melonpan

<center><table cellpadding = 5><tr><th>chinese<td align = center>五<td align=center>味<td align=center>子<td align=center>茶 <tr><th>english<td align=center>five<td align=center>taste<td align=center>fruit<td align=center>tea <tr><th>mandarin<td align=center>wu3<td align=center>wei4<td align=center>zi<td align=center>cha2 <tr><th>cantonese<td align=center>ng<td align=center>mei<td align=center>ji<td align=center>cha <tr><th>korean<td align=center>o<td align=center>mi<td align=center>ja<td align=center>cha </table></center> below, some pics of gohyang (hometown) brand instant omijacha. usd$3.99 for 20 servings. pouring powder into mugs is always a let down compared to brewing fruits and leaves, but at 20 cents a cup, you get over it. white cup for reference. the color in the photo is pretty close to what i see in real life (that cup in the box must be of cranberry juice, or of omija concentrate!). ive only ever had instant omijacha. from the box, this tea tastes overwhelmingly sweet with some tartness to it. what happened to the other three flavours, i do not know... <center> </center>

<center><table cellpadding = 5><tr><td align = center>五<td align=center>味<td align=center>子<td align=center>茶 <tr><td align=center>오<td align=center>미<td align=center>자<td align=center>차 <tr><td align=center>o<td align=center>mi<td align=center>ja<td align=center>cha <tr><td align=center>five<td align=center>taste<td align=center>fruit<td align=center>tea</table></center>

a continuation of tohatos cute mobi line... <center></center> looking at tohatos mobi product page there are about three others that i have not yet seen. these are hard to find at the stores here in los angeles... hope to see the others eventually. each small package sells for approx usd $1.50, perhaps a bit pricey...

howondang, a ddeok (rice cake) house sells some drinks on the side. from left to right, shikhye (식혜) for $1.99, omija tea (오미자차) for $3.99 and sujeonggwa (수정과) for $1.99. i was happy to see these for sale, but wished that more places sold korean flavoured drinks in this manner. that omija cha had better be some awesome tea for $4! <center></center>

text recipe shikhye: malted glutinous rice beverage ingredients 500 g (about 1 pound) malt powder (yeotgireum 엿기름) 2 liters water for the malt powder 3 cups glutinous rice (chapsal 찹쌀) 2 and a half cups water for the rice optional ingredients pinenuts sugar knobs of fresh ginger cinnamon sticks special equipment large water pitcher, capacity of at least 2 liters. larger if possible large rice cooker, able to make at least 8 cups rice method pour all the malt powder into a large pitcher. pour water water into the pitcher and mix well, making sure all the powder has been mixed. set aside (in a cool place -- the fridge is ideal) to let the mixture settle for at least 2 hours. next, if you have barley hulls, spoon or strain the hulls out. pour the top clearish layer into another container and set aside. you should have about 1.5 liters of the malt water. rinse 3 cups of glutinous rice and cook it in a large rice cooker with 2 and a half cups of water. right after the rice has cooked, proceed IMMEDIATELY to the next step. DO NOT, under any circumstances, hold the rice for any amount of time. slightly undercooked rice is prefered. if your rice is too soft or overcooks, then the rice will fall apart in the next step and you will end up with porridge and or glue. take the malt water you reserved and pour it all into the steamed glutinous rice. stir to mix thoroughly. leave the rice cooker on 'warm' for 3 to 4 hours. mix again and bring the mixture to a boil. now you are done! makes about 25 half cup servings. keep in the refrigerator no more than a week. shikhye can be served warm right away, but it is usually served very well chilled. to serve: dole out shik-hye into small rice bowls in half cup increments. top with 3 or 4 pine nuts. options option one. while still warm, you may add sugar to taste. 'to taste' is such a vague term, i know, but ive had all sorts of shikhye and it really is a personal preference. the shikhye itself is sweet, without any added sugar whatsoever, because the malt converts a lot of the starch in the rice to sugar during the cooking. some people prefer shikhye just the way it is, with just a teensy bit of sweetness, others prefer it to be sugar water with tiny bits of rice floating around. anywhere in between is fine. but undersweet (no sugar) is always a safe bet, because then guests can always sweeten to their own tastes with more sugar. option two. after you have added the malt water to the steamed rice, you can add a peeled knob of fresh ginger or a stick or two of cinnamon. other notes recipe can easily be halved or doubled depending on the size of your rice cooker. one summer i had kept a pitcher of the malt water out (not in the fridge) for a couple hours and it was sooooo hot that day that the mixture just bubbled up and turned sour on me. too bad i dont know how to make beer, or i might have saved the batch!

theres been a mini heat wave of sorts round these here parts and got a hankering for some shikhye. decided to take photos along the way this time. the two ingredients you need to buy at the korean market are malt powder (yeotgireum, 엿기름 or yeotgireum-garu, 엿기름가루) and sweet rice aka glutinous rice (chapsal, 찹쌀). the barley malt powder comes in two forms at the korean market: 1) as a powder or 2) with the hulls still left in with the powder. both work fine in the recipe, but if a choice is available, i suggest getting the powder; the hulls can be a pain in the ass to strain out later. <center>malt powder is usually sold in 1 pound bags.</center> <center></center> <center>sweet rice is often sold in small 3 pound bags.</center> <center></center> ive added about 500 mls of water to a 2 liter container and poured the entire bag (1 lb, about 500 g) of malt powder into the container. using a wooden spoon, i stirred until the powder was completely mixed with the water. then i topped the mixture with more water until the entire container was full. <center></center> i placed the container in the refrigerator so that the powder could settle. the left shows the container after 2 hours. the right photo shows the container after more than 12 hours (you dont have to wait that long. i had left that there overnight. 4 hours should be more than enough.). you will note that the mixture has settled into two distinct layers, a clear dark brown layer on top with a cloudy light brown mixture on the bottom. if you had to buy the malt powder with the hulls, you will find another layer of the hulls floating at the very top. spoon the hulls out. <center></center> at this point, i used a large ladle to spoon out most of the clear brown liquid into another container. i ended up with about 500 mls of the brown liquid. i actually want at least a liter, so i simply added more water to the first container, mixed it well and let it settle for another couple hours. the photo on the right shows the container after the mixture has settled with more water. i ladled the rest of the malt water into the second container. now i was ready to start the sweet rice! <center></center> for 500 g of malt powder, i usually make 3 cups of rice. this is 3 rice maker cups, not regular cups. 3 rice maker cups is about 2 normal cups of rice. (does this make sense?) i rinsed the 3 cups and added enough water for 2.5 rice maker cups of rice. <center></center> the photo below and to the left shows that i set the rice maker to make sweet rice. ive made this before with the rice makers without all the computerization (the ones with just the "cook"/"keep warm" lever. you just turn the cooker to "cook" in that case). the VERY IMPORTANT thing to note is that you do NOT want to cook your rice fully. you want the rice to be somewhat "hard". this is why we use 2.5 cups of water to 3 cups of rice (usually the ratio is 1:1), as an insurance against overcooking. if your rice is soft or overcooks, then the rice will fall apart in the next step and you will end up with porridge and/or glue. the right photo shows a close up of this "hard" rice. it it were pasta, it would be 'al dente'. it is very very chewy with a definite bite to it. <center></center> i pour in all of the malt water into the rice cooker. notice that according to the fuzzy logic, i still had about 5 more minutes before the rice was "done". that is my paranoia about overcooking the rice at work. you can cook until it is done, but do not hesitate when adding the malt water. i had about 1200 ml of malt water. you can use a lot more and a lot less. shoot for around 1.5 liters. <center></center> i stirred the rice and malt water mixture well. i shut the lid of the cooker down and left it at "keep warm". you should keep the rice at "keep warm" for the next 3-4 hours. <center></center> about 1 hour into the keep warm, i took a peek. the malt water was still rather cloudy and the rice still rather starchy. i continued to leave it at warm until 4 hours had been reached. then i reset the machine and set it to cook, to give it one last boil before ending the cooking. <center></center> <center></center> the above photos dont show it, but after boiling for the last time, all the rice had risen to the top (i forgot to take a photo before i stirred!). but comparing with the photo set above, you will notice that the rice grains have shrunk a little and changed to a darker, more brown color. the malt had converted a lot of the starch in the rice into sugar. note that the malt water is also clearer and darker. the shikhye is done at this point. the yield was nearly 2 liters, about half of it rice... <center></center> put it away in the fridge right away to chill. you can eat it warm, just cooked. delicious! but it is just heaven when you eat it cold from the fridge. keep in the refrigerator no more than a week. to serve, dole out shik-hye into small rice bowls or drinking cups in half cup increments. top with 3 or 4 pine nuts. options option one. while still warm, you may add sugar to taste. 'to taste' is such a vague term, i know, but ive had all sorts of shikhye and it really is a personal preference. the shikhye itself is sweet, without any added sugar whatsoever, because the malt converts a lot of the starch in the rice to sugar during the cooking. some people prefer shikhye just the way it is, with just a teensy bit of sweetness, others prefer it to be sugar water with tiny bits of rice floating around. anywhere in between is fine. but undersweet (no sugar) is always a safe bet, because then guests can always sweeten to their own tastes with more sugar. option two. after you have added the malt water to the steamed rice, you can add a peeled knob of fresh ginger or a stick or two of cinnamon.

thank you so much for your help! i cant wait!

recently ate for the first time some kasuzuke from the local market (got a three pack combo: sake, tara and tai). i adored it, but my husband found the alcohol a bit overwhelming (frankly it was exactly the alcoholy flavour that i liked so much!). decided that id try it on my own... i wanted to make it just like what i had at the market, but online, i found a recipe that included a bit of shiro miso. i decided to try the miso version bc maybe the alcohol flavour would be muted and my husband might like it a bit more that way and because the recipe suggested it be tried with miso first (recipe posted by nona myers. the recipe also has a pickle recipe which can take 1-3 years to finish!). the sake kasu. it came in a package as a sheet. i was surprised to see it as a flattened sheet (actually 3 sheets, each ~1.5 cm thick stuck next to each other. all together roughly 5 cm thick). somehow, i had expected something more like miso, nukamiso or okara. looking online i had also found sake kasu in tub form... are both forms (sheets and tub) widely available in japan? to the right of the kasu is shiro miso which was just what was available at the market. <center></center> for the fish, i bought about two pounds of tara. it was already cut up at the market. i cleaned the filets, salted them for about 5 hours in the fridge. here they are just about ready to be salted: <center></center> while the filets were salting, i mixed up the sake kasu (500 mgs) with about 3/4 of the miso (which came in a 500 mg package), 1/3 of a cup of sugar, 1/2 cup of sake, and 1/4 of water. to the right is the mixture mashed up: <center></center> it was actually quite difficult, since the kasu so dried up and hard. how do other people incorporate the kasu? is it easier when it comes in a tub? if you get the sheets, do you pound it? i mashed it with a pestle and a fork, but it was really really tough going. i was going for a miso like state, but eventually just gave up. in the right photo above, you can see humongous lumps of sake kasu in the mixture. after salting the filets, i risned the filets again with water, patted them dry with paper towels then planted them in a bowl for marinading. (a layer of the kasumiso, fish, more kasumiso, fish, etc ending with kasumiso on top. layer of saran wrap on top) that got kept in the fridge for the next 4 days. this next shot is of a filet being pulled out of the kasumiso bed. the photo to the right of that is of four filets rougly wiped and plated, ready to be fried: <center></center> (left) just being grilled and (right) finished: <center></center> note, because of the sugar, you have to kind of watch the heat. i used a medium-low heat. i think i might consider broiling it the next time (i have quite a lot of filets left. im also going to test freezing two filets and seeing how they do when i defrost them). i dont know if it was because the store bought stuff uses more cheap sake or if it was because my recipe used lots of miso, but the alcohol flavour was much more muted. hubby appreciated this and said he would eat this again (he did not care at all for the other store stuff). always a good thing. however, i really liked the liquored up stuff and im going to go for the miso free stuff (i guess ill have to eat that alone) next time. i will also up the sake content. maybe go to 3/4 of a cup? maybe a cup? see how the mixture holds up. but the sake kasu is going to be problematic. are lumps normal? anyone have any tips? anyone out there make any other kasuzuke? does anyone have a rough recipe for kasuzuke without miso? how about kasuzuke with veggies? thank you for reading!

my favourite scene in tampopo is where the scene where the homeless guy makes some omurice for the boy... a sweet, simple scene.

it sounds interesting, id be game to try this... :) i am a fan of candied ginger and candied ginger chocolate but i dont usually eat ginger. was it sliced into thin disks? paper thin and then fried? or...? also, is it usually possible to double post into more than one thread?

didnt know whether or not to post this in the menchi katsu thread, but here it is! this menchi did not have any cabbage that i could taste or see. a little bit of tonkatsu sauce was squeezed on the top of the menchi. the locally baked bun was simple and fresh, not too much mayo spread on top, the tomato slice was flavorful (not mealy at all) and the cukes and iceberg lettuce were watery-crispy, a very nice crunchy contrast to the menchi. EXCELLENT deal at usd$1.50. since moving to LA, i have found it difficult to avoid iceberg lettuce, which i detested. but i keep finding it in my food. somehow, i have come to accept it as edible. and now i even _appreciate_ it in my sandwiches!

melona also comes in strawberry flavour (and i believe banana, but i never tried the banana one). i like things strawberry flavoured, but the strawberry melona bars were oddly flavoured. i dont recommend it at all.

i have to agree; melona is the best of the bunch. melona is made by binggrae. dont get haitai brand "fresh melon" either. it is not as good as melona!

id like to add that the post above is a translation, not my recipe!

recipe from "my own cooking" bulletin board hoddeok recipe author: admin date : 2002/4/03/ 02:26:56 PM number of references: 20998 my kids love it when i make this snack at home. ingredients: 1 kg all purpose flour 3 tablespoons yeast 3 tablespoons sugar 2 teaspoons salt 2 teaspoons baking soda brown sugar [no amt given] 2 teaspoons cinnamon powder peanuts [no amt given] method: 1. sift the flour into a bowl. 2. add the yeast, sugar, salt and baking soda to about two cups of warm water. stir and let sit until the yeast has bubbled. add yeast mixture to the sifted flour and mix. knead to form a stiff dough. its harder to make the hoddeok if the dough is soft. * caution: if the water is too hot, the yeast will die. 3. place the dough in a bowl and put the bowl in a sink filled part way with hot water and let the dough proof until it has tripled or quadrupled in size, about 2 to 3 hours. 4. prepare the filling. grind the peanuts with brown sugar and cinnamon powder to a fine and even consistency. 5. cover the bottom of a fry pan with oil and place the pan on the stove. take a ball of dough, place it on one of your palms. make a dent and fill it with some of the peanut/brown sugar filling. cover the filling so it is completely enclosed in the dough. turn the heat on low and fry the hoddeok, flattening as you go. if the heat is too high, the hoddeok dough will cook too fast, the brown sugar inside will not get a chance to melt and it wont be as tasty. regarding those tools that they use at the hoddeok stands to flatten the balls of dough. you can get one of them bangsang market (방산 시장) or in the back corner of gumajang pharmacy at 6th on jongno ( 종로6가 구마장약국). you can get yeast at bakery/confectionary store or by asking at the supermarket. i hope you can make your family happy with these...

nadias recipe link (translation of text only -- note that the author does not specify teaspoons or tablespoons. ive guessed but you should be aware that ive guessed!) Namuli hoddeok [namuli is the sites name] do you like hoddeok? nothing better than having a hoddeok out in on cold street.. ^^ [first photo - spoon full of yeast over bowl] mix 1 tsp of yeast and 1/2 teaspoon of sugar in 1/2 cup of warm water. set it aside in a warm place to bubble up for about 5 minutes.. ^^ [second photo of flour being sifted] sift 3 cups of (in a large bowl) flour.. ^^ [third photo of yeast being poured into other bowl] add to the flour 1 cup milk, 1/2 cup yeast/water mixture and 1/2 teaspoon salt. mix and knead.. ^^ [fourth photo of dough being covered] cover the dough with saran wrap and set it aside in a warm place for 3 hours to rise (to double in size).. ^^ [fifth photo of peanuts and brown sugar] prepare the filling by mixing 1 cup of brown sugar, 3 tablespoons of crushed peanuts and 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon powder.. ^^ [sixth photo of hoddeok being assembled] with oiled hands wrap a small handful of the dough around the filling.. ^^ [seventh photo of hoddeok being fried] generously oil a pan and with the stove on low fry both sides of the hoddeok.. ^^ [eighth photo of finished hoddeok] tada.. Namuli hoddeok.. ^^ [ninth photo of opened hoddeok] isnt the filling hot.. ^^ http://www.namool.com/

the deep fried ones i think are called donuts. its possible that they might have other names... donuts also come without the paht (red bean paste). if they were baked rather than deep fried, i would call them paht bbang or an-bbang (which is just like the japanese name for them, "anpan"). im not an expert on korean food, but i dont know of any snacks or breads with scallions in them. it probably was cong youbing or jiucai youbing. although i dont know of any korean style youbings, i thought id add that the korean word for jiucai is "buchu" (boochoo). hmmm. what are these pastel colored frozen candy thingies? sounds good!

i heart konnyaku... i also like shirataki in my kinpira. im not very good with prep work though (my knife skills are very weak) so kinpira is always a hard one for me.

no taiyaki that i know of, but there is something else thats good: takoyaki~! when i was in nyc i walked past a place called otafuku. otafuku 236 East 9th Street Manhattan 212-353-8503 its a take out window. they werent open the morning i walked by so i couldnt get any to try but i remember thinking "wish i had one of those in my neighborhood!" (which at the time was true. i had no idea i was going to end up in LA!) yaaay for manhattan. other places to look for hoddeok and taiyaki/bungeobbang are edgewater or fort lee. and closer to you, flushing! dont forget flushing!

i knew that i was going to be moving to los angeles about six months before actually moving here. and i had made a lot of assumptions. one was because la is the home of the largest korean population outside of korea that there would surely be at least one mill if not more... if i had known that i couldnt find one, i would have gotten more oil for myself during my last trip to korea. perhaps in korea they arent as popular as they used to be either. i do not know. but when visiting, i always asked to be taken to the local mill and was always taken to one nearby. we saved up several single liter bottles of water (and a few coke bottles for good measure), washed and dried them over days and brought them with us to the mill. the local mills grind either what you bring or they will grind grains and seeds that they get wholesale. during research, i found a company with a photo of a mill from the outside, just like the ones ive gone to: samdae company page. on their page they advertise that they make oils from sesame, perilla, walnuts, apricot seeds and safflower seeds. so, whats so special about the oils and flours from the mill? they are stronger, more intensely flavoured. its as simple as that. i think you could get the same from the extremely expensive grocery brands too. those bottles go for, what, us$10 for 500 ml? what were the prices at the korean mills? i dont quite remember since i wasnt as sensitive (i would have bought it any price). let me guess though. last summer when i went to korea, i bought 4 liters of oil (gave away 3+ liters to aunts and my mother in the states)... we must have paid something on the order of $10 per liter? im guessing. but i remember forking over at least a couple 10,000 won bills. the misutgaru that i get whenever i go, though is really something special. my aunt goes out and buys grain (her recipe, her proportions) and roasts them before presenting them to the mill. the resulting powder/flour is soooo delicious. use it over shave ice, make a kind of drink from it (like a hearty horchata, actually) or sprinkled over fruits. but it doesnt last very long. it tends to go rancid quickly and so we eat it up within two months. one time we got gochugaru (chile powder) from the mill. wish there was one here!

at the supermarket i saw a side dish called "edamame stick" for sale... its a tasty little snack. spring roll wrappers are taken to wrap 4-6 little edamame beans, rolled up two layers thick, pinched at the ends and deep fried.

if you like tohatos harvest crackers, you might be interested in their mobi line... cute packaging. they are tiny crackers with a thin layer of sugary cream in the middle. the crackers have the very pleasant roasted grainy flavour of their harvest crackers.

i have 1/2 bottle left (from two bottles originally) of some sesame oil squeezed from my aunts sesame seeds in my fridge. im not sure what im going to do after this bottle runs out. when i went to a mill (it clearly said "mill" in korean on the store front) in los angeles and asked if they turned sesame seed into oil, they snickered and said "just buy the bottles at the grocery store". i dont know how they can call their store a mill. perhaps the previous owners made oil before these guys moved in... i have to ask around for a proper mill. i dont think i will find any though. theres really nothing as intense as sesame seed oil from the millers. (incidentally, the millers in korea also grind chiles and any kind of grain for you -- kinako, for example) sometimes i feel like i should open up a tofu shop or a mill, but then i wonder if theres any real demand for such services in america.

the matcha syrup that they use at those shops are positively intense looking. delectable (in particular the one at 月ヶ瀬). i think matcha syrup is sold here too, but i dont know if it would look as dark and pleasing as what these places seem to use.

that looks like a fat concord grape stuck in there... i wish i had a local wagashi shop here...