Kimchi (Korean-style Pickled/Fermented Chinese Cabbage)

My love affair with anything to do with South Korean culture started in 2003. I went to Indonesia to visit my family after living in Canada for a year and a half. There was a big trend of South Korean soap operas and my sister-in-law insisted that I had to watch a Korean drama called All About Eve. Long story short, I gave in and ended up watching the drama till 3 or 4 in the morning. Not sure if I was bought in with the story line or the handsome leading actor. Soon after I came back to Canada, I started to explore Korean town in Toronto to savage Korean food.

Years later, Korean food is still one of my all-time favourite cuisines and I believe this fondness of mine has influenced my toddler's palate. When I was expecting (without knowing) my first son, I was craving for Korean food. I had to eat 3 or 4 times of Korean food 3 weeks in a row and my husband thought I was going crazy. Soon to reveal, I was expecting a baby and my son, toddler A, now loves Korean food. It's amazing to see how a 2.5 year toddler loves his kimchi and speak a few of Korean words. A few years later, this behaviour came back and I knew I was expecting another one. Let's just hope baby E will love Korean cuisine as well. 

Without denying, kimchi is Korea's pride. The country is know as the land of kimchi. It's served 365 days, 3 meals a day. It is made of Chinese cabbage that has been salted/pickled and then heavily seasoned with lots of hot peppers and garlic. Kimchi is then left to be fermented. I, personally, prefer fresh few day old kimchi. Once fermented, it becomes sour and rich in probiotic. Probiotic provides a healthy bacteria in your gut flora, similarly found in yogurt, kefir and sauerkraut. Once sour, it can still be served as a side dish OR it can be added into stews called kimchi jigae (kimchi tofu stew), kimchi pancake and kimchi fried rice. I posted a kimchi fried rice recipe before on this blog. Kimchi can also be added into sandwiches for added flavour.

The rule of salting the chinese cabbage is using the ratio of 10 to 1. For every 10 lb of chinese cabbage, you use 1 cup of sea salt. The most crucial part of this recipe is to use sea salt. I had used regular salt previously and it gave bitter taste. For best result, I highly recommend you to mix the ingredients with your hands. In terms of shelf life (storage), it can be stored indefinitely in the fridge. Be certain to put on a pair of gloves of you will suffer the aftermath.  Here is the kimchi recipe and I hope you enjoy it.

Skill Level: Easy

Serves: N/A

INGREDIENTS:

• 3lbs Chinese cabbage
• 1/3 cup sea salt
• 1 lb white radish
• 1 bunch green onion
• 1.5 bulbs of garlic, peeled
• 1 thumb sized ginger, cut into small pieces
• 1/3 cup plus 2 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 1/2 cup Korean red chili flakes (gochugaru)
• 4 tbsp sugar 

METHOD:

1. Quarter the Chinese cabbage and remove the core
2. Slice the cabbage into bite-size, give a quick rinse 
3. In a big bowl or container, add water to cover the Chinese cabbage. Stir in sea salt and soak the cabbage for 1.5 hours
4. Place a plate over the cabbage to give weight so that the vegetable is submerged in the salted water
5. After 1.5 hours, give the cabbage a rinse 3 times. Squeeze the water out
6. Peel the white radish and give a quick wash. Cut into 0.5 cm matchsticks
7. Rinse green onions and cut into 1" length 
8. To make the sauce: place peeled garlic, ginger and fish sauce in a blender or food processor
9. Grind until fine, pour into a big shallow bowl (big enough to mix in your chinese cabbage and radish) 
10. Add in Korean red chili flakes and sugar. Mix well
11. Stir in radish, green onions,mix
12. Add in the Chinese cabbage and mix well
13. Taste and you may want to add more fish sauce if you prefer saltier
14. Place the seasoned kimchi into a container and leave on kitchen counter for a few days (2 - 3 days) to ferment

EVERYTHING COLOURFUL SALAD

I declare that "Spring is finally here"; I say finally because at last something has bloomed in my garden - tulips. Big day for me since I have been eyeing all the opened tulips in the neighbourhood as I take our dog for his daily walk. "Do they fertilize, do they have better sun exposure or have I bungled up the hardiest of perennials" ? are thoughts that I wrestle with during every outing. So as I proudly took pictures of our first blooms of 2015, I tried not to dwell too much on the fact that my weeds are probably crying out for my attention too.
Pardon the digression, I must get back to my Everything Colourful Salad. What better time than spring to make a salad that is bursting with the colours and flavours of the season. I made this salad on Saturday and we had leftovers for breakfast today with a hard boiled egg. A perfect protein rich salad that is not just easy to make and healthy, it tastes good too. My recipe used the vegetables I had but feel free to substitute. I made a dressing with pomegranate molasses that my dear friend M brought back from Iran. I have also used "Magiun de prune" to make this dressing and it is just as delicious. Now "Magiun" for my non Romanian readers is a plum paste like jam made using a sweet plum variety that is cooked down for up to 10 hours without adding any sugar. The result is a thick, dark purple paste that is slightly sweet and sour. We bought a jar from the local Romanian deli and I must admit I got a real kick out of seeing a label with just one ingredient on it - Plums.
This is the ideal "cut up and pack for a couple of days" salad, add dressing when serving. I layered this is a deep dish and used it over the weekend and the leftovers this morning for breakfast. Put in individual containers to pack into lunch boxes with some dressing on the side. Play with colours, enjoy your salad : >


Skill Level: Easy 

Serves: 4 to 5 

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup cooked quinoa 
• 2 cups cooked chickpeas
• 2 medium sized carrots, thinly sliced 
• 1 red bell pepper chopped into small pieces 
• 2 stalks celery chopped into small pieces 
• 11/2 cup chopped red kale
• 2 tbsp crumbled feta (optional)
• Salt and pepper to taste

Dressing:

• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp pomegranate molasses
• 1 tbsp  honey
• 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 3-4 tbsp warm water (the molasses and the honey make it quite thick)
• salt and pepper to taste 

METHOD: 

1. Wash and cook quinoa 1/2 cup cooked in 1 cup of water. (I usually cook 1 cup so extras can be added to other salads, soups or used as a side )
2. Put the cooked chickpeas in a food processor and pulse until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs (if using canned, drain liquid, rinse thoroughly and pat dry before pulsing in the food processor)
3. Wash and slice carrots, chop pepper and celery. Cut up the kale
4. To make the dressing add all the ingredients together and mix well until combined. Add water to thin out as needed. Check seasoning
5. If serving immediately add the quinoa to the vegetables and toss with the dressing. Crumble feta and add if using.

Easy Stir-Fry with Egg Tofu

Egg tofu is similar to a regular tofu but with whole egg added to give creamy and silky texture. It comes in tube and can be found in Asian grocery stores. My mother usually adds them in stir-fries and Indonesian-style spicy dish with preserved soybean paste called tauco. Traditionally, egg tofu is deep fried to create a crispy-brown skin. However, I improvise the cooking method to pan-fry with little oil. Tofu contains a lot of moisture and deep frying it is one messy business, trust me and you don't want to do that. I pan-fry the egg tofu slices in a non-stick frying pan that has been sprayed with cooking oil. The result? Still the same crisp-brown skin texture.
 
The beauty of a stir-fry is that you can use up whatever left-over vegetables in your fridge and still able to turn them into a beautiful dish with a robust-flavoured sauce. This dish is one of the examples. 









Skill Level: Easy

Serves: 4 to 5 

INGREDIENTS:

• 2 cups snow peas (about 60 pieces)
• 1 medium sized carrots, sliced 
• 2 packets (245 g each) of egg tofu, sliced into 1 cm thick
• 1 cup cabbage 
• 2 cloves garlic, minced 
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 2 tbsp cooking oil
  

Sauce:

• 1 tbsp oyster flavoured sauce
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 4 dashes of fish sauce (optional)
• 1/2 cup (125 mL) water
• 1/4 tbsp corn starch

METHOD: 

1. In a non-stick frying pan, spray cooking oil evenly. Heat up the pan and once hot, add egg tofu slices and cook for 3 minutes or until golden brown. Gently, flip the egg tofu slices and pan-fry the other side until golden brown as well.Scoop and place on a plate
2. Trim the ends of snow peas and tear cabbage leaves with your hand. Rinse well 
3. In a bowl, combine all sauce ingredients and mix well 
4. Heat up a wok on high heat and add in the cooking oil. Once hot, sauté minced garlic for 30 seconds or until golden yellow
5. Add in sliced carrots, snow peas and cabbage. Stir for 3 or 4 minutes and pour in the sauce
6. Cook for another minute or so or to your preferred texture. Season with salt and black pepper to your taste
7. Add in the pan-fried egg tofu slices and stir gently not to break the tofu
8. Serve with warm rice

Anna Olson's Blueberry Buckle

I'm a lousy baker, I mean really. As one says, you can either be a great baker or a great cook. I fall into the later category. Baking requires science and precision, on the other hand, you can cook delicious dishes with adding a dash of this and that.

My blog partner, Sonia, and I will be going out to lunch at my favourite restaurant, Seoul House, located in Mississauga. My husband and I have been frequent customers to that restaurant since 2010, the time when we were newlyweds with no children. Fast forward, the restaurant owner and staff know us by heart and love our children to the bits. Besides serving great food, they are very attentive to our needs. Whenever we dine in that restaurant, they will try their best to give us a private booth so that I can nurse my baby.When my son, A, was a few months old, the waitress offered to take care of him so that my husband and I could eat in peace. Really, where can you find such a service? The last time we went there after baby E's doctor appointment, the kitchen staff and waitress packed us kimchi and Korean fish cake side dish to take home so that I would not have to worry feeding my husband and my son. They know that my husband loves their kimchi while my son is addicted to their fish cake banchan (side dish).

While baby E is sleeping, I had a chance to browse Anna Olson's recipes and decided to make this delicious blueberry buckle for the staff at Seoul House. I had all ingredients available right here at home. I substituted the all purpose flour with whole wheat flour as I did not have it. No credits to me...it's all to Anna Olson :) 

Skill Level: Easy

Serves: 6 to 8

INGREDIENTS:

Cake:

• 1/2cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 cups all purpose flour (I use whole wheat)
• 2 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 cups blueberries (I use frozen)

Streussel Topping: 

• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup all purpose flour (I use whole wheat)
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon 
• 3 tbsp unsalted butter

METHOD: 

Cake:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degree Fahrenheit
2. Cream together butter and sugar until pale yellow and creamy. Add egg and vanilla and beat in
3. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt. Add alternately with milk until incorporated. Scrape batter into cake pan and spread evenly. Sprinkle blueberries on top of batter.

Streussel Topping:

1. In a small bowl, blend sugar, flour and cinnamon. Cut in butter with your fingers until crumbly and no large bits of butter are visible. Sprinkle on top of berries
2. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes. Allow to cool before serving. 
   

SAVOURY VEGGIE LOAF

My mission this morning was to make something savoury for breakfast that did not involve eggs. Of course there are hundreds of options if you are Indian but I wanted something that was not labour intensive and quick. I saw this recipe on Pinterest recently on "Tickling Palates" and changed it based on veggies I had on hand. It was better than I hoped and I enjoyed it with a bowl of yogurt. I'm curious to see if this can be gluten free so I have a pot of quinoa cooking as I write. Look on our facebook page for results and a picture of the quinoa version if it works out. 

I am sure you can change this around based on what you have in your fridge; try peppers, mushrooms, kale, spinach or grated beets. The loaf was moist, flavourful and easy to make. Do not exceed 1 cup of loosely packed zucchini because it will make the loaf too moist and difficult to cut without crumbling. This would be great as a mini muffins which would make it more portable. I'd love to hear back if anyone tries this. 

SKILL: EASY
SERVES: 4 - 6


INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup semolina (cream of wheat)
• 1 cup of yogurt (I used 2% fat)
• 1 cup grated carrots
• 1 cup grated zucchini
• 2 green onions finely chopped
• 1 tsp grated ginger
• 1 green chili deseeded and chopped finely
• 1/4 tsp turmeric powder
• 1/4 tsp cayenne powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp sesame seeds

TEMPERING INGREDIENTS

• 3 Tbsps coconut oil (or any cooking oil)
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 2 Tbsp finely chopped curry leaves (optional)

METHOD

1. Grease a loaf pan and set aside. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
2. Add the semolina and yogurt to a bowl, mix well
3. Grate or finely cut vegetables and add to the yogurt mixture. Add the chili, ginger and seasoning. DO NOT ADD BAKING SODA YET
4. Add oil to a saute pan. When oil is hot, add the mustard seeds; after it pops, add the cumin  and allow it to sizzle then take the pan off the heat. Add the curry leaves if using. Allow this to cool slightly before adding it to the semolina mixture
5. Stir well. Mixture will be thick depending on the moisture in the vegetables used
6. Add the baking soda and mix well. Pour into the batter into prepared loaf pan and bake for 30 -35 minutes
7. Allow to cool completely before cutting
8. Serve warm 

BIG BROTHER CAKE

This morning I baked a Big Brother cake (aka Carrot Cake with cream cheese frosting). Why a Big Brother Cake ? Well, Ju my blog partner and her husband recently welcomed baby number two - an adorable little girl. As per the Chinese culture, a one month celebration was held this afternoon and yes, the new mum was up at 8:00 am making traditional foods served for this special occasion. My favourite dish was the turmeric sticky rice with chicken curry (which I hope will make it to the blog sometime. No pressure Ju). Big boy A got to celebrate his new role with a candle on his Big Brother cake.

I have to confess that this is a first for me, mostly because I've eaten some terrific carrot cakes and had long decided to leave it to the experts. But this was a special day that called for the little man's favourite cake so I decided to give it a shot. In the course of searching for a good recipe I found variations with crushed pineapple and with nuts and then, to my surprise, my father mentioned that his 'go to' recipe is from the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook! For those of you who know my father, baking is the last thing you would associate him with, but ma confirmed that he had indeed made it a few times. 
So here is my adaptation of that recipe but with two changes. I used 1/2 a cup of canola oil and 1/2 a cup of apple sauce instead of the 1 cup of oil as suggested. As always, I reduced the sugar, using 1 3/4 cup instead of 2 cups. 

Congratulations to the new parents and big brother. Welcome to our world baby E.

SKILL : EASY
SERVES : 10-12

INGREDIENTS
CAKE

• 4 eggs (room temperature)
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 3/4 cups sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 3 cups grated carrots
• 1/2 cup cooking oil
• 1/2 cup apple sauce

FROSTING

• 6 oz. cream cheese (3/4 cup) softened at room tempera
• 1/2 cup butter softened at room temperature
• 3 cups finely powdered sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla extract

METHOD

1. Grease and flour a 9 x 3 inch round baking pan
2. Preheat oven to 350 degree F
3. In a mixing bowl add all the dry ingredients and stir together
4. Add eggs, carrots, oil, apple sauce to the dry ingredients and using an electric beater mix until combined
5. Pour into pan and bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean
6. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely in the baking pan
7. To make the frosting beat the butter and cream cheese until it has no lumps 
8. Add vanilla extract and sugar one cup at a time and beat well
9. Cool the cake completely before frosting

MIXED BEAN AND KALE SOUP

The weather the last few days has been up and down, just when you think you can pack away your winter stuff, it's chilly again. And of course the quickest way to bring on snow has got to be by packing up your winter boots. That's precicely what happened over the Easter weekend. I put away our heavy winter boots on Friday and Saturday night it snowed with a fair amount of accumulation. There is our dog running around the deck confused after all these snow free days. Maybe it was not packing away the boots as much as it was using our BBQ for the first time this year a few days ago. 

Cold weather begs for a warm bowl of soup and what better choice than protein and nurient dense legumes and kale. This one pot, ok really two pot meal because I sauteed onions, garlic and ginger before adding it to my instant pot (electric pressure cooker) was ready in half an hour. 

This tastes even better the next day. So make a pot and maybe the soup can chase away the cold days



SKILL: EASY
SERVES : 3 - 4

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup of bean and barley soup mix soaked for 3 hours (what I used looked like in this picture, you can also mix up your own)
• 1 large onion sliced
• 2 cups of chopped kale
• 2 bay leaves
• 10 - 12 cloves of garlic finely chopped
• 2 inch piece of ginger chopped
• 1 vegetable boullion cube
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• 1/4 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 2 tsp salt
• lemon juice to taste
• 4 - 5 Tbsp olive oil
• 4 cups water

METHOD

1. Saute onions and ginger to 2 Tbsp of olive oil to a hot pan. Add bay leaves
2. Drain soaking water from the soup mix and add it to the onions and stir
3. Season with pepper, salt, cayenne and add vegetable bouillon cube
4. Add finely chopped kale to the pan and pour in 4 cups of boiling water
5. Transfer to the instant pot if using or reduce the heat, cover and simmer till the barley and beans have been cooked. I have used a pressure cooker as well for two whistles.
6. While the soup is boiling, heat the remaining olive oil in a saute pan; add the chopped garlic and turmeric and fry until slightly dark and fragrant
7. Garnish with fried garlic and add lemon juice to taste 

CRAZY ABOUT CRANBERRY CAKE

Barefoot Contessa with Ina Garten is one of the many shows I enjoy watching on the Food Network. Her recipes, both sweet and savoury are a no fail and as I found out recently, quite good even if you forget an ingredient! This is a personal favourite because it has a lovely balance of sweet and tart. It's easy to make, lovely to look at and really an ideal hostess gift especially if you pick up a pretty pie plate that can be used to make this and other sweet treats. 

I always buy bags of cranberries when I see them on sale, use what I need and toss the rest in the freezer. They are such a great addition to cakes and muffins. The recipe as Ina Garten makes it  can be found on foodnetwork.com - Easy Cranberry and Apple Cake. This is my version because, I ran out of green apples and oranges and substituted with Fuji apple and grapefruit and completely forgot about the sour cream until after the cake was in the oven!

Here in Canada, schools had March break last week and our friend N came over with her two kids. We had a lovely Indian lunch at Tandoori Flame and then came home to bake. Nothing makes one realize how fast time flies as when looking at kids you knew as newborns who are now delightful youngsters. 8 year old D was my efficient sous chef while her 11 year old brother kept us chuckling in the kitchen as he periodically burst into laughter while watching something on his iPad with head phones on.

This one is for D with love and thanks : >

Skill Level : Easy

Serves 6-8

INGREDIENTS: 

• 1 bag (12 oz.) fresh cranberries   
• 1 Fuji apple peeled, and diced 
• 1/2 cup brown sugar lightly packed 
• 1 Tbsp grated lemon zest
• juice of half a grapefruit (1/4 cup)
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon (plus 1 tsp reserved for topping)
• 2 large eggs at room temperature
• 1 cup sugar (plus 1 Tbsp sugar reserved for topping) 
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 113 g (1 stick) butter melted and cooled slightly
• 1 cup all purpose flour

METHOD: 

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F
2. Rinse and pick out stems from cranberries and keep aside in a colander
3. In a deep pie plate or round/oval oven proof dish combine apples, cranberries, brown sugar, lemon zest, grapefruit juice and 1 tsp of cinnamon. Set aside
4. Beat eggs on medium - high for 2 minutes, reduce speed and add 1 cup of sugar, slightly cooled butter, salt and vanilla. Mix until combined
5. Pat down the fruit to ensure the base of the dish is evenly covered
6. Pour the (thick) mixture over the apple cranberry mix and cover fruit completely 
7. Sprinkle the top with the reserved sugar and cinnamon
8. Bake for 55 - 60 minutes until a tooth pick inserted into the centre comes out clean
9. Serve warm or at room temperature

CARROT POMEGRANATE SALAD

And as promised here is the recipe for this very simple but delicious salad. Stay vibrant, eat colourfully :)

Skill : Easy
Serves : 2-3
INGREDIENTS:

• 1 cup carrot grated
• 1/4 cup chopped coriander leaves
• 2 Tbsp dessicated coconut
• 1 Tbsp lemon juice
• 1/2 cup pomegranate seeds
• salt to taste

METHOD

1. Add carrots, coriander, coconut and lemon juice to a bowl and mix 
2. Toss with pomegranate seeds and season to taste

BLACK PEPPER CHICKEN CURRY

I am blessed to have my parents visiting right now and love it when Ma cooks old favourites. My constant request is that she not deviate at all from my childhood memory of the dish; even the addition of cilantro where there is none alters the end result from what I remember. Yes, I know, I am a little wierd but who among us does not have a quirk or two or three ?
This is one of my favourite curries. It is fiery hot because of black pepper which I like a lot more than the heat from chili. This was made using a pressure cooker but can just as easily be made in a pot. For those of you that I still have not succeeded in convincing about a pressure cooker, I will keep on trying : ) 
Just a few ingredients and a delicious result. Please go to our facebook page Spice Divas and let us know what you think. Ma served this with white basmati rice and a delicious carrot salad (pictured below). 

Skill Level: Easy 

Serves: 5-6

INGREDIENTS: 

• 8 chicken thighs (skinless, bone in)  
• 1 large tomato chopped 
• 2 medium white potatoes cut in half
• 3 medium onions sliced
• 1" piece of ginger chopped 
• 10 curry leaves (available at most Indian & Chinese supermarkets)
• 1/2 tsp turmeric powder
• 2 tsp black pepper powder (use less if you prefer a milder curry)
• 1 tsp salt

METHOD: 

1. Wash and pat the chicken dry
2. In a large bowl add all the ingredients to the chicken and mix well
3. Allow chicken to marinate for 15 minutes 
4. Put into a pressure cooker for three whistles (about 5 minutes)
5. Put cut potatoes on the top, do not mix it in or it will overcook in the pressure cooker
6. If not using a pressure cooker, add the chicken to a pot with a tight fitting lid and cook on high for 2-4 minutes. Add potatoes and mix in with the chicken. Stir, reduce the heat and cook for 20 -25 minutes
7. The only liquid in this is from the tomato and the chicken. 
8. Serve with rice and a salad. Ma made this colourful pomegranate and carrot salad which tastes every bit as good as it looks