Korean style Fried Rice cakes

ingredients:
500g dried rice cakes (purchased from Asian grocers, white, flattened cyclindrical shapes...less than $2 for a 500g pack)
3 leek, sliced thinly
6 leaves of cabbage, sliced thinly.
2 clove of garlic, minced
4 tbs of gochujang
2 tbs sugar
5 crabsticks/ fishcakes, sliced thinly
dash of sesame oil
peppper
1 tbs oil
1/2 cup water

method:
soak dried rice cakes for at least 12 hours.
fry garlic in oil til fragrant. Add leeks and cabbage and cover the pan for ard 5 mins.
Add rice cakes, crabsticks, gochujang, sugar n water and fry for another 3 minutes.
Serve with a dash of sesame oil and pepper.

serves 4-5

Comments: For a non-spicy version, substitute the gochujang and sugar for 4 tbs of oyster sauce, 1 tbs of light soy sauce, half tsp of sugar and 1/4 tsp of white pepper. I love the chewy texture of these rice cakes...pity about the long soaking time...this is a meal which requires planning! :)

Steamed cabbage rice rolls with spicy korean dip

This recipe is from mykoreankitchen.com.
Unfortunately...the dip is really EXTREMELY spicy...i rather like the idea of cabbage wrapped rice...but would recommend a different dip....or omitting it altogether and perhaps adding some savoury filling with the rice...like susage/ stewed meat....

Stewed Rhubarb with apple and custard

tadah!! This is the fist time I have actually purchased rhubarb!! Never knew quite how to cook it...saw in central market this morning and thought that it was at a very good price...and only upon paying, realised that i had made a mistake...it was $9.99/kg, instead of $1.99/kg....fortunately i had only grabbed a few stalks... :P

The following recipe recipe is from Mrs Dixon and her daughter cooked it...I merely watched and took notes...they are both very experienced and talented cooks!

Ingredients:
300g rhubarb, cut into 2 inch bites (cut off the tail and the top)
1/4 cup sugar
slice of ginger, around 2mm
an apple, sliced into wedges
1/2 cup water

method:
1. Add all ingredients to a pan and boil for around 10 minutes or until rhubarb has gone all soft and stringy. (yes, they do look very much like vermicilli..)
2. Serve hot or cold with custard and a dash of nutmeg powder.

makes 4 small portions or 3 regular ones...we paired it with aroound 500ml of custard.

Comments:
For the custard, we used 'Foster Clark's' custard powder...the traditional way is to cook it over the stove, stirring it constantly...but apparently the microwave is a better option as heat is distributed more evenly and your chances of burning the custard are drastically reduced...:) If you choose the stove method, do let the custard come to a boil...otherwise the corn starch taste will linger and leave a very unpleasant aftertaste.

The taste of rhubarb, for the uninitiated...is quite strange to say the least..it leaves a very 'siab' (hokkien) sensation in the mouth..hmmm...."it makes your teeth feel rough?" That's how Mrs Dickson's daughter described it....(Just found the word i was looking for....Astringent!! :P But that doesn't sound very appetising at all, does it??)

The rhubarb was very good with custards and i heard, ice-creams and sponge cakes as well....
MMmmm...will experiment more with it when prices come down..!

Oh...and rhubarb is apparently very good for the stomach and high in vitamin C, potassium and fibre...you can read more about it here and here.

Lamb Korma and Indian salad

here is the recipe for the Indian salad..which i learnt from an Indian friend...so should be quite authentic..eh??

ingredients:
4 firm tomatoes, diced
2 brown onions, cut into thin rings
1 bunch coriander, chopped finely
125 ml Greek yogurt
1 tsp cumin powder
0.5 tsp salt

method: mix everything together and leave in fridge for at least an hour for flavours to mingle.

comments: The lamb is cooked using a spice mix...fry onions, brown the meat and then simmer in the sauce til tender. In this case, it stayed tough despite 2 hours in the slow cooker..perhaps i should have cooked it longer..:P but the girls didn't complain and commented that the lamby taste is not very apparent...also added some chopped apples and dates for fibre..
the green stuff you see behind...is mashed minted peas (from a can!)...and the white stuff, plain rice crackers...to substitute for papadums!! hehehe..!

cheese and chive muffins

ingredients:
1 egg
¾ cup water
1 cup self-raising flour
½ tsp salt
125g grated cheddar
1 tbsp fresh chives
½ tsp pepper
coarse sea salt (optional)

method:
mix all ingredients until just combined.
Spoon into well-greased muffin pans and sprinkle with sea salt.
Bake at 190 degrees F for 15 minutes.


comments: from my beloved penguin muffin bible. A very simple recipe!! No oil/ butter added...very crispy on the outside...and the taste is reminiscent of deep-fried fritters.. makes a great little party snack!! possible variations: corn kernels/ minced onions/ sun-dried tomatoes..

Steamboat

Nemo's 'pork-squid fire meat' (in the pot)..that's a direct translation from Korean...marbled pork and squid with onions, scallions in a spicy bean paste sauce...and chinese styled baked chicken wings


the steamboat .. we had chicken, beef, fish paste, deep fried yam, 4 types of mushrooms, assorted vegetables and noodles..


towards the end...looks really green and healthy with so much vegetables yar??


Steam boat ingredients for 10- 12
$8-10 each

Meats/ protein
Chicken thigh fillet 600g
Beef fillet 600g
Fish (lean white fish) fillet 400g
Squid balls 1 pack
Eggs 1 dozen

Vegetables
Chinese tofu 1 box
Fried dried beancurd 1 pack
Straw mushrooms 1 can
Enoki mushrooms 1 can
Swiss brown mushrooms 300g
Chinese cabbage half
Wong bok 1 bunch
Tong cai 1 bunch
Spinach 1 bunch
White fungus 1 packet
Yam 500 g, cubed and deep fried
Beancurd sticks 1 pack
Sweet corn 4, cut into smaller pieces
tomato 4, cut into wedges

Noodles
Hokkien noodles, tang hoon 500g
or mee hoon etc

Stock
Chicken bones 2-4
4 slices fresh ginger
2 scallions, cut into 1 1/2-inch lengths
Salt and pepper, to taste

method: blanch chicken bones twice and then add cold water. I used a 5 liter pot and threw in the rest of the ingredients and simmered for 8 hours.

Garlic and ginger paste (to divide equally btw the chicken n beef)
• 10 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1/2 cup roughly chopped ginger

Chicken marinade
• 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
• 1 tablespoon Shao Hsing wine
• 1 teaspoon light soy sauce
• dash of sesame oil
Beef marinade
• 2 tablespoons char siu sauce
• 1 tablespoon Shao Hsing wine
• 1 teaspoon Sichuan pepper (heated in pan until aromatic n crushed) and salt
• dash of sesame oil
Fish marinade
• 2 tablespoons finely sliced coriander stalks and roots
• 1 tablespoon peanut oil
• 2 teaspoons sea salt
• 1 teaspoon white sugar

Ideas for dipping sauces

Hosin sauce: Combine 1 teaspoon hoisin sauce, 1 tablespoon tomato ketchup, 1/4 teaspoon vinegar, 1/2 teaspoon sugar and 1/2 teaspoon soy sauce.

Sweet thai chilli sauce: 2 tbs sweet thai chilli sauce, 1 tsp lemon juice, 1 tsp sugar, 1 tbs fish sauce, 2 tbs water, 1 tsp chopped coriander. Mix well.

The mariandes and hoisin dipping sauce were from here.

comments:
steamboats are great for cold nights and they're meant to be long noisy affairs, best enjoyed with friends who have huge appetites!! :P We used a electric steamboat but you can also use a slowcooker or ricecooker, just make sure the stock is boiling hot when you pour it in..
Ingredients are extremely versatile as well..you can use almost anything you like...just keep in mind different colours and textures.. :) oh...and cook the meats first then vegetables..so that the stock becomes 'sweeter'..

Laksa

Tasted really authentic...but i can't claim any credit at all!! It's a Prima Taste premix!! Really simple...add the premix to hot water, boil with some tau pok (deep fried dried bean curd) and serve over blanched noodles (we used a combination of yellow mee and rice noodles) and either fish/ cuttle fish balls, beansprouts and coriander...the meal can be prepared in less than 20 minutes..!!! (hmmm, usually for the stuff you've been seeing here...i take ard 1-1.5hrs..)

and for the lunch the following day, we had this..



cos our mothers told us not to eat any leftover foods** which had coconut milk.....not exactly sure why....the oils easily go rancid perhaps??

Anyways!! In the picture...notice that the rice is very red?? Yeah....it's not the regular jasmine/ long grain....it's red rice with equal amounts of pearl barley and sweet potato cubes...supposed to be really healthy and good for u...once again...according to my mother! ha...

:)

**oh yeah....just a word of explanation..actually there are 4 of us who share cooking....from Mondays to Thursdays...one person is in charge of just one day and cooks enough for dinner and the next day's lunch. So effectively, you cook once a week and then get 8 meals and of course, the enjoyable company of your friends during dinner...
Can't take credit for this clever arrangement..some seniors came up with it...it's been working really well so far..cos we get to eat a variety of foods and cooking and i must say, it's very time and cost-efficient as well.