually pour the olive oil. Continue grinding until a smooth consistency is reached. Transfer to an air-tight container and store it in the fridge. Fresh pesto lasts up to a week in the fridge and 3 months in the freezer.
I mixed mine in a bowl of pasta with pan-fried chicken and semi-dried tomatoes. Yum! :)
Next, I will try to make chilli paste from the fresh chillis in my garden. Stay tuned.
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