Adventures of a healthy-ish pseudo-foodie

  The cucumber is hiding. I made my first kimbap as an accompaniment to  tteokbokki , which I recommend as a pairing. I combined ideas from several internet recipes, and I inauthentically prepared the rice with rice vinegar instead of sesame oil because I prefer it that way. I also skipped the part about brushing the outside with sesame oil. I don't think it needs it. For my fillings, I used crunchy baked tofu, pickled cucumber, and seasoned spinach. I like this combination a lot. I think kimbap is supposed to have carrots, but I don't like carrots in this kind of context, so I skipped it. The Recipe: 4 sheets nori 2 c uncooked calrose rice 1 tb rice vinegar 1 tb sesame seeds 1/2 bunch spinach 1 tsp sesame oil 1/2 tsp soy sauce 1/3 english cucumber, sliced into strips 1 tb rice vinegar 1 tsp soy sauce 1/2 tsp sesame oil 1 tsp sugar 1/2 block firm tofu 1 tb  Korean dipping sauce  or a mixture of soy sauce and sesame oil 1 tb cornstarch Rice: Rinse well. Cook according...

This was the end of the evening with much of the sauce absorbed... imagine it 70% saucier. I've tried 3 recipes for tteokbokki and this is the clear winner. Sorry, Maangchi and Korean Bapsang...  this recipe from My Korean Kitchen  is the only one I will make going forward. My only changes were to use dashi broth instead of kelp/anchovy broth, and more green onion. I like it with kimchi and pickled cucumbers on the side.  The Recipe: (from My Korean Kitchen) (serves 4) 12 oz cylindrical rice cakes, soaked in warm water for 10 minutes 6 oz fish cakes 2 c stock (kelp/anchovy or dashi) 1 small onion, sliced thin 3 tb gochugang 1.5 tb sugar 1 tb soy sauce 1 tsp garlic, minced 1 tsp gochugaru 1 tsp sesame seeds 1 tsp sesame oil 3 green onions, sliced Mix gochugang, sugar, soy sauce, garlic, and gochugaru in a bowl. Bring stock to a boil, then stir in the gochugang mixture. Add rice cakes, fish cakes, and onion. Boil about 5 minutes, then simmer a few minutes until the sauce th...

Day 2. I'm very excited about this. Excited enough that I got brave and fermented for the first time. I've been watching a lot of  Maangchi videos , and she's always talking about how much she loves this radish kimchi. So I got my hands on a korean radish and tried it, and now I'm going to try to always have some in the fridge. I've also made it with a daikon radish, and it's note quite as good (less sweet and more radish-y), but it's still good. She says that one can eat it immediately or let it ferment for a few days.  The first time I made this, I tasted it immediately and it was amazing. I could have eaten the whole jar. The second time, I let it ferment for 24 hours, and the third time, I let it ferment for 48 hours. I think 48 hours is my favorite. Maangchi's recipe is  here . The only change I made was to reduce quantities. The Recipe: 1 lb Korean or daikon radish, peeled and cubed 1/2 tb kosher salt 1/2 tb sugar 1/2 tb garlic, minced 1/4 tsp ging...

I wanted to keep eating food so I could keep dipping things in the sauce I made this sauce to go with  enoki mushroom pancakes . It's delicious, and I'm excited about the leftover sauce in the fridge. I need to acquire some dumplings asap. I followed  this recipe  from A Spicy Perspective (just the sauce, not the pancakes). I'm going to try their pancake recipe sometime too. The Recipe: 1/2 c soy sauce 1/4 c water 1 tb rice vinegar 2 tb sugar 1 tb sesame oil 1 clove garlic, minced 1 tsp sesame seeds 1/2 tsp gochugaru Mix. The Verdict: Overall grade: A Overall reason: Easy, versatile, and delicious. Time to prepare: 2 minutes Husband quote: "I didn't know this was supposed to go on the pancakes until the very end, but it was delicious on the rice."  

Basically a latke. In looking for something hearty to round out a meal of banchan and rice, I always turn to some kind of vegetable pancake. This time, I was excited to have enoki mushrooms from a rare pandemic trip to the Asian store (turns out Christmas Eve morning is a good time to be the only person in the store). These are good. The mushrooms are very stringy, which makes them a little bit unwieldy to eat and also causes the baby to gag because he doesn't have enough teeth to break them down. I might experiment with chopping the onions a little bit shorter, but maybe that's blashphemy. I followed  this recipe  from My Korean Kitchen, and the only change I made was to increase the amount of salt, which I recommend. The Recipe: 200 g / 7 oz enoki mushrooms, stems removed, rinsed and patted dry, and optionally cut into slightly smaller pieces 2 tb flour 1 tsp sesame oil 2 eggs, beaten 1/2 medium carrot, minced 1/3 medium onion, minced 2 green onions, sliced finely 1/2 tsp se...

Future goal: A photo of actual plated food, out of the pan. I've finally learned in quarantine how to make enough different kinds of banchan that I don't crave going to Korean restaurants anymore. I like meals of just banchan and rice, and this one is warm/filling enough to help it feel like a real meal. There are carrots in the above photo, but I didn't like the carrots in it, so I removed them from the recipe.  I followed  this recipe  from Future Dish, and they have a much better photo on their page than I do. It also looks like I used a different kind of fish cake than I was supposed to, but that's what we get with hurried pandemic shopping. The Recipe: 125 grams fish cake (odeng), sliced 1/4 medium onion, sliced thin 1 green onion, sliced 1 clove garlic, minced 1/8 c water 1 tb soy sauce 1/2 tb honey 1/2 tsp mirin sesame seeds for garnish Heat a bit of vegetable oil in a pan over medium heat Add fish cake and garlic, and stir to coat evenly. Cook until fish cake is...

It bothers me that the sour cream fell off center. I realize that nachos are maybe the sort of thing that doesn't require a recipe, but it's taken me 40 years to finally make the perfect (for me) nachos, and I want to save the details. The keys: 1) Homemade refried black beans . They are so much better than the canned kind, and maybe even more importantly, they don't explode in the microwave like the canned ones do. I don't know why this is, but it makes the effort worthwhile. 2) Fresh chips. I don't deep-fry things at home, and my oven-fried tortilla chips have never turned out well. But one day, we accidentally ended up with a large bag of extra chips from Mucho Gusto  takeout. The next day, I turned them into nachos, and they were a revelation. This is going to be our tradition every time we get Mexican takeout now.  3) Pico de gallo. I used to do a drizzle of green salsa, plus diced tomatoes, but it wasn't quite right. I've replaced these two items with ...