Category: Food
Do You Mandango? Mango Sticky Rice

Do You Mandango? Mango Sticky Rice

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I recently posted a pic on Instagram of this luscious dessert I had up in San Francisco at U Dessert Story, Mango Sticky Rice Bingsoo.  A generous layer of fresh sweet mango precariously perched on a mound of superfine shave ice drenched in sweetened condensed milk, and finely shredded coconut.  This mega bowl of bingsoo is flanked by an array of sticky rice, housemade coconut crumble, more sweetened condensed milk, and fresh mango puree.  It was mind-bogglingly delicious.

mango sticky rice bingsoo
Cubes of fresh mango, powder-like ice, tender but chewy sticky rice and the crunchy crumble, a veritable smorgasbord of textures and flavors.

Since that day I have had mango on the brain.  I picked up a bunch of Manila mangos, because you can’t just buy one, because I had decided I had to make Mango Sticky Rice.  It’s sweet, filling, refreshing, and gluten-free.  A classic fixture at Thai restaurants, you’ll be surprised at how easy it is to make at home.

WARNING: Dissertation Ahead + The Ulitmate Rice Guide

The biggest hurdle is probably tracking down the ingredients.  Mango Sticky Rice calls for Sweet or Glutinous Rice.  This is not regular rice, it is not arborio or risotto rice, and it is not to be confused with sushi rice (short grain) which is stickier than long-grain rice but not actually sticky rice.  Sweet rice, also known as sticky rice or glutinous rice, is low in amylose, and high in amylopectin (starches) which allows it to absorb liquids and create that trademark stickiness.

To add to the confusion-sweet rice also comes as short grain or long grain.  Thai cuisine uses long-grain sticky rice, while Chinese and Japanese dishes generally use short grain.  I used short-grain sweet (glutinous) rice from Koda Farms (Sho-Chiku-Bai) which is a little easier to find (most Chinese, Japanese and Korean markets will carry this) and it’s what I have on hand.  I’ll be looking for Thai long grain Sticky rice the next time I’m at an Asian market.  I foresee an America’s Test Kitchen session soon.

Glutinous rice absorbs liquids well, so the traditional, easy method for cooking it is to soak the rice for a good couple of hours (2-8 hours) and then steam it.  You COULD buy a special bamboo steamer for sticky rice or you could improvise.  I lined my steamer with cheesecloth to spread the rice on.

sticky rice

The rice steams for approximately 25 minutes.  It will look translucent and should not be chalky in the center.  Pull out a couple of kernels and taste them.

While the rice is steaming, prepare the coconut milk that will be used in the rice and as a sauce alongside.  Warm coconut milk and add sugar, stir to dissolve.  Remove 1 1/4 cups to use in the rice.  Add 1 teaspoon of cornstarch, dissolved in 2 teaspoons of cold water, to the coconut milk remaining in the pot. Stir constantly until the sauce begins to thicken.  Set aside.

To cut mango, slice in half lengthwise, as close to the seed as possible. For cubes, score mango in grid pattern and scoop flesh away from skin. Or flip the mango inside out to expose flesh making it easy to cut it away from skin.

When the rice is done, pour it into a bowl, add the 1 1/4 cups of coconut milk and stir to combine. Cover the bowl and let it sit for 20 minutes so the milk is absorbed by the rice.  Stir rice again, cover, and let it sit for a few more minutes.

mango sticky rice

Slice or cube mango and serve alongside a scoop of sticky rice.  Drizzle coconut sauce on rice and garnish with sesame seeds.  Enjoy!

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Mango Sticky Rice

Gluten-free delicious Thai dessert
Course Dessert
Cuisine Asian
Keyword mango, sticky rice, Thai
Prep Time 6 hours
Cook Time 20 minutes
Servings 4 Servings

Ingredients

  • 1.5 cups Long-grain Sticky Rice (aka sweet or glutinous) can use short grain
  • 1 can coconut milk 13.5 ounces, like Chaokoh
  • 1/4 cup sugar + 2-4 Tablespoons
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon cornstarch dissolved in 2 t cold water
  • 1 big ripe mango or 2 Manila mangoes peeled and sliced or cubed
  • Toasted sesame seeds for garnish black or white
  • fresh strawberries for garnish optional

Instructions

  • Rinse the sticky rice with tap water and use your hand to gently stir it. Drain the water to remove the excess starch. Repeat once, then add water to cover. Soak the sticky rice for a minimum of 2 hours, up to 8 hours. Rinse again and drain the water.
  • Transfer the rice to a heatproof bowl, add about 2 inches of water to your steamer (not into the rice), place the heatproof rice bowl on the steaming rack in the steamer, and cover the steamer. Turn to medium-high heat to bring the water to a boil. When the steam starts to come out of the pot, turn to medium heat. Steam for 20 to 25 minutes, until the rice is cooked through, with no hard raw bits in the middle. Or use a steamer rack lined with cheesecloth. Spread rice evenly over cloth and steam as directed above.
  • While rice is steaming, add can of coconut milk, 1/4 cup + 2 T of sugar, and salt to a saucepan. Cook over medium heat until the mixture is hot and the sugar is melted. Do not bring the coconut sauce to a boil. Taste for sweetness, if it needs more sugar, add another 1-2 tablespoons. Remove 1-1/4 cups sauce to be used with the rice.
  • Carefully remove the sticky rice bowl from the steamer with your oven mitts on. Pour the 1-1/4 cups of sauce over the bowl of rice. Stir to mix well. Allow to stand covered for 20 minutes. Remove cover and stir the rice again. Allow mixture to sit another few minutes.
  • For the remaining sauce, combine the cornstarch and 2 teaspoons water in a small bowl. Stir to completely dissolve the cornstarch. Over medium-low heat, remaining sauce to a small saucepan. Add half of the slurry to the sauce. Stir immediately to thicken the sauce. You can adjust the thickness of the sauce by slowly adding a bit more water or cornstarch slurry, if needed. The sauce shouldn’t be too thick, but should coat the back of a spoon.
  • Serve when the rice mixture and the sauce cool to room temperature. You can serve it or store the extra sauce and the sauce-rice mixture separately in the fridge until ready to serve, up to 3 days. The sauce will further thicken when cooled.
  • To serve, transfer the coconut rice into serving bowls or plates. Place the sliced mango on the side. Pour a few spoonfuls of the extra coconut sauce on top of the rice. Garnish with toasted sesame seeds and fresh sliced strawberries if desired.

Notes

  • If you use refrigerated sticky rice, you can gently heat it in the microwave to bring it to room temperature before serving, for a better texture. However, it’s highly recommended to serve the rice when it’s fresh, for best results. Do not freeze the sticky rice, as it will create a very tough texture.
  • Use a small ramekin to mold sticky rice and place on the plate.
Summer Strawberry Cake, Farmer’s Market: A Midsummer Day’s Dream

Summer Strawberry Cake, Farmer’s Market: A Midsummer Day’s Dream

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Get thee to a Farmer’s Market now. It is the perfect time to visit your local market, all things fruit and vegetable are at its peak.  You can hardly walk through the market without becoming intoxicated by the aroma of vine-ripened tomatoes, peaches, and strawberries.

At my local farmer’s market, we are lucky enough to have strawberries from P&K Farms, a family run farm in the Monterey area.  I can remember a couple of years ago when I first noticed their stand at the market.  Actually, it was hard not to notice, a line easily 10 people deep had formed in front of their kiosk.  Being a true skeptic, I thought, come on, are their berries really worth the wait?

Flash forward to this past weekend.  Like an idiot, I stopped for coffee BEFORE heading to the market which then meant waiting in the “way more than 10 people” line for my 3-pack of ruby perfection.  Yes, it is worth the wait.  Their strawberries are sweet, full of flavor, and remarkably hardy.

Let Them Eat Cake!…with Strawberries

I reserved part of my strawberry treasure trove for a friend’s July 4th BBQ.  I could take the easy way out and just throw them in a bowl, serve them straight up which would be perfectly fine, but what fun would that be?  Time to try that recipe from Smitten Kitchen for a cake that showcases strawberries.  A simple butter cake LOADED with berries.  The 9-inch cake calls for a pound of strawberries which means with every bite, you sink your teeth into sweet, oozy strawberries and really that’s what it is all about.

The original recipe is from Martha Stewart and tweaked by Smitten Kitchen.  The recipe calls for combining the egg, milk, and vanilla and then adding it to the creamed mixture.  Adding all the liquid at once made for a very curdled-looking mixture.  I added the dry ingredients and the batter came together.  I found a trick, when the batter looks like it is about to curdle as you are adding the milk, toss 1 tablespoon of the flour mix into the batter.  This small amount of flour prevents the curdling but won’t toughen the cake.  Voila’.  The hulled and halved strawberries are placed cut side down in the batter.

A sprinkling of sugar to finish and into the oven for about an hour.  Bake this cake in a deep dish pie plate or a cake pan lined with parchment.  It will overflow in a traditional 9-inch pyrex pie plate.  Smitten Kitchen recently adjusted the recipe to make a 9×13 cake (two pounds of strawberries!) because let’s face it, everyone is going to want seconds.

Serve this with softly whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.  Make it earlier in the day so the cake can sit. The strawberries will marry with the cake even more.  Sooo luscious.  Sooo good.

So what are you doing this weekend?  Yep, picking up strawberries at the Farmer’s Market, baking this cake, and looking appropriately sheepish as your friends and family shower you with compliments and RAVE about this cake.

Repeat after me, “Aww shucks. It was nothing.”

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Strawberry Summer Cake

An easy cake that screams summer is here. Loads of strawberries baked in a buttery sweet tender cake.
Course Cake, Dessert
Cuisine American
Keyword cake, strawberries, strawberry cake, Summer Cooler
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 10 minutes
Servings 8

Equipment

  • 9-inch cake pan or 9-inch deep dish pie plate
  • Mixer

Ingredients

Dry Stuff

  • 1 1/2 cups (188 gram) all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon table salt

Buttah & Sugar

  • 1 cup (200 gram) plus 2 tablespoons (25 gram) granulated sugar
  • 6 tablespoons (85 gram)unsalted butter at room temperature, plus extra for pie plate

The Wet Stuff

  • 1 large egg
  • 1/2 cup 118 ml milk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

The Top

  • 1 pound 450 grams strawberries, hulled and halved

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Butter a 9-inch cake pan and line with parchment or 9-inch deep-dish pie pan. Don't use a regular 9-inch pie plate which is too small.
  • Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt together in a small bowl. In a larger bowl, beat butter and 1 cup sugar until pale and fluffy with an electric mixer, about 3 minutes. Add egg and beat to combine. Add milk and vanilla until just combined. The mixture may look a little curdled. It's okay, once you add dry ingredients it will come together* see post for tip. Add dry ingredients gradually, mixing until just smooth but well combined.
  • Pour into prepared cake pan. Arrange strawberries, cut side down, on top of batter, as closely as possible in a single layer, don't be afraid to really squish them together. Sprinkle remaining 2 tablespoons sugar over berries.
  • Bake cake for 10 minutes then reduce oven temperature to 325°F and bake cake until golden brown and a tester comes out free of wet batter, about 50 minutes to 60 minutes. (Gooey strawberries on the tester are a given.)
  • Let cool in pan on a rack.
  • Remove cake from pan by flipping it onto a plate and inverting it onto another. Thank goodness for parchment paper.
  • Serve with lightly whipped cream. Or Lemon Cream from another recipe, see note!

Notes

The cake can be stored at room temperature for up to 2 days, loosely covered. It really won't last that long though.
Lemon Cream
 
Birthday Cake: A Labor of Love (Farmhouse Buttermilk Cake)

Birthday Cake: A Labor of Love (Farmhouse Buttermilk Cake)

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We celebrated a couple of family birthdays in June.  Most notably my kid’s and my brother’s.  They share the same day, just different year, different decade, but at least not a different century.  The day my kid was born I had actually invited my brother down for dinner, a birthday bbq, since I was not allowed to travel too far from home.  As we, I should say “they”, my brother, his wife, my mom and hubby enjoyed a dinner of rib eye steaks and the fixings, I sat on the couch, trying to regulate my breathing and ignore the pain.  I finally couldn’t take it anymore and unceremoniously shoved the chocolate birthday cake I had made into his chest; wished him a happy birthday, and told him (with clenched teeth), eat the cake at home, I was headed to the hospital.

Whenever possible, we celebrate their birthdays together.  An excuse for a family get together and to retell (ad nauseam) to unknowing guests, the “birth”day story.  This year’s celebration was a bit more significant, the kid turns 25 and the bro signs up for Medicare, lol. Time marches on.

The request came through from the birthday boys for Wes’s Carrot Cake.  Good choice, it was delicious and I was off the hook.  But what to do with the extra buttermilk in the fridge?

I think my FB page has ESP, smack dab in the middle of my newsfeed,  a recipe popped up for Farmhouse Buttermilk Cake.  Not only did the recipe have buttermilk, it included my favorite nut, pecans, in a caramel-like topping on top of a tender, tangy, buttermilk cake.

Pulling out my cake pan now.

The recipe, originally from King Arthur Flour, and then tweaked by The Cafe Sucre Farine is a winner. A tender crumb cake topped with a caramel-like nutty topping is sweet, salty, and buttery, everything a little slice of heaven should be.

The cake is a snap to make.  You could easily make this with a bowl and a wooden spoon.  Taking the lazy way out, I used my mixer.  Classic directions, cream butter and sugar, add wet then dry, pour into pan and bake.  See, how easy is that?   I used the proportions from Cafe Sucre Farine to make a 9-inch round cake. King Arthur Flour’s recipe makes a 9×13 cake, so if you are feeding a crowd, go to KA site for the recipe.

While the cake is baking, make the topping.  Don’t make it too soon as it will cool and thicken.  You want it warm so it is pourable.  You could easily substitute any nut you like, almonds, walnuts or even a mix of nuts would work.  I followed CSF’s lead and sprinkled some flake salt at the end to really pump up that play on sweet and salty.  YUM.

Bake the cake for approximately 30 minutes, top with the pecan-sugar mixture and bake an additional 10 minutes.  Remove from oven and sprinkle with flake salt.  Not TOO much, just a hint.  Let cool.  The cake can be served warm but I think the flavors come out when the cake is allowed to cool and rest.  The topping hardens a bit as it cools.

Perfect with coffee, tea or an ice cold glass of milk!

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Farmhouse Buttermilk Cake

Tender buttermilk cake topped with a caramel like pecan mixture
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Keyword Pecan Topped Buttermilk Cake
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
Total Time 1 hour
Servings 12 servings
Calories 289kcal

Equipment

  • Mixer
  • 9" cake pan

Ingredients

For the cake:

  • ¼ cup butter soft
  • 1 cup light brown sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

For the topping:

  • 3 tablespoons melted butter
  • ½ cup light brown sugar
  • 2 tablespoons half and half
  • ⅛ teaspoon salt
  • ¾ cup diced pecans

Instructions

For the cake:

  • Preheat the oven to 350°Spray a 9" round cake pan with baking spray and line with parchment paper. Set aside.
  • Combine flour, baking soda and salt in a small bowl and set aside.
  • Combine the butter and brown sugar in mixer bowl on medium-low speed until smooth
  • Add the egg, beating again till smooth.
  • Stir in the buttermilk and vanilla extract.
  • Sprinkle dry ingredient mix evenly over the top and stir until well combined.
  • Pour the batter into prepared pan.
  • Bake the cake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and/or the cake springs back when lightly touched in the center.
  • During the last 10-15 minutes of baking time, prepare topping. Stir the butter and the sugar together. Add the milk, pecans, and salt. The glaze will be thick, but pourable.
  • After the cake has baked for 30 minutes, pour the topping over the cake and return it to the oven for another 10 minutes (for a total baking time of 40 minutes). Remove cake from the oven and allow to cool for 20 minutes in the pan. Sprinkle lightly with flaky sea salt, if desired and serve warm or at room temperature. Topping firms up as the cake cools.
  • Cake can be served with ice cream, well that's my suggestion, vanilla ice cream-nom,nom.

Notes

Adapted from King Arthur Flour and Cafe Sucre Farine

 

 

Banchan
(Grilled Pork Belly) It’s Gettin’ Hot Out Herre, So Take Out All Your BBQ Toys

(Grilled Pork Belly) It’s Gettin’ Hot Out Herre, So Take Out All Your BBQ Toys

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On our trip to South Korea, we spent a lot of time roaming around the various street markets in Seoul.  Rows of stalls filled with hand-cut noodles in light flavorful anchovy broth, crispy mung bean cakes, fishcake, mountains of pickled vegetables and banchan (side dishes), and skewers of chicken, beef, shrimp, and pork grilled to order.  This is the tip of the iceberg for all things yummy.  Leading to sensory overload on all fronts, smell, sight, touch, and taste.

At Gwanjang Market we stopped for Mandu and delicious noodles at the very stall featured in Netflix’s Street Food.  If you ever visit Seoul, put this on your gotta-visit list, Gwanjang Market is the Disneyland of street food.

Grillin and Chillin

Summer has arrived in California, and with temps rising it is time to take cookin’ outside.  Inspired by the street food on our recent trip.  I head to the Korean market to grab some sliced pork belly and banchan, the perfect antidote for the heat.

Thick-cut pork belly is readily available in Asian markets.  If you can’t find it, opt for pork shoulder or butt, sliced into 1/4-inch thick pieces.  The marinade is a mash-up of two recipes, one from A Common Table (current fan fav!) for Pork Bulgogi, and the other from the blog, Spice the Plate, for Korean Pan-Fried Pork Belly.

Stir together Gochujang (Korean Pepper Paste), soy, fish sauce, honey, sesame oil, ginger, and garlic.  Voila, a spicy, sweet, salty marinade that compliments the pork wonderfully. Finally, pour the marinade on the pork and let it sit for 30 minutes.

marinaded pork belly

Marinade for 30 minutes and fire up the grill.  Cook over direct heat for 4-5 minutes a side.  Garnish with green onions or cilantro and serve.  Serve with a bowl of rice or with lettuce/cabbage leaves to make wraps.  Don’t forget side dishes like cucumber salad, and kimchi.

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Korean Style Grilled Pork Belly

Course Main Course, Meat, protein
Cuisine Asian, Korean
Keyword Grilled Pork Belly, Pork Belly
Prep Time 45 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Servings 4 servings

Ingredients

  • 1 pound pork belly with or without skin
  • cilantro or green onions for topping optional

Pork belly Marinade

  • 1 teaspoon finely chopped garlic
  • 1 teaspoon minced ginger
  • 1 stalk green onion chopped, substitute 1 shallot, finely chopped
  • 1/4 cup grated Asian pear substitute pineapple juice
  • 2 tablespoon Korean hot pepper paste Gochujang
  • 2 tablespoon honey
  • 1 tablespoon soy sauce
  • 1 tablespoon fish sauce
  • 2 tablespoon sesame oil
  • 2 tablespoons toasted white sesame seeds save 1/2 T for garnish

Pork Belly Marinade Quick and Dirty

  • 1 teaspoon finely chopped garlic
  • 1 teaspoon minced ginger
  • 2 tablespoon Korean hot pepper paste
  • 2 tablespoon honey
  • 2 tablespoon soy sauce
  • 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
  • 2 tablespoon sesame oil
  • 1 tablespoon toasted white sesame seeds

Instructions

  • Combine ingredients for marinade, add pork and set aside for approximately 30 minutes.
  • While pork marinades, preheat grill, adjust to medium-high heat before grilling.
  • Grill over direct heat 4-5 minutes per side.
  • Garnish with cilantro or green onions and a sprinkling of sesame seeds
  • Serve immediately
Tall Order for a Better Shortbread-Bien Cuit Bakery

Tall Order for a Better Shortbread-Bien Cuit Bakery

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I love shortbread and any excuse to bake a batch, I am all there.  So when Amanda Hesser posted an article on a favorite shortbread that graced their office meetings, all I could think was, do I have butter in the fridge?

Duh, of course.

The title of her article, The World’s Best Shortbread Is No Longer Sold-but We Got The Recipe.

Whaat? World’s Best?  This was added incentive to make a batch.  After all, I think I already have the perfect Shortbread.  An essay entitled “My Father’s Shortbread” found long ago in Cuisine magazine was both a tribute to the author’s Scottish father and his recipe for shortbread.  It has been the cornerstone of my annual holiday cookie platter for more years than I can remember.  Bouchon’s Shortbread is similar in texture and flavor to my favorite and is my runner up.  Can Amanda’s best these? I’ll let you be the judge.

Update 10/2023:  Yes, I love shortbread and two additional recipes I have tried that are very similar to this shortbread are Ted Lasso’s Biscuits with the Boss.  Both are delightful, Christina Tosi’s and Apple TV’s (the producer of Ted Lasso).

Let’s get busy…

shortbread dough 1

The dough comes together easily.  The dry ingredients are blended briefly in a mixer and pieces of cold butter are added and mixed at low speed just until the dough comes together.  Do not overmix.

Press the dough evenly into a PARCHMENT lined 9×13 baking pan. The parchment should hang over the sides. Cover the dough and refrigerate overnight.  The parchment will make it easier to remove the cookies after baking.

The dough should be about 3/8 inch thick. Total baking time for my batch was 50 minutes, so start checking early and rotate pan at the halfway mark.  You want a nice golden brown.  Sprinkle the Demerara Sugar on the cookie as soon as the pan comes out of the oven.  It will adhere better.  At the 5 minute mark when I tried removing the shortbread from the pan, it cracked as the parchment gave way.  Next time I might try cutting the cookies in the pan, letting it cool and then removing them.  They’re a bit fragile so you may lose a couple while removing it from the pan.  Lucky you, you get to eat those pieces.

I will admit, they’re pretty good.  The biggest difference is the use of powdered sugar instead of granulated sugar.  Powdered sugar has cornstarch and lowers the protein content of the dough.  This creates a less dense, softer cookie.  It has the prerequisite buttery flavor, but the texture is different.  The sprinkling of sugar (use Demerara or Turbinado) on the top gives these cookies a nice crunch. I love that crisp resistance you get when you bite into a classic shortbread cookie, the sugar gives that crunch. Next time I’ll try European butter to up my butter game.  After rereading Ms. Hesser’s article, with the low baking temperature, I probably could have left the cookies in for a bit longer.  This might have added some crispness and flakiness without the shortbread getting too dark.

A steaming cup of coffee or tea and a few of these biscuits make for a lovely afternoon break.  Turning on Downton Abbey would make it perfect!  Update: 10/2023 If not Downton Abbey, Ted Lasso would be a great watch!

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Bien Cuit Shortbread

Course cookies
Cuisine American
Keyword Shortbread
Prep Time 15 minutes

Ingredients

  • 302 grams unsalted butter
  • 93 grams confectioners' sugar
  • 3.5 grams kosher salt
  • 302 grams all-purpose flour
  • 1/8 cup regular or raw sugar for sprinkling

Instructions

  • Line a 13x9-inch baking sheet or baking dish with parchment paper.
  • Cut the cold butter and reserve at room temperature to temper slightly.
  • Mix the confectioners’ sugar, salt, and flour in a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix for a few seconds to combine the dry ingredients.
  • Add the cubed butter and mix on low speed until a smooth dough is formed and butter is fully incorporated.
  • At first, the dough will look extremely flaky and dry; let it keep mixing and it will eventually come together into a dough.
  • Dump the dough into the baking sheet ordish and spread it evenly to the corners. Cover with plastic wrap and chill overnight.
  • The next day, heat the oven to 300°Dock the dough every inch or so with a fork. Bake until the shortbread is golden brown, 60-75 minutes.
  • Remove the pan from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes. Turn the shortbread out onto a cutting board, and slice into 4-inch x ¾-inch slices. Sprinkle with raw sugar and transfer to a baking rack to cool completely. Store in airtight containers.

Notes

From a commenter on the original recipe:  
I went to King Arthur Flour's website. They have a list of ingredient conversion and I trust them, so here's what they say:
302 grams butter = 1 1/3 cup (2 2/3 sticks)
93 grams unsifted confectioner's sugar = .8 cups (a bit more than 3/4 cup + 1 tablespoon)
3.5 grams diamond crystal salt = 1 tsp on my kitchen scale (Canning salt, which has a very similar texture to table salt, comes out to 1/2 tsp)
302 grams flour = 2 1/2 cups (I'm betting this is sifted but I'm not sure)

 

 
Bi Bim Bap It! Homecoming in Seoul

Bi Bim Bap It! Homecoming in Seoul

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Off to see Jorge in Korea!

Do you have a bucket list of things to do when traveling, if so, what’s yours? I’d love to know.  Here’s ours when we travel:

FIRST DAY- a tour of the city on bikes.  It’s a great way to get an overview of the city you are visiting and get a bit of exercise (guilt-free eating for the day, yay!)  It does have it’s heartbeat quickening moments when you ride in traffic and every big city in the world has traffic.  But we have biked in Rome, London, Boston, DC, Paris, and Seoul without mishap, just a couple of choice words from drivers.  But hey, I get that here too.

SPORTS:  We have watched rowing on the Thames, soccer in Italy, and now baseball in Korea and Japan.  BOSS, so much fun and gives you a taste of the folks that live there.

EATS:  Street food, hole-in-the-walls, local joints, my kinda food.  Ok, occasionally, a meal that breaks the bank.

I push the envelope sometimes with my search for local food.  I have waited in line for 90 minutes for Egg Tarts in Macau, meandered down small alleys looking for Won Ton Soup in Hong Kong or Okonomiyaki in Osaka.  Unfortunately, the combination of spotty maps and my non-existent sense of direction means a lot of wandering around and spewing expletives at my phone when looking for those food gems. Good thing my family loves me, or at least I think they do.

HOME COOKING:  Do you get tired of eating in restaurants?  Miss your kitchen? Take a cooking class!  We have made pasta and gelato in Florence and now homemade kimchi, seafood pancake-pajeon and Bi Bim Bap in Seoul.

Early morning at a local street market

Our cooking class with Joungy began with a visit to the market to buy ingredients, a Korean Veggie primer!

I was mesmerized watching this gentleman grind chili peppers into Gochugaro powder.

We made Seafood Pancakes or Pajeon, fresh kimchi, and my favorite bowl meal, Bi Bim Bap.  Bi Bim Bap starts with a pile of fluffy, warm rice and topped with julienned carrots, cucumbers, squash, spinach, mushrooms, yesterday’s banchan, seasoned beef or chicken.  You get the picture, you can use anything you desire for toppings.  For Joungy’s class, we had a wonderful array of veggies, carrots, cucumbers, daikon, shiitake mushrooms, shredded beef and a chiffonade of Perilla leaves.  Delicious!

The secret to her Bi Bim Bap is the extra attention given to the sauce.  Her Gochujang paste included corn syrup, a bit of soy sauce, and chopped garlic, stir-fried briefly. This brought the sauce to a new level.

Season each component, stir-fry, and place on top of the rice in neat little separate piles-kid-friendly, lol.  Top your masterpiece with a sprinkling of sesame seeds and a dollop of sauce.  It’s colorful, delicious, easy to prepare, flexible…what more could you ask for?  If you can’t find Perilla leaves, garnish with chopped green onions are good too.

A great primer for Bi Bim Bap can be found at My Korean Kitchen which has instructions to season the blanched bean sprouts and spinach.

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Bi Bim Bap (Korean Mixed Rice)

Korean Rice Bowl, Easy to Make and Delicious!
Course Main Course
Cuisine Asian
Keyword Bi Bim Bap, Korean, Rice Bowl
Prep Time 20 days
Cook Time 45 days
Servings 1 serving

Ingredients

Bi Bim Bap Rice (proportions for 1 bowl)

  • 50 gm thinly sliced beef
  • 1 clove garlic finely chopped
  • 1/2 t brown sugar
  • 1 t corn syrup
  • 1/2 t salt
  • 1 T soy sauce
  • 1/2 t sesame oil
  • 2 fresh shiitake mushroomes, thinly sliced
  • 1/2 carrot, julienned
  • 1/4 c daikon, julienned or bean sprouts
  • 1/8 t pepper powder Gochugaru
  • 1 handful spinach leaves or sub 1/4 cup thinly sliced zuchinni or Persian cucumber
  • 5 perilla leaves aka sesame leaves can sub shiso leaves, julienned
  • vegetable oil for frying, 1/2 T for each vegetable
  • 2 cups Cooked white rice I use a rice cooker, its your call how to cook the rice!

Ingredients for Sauce for servings

  • 5 T Gochujang chili paste
  • 2 T Corn syrup light
  • 3 cloves garlic
  • 1 T brown sugar
  • 1/2 T vegetable oil

Instructions

For Sauce

  • In a nonstick skillet, add oil and chopped garlic. Turn heat onto medium high. Saute until garlic is brown color, don't burn!
  • Add remaining ingredients for sauce and stir over medium low heat for approximately 5 minutes. Set aside.

For Vegetables and Rice

  • Cooked medium grain white rice
  • In a small bowl combine soy sauce, brown sugar, corn syrup, pepper powder and chopped garlic. Add beef and stir to combine.
  • Stir fry each vegetable-mushroom, carrot, daikon, separately until tender crisp. Season with salt to taste. Place each vegetable on a platter, keep separate. Stir fry mushrooms in 1/2 T sesame oil, remaining vegetables can be saute in 1/2 T vegetable oil or a blend of sesame oil and vegetable oil
  • If using bean sprouts or spinach, blanch in hot water until tender crisp about 1 minute
  • Stir fry beef until cooked through.

Building Your Bowl

  • Divide hot rice between 3-4 bowls
  • Place vegetables in bundles around the bowl in a radial pattern. Place beef in the center.
  • Garnish with sesame seeds and perilla leaves and approximately 1 T sauce for each bowl. Place extra sauce in a bowl and serve along side bowls.
  • Optional (mandatory for me): Fry an egg for each serving, sunnyside up, and place on top of beef

Notes

Bi Bim Bap and creative expression.  The only absolutes for Bi Bim Bap is the rice and the sauce.  You could sub brown rice in place of white rice, but you need rice. The recipe from Joungy's class goes the extra mile by sautéing the red pepper paste with garlic and seasonings.  You could use Gochujang straight out of the jar, but the cooked sauce is really tasty.
Use whatever vegetables your little heart desires.  Great way to use extra Banchan you boxed from K-bbq the night before.  Why not? 

So good!  Bowled over by Bi Bim Bap!
Bowled Over, Udon Want to Miss My Newest Obsession (Udon)

Bowled Over, Udon Want to Miss My Newest Obsession (Udon)

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Hang on to your hats, imagine Times Square, with all its neon signs and flashing lights dedicated solely to FOOD.  Yep, that’s the only way I can describe the Dotonbori area of Osaka.  Swarms of people, whose sole purpose is to find all things delicious to eat.  A giant 3-D crab, or shrimp or potsticker over the door of a dining establishment making it easy to figure out their specialty.  The delicious aromas swirling around, changing with every step as they walk by tempura houses, ramen joints, crab feasts and yakitori vendors.

Welcome to Crazy Town for food

Yep, we bit.  Drawn by the people, hypnotized by the lights, we ate our way down the street.  We tasted Takoyaki, octopus cakes, (not really cakes, I just couldn’t bring myself to call them balls).  Think Ebelskiver with octopus bits.  We munched on skewers of yakitori, sampled matcha and black sesame soft serve and found taiyakis, fish-shaped cakes filled with red beans.

Udon want to miss the noodles

Our last stop was the perfect cap for the evening.  Walking back to our hotel we found a local shop in Namba with a trio of old cooks serving up delicious udon noodles.  We decided what toppings we wanted on our noodles, slipped our yens (=TWO DOLLARS A BOWL) into the machine, and handed the tickets to the chef.  Minutes later 3 hot steaming bowls of udon were placed in front of us.

Unlike ramen, the noodles are much thicker with a definite chew.  The broth is flavorful but clear and light, fish-based, different than the rich, heavy broth that you find with ramen.  Toppings are simple-fried tofu (abura-age), a raw egg that cooks in the steaming hot broth, a single tempura shrimp, or a clump of shredded seasoned beef and a sprinkling of green onion.  We slurped our noodles and tipped the bowls to spoon out the last drops of broth.  You’d think we hadn’t eaten all day.  Ha!

 

Oyako-Udon combo set

Thus My Obsession with Udon Began…

As soon as I got home plus 12 hours of catch-up sleep, I pulled out my copy of Japanese Soul Cooking by Tadashi Ono.  A gem of a book on homey Japanese comfort food.  I flipped to the udon section and then I was off to the market to look for ingredients.  I had purchased a delicious Dashi base in Tsujiki Market in Tokyo, perfect for my udon.  To make your own Dashi here is a great primer from Just One Cookbook. OR, Kikkoman makes a soup base Hon Tsuyu that makes a pretty good dashi broth base.

Working down my list, next the udon noodles. Udon comes fresh, frozen, and (if you can’t find fresh or frozen udon) dried.  Sigh, just not the same.  I also found abura-age or fried tofu skin which is used to make Kitsune Udon. The fried tofu skins are flattened and seasoned with soy sauce and placed on top of the udon.  Really delicious, and substantial enough for a satisfying vegetarian bowl of udon. It can be difficult to find abura-age though and in that case, Inari-age, seasoned deep-fried tofu pouches used to make Sushi Rice balls, is a convenient and easy substitute.  No need to season, just plop them on top of the cooked noodles.  Confused about tofu? Serious Eats’s Tofu primer is your ticket.  The carnivore in me though, bought some thinly sliced beef (sukiyaki beef is perfect) to make Niku Udon, yummo.

Making udon is very approachable.  It’s perfectly acceptable to start with a broth made from Dashi bags and pre-made noodles.

Udon Ingredients

Travel to Eat

People travel to buy clothes and souvenirs, I buy food, Dashi, Furikake’, Soba Boro cookies…yep, travel driven by food.

Studying up, here’s the scoop, on udon.

I used Dashi packets to make the Tsuyu.  This is your base,  add soy sauce and mirin to flavor the Tsuyu.

Optimally, use Sanukiya noodles, most likely found in the frozen section of your favorite Asian market.  The noodles are a bit firmer and hold up well.  The pre-cooked noodles only take a couple of minutes to separate and heat in hot water, presto-dunzo.  There are Korean versions of Udon noodles too, and they are very good.

Toppings for udon can be as simple as an egg, gently poached for the raw egg-squeamish, Abura-age, tempura, fishcake, or really ANYTHING you feel like putting on your noodles!

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Kitsune Udon

Simple, satisfying, soulful, best describes a bowl of Udon, thick, slurpable, noodles, in a clear broth.
Course noodles, one bowl meal, One dish meals
Cuisine Asian
Keyword Kitsune, Udon
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes

Ingredients

Abura-age (Tofu)

  • 1 package Abura-age or 4 Abura-age

For Simmering Abura-age:

  • 3/4 cup dashi soup stock
  • 2 Tbsp. sugar
  • 1 Tbsp. soy sauce
  • 1 Tbsp. mirin

For Soup:

  • 5 cup dashi soup stock
  • 3 Tbsp. mirin
  • 2 Tbsp. soy sauce
  • Salt adjusting the amount of salt to your preference

Noods and Garnishes

  • 4 packages pre-boiled udon noodles
  • Optional: 4 slices kamaboko fish cake for topping
  • green onions, sliced

Instructions

  • Heat dashi, mirin, sugar, and soy sauce in a medium pan and bring to a boil. Adjust the flavor with salt as you like.
  • Simmer aburaage in the soup on low heat until the liquid is almost gone. Set aside.
  • Boil water in a large pan and heat udon noodles as indicated in the package.
  • Drain the udon and divide into four bowls.
  • Pour the hot soup over udon noodles.
  • Top with seasoned aburaage and kamaboko slices.
  • Garnish with green onions

OR buy the more readily available Inari age or seasoned tofu pouches and just plop those straight into your bowl. Inari age is the fried tofu pouches used to make Inari Sushi

    Or the carnivore delight…

    udon
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    Niku Udon

    Udon Noodles topped with stir fried seasoned beef and onions.
    Course Soup
    Cuisine Asian
    Keyword japanese, Noodle, soup, Udon
    Prep Time 20 minutes
    Cook Time 15 minutes
    Servings 4 servings
    Author Adapted from Japanese Soul Food

    Ingredients

    Niku Ingredients

    • 1/4 cup sake
    • 1/4 cup sugar
    • 1/4 cup soy sauce
    • 1 pound sukiyaki beef or thinly sliced flank steak, ribeye
    • 1/4 yellow onion, thinly sliced optional

    Soup

    • 6 cups udon tsuyu*
    • 4 bricks fresh or frozen udon noodles can substitute dried Sanuki Udon
    • 1-2 green onion thinly sliced
    • Shichimi togarashi

    Udon Tsuyu

    • 6 cups dashi
    • 1/2 cup mirin
    • 1/2 cup Usukuchi soy sauce light soy sauce
    • 1/2 - 1 teaspoon salt or to taste

    Instructions

    Tsuyu

    • Prepare broth and keep warm.

    Beef

    • Combine sake, sugar and soy sauce in a bowl and stir well. Add beef and mix together, coating meat well. Marinade beef for 10 minutes.
    • Preheat dry non-stick skillet or well seasoned wok/iron skillet. If including onion, saute onion slices just until soft before adding the beef. Add beef and marinade to skillet. Spread beef in skillet to cook evenly. Cook over high heat until beef has lost its pinkness and most of liquid has evaporated, approximately 5 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

    Udon Noodles

    • Bring large pot of water to a boil. Add each packet of noodles. gently spread noodles out. When water comes back to a boil, the noodles are done. Drain well and divide among bowls.
    • Pour hot broth over noodles. Divide beef among bowls, garnish with green onions and shichimi togarashi. Serve immediately.
    A Tale of Two Pancakes and Sushi

    A Tale of Two Pancakes and Sushi

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    Nothing beats coming home.  Though we had a blast on our trip to Korea and Japan, it always feels good to open the front door, drop the bags and sleep in my OWN bed!  Aaaaahhhh, bliss.

    What else is nice, hmmmmmm

    HOME COOKING

    Yep, time to get back in my kitchen and make a mess.  I envisioned our first day back, a big pot of rice soup (congee), kick up our feet, and flip on the telly to catch up with the Warriors and Sharks.

    But before going home we spent our last day in Japan running around Osaka looking for early morning sushi, soufflé pancakes and Michelin starred Instant Ramen.  We went 2 for 3, couldn’t find the Instant Ramen which was just as well since I couldn’t fit much more in my suitcase anyway.

    Breakfast of Champions

    At 6:30 am we found ourselves sitting in a small sushi place at the Osaka Fish Market, Endo Sushi.  Surprisingly, we were not alone nor the first ones there.  To make it easy, there is a set menu of sushi flights.  Each flight focus was different, shellfish, fish, tuna.  Fresh and delicious we ordered a set each, then another, then another to share.  Not a bad way to start the day.

    My Happy Place

    From there we headed back to town.  It was only 8:30.  Yes, enough time to find soufflé pancakes, the current rage.  So we head to Happy Pancake which doesn’t open until 10AM.  First in line baby, uh-huh.  The perks of getting up early.

    Happy Pancakes with butter and syrup.  Number two on the bucket list, checked off.

    Light, fluffy, souffle-like, and EGGY.  Now, this might be your cup of tea…but for me, they were just way too eggy tasting, reminded me of a French omelet.  Y’all, if I wanted eggs, I would have ordered eggs. I hear there is a joint in Stonestown in San Francisco, and after a three-hour wait, you can try them…Me?  Nah.  I want real pancakes.

    When we finally made it home, top on my breakfast bucket list (or due to my screwed up time-clock, dinner bucket list), PANCAKES of course.  I pulled out my current favorite cookbook, A Common Table by Cynthia Chen McTernan of the blog Two Red Bowls and flipped to her recipe for Buttermilk Mochi Pancakes.

    Her little tweak is genius.  Using half all-purpose flour and half sweet rice flour, you end up with a light fluffy pancake with a nice, subtle, chew or elasticity and a tiny hint of that rice/mochi flavor.  It’s not eggy.  It’s pancakey!  I love it.  It’s delicious.  If you are a fan of the latest rage..mochi donuts and muffins, you’ll love these griddlecakes.

    It’s an easy batter to whip up.  I did stray from the recipe a bit.  I decided to whip the egg white and gently fold it into batter.  The recipe calls for just adding in the unbeaten egg white, but whipping the whites hopefully, adds air and lightness to the batter so I took the extra step.

    Mix wet ingredients with dry ingredients just to incorporate.
    Whip egg white  until soft peaks and gently fold into batter
    CHEAT tip: Use an ice cream scoop to dole out the batter.
    If you use a non-stick pan, you won’t need oil or butter on your pan.

    These babies are so badass.  You need to try them.  If you don’t have sweet rice flour, use 100% AP flour, you’ll get perfectly respectable traditional pancakes but really, get yourself some sweet rice flour.  You’ll thank me, plus you now have rice flour to make her delicious Peanut Butter Mochi.

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    Buttermilk Mochi Pancakes

    Course Breakfast
    Cuisine American
    Keyword Butttermilk Mochi Pancakes
    Prep Time 15 minutes
    Cook Time 10 minutes
    20 minutes
    Servings 3

    Ingredients

    • 1/2 cup 63gm all-purpose flour
    • 1/2 cup 70gm sweet rice flour like Mochiko Blue Star
    • 1 tablespoon sugar
    • 1 teaspoon baking powder
    • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
    • 1/4 teaspoon salt
    • 1 large egg separated
    • 1/2 cup Greek yogurt whole yogurt
    • 1/2 cup milk of your choice I used 2%, I also warmed the milk before combining milk, butter and egg
    • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter melted and cooled, plus more for the pan and for serving
    • maple syrup or syrup of your choice for serving

    Instructions

    • In a medium bowl, whisk together the flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
    • Separate egg, reserve egg yolk in small bowl. Place egg white in a medium small bowl and whisk until soft peaks are formed.
    • Add the egg yolk, yogurt, milk, and melted butter, and stir until just incorporated.
    • Gently fold egg white into batter.
    • Heat a 10-inch or 12-inch cast-iron or nonstick skillet over medium flame until a drop of water sizzles when it hits the pan. Lightly grease the skillet with butter (or flavorless vegetable oil), or if using a non-stick pan, forego greasing.
    • Use a measuring cup or a large ice cream scoop to drop 1/4 cup batter onto the pan.
    • When the edges of the pancake look dry and bubbles begin to form in the center, approximately 2 minutes, flip and cook on the second side until lightly golden, 1 to 2 more minutes.
    • Remove to a plate and repeat with the remaining batter. If desired, use an ovenproof plate (or a metal rack on a baking sheeand place the finished pancakes in the oven on its lowest heat setting to keep them warm while you cook the rest.
    • Serve immediately, with butter and maple syrup.

    Notes

    Add rice flour to your pancakes for a delightful twist! The rice flour adds a bit of elasticity and flavor while the pancake is still tender and fluffy. The best of both worlds for these mochi pancakes!
    Not a Cinco Minute Too Soon! Tres Leches Bread Pudding

    Not a Cinco Minute Too Soon! Tres Leches Bread Pudding

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    Invariably when faced with several choices for dessert I gravitate towards buttery, bready, moist, saucey (new word alert).  Everyone generally clamors for the chocolate-centric desserts.  I am a sucker for a warm, gushy on the inside, crisp on the outside bread pudding.  I love a  fruit cobbler or Sticky Toffee Pudding? Oh yeah, right up my dessert alley.

    Two of my favorite desserts can be found in Houston.  At Kileen’s BBQ, where brisket is the bomb, their dessert, a bread pudding made with croissants, literally melts in your mouth.  A warm custard surrounds buttery, moist shards of croissants. YUM.

    My other favorite, The Tres Leches Cake at Chuy’s, a Tex-Mex institution found everywhere in Texas and beyond.  Yellow cake drenched with 3 kinds of milk, whole,evaporated, and sweetened condensed milk then topped with whipped cream and garnished with fresh berries.

    Wouldn’t you know it, some ingenious person decided to combine my two favorite desserts for a delightful Tres Leches Bread Pudding. I came across the recipe in the NYT, JUST in TIME for Cinco de Mayo.  Perfect!

    So let someone else mix the Margaritas or tend the taco bar.  You make the dessert.

    The recipe calls for whole milk, evaporated milk and sweetened condensed milk.  The sweetened condensed milk provides the sugar so don’t substitute for it. I used TJ’s Brioche Loaf to make the bread pudding.  For a softer, more custard like pudding, use croissants instead. Both are delicious. Festive twist? Before sliding that puppy into the oven, sprinkle it with cinnamon sugar along with the condensed milk.  Serve with a big drizzle of sweetened condensed milk and a dollop of whipped cream.

    You’ll thank me…

    Tres Leches Bread Pudding

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    Tres Leches Bread Pudding

    Ingredients

    Butter, for greasing the baking dish

    • 3 large eggs
    • 4 large egg yolks
    • 2 Cups heavy cream
    • 1 Cup Sweetened condensed milk
    • 1 Cup whole milk
    • 1 12-ounce can evaporated milk
    • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
    • ½ teaspoon kosher salt
    • 12 Ounces brioche or challah or croissants cut into 1 1/2-inch cubes (about 8 cups)

    Instructions

    • Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-inch square baking dish.
    • In a large bowl, beat together the eggs and egg yolks until completely combined. Whisk in 1 cup/240 milliliters heavy cream, 3/4 cup/180 milliliters condensed milk, (reserve remainder of heavy cream and condensed milk ) 1 cup whole milk, 1 cup evaporated milk, vanilla and salt.
    • Set the bread in the prepared dish and pour the egg mixture on top. Press the bread down gently with a spatula to make sure all the pieces are immersed and soak up the liquid. Let stand at room temperature for 10 minutes.
    • Meanwhile, bring a kettle of water to a boil. Drizzle 2 tablespoons condensed milk over the pudding. Cover the baking dish tightly with aluminum foil then set it inside a large roasting pan. Pour the boiling water into the roasting pan until it reaches about halfway up the sides of the baking dish.
    • Bake until the center of the custard is almost set but still slightly wet, about 25 minutes. Carefully remove the foil and continue to bake until the custard is set in the center and the top is golden, about 30 minutes longer. Carefully remove the roasting pan from the oven and let the pudding cool in the water for about 20 minutes.
    • Whip the remaining 1 cup/240 milliliters heavy cream to soft peaks. Serve the pudding warm, room temperature or cold with a dollop of whipped cream. Drizzle with the remaining 2 tablespoons condensed milk.