Lentil Soup Dinner

Throw some of this stuff together, and chop up some vegetables....

Simmer it all in a large pot and combine with some liquids...

Presto! You get a delicious and warming soup for the winter. 

Foreigner Joy Cooks: Spanish inspiration

Back in my home country I can easily go to the store and get a rice mix to take home. You know one of those "Spanish" or "Mexican" ready-made rice mixes that you just throw in a pot with some water, and you're done. Not really the case in Korea, where rice mixes tend to lean more towards a Korean flavor. In this case, I realized that I should just try to make the same thing but from scratch.

So I did some searching and found a good recipe from All Recipes.com titled, "Best Spanish Rice." Truth be told, I don't really know what true Spanish rice tastes like, and can only assume this recipe is not the real thing. But my gut tells me I'm mostly following an Americanized version of something here.

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons oil

• 2 tablespoons chopped onion

• 1 1/2 cups uncooked white rice

• 2 cups chicken broth

• 1 cup chunky salsa

Thankfully, all of those items are easily attainable in Korea. The chicken broth can be found at Homeplus, and salsa is seen in regular supermarkets here, too. I also managed to get a hold of some cilantro from my local Lotte Mart, and knew I had to include it. The "Mexican-style Chili Powder" was my own addition I had brought back from home. 

The cooking process was quite simple and pretty basic.

• Saute onions in the oil in your large skillet / pot. I had no real sauce skillet thing so just used my regular pot.
• After onions have become slightly clear mix the rice into the pot and stir till it looks kind of brown.
• After this pour in the liquids (salsa and stock) and all your other extras (cilantro...seasoning). Stir and bring to a boil.
• Once simmering, reduce heat to low and let cook for 20 minutes. However mine finished before that, as I think my gas stove is just too powerful.

To complete this meal I made bean tacos to accompany the rice. The refried beans came from an order I made online via nicemarket.net. I haven't found refried beans at my local Homeplus or Lotte Mart, but have seen other canned beans, such as black beans and cannelli. I think a black bean taco could also work. Tortillas are something you could easily make yourself here, but if your like me you can just buy them locally. 

The final result was a wonderful and delicious meal, and made even more better because I didn't have to trek anywhere to get it. 

I highly recommend making this at your home, and maybe inviting some folks over to enjoy it with. 

Pancake Brunch

One could go to Butterfinger Pancakes or some brunch place, but the best pancakes are homemade and enjoyed with a friend. Yesterday, I ventured over to my friend's place. She recently moved to my area and so we were excited we could get together so easily. I brought over a Red Mill Organic pancake mix I bought from a foreign food online seller, along with frozen blueberries. We picked up a few extras, too.

Sorry for the blurry photos, I forgot to change it from "manual focus" to "auto". Oh well!

The mix came out pretty thick when we followed the instructions, so along the way I added some water. But overall the smell of cooking pancakes and sizzling bacon made this Saturday afternoon quite pleasant.

We enjoyed our brunch while watching the new movie, "Midnight in Paris" by Woody Allen. I highly recommend this to other people, as it was funny and cooky. Certainly, made for a great addition to our scrumptious meal.

I look forward to more brunch adventures at my pals place in time to come!

Joy Jjiggae

As the weather turns to chilly and the first snow tries to fall, I can't help but want something boiling hot when I get home. That is why in the colder months of living in Korea I prefer to eat jjiggae or Korean fermented bean paste soup. They are easy to find at local restaurants and can be taken out at your usual kimbop place.

But making your own jjiggae means you have something fresh and made to your liking. Last week I made a jjiggae that turned out quite tasty. Usual recipes call for one to make a broth using seaweed squares and anchovies. As I don't like anchovies I decided to go with a different broth, a mushroom base I found at the store.

At the bottom you have the doenjang jjiggae paste in it's container and to the right it being mixed up in water. This is the soul of the soup, as it provides the unique flavor. Kind of like miso soup but a whole lot earthier and salty. Above this is gochujang, or red pepper paste. Cubed tofu next to that, along with chopped up veggies (potatoes, zucchinis and mushrooms). In the bowl at the top are chopped red and green chili pepper, which I learned to use sparingly.

This is the soup base powder I used, a mushroom flavor. I suppose I was going against the traditions of jjiggae making when using this, but it still came out quite good.

After the soup base is boiled up I added the doenjang and veggies...

Eventually, everything goes in the pot...including some garlic and gochugaru (or red pepper flakes). Let it boil for minutes more and you have your soup!

I accompanied my soup with a bowl of rice, candied yams and Chinese steam bums. I know not a whole Korean meal and the kimchi is missing. But I really don't care! Just want my soup and something with it! hhaha

Korean Product Review: 꼬꼬면 or Chicken Ramen

Several months ago I was watching the Korean news on my TV and they were talking about some kind of ramen. It turned out to be a kind made with chicken broth, instead of the usual spicy mix. Ever since then I have been trying to find it at my local marts. I finally gave up, and then last weekend spotted it.

As I started to cook it, I wondered if it would taste like the Chicken Ramen cups I like to have at home. The packaging called for you to add a few extra ingredients, but I only had the egg.

As far as Korean ramens go I usually like the kind that are boasted as "natural" and "well being." Meaning they have a lot of vegetable ingredients and the noodles are not as fried as other kinds. However, I find that most all Korean ramens I try taste the same. Granted, I haven't tried them all, but the spicy sauce seems to not vary much from package to package.

This was my first time cooking ramen with an egg and I'm not sure if I did it right or not. However what you see above is my final result. The overall taste wasn't spicy and did have a strong chicken broth flavor. It was salty, of course, but not too overwhelming. The noodles were nice and chewy.

I think this product makes for a good rotation in one's ramen eating schedule, as it is definitely different from the rest. Plus if you put your imagination to it I'm sure you can come up with extra fixings to throw in.

Yea! Ramen! haha

How a Recent Saturday Went By

For some reason the cold weather pushed me to do some baking. So it is that I let three bananas go ripe and collected all the necessary ingredients to bake some banana muffins.

As I did this I also worked on lesson plans for next year, yes I know I work too much. Although, I am seeing that it will be really easy to put together next year's lessons as it is all patched together from this year. Duh!

The muffins came out yummy and full of warm sweetness. The crispy brown sugar on top took me back to my childhood.

As I just spent a chunk of money on plane tickets for my February vacation I can't really go out so much. I thought I was going to save money this year, but it looks like that it isn't happening. Oh well! I guess will shoot for next year, haha!

What's For Dinner? Yellow Lentil Curry

Sometimes a good home cooked meal is what you need to wash away city life. I have been enjoying dal or lentil curry dishes at Indian restaurants and wondered if I could make the same thing at home. After finding a recipe online I figured why not give it a try.

The above ingredients are a mix of ones I have found in Korea and those I have brought with me from a recent trip back home (turmeric, curry powder and cumin). The lentils were purchased online from nicedeli.com.

The cilantro, or coriandar, however took quite a feat to find here. I thought my local Homeplus would have some, but no. Then I ventured to the fancy-pants Lotte department store grocery section, but no. Then while at COEX recently, I figured why not give the Hyundai department store a try. Thankfully they had a bushel full packed into a plastic box for just 2,100 Won.

List of ingredients needed:

• 250 g (1 cup) red or yellow lentils
• 1 tbsp olive oil for cooking
• 1 finely chopped onion
• 1-2 cloves of crushed garlic
• 1x3 cm piece fresh ginger peeled & finely grated (for this I used packaged chopped up ginger...about a tiny teaspoon)
• 2 tsp ground corainder
• 1 cup coriander roughly chopped
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp chili powder
• 3 1/2 cups veggie stock (I didn't have this...so I used chicken stock instead..still looking for the veggie stock)
• 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
• S & P to choice

How it was made:

1. I first chopped up all the veggies and got out the necessary spices and such.
2. The directions called for me to rinse the red lentils till the water ran clear, but I skipped this as I was hungry and lazy.
3. I sauteed the onions on med. heat with the garlic for about 7 minutes or till things turned clear and soft.
4. Afterwards, I added ginger, coriander (fine particles), cumin, turmeric & chili powder.
5. Stirred for a minute and then poured in the lentils and stock. Cover and bring to a simmer.
6. After simmering uncover and leave simmering for 20-25 minutes. Wait till the lentils are soft and thicken.
7. Season with the S & P, along with the remaining coriander and lemon juice.

The results were quite good with a nice zing of the lemon and a good feel in the spices. Although, I need to figure out the right setting to let it simmer longer as the lentils weren't soft all the way.

Overall, a good meal to throw into the usual mix of things and something I am happy I put together.

Korean Product Review: 궁중딱볶이

Although I mostly cook western food at home there are times when I give Korean a try. Maybe making ramyeon doesn't count, so I thought it best to try something new. The above is a pre-packaged meal I found at the store near the cold noodle section. For those who don't know these ingredients basically what we have here is a rice-cake (ddukk), beef and vegetable stew like mix.

First off you should know that I am one of the few foreigners out there who does not like Ddeokbokki. When I first tried it I found the sauce incredibly unappealing and ever since shunned the street-food dish. But the ddeokk part is something that comes up in other dishes and I have since enjoyed them.

I took this package home and after a bit of translation from JH was able to make it. As you can see I added fresh mushrooms and bok choy to give it a fresh flavor.

The mushrooms were sauteed first...

And then the rice cakes were rinsed over water.

Everything was added to the pan. It cooked for a while, allowing the juices to collect in everything. The following picture is one of Tom stealing my seaweed from the table.

The result was all right, except I found the sauce to be too watery. The flavor was also a bit so-so and didn't really have the same gusto that I have had when eating this dish elsewhere.

However, as someone new to Korean cooking this packaged assortment made it easy and quick to cook. Plus you can add extra stuff to it to make it better. Therefore, if you are in the store I would keep an eye out for this one as it would make a great quick meal during your busy week.

Home Cooking: Minestrone Soup

When JH visited me last winter, while I was on vacation in California, he fell in love with minestrone soup. So I promised him that I would make it for him when I came back to Korea. After gathering the ingredients that were more hard to find, such as red kidney beans and chicken broth, I was able to finally make it for him yesterday.

It turned out pretty good, to my surprise, and made me more confident that I can make such recipes here in Korea. The following will be a photo documentary of the cooking process and then the recipe, in case you want to try it yourself.

Chopping up the veggies.~

Sauteing the onions and celery...then it is time to put in the rest of the ingredients.

I served the hot soup over a serving of shell pasta.

Minestrone Soup: serves 4

• 1 tbsp & 1and 1/2 tsp olive oil
• 1 1/2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 2 1/2 carrots, sliced
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1 cup water
• 2 cups tomato chunk sauce (I used ripe tomato can from HomePlus)
• 1/4 cup red wine (optional...I didn't use it)
• 1/2 cup canned kidney beans, drained
• 1/2 cup green beans (didn't find it so used frozen green peas found at HomePlus)
• 1 cup baby spinach
• 1 1/2 zucchinis (didn't feel like adding this)
• 1 1/2 tsp chopped fresh oregano (used dried)
• 1 1/2 tsp chopped fresh basil (although I have seen Korean stores have this, I couldn't find it this time...so used dried)
• S & P to taste
• 1/4 cup cooked seashell pasta
• 1 thsp Parmesan cheese (optional)

1. In a large stock pot over med-low heat, heat olive oil & saute garlic for 2 to 3 min. Add onion & saute for 4 to 5 min. Add celery, saute for 1 to 2 min.
2. Add chicken broth, water & tom sauce/chunks, bring to a boil, stirring frequently. If desired add red wine at this point. 
3. Reduce heat to low & add kidney beans, green beans (peas), spinach and rest of the veggies. 
4. Add spices (actually I added most of them during the sauteing process)
5. Simmer for 30 min to 40 min or longer...stirring
6. Meanwhile cook the pasta an drain. 
7. Serve the soup over the pasta and grade the Parmesan cheese on top

:)
That night JH and I played monopoly and Tom amused himself by using the box lid as a comfortable seat.