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touaregsand

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Posts posted by touaregsand

  1. I was just given this beautiful pasta maker for my birthday a few months ago, and I've been making a lot of pastas - but don't really like the doughs I've been making except for the lasagne one..

    Does anyone have any eggless recipes for pasta dough that they'd like to share?

    Thanks very much!

    I do realize that this is the Italy forum, but the Algerians make fresh pasta dough with semolina flour without adding eggs to it.

  2. I didn't, that's right. Will do tonight -- I'm making it again! I think I'll wing it with the cucumber pickles and see what happens.

    Great idea! That's how you really learn how to cook. Sorry I didn't get around to posting a recipe earlier today. It's actually really simple.

    Kirby cucumbers

    Cut them into 2 1/2- 3" cylinders, make two incisions, stopping 1/3" before you cut all the way through. salt them with sea salt, you can buy kimchi pickling salt at Korean markets for a while :biggrin: untill they become a bit limp, maybe 2-3 hours, rinse.

    Seasoning

    Chives

    Scallions

    Garlic

    Red pepper flakes

    Salt

    sugar

    I like to add a bit of fish sauce

    Toss all the ingredients together. Taste for seasoning, adjust if necessary. Stuff the chive mixture in between the incisions. Oi Kimchi (Cucumber kimchi isn't eaten right away, it's usually eaten a few days later.

  3. Could you be talking about something that may well be more a matter of wealth than ideology?

    I see what you're saying. It's both, increased wealth and changing ideology. My grandmother was born into an almost entirely Buddhist society. My parent's generation was the first to convert to Christianity in large numbers. The last time I did research on the actual numbers was a few years ago, but Buddhists had a slight lead in terms of Christians and surprisingly Islam was growing very rapidly.

    Regardless of the number of Christians and increased wealth the collective worldview of Koreans is shaped by Buddhism, Taoism and Confucianism. And these philosophies affect what we eat and how it's eaten. My generation is the first to actively break away from this. My parent's generation on the other hand can wax poetic on dietary "rules" or "superstitions" (I hesistate to use that word) regarding health and eating with the seasons that are based in the trinity of Korean philosophy.

  4. mostly vegetarian

    I said mostly vegetarian. The economic boom in Korea didn't happen untill the after the Olympics. I'm 35, when I was very young it was a big deal for Koreans to even have one chicken a week. We weren't exactly poor either. Meat prices in Korea didn't become accessible to the general public untill about 7-10 years ago over there. Aside from a Korean bbq restaurant dining experience, meat is rarely the focal point of most Korean meals. Korean home meals are mostly vegetarian. And there's a lot more to Korean restaurants than bbq places. I've been to Korea over 100 times since the 70's and my parents took me on culinary tours of South Korea. I also went back to live there for a few years. Anyway, even with a tasting menu of house banchan specialties of 10 or more side dishes there will be only one, maybe two side dishes featuring meat. Usually a 2" cube of beef "cured" in soy or a small piece of braised beef.

    Korean-Americans may eat more beef than Koreans in Korea, even so if they are eating Korean food on a regular basis, most of their meals won't focus on a meat dish or even have any meat.

    EDIT: I can see where the confusion may lie in my original comment. I meant that the traditional Korean diet is mostly vegetarian, not that most Koreans are entirely vegetarian.

  5. napa kimchi. (I wanted to make what I can only describe as fresh cucumber kimchi from some kirbys I got at the store, but I don't have a recipe. Anyone??)

    I have recipes for both and more. I will post those tomorrow.

    I'm floored by your bibimbap presentation! Wow! It would make the people of my mom's home town proud (she's from the region where bibimbap originated).

    There's something remarkable about the combination of textures, temperatures, and flavors.

    Yes! This is where the beauty of Korean cuisine lies. Next time you might want to make a simple soup like kong namul gook (very simple, just soy bean sprouts in sun dried anchovy and dashima (kombu) broth) to have in between spoonfuls of bibimbap, it's very mild and refreshing.

  6. Hong Hweh recipe for Eunny-

    Frozen skate (You must use frozen skate, if you use fresh the texture will be really weird).

    Heinz white vinegar (buy the big jug at Costo)

    Minari stems

    Yang Pah ("Western onions" or to our "Western" egulleters plain ole onion)

    Pah tips (scallions)

    Julienned carrots

    Julienned Mu (Daikon radish)

    Optional

    Cucumbers and bell peppers

    Korean red pepper flakes

    sesame oil

    sugar

    roasted sesame seeds

    garlic, minced

    I have no measurements. :biggrin:

    My mother always hand cuts the frozen skate. I ask the butcher to do it for me. I just can't wield a big sharp knife to hack away at a big piece of frozen, bone in fish with an active and involved two year old. The restaurant cuts of hong hweh seem to average 1/2" thickness. The hand cut are about 1" thick. My mother soaks her 1" cuts in vinegar for 2-3 hours. For the 1/2" cuts I suggest to begin checking at about 1 hour.

    Julienne the mu (it should be thicker than the carrots). According to mom it's very important to gently massage in some sesame oil "ha cham he". A long time can be about 5-10 minutes. Add the red pepper flakes, again massage it into the mu. Add the remaing vegetables, garlic and sugar. Add more red pepper flakes if needed. Mix the indgredients well. Taste, adjust seasoning. When the skate is "cooked" enough in the vinegar to suit your taste, drain and squeeze out excess vinegar. Combine well with the seasoned vegetables. Again taste and adjust seasoning. This is the easy part of Korean cooking you can keep adjusting the seasoning. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.

    You can serve this as a banchan or with neng myun. Of course Eunny already knows this.

  7. gallery_27565_857_85782.jpg

    Hoeng hwe

    I had this a few days ago, plain, no rice, just like that, bones and all.  :wub:

    Ohhh, man.

    Did you make it? My mom is convinced that hoenghwe (along with gaejang) is "dangerous" to make at home, and refuses to give me a recipe.

    --Eunny (waiting for summer so I can OD on hwe naengmyun every day)

    I'm posting the recipe in the Elsewhere in Asia forum under the "Making Korean food at home thread."

  8. Kalbi- ribs

    Various Jon- batter dipped pan fried things

    Hong Hweh- Skate escabeche Korean style

    Jap Chae- Korean Pasta

    Kim chi- Hundreds of varieties, but we only the type made from napa cabbage last night

    Banchan- side dishes

    One thing I'm going to try is to use a non-stick skillet to fry the rice and then slip it into a large heated serving bowl for the namuru and eggs (since I don't have any dolsots)

    I've never tried creating neulongji this way for bibimbap. There are two traditional ways of getting neulongji (the crust at the bottom). One way is to boil/steam the rice over an open flame, in the case of modern kitchens stove top. The other way is in a dolsot which can retain insane amounts of heat. On the other hand my mother has "faked" neulongji on the stove top to make fried neulongji sprinkling with sugar for her grandchildren. And yes she did this in a non-stick pan. Let me know how your experiment goes.

    As for preparing naemul for your bibimbap, I would just saute the vegetables and skip the traditional blanching step for some vegetables. A plastic mandoline (you can buy one for less than $20.00 at a Korean grocery store is the easiest way to julienne carrots and zucchini. Traditional each vegetable is sauteed seperately, which is obvious given the presentation. :biggrin: While you're at it, you might want to saute extra for jap chae.

    For Jap Chae simply boil Mung Bean noodles and quickly sauteed with a little garlic, soy sauce, sugar and sesame oil and pre-cooked vegetables. The standard mix is carrots, mushrooms, onions, spinach and julienned beef. Sprinkle with sesame salt if desired.

    I'm now going to make the namuru (side dishes, yes?)

    Namul are unfermented or unpickled vegetables. In other words fresh or rehydrated dried vegetables. Leafy green vegetables and sprouts are usually blanched then seasoned or blanched, sauteed and seasoned. Carrots and Korean squash are usually just sauteed. A cucumber "salad" type preparation is also called namul. Mountain vegetables are also common.

  9. Rock shrimp- Pinot Gris, Sauvignon Blanc, Riesling, Bourdeaux white (usually a blend of Sauvignon Blanc and Semillon grapes).

    Yuzu Miso marinated Black Cod- Pinot Gris or Pinot Blanc. A Roussane from the Northern Rhone.

    Tuna Tataki - French Colombard, Pinot Gris, Pinot Blanc

    Chicken Ballotine- Syrah, Pinot Noir, Merlot, Grenache

    Chocolate Souffle- Muscat or even port.

  10. We cook every day. We rarely eat out, but our food budget is still about $1000.00 a month for a family of four, two adults and two small children. We live in LA, true we have a lot of great inexpensive "ethnic" markets around here, but we also crave French cuts of meat which are usually outside of our budget. My husband and son are big meaters, the boy will turn two next month, but he weighs 40 pounds and is 40" tall. He's built like a rugby player. I think the meat eats into our budget alot and cheese. We buy most of our cheeses at Trader Joe's, but my husband eats so much of it. My husband and children pretty much ask for the same things all the time. I try to get them to be more adventurous.

    Anyway, we usually cook French, Algerian and Korean in our home. A little Italian and Japanese is fairly common. Sometimes Chinese and Mexican too.

    The Kids:

    Somen noodles in anchovy broth

    Rice with kim (roasted seaweed)

    Myulchi bokkeum (sauteed tiny anchovies)

    Fish cakes

    Seaweed soup

    Soy bean sprout soup

    Fried tofu

    Salted croaker, pan fried

    Pasta, simply buttered or with a marinara sauce (the girl shaves fistfulls of Parmagiano on it)

    Mac and Cheese

    Mexican beans and rice

    Couscous (the girl eats it plain, the boy eats the carrots from the tajine)

    Roast chicken

    Steak Bordelaise (the girl loves this)

    Steak with a reduction sauce (the girl loves this)

    Corn on the cob

    Spinach rolls or Spinach Bourek

    miso soup

    chicken legs cooked in sweetened soy

    Brie cheese sandwiches or croutons

    Cheese quesadillas

    Chicken enchiladas

    The man depending on the season:

    Kalbi or bulgogi with rice and napa cabbage kimchi

    He also likes fish cakes and Korean omelets

    Roast chicken

    Couscous with Lamb tajine

    Boeuf au carrottes

    Potato gratin

    Green salad, steak and cheese course

    Salad, grilled sausages and cheese course

    The man is a creature of habit at home, so he's pretty easy to cook for. Anyway the things above would represent the usual things. But when the mood strikes we get more elaborate with the French, Algerian and Korean meals. We don't do much fusion either, if at all.

  11. Interesting. Korea is a Buddhist/Taoist/Confucianist society. We are most famous for our pickles and bbq. But in fact the availability of bbq in Korea is a relatively new thing, it didn't start to boom untill after the Olympics. And even now the vast majority of Koreans in Korea are mostly vegetarian aside from fish and seafood. Lanscape and economics aside Korean vegetarianism as well as the philosophy of the overall diet is based on Buddhism and Taoism.

    It's my limited understanding tha Buddhism did not take off (I know there is a better way to phrase this, but it escapes me right now as I am neglecting a demanding toddler to type this :biggrin: ) in India the way it did in her Eastern neighbors: China (Chan), Korea (Sohn) and Japan (Zen) for example.

    So what then are the Buddhist influences in Indian vegetarianism?

  12. Let me start with a basic question. When I have had bulgogi in the past, it has been fairly large pieces, but at Sun and Moon, the beef was basically julienned: longish but very thin strips, thinner than shoelaces. Is this the style to which most people are accustomed?

    It's one of the traditional ways of cutting beef, but not really for bulgogi. Julienned strips of beef thinner than shoelaces would be reserved for sauteeing in a pan to use as a garnish for dishes such as bibimbap, jap che (noodle dish with sauteed vegetables) or Gujeolpan (tiny crepes served with 8 fillings) . The traditiional cut for Korean steak tartare would be the cut you mention, but not longish.

    For grilling or barbecue, before commericial butchers with meat slicers were as prevalent as they are today, thicker strips of beef were common.

  13. Usually, at least with my family, who ever likes the chicken head or butt gets to eat it. More often than not this is one of the more elderly members such as grammas or grampa. Most kids probably wouldn't go for the head or butt

    I always liked the butt. We call it "dong jeep" or shithouse in Korean. A little soy, garlic and red pepper flakes. YUM!!! I was a weird kid okay?

    I dunno know 'bout the heads though. :unsure:

  14. [...]I'm always loyal to the first brand I try[...]

    Why? Another brand might be better. But I assume you're loyal to it only if it's good. :biggrin:

    Loyal to the first brand? Is this a male thing? Sort of like the first woman...

    Y'all are such babies! Except for maybe Pan, which might explain why he's single. :unsure::biggrin:

  15. Thanks. Having discovered this store and a nearby Korean restaurant, I've rekindled my interest in Korean food, sparked by my college roommate from Seoul. Methinks an on-going Korean food at home thread might be in order....

    Methinks so too. I have to get some, well alot, of Korean recipes down on paper from my mom, before it's too late. And a little nudging here on egullet would certainly help me get off my procrastinating you know what. My mom's family owned a good chunk of of land in Korea's most fertile region before the Korean war. They still have some of it, even now almost everyone in the region with the same family name as her is a relative. About 20 years ago, everyone was!

    I'm afraid that even Koreans often times underestimate the range and variety of our cooking.

  16. Other rice dishes (maybe some were mentioned upthread and I just missed them).

    Jook- basically rice porridge. The two most common are abalone jook (jun bok jook) and Spinach jook (shigum chee jook).

    Samgye tang (Korean ginseng chicken). This can also be prepared as a jook.

    Rice casseroles (have to ask mom what they are called). These are made by cooking vegetables and meats with the the rice.

    Joomuk bap (literally fist rice, but more like the size of rice balls usually). Usually seasoned with sesame oil, sesame salt and salt.

    Joomuk bap formed into log shapes and wrapped with fresh perilla leaves

    Kim bap- rice seasoned as for joomuk bap, julienned and cooked vegetables, maybe slices of fish cakes, wrapped in seaweed.

  17. Luckylies-

    Try a little MSG on Korean style sauteed potatoes. You'll notice what MSG can add to a dish immediatley with this little experiment.

    Julienne potatoes and saute in peanut or canola oil over low heat. The potatoes should not brown at all. Add MSG to half the batch. Taste the difference.

    My mom didn't use MSG in her cooking, so I just follow her habits in this sense. But it can really be added to almost anything soups, stews, stocks, pickles, sauteed vegetables...

  18. having contributed a ortion of my income to

    Kalustyans, I now own a bag @ of Israeli and

    Lebanese couscous. The latter is a significantly

    larger grain. I tried making these according to

    the bag's directions which essentially mean

    boiling. They were quite mushy. Is there another

    way?

    I think cooking maghrebya was discussed upthread.

    My first thought is that you boiled them too long.

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