Food, sustainablity, and some other stuff
J and I recently ran out of gochujang, a spicy fermented red pepper paste ubiquitous in Korean cooking. Since I’ve been trying more than usual to not buy things in plastic packaging, I was hesitant to buy a new container. (Although Wholly Jang offers gochujang and other products in glass, the company is currently on hiatus as they move to a different facility.) Fortunately, I discovered that you can make your own at home with just a few ingredients!!
Now that I’ve worked the kinks out of my mom’s bun recipe (the first version she sent had a few typos in it…), I can share it with you! These buns are delicious– slightly sweet, moist, fluffy. Even when I substitute a ton of the ingredients, they still turn out completely fine!
1 1/8 tsp yeast
3/4 cup water
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup butter, softened (1/4 cup butter can be used for lower fat)
1 egg
1/2 cup mashed potatoes
1/2 cup rolled oats
3 1/2 cup bread flour (Start with 3 cups. Reserve 1/2 cup for adjusting the texture of the dough.) Continue reading “My mom’s potato bun recipe!! Delicious!”
I’ve recently been using The Korean Table, a Korean cookbook by Taekyung Chung and Debra Samuels. This book is okay, but there are surely much much better Korean cookbooks out there. (Have you seen Maangchi’s website?) Overall, the book is well laid out and has pretty pictures, but it substitutes ingredients too much. Continue reading “The Korean Table book review”
N saved some food from the trash today as I looked on from afar.
This simple recipe is from The Korean Table by Taekyung Chung and Debra Samuels. J posted pictures.
2 cups (350 g) corn kernels
1 Tbs miso
3/4 cup (100 g) flour
1/2 cup (125 g) water
1/4 tsp salt
Mix. Fry in oil ~3 min on each side. Serve with dipping sauce of choice.
We added some kimchi (~40 g) and some finely chopped leftover pork ( ~20 g), and ate it with mayonnaise and tempura dipping sauce. The fritters were pretty good! Surprisingly sweet because of the sweet corn, but a pleasant change from eating it on the cob.
I went to see the Mahouka movie in SF with some friends. The plot of the movie was a bit questionable (as expected), but the action scenes were quite enjoyable. I would recommend it if you enjoy seeing the show’s overpowered protagonist blowing things up.
The recipe for the banana bread seen in J’s previous post is from the Cook’s Illustrated cookbook (not sure what year, but it’s kinda old).
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup toasted, coarsely chopped walnuts
3 very ripe, soft, darkly speckled large bananas, mashed well
1/4 cup plain yoghurt
2 large eggs
6 Tb butter, melted
1 tsp vanilla extract
Mix dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking soda, walnuts). Mix wet ingredients (banana, yoghurt, eggs, butter, vanilla). Mix wet and dry ingredients together until just combined. Batter should be thick.
Bake for ~55 min (knife inserted into center should come out clean) at 350°F in greased loaf pan.
We made dinner rolls following N’s secret family recipe. We baked them for too long, but the texture was very good. Super fluffy!
