Korean pancake 'Buchimgae'

This thin, flat Korean pancake is called 'Bu Chim Gae'. Most Korean make this with Kimchi or some vegetables(zucchini, potato, spring onion...etc.), some seafood(clam, squid....etc.). This time, I made it with zucchini.

My mother used to make the Buchimgae many times during the rainy days in the East Asian rainy season.
It is popular dish eaten when a group of friends sit down for a chat. Especially when it's raining.^^ Also it's a perfect side dish consumed with 'Makguli' which is Korean traditional rice wine.

Ingredients (serve 3or 4)

1/2 zucchini cut into strips

2 spring onion copped

3 Tbsp shredded carrot

1 chopped chilli

1cup plain flour

1 egg

1cup cold water

salt for taste

vegetable oil to coat the frying pan



Mix flour, egg and water,

add all the vegetables

add salt for taste

Place pan on medium heat

put a spoonful vegetable oil

When the pan is hot

pour 1/2 of the flour mixture into the pan

cook for 3-4 minutes or until golden underneath

Turn over and cook for a further 2-3 minutes or until golden underneath.

Isn't it easy???

I usualy make a spicy soy dipping sauce

but this time I made a sour soy sauce.

1 Tbsp soy sauce

1 tsp vineger

a pinch of chilli powder

mix all ingredients.

In hot summer afternoon......

Cool rain shower.....

Buchimgae with Makguli.....

Awesome~!

Some changes between the sushi and the sandwich

Which is the sushi, which is the sandwich?

Can you tell???????*^^*

I know this is not traditional looking!
I love to make the color match
and experiment with little changes.
Also cooking it was a lot of fun.

These will make yummy finger foods at a party.

Ingredients for roll sandwich (serve 4)

4 slices white bread
2 Tbsp cream cheese
150g can tuna, drained and flaked
1/2 small carrot, grated
1/2 capsicum, cut into long strips
1 small avocado, cut into long strips

Trim the crust off the white bread.
Flatten the slices of the bread with a rolling pin.
Spread with cream cheese.
Lay carrot, capsicum, avocado, tuna meat.
Roll up bread, pressing gently to seal.

cut each roll in 3 equal pieces.

Ingredients

for sushi rice (serve 3)

3 cups steamed rice

2 Tbsp rice vinegar

2tsp sugar

1/4 tsp salt

3 sheets nori(paper-thin dried seaweed)

1/3 cup crab meat(I used instant crab meat), roughly chopped

1/3 cup beetroot pickle, chopped

1/3 cup yellow colored radish pickle, chopped

* You can use shrimp, flying fish roe, pickled ginger...etc.

What ever you like..^^*

 In a small bowl, whisk vinegar, salt and sugar

Mix with rice and vinegar mixture.

Stirring constantly, slowly add vinegar mixture untill incorporated.

Divide the rice into 3 bowls,

mix with 3 ingredients each(pickled radish, pickled beetroot, crab meat)

 Toast nori sheetsin a hot frying pan untill crisp

about 30 seconds each side.

Place nori sheet, shiny side down on dry work surface.

And cover with one bowl from the rice mix.

(Using moistened fingers)

Place a nori sheet on the top, make it level with a rolling pin.

 Spread anather bowl of rice mix.

Cover third nori sheet and make it level with the rolling pin. and so on....

 Trim edges with a wet and sharp knife.

 cover with foil, let it stand few minutes.

Slice crosswise, serve whith wasabi soy sauce.

I can tell your kids will love them.*^^*



Pan fried salmon fillet with hollandaise sauce

A few months ago, Kevin and I went to a friend's birthday party.

The place was a restaurant in Sai Kung which is a beachside village of Kowloon, Hong Kong.

The dinner time was little bit late, so......................I had too many appetisers ( parma wrapped artichoke hearts was so yummy. >.<) with a glass of champagne(that's my alcoholic capacity).

There were 2 main dishes. We choose a main dish each and shared. I couldn't finish my dish..... doh! 

This is the dinner menu. The chicken dish was too salty, hummmmm~~.

But the salmon~~?  Excellent!

A few weeks later, I made the salmon dish with some changes. I didn't have caviar this time (oh~yeh~~ that's an expensive one.*^^*), but I got some nice herb mix from Kevin's friend Dietmar. It's an Arabian herb mix. I can't read the words of the ingredients but I can taste sumach,majoram,sesame seed...etc. That gives great flavour to fish.

So, let's copy the restaurant main dish~!

Ingredients

For salmon (serves 1)

1 salmon fillet (about 4 ounce)

1 tsp Arabian herb mix(or dry thyme and majoram or rosemary)

1/4 tsp salt,

1/4 tsp blackpepper

handful of asparagus

1 medium potato

1 Tbsp butter

for hollandaise sauce(4cups)

2 egg yolks,

 2 Tbsp water,

80g butter (cut into small pieces)

1/4 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp white pepper

1 Tbsp lemon juice

Pour a few inches of water into a saucepan, and bring to a boil over high heat, then turn heat to medium-high and maintain water at a gentle boil. Place the egg yolks and 2 Tbsp water in a heatproof bowl, and whisk in hot water. Place the bowl over, but not touching, the boiling water. Whisk constantly until the yolks thicken, turn a light, opaque yellow, and double in volume. You may need to remove the bowl from the boiling water from time to time in order to keep from scrambling the yolks. When the yolks have thickened and increased in volume, begin whisking in the butter, a cube at a time until it melts and incorporates into the hollandaise sauce. Wait for each cube to melt and incorporate before adding the next. Once all of the butter has been incorporated, remove from heat, whisk in the lemon juice, and season to taste with salt and pepper

Rub fish with dried herbmix, season with salt and pepper. Grill fish on buttered pan , skin side up 4 to 5 minutes (If skin side down first, the fish breaks easily.) Using a thin spatula, flip the fish and cook until slightly pink in the center, about 4 minutes more, depending on thickness of the fillet. 

(Can be grilled.)



 Pan fry the sliced potatos and the asparagus, serve with salmon  and holladaise sauce.


Here is the recipe Nicola, better late than never~~~!^^*

Korean beansprout soup with clam 'Kong Na Mul Guk'

I had this soup so many times when I was a child.

The beansprout was the cheapest ingredient (it is still a cheap one),

also it is so simple to cook .

My mother was a working mom.

She made this soup when she didn't have time to cook
or during the cold Korean winter.

'Kong Na Mul' means  soybeansprout,

also it refers to a seasoned side dish made from soybeansprout.

'Kuk' means the soup.

This soup can be cooked with or without the clams or the mussels.

Ingredients

200g beansprouts
2 cups clams

2 cloves garlic crushed
1 chilli chopped
1/3 cup chopped leek
1~2 Tbsp light soy sauce
3 cups water

Place the clams In a bowl, pour in the water and a tsp of salt' leave to soak.
This will make the dirt come out of the clam.
Trim the ends of the beansprouts, Wash the beansprouts few time, also rinse the clams until the dirt has been removed.
Place a pot on medium heat with 3 cups of water, put the clams and beansprouts in the pot and cover with a lid and boil.
Don't open the lid until the water is boiling.
If you open the lid befor the water boils, the beansprouts will make the soup taste bad.
1 minute after the soup starts boiling, open the lid, put all the other ingredients into the pot and stir.
Cover with the lid and boil for 2 or 3 minutes, add some more light soy sauce for taste and serve.

We enjoy this soup very much.
Especialy when we get flu, we eat this soup with a lot of chilli powder.
Also this soup helps after you drink a lot of alcohol! 

It works,,,, definitly.*^^*

Korean seaweed soup 'Mi Yok Guk'

'Mi Yok' means seaweed 'Guk' means soup in Korean.
When Korean women are in their confinement after having a baby, they eat seaweed soup for recovery.
The seaweed has lots of calcium and iodine, so it improves blood circulation and quality.
It helps the baby and the mother.
In Korea it is traditional to eat seaweed soup on your birthday.
But not just birthdays, we also eat this soup with normal meals.It is easy and simple to cook, with few ingredients and also healthy.^^*

You can make this soup with sliced or minced beef, clam, mussel... etc.

When you use clams or mussels, put them into salted water, leave standing for a few minutes, wash a few times
and then put into the soup when you pour the water into the pot.

 
Ingredients

1/3 cup dry seaweed
150g minced or sliced beef
2Tbsp light soy sauce
3 tsp sesame oil
2 cloves garlic
4 cup water
light soy sauce for taste

 
place the seaweed and 3cups of water in a big bowl, leave until seaweed is soft.Put the beef into another bowl, add 1 Tbsp of light soy sauce and 1 tsp of sesame oil and mix well.
When the seaweed is soft (If you touch the seaweed, you can feel it is soft)
pour more water in and rub hard and drain (2 or 3 time).
Finaly squeeze the seaweed, put into a pot with beef.
Place the pot on medium heat.
Add 2 tsp sesame oil, 1 Tbsp light soy sauce and crushed garlic.
Stir well until the beef turns brown.
Pour 4 cups of water into pot, cover and boil.
When the soup starts boiling, remove the froth from the surface and add more light soy sauce for taste.
Reduce heat to low, and leave for a few minutes. And serve ~~~~ 

Korean pan fried zucchini salad 'Ahobok Bokum'

'A Ho Bak' means zucchini, 'Bok Um' means pan fried in Korean.

'Ahobak Bokum' has many recipes in Korea,

using different saucee for seasoning

(for example shrimp paste or fish sauce ect.)

This is a recipe from my aunt who lives in the Korean countryside.

She has amazing cooking ability like most older generation women.

I love this recipe because it is an easy method

and the simple ingredients makes a fantastic side dish for steamed rice.

This recipe can be made with or without chilli powder.

And also I use 1 Tbsp Korean perilla seed oil,

but you can use 1/2 Tbsp sesame oil and 1/2 Tbsp vege oil mix instead.

I suggest you add 1/2 Tbsp of light soy sauce

if you just want a salad with a western style meal.

Try it!!!!

 

Ingredients

2 small zucchinies

A handful of chopped leek

3 cloves of garlic, crushed

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/2 Tbsp sesame oil

1/2 Tbsp vegetable oil

1 Tbsp light soy sauce

1/2 Tbsp chilli powder(optional)

1. Wash and slice the zucchini, about 5mm thick. Put all the zucchini slices in a bowl, add sea salt and mix gently. Leave to stand about 30 min.

2. Mix the sesame oil and vegetable oil. Put the pan on medium heat, add the oil mixture 1/2 Tbsp at one time.(You should add more later, when the pan goes dry.)

3. Place the zucchini slices in the pan. Leave 2~3 min until light brown and turn over, cook for another 2 min. (You should turn the heat to low if the pan is too hot. Don’t burn the zucchinis.)

4. Put the fried zucchinis into a bowl.
Add chopped leeks and crushed garlic. Add the light soy sauce and chilli powder as you like.

6. Mix the seasoning in gently. Enjoy it!