Ojingeo Bokkeum

Korean Spicy Stir-fried Octcopus

Bokkeum is a generic term to refer to a Korean dish made by stir-frying ingredients in a sauce. According to Korean dictionaries, the verb form of bokkeum, "bokkda" means "cooking dried ingredients over heat." However, bokkeum not only refers to dishes made by stir-frying ingredients to a dry state, but also indicates dishes with a thick sauce after cooking. The former is called geonyeol bokkeum (dry stir-fried dishes) and the latter is called seupyeol bokkeum (watery stir-fried dishes) by the literal meaning in Korean.

 

What you need

• 300g/10½oz baby octopus
• ½ tbsp vegetable or arachide oil
• ½ small onion, sliced 
• 1 carrot, sliced in 4 cm pieces
• 5 shiitake mushrooms, stalks removed, sliced thinly
• 2 spring onions, cut in half lengthways 
• 1/4 cucumber, sliced in 4 cm pieces
• 1 small red chilli, thinly sliced
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• sprinkle of sesame seeds

And what you need for the paste

• 10g fresh root ginger (grated)
• 3 garlic cloves (grated)
• 2 tsp gochujang (Korean red chilli paste)
• 1 tsp soy sauce
• 2 tsp gochugaru (Korean red chilli powder)
• ½ tsp honey
• 1 tsp mirin

Method

1. Clean and rinse the octopus in cold water.
2. For the spice paste, peel and grate the ginger and put it in a medium bowl with the garlic, chilli paste, soy sauce, chilli powder, golden syrup and mirin. Mix well and then set aside.
3. Heat a medium pan of boiling water, add the octopus to the boiling water and blanch for 1½ minutes, then drain. Put the octopus into a bowl of ice-cold water and drain again once cool. Remove the skin from the octopus. Cut into quarters or just remove the tentacles if very small. Cut into bite-sized pieces.
4. Heat a wok, add the oil and fry the onion for a couple of minutes. Add the octopus and paste to the onions and cook for a minute. Add the mushrooms and carrots, cook for another minute and then add the spring onions, cucumber, chillies and sesame oil. Sprinkle sesame seeds into and over and serve.

Turkish kofta kebabs with minted yoghurt and Toscan salad

What you need

For the kofta:

• 500g lamb mince
• 1 shallot, peeled, very finely chopped
• 1 garlic clove, peeled, crushed
• 1 tbsp sumac
• 2 tsp garam masala
• 1 tsp cracked black pepper
• 1 tsp sea salt

For the salad:

• 5 handfuls chunks bread
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tbsp red wine vinegar
• 6 mini cucumbers, cut into small chunks
• 1 medium-sized red onion
• 6 vine tomatoes
• 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• handful torn basil leaves

For the minted yoghurt

• 200g Greek natural yoghurt
• 2 tbsp chopped mint
• salt to taste

How to prepare it:

1. Preheat the barbecue.
2. For the kofte, mix together all of the kofte ingredients in a large mixing bowl until well combined, using your hands.
3. Tip the bread into a bowl, season to taste with salt and pepper and add the olive oil and half of the red wine vinegar.
4. Remove the tomato skins by placing the tomatoes into boiling water for a few seconds and refreshing in a bowl of ice cold water. The skins should now peel away easily. Add the tomatoes to the bread, along with the cucumber and red onion. Scatter over the finely chopped garlic and add a pinch of salt. Mix until well combined.
5. Pour in the remaining red wine vinegar, plus more to taste, add the basil leaves and mix together with your hands until well combined.
6. Cut the mint leaves and mix with the yoghurt and salt. 
7. Divide the kofta mixture into 12 equal portions and roll each into a small sausage shape. Use wooden sticks to put on the kofta.
8. Place the kofte in the heated barbecue (when all of the charcoal is gray) until completely cooked through.
9. Serve immediatly

Armenian eggplant rolls

This authentic aubergine recipe is inspired by my long time Armenian visit in 2016. A lovely appetizer for other traditional dishes.

What you need:

• 1 large eggplant (sliced lenghtway)
• oil to fry the eggplant slices
• 1 large cup of yoghurt (Greek or Turkish)
• 1/2 cup of sour cream
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 lemon (juice and zest)
• 1 clove of garlic (grated)
• 1 large cup of wallnuts
• 1/2 tsp of curry powder
• salt to taste
• fresh dill to serve 
• pomegranate seeds to serve (optional)

How to prepare it:

1. Heat the oil to fry the slices of eggplant
2. Slice the eggplant lenghtway in 4-5 mm slices. It is optional to salt them to reduce the liquid in the slices.
3. Put the eggplant slices separated (next to each other) and fry until browned on both sides
4. Take them out and lay them on some paper towels
5. Mix the yoghurt, cream, finely grated garlic, sour cream and olive oil.
6. Finely groud the wallnuts in a kitchen machine and add to the yoghurt mix and mix well.
7. Add the curry powder and salt to taste to the mixture.
8. Finely add the lemon juice and zest.
9. Mix well.
10. Take each slice of eggplant and put on a layer of the mixture.
11. Then roll the eggplant and garnish with some fresh dill.  
12. Serve as an appetizer

Urad Dal (Black gram) and kidney beans with black pudding

Vigna mungo, black gram, black lentil, mungo bean (not to be confused with the much smaller true black lentil (Lens culinaris)), black matpe bean, is a bean grown in the Indian subcontinent. At one time it was considered to belong to the same species as the mung bean. The product sold as black lentils is usually the whole urad bean, whereas the split bean (the interior being white) is called Minumulu in Telugu, Urad Dal in Hindi, or white lentils.

Black gram originated in India, where it has been in cultivation from ancient times and is one of the most highly prized pulses of India and Pakistan. The coastal Andhra region in Andhra Pradesh is famous for black gram after paddy. The Guntur District ranks first in Andhra Pradesh for the production of black gram. Black gram has also been introduced to other tropical areas mainly by Indian immigrants. Traditionally this Dal is a combination of whole urad and red kidney beans and cooked on low flame on charcoal, for hours which gives it flavor and rich creamy texture.

After cooking to enhance the flavor of dal onion, garlic, tomato, ginger and green chili tadka and cream or butter are often added. Because of its creamy texture it is also known as Dal makhani and Makhan means butter. It is served with tandoori roti, chapatti or Nan.

What you need

For the dal: 1    cup whole black urad dal (black         grams) ¼   cup  kidney beans ½   tsp turmeric powder 1½  tsp salt 6     cups of water For the onion tadka: 1   medium size onion – finely chopped 2   tsp minced garlic 1   medium size ripe tomato - chopped 1   medium red chili - chopped 1   tbsp fresh ginger grated 1   tbsp vegetable oil For the cumin seed tadka: 1   tsp cumin seeds 1   pinch of asafetida  1   tbsp vegetable oil For the hot chili tadka: 2   tsp crushed red chilies 2   tsp melted butter or Ghee

How to prepare it

1. In a pressure cooker add dal and kidney beans and wash, changing water several times until the water appears clear and then soak it in 4 cups of water for at least half hour.

2. Wash and rinse the dal and beans. Add 6 cups of water, turmeric powder, salt
and 1 teaspoon of oil and mix. When dal is boiling it creates lot of foam and the foam comes out from pressure cooker to prevent that it is a good idea to add little oil.

 
3. Close the lid of the pressure cooker, place the weight on the lid and cook on medium high heat.

4  In about 8 to 10 minutes pressure cooker will start steaming, turn the heat down to medium and cook for 20 to 22 minutes. Turn the stove off and wait until steam goes down. Different brand of cooker require different time to cook.

5. While dal is cooking prepare the onion and cumin seed tadka and keep them
aside.

​6. Heat small frying pan, add 1 tablespoon vegetable oil, chopped onions and minced garlic, sauté them on medium high heat for 5 to 6 minutes or until onions become light brown, while frequently stirring them.

7. Add chopped tomatoes, grated ginger and chopped green chilies and cook. With a flat spoon try to mash the tomatoes so that they become soft quickly. In about 5 to 6 minutes tomatoes will become soft and blend with onions. Put the onion and tomatoe tadka aside.

8. Heat a small pan add 1 tablespoon oil, cumin seeds and asafetida and fry them for 2 to 3 minutes on medium heat or until cumin seeds become brown. Put the cumin seed tadka aside.

9. Heat a small pan and add 2 tablespoons ghee and add crushed red chilies and fry them on very low heat for 1 to 2 minutes or until the red chilies are fried, turn the heat off. Put the hot chili tadka aside.

10. Fry the sausages in a small pan until done.

11. Once the steam of cooker goes down open the cooker, turn the stove on to medium heat, with the cooking spoon mix dal well so there are no lumps and cook. With the spoon mash some dal that will make the gravy thicker and blend well with the water.

12. Add onion and Tomato tadka and mix and cook. If the dal looks thick then add some water and cook for 5 to 6 minutes or until dal and masala blend well.

13. Add cumin seed tadka and mix and cook for a minute or untill you have the desired consistency. Turn the heat off.

When ready to serve pour the hot chili tadka over the dal and add the black pudding. We ate it with tandoori rote.

Gnocchi and sausage meat

Gnocchi are various thick, small, and soft dough dumplings^. The dough for gnocchi is most often rolled out before it is cut into small pieces about the size of a wine cork. The little dumplings are then pressed with a fork or a cheese grater to make ridges that can hold sauce. Alternatively, they are simply cut into little lumps. Gnocchi are usually eaten as a replacement for pasta in the first course, but they can also be served as a contorno (side dish) to some main courses.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What you need:

• 4 medium potatoes
• 200g salt
• 75g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
• 50g freshly grated parmesan
• 1 egg yolk
• salt and pepper
• knob of butter
• 30g breadcrumbs
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 4 pork and/or beef  sausages
• 1 onion, diced
• 2 garlic cloves, sliced
• 200ml vegetable stock
• 100g peas
• 1 tbsp cream
• 1 tbsp capers
• 1 tbsp parsley
• ½ romaine lettuce
• fresh grating of parmesan, to serve
• 1 lemon, zest only, finely grated 

How to prepare it:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C.
2. Lightly score or prick the potatoes. Spread out the salt on a baking tray to make a bed of salt and sit the potatoes on top. Bake in the oven for 45 minutes to one hour, or until tender.
3. Allow the potatoes to cool a bit. Cut in half and spoon the cooked potato out of the skins.
4. Finely mash the potato. Add the flour, parmesan and egg yolk. Season with salt and pepper and mix well. Keep mixing until the potato forms a dough.
5. Working on a lightly floured surface, divide the dough into four. Roll each quarter into a sausage shape about 20cm long and cut into 2cm pieces. Shake off any excess flour.
6. Melt the butter in a frying pan and lightly fry the breadcrumbs until golden-brown. Tip into a small bowl and set aside.
7. Heat a tablespoon of oil in the same frying pan and fry the gnocchi in batches until golden-brown on all sides. Remove from the pan, set aside and keep warm until all the gnocchi is fried.
8. Remove the skins from the sausages, break up the sausagemeat and fry with a little oil for four minutes, then add the onion and fry for a further three minutes until it is all golden-brown. Add the garlic and fry for another minute.
9. Add the stock, peas, cream, capers and parsley. Bubble over a high heat to reduce the volume of liquid slightly and thicken the sauce. Finally add the fried gnocchi and warm through in the sauce for a minute or two.
10. To serve, divide the lettuce between four plates or bowls, serve the gnocchi on top, scatter with the fried breadcrumbs, grated parmesan and finely grated lemon zest.

General Tso's Chicken

There are several stories concerning the origin of the dish. Eileen Yin-Fei Lo states in her book The Chinese Kitchen that the dish originates from a simple Hunan chicken dish and that the reference to "Zongtang" was not a reference to Zuo Zongtang's given name, but rather a reference to the homonym "zongtang", meaning "ancestral meeting hall". Consistent with this interpretation, the dish name is sometimes found in Chinese as "Zuo ancestral hall chicken" (Chung tong gai is a transliteration of "ancestral meeting hall chicken" from Cantonese; Zuǒ Zōngtáng jī is the standard name of General Tso's chicken as transliterated from Mandarin).


Ingredients:

To marinade the chicken

• 1 kg chicken in cubes of 2 cm
• 2 tbsp of light soya sauce
• 1 tsp of freshly grounded black pepper
• 1 egg, beaten
• 3 tbps of corn starch
• 1 cup of flower

For the sauce

• 2 tbsp of dark soya sauce
• 2 tbsp of oyster sauce
• 1 tsp of sesame oil
• 2 tbsp of rice vinegar or balsemic vinegar
• 1 tbsp of rice wine
• 2 tbsp of caster sugar
• 1 cup of chicken or vegetable stock
• 1 tbsp of corn starch
• 1 tbsp of garlic (finely cut)
• 1 tbsp of ginger (finely cut)
• 1 tbsp of oil

For the stir fry basics

• 2 tbsp of oil
• 1 onion
• 5 dried red chilli peppers (crunched)

For the stir fry chicken

• 6 cups of oil

For the finishing touch

• sesame seeds
• spring onions

step 1:

Take a bowl and mix the soya sauce and the ground pepper with the chicken cubes.

Add the clutched egg and the corn starch.

Step 2:

Take another bowl and mix the ingredients for the sauce, except the garlic, ginger and onion.

Step 3:

Take a large wok and heat the oil. Take a large plate and add the flower. Cover the pieces of chicken and shake of the dust, Then fry the pieces in the heated oil untill light brown. Put them in a few pieces by a few pieces, so they can swim and float. Set them apart.

Step 3:

Put the 2/3 of the heated oil form the heated wok add the onion and stirr fry for one minute. Add the garlic and ginger and fry for 30 seconds. Add the sauce and cook it for a few minutes. Keep it at the syrupy constistancy, maybe you need to add some water.

Then cover the chicken pieces by mixing with the cooked sauce.

Step 4:

Serve on a plate with white rice and add some toasted sesameseeds and springonions. And ENJOY!

Beef Tongue with Mushrooms

Beef Tongue with Mushrooms, or in spanish: Lengua Con Seta. The tongue doesn't look pretty, bit this is a great, top dish. The delicious sweet meat and creamy sauce is superdelicious. I served it with mashed potatoes.

Picture of the dish will follow later (battery was empty).

What you need:

• 3 tbsp cooking oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 or 3 cloves of garlic (minced)
• 1 cup of carrots (chopped)
• 1/2 pound of beef tongue
• 2 cups small chestnut mushroom (whole)
• 3 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce
• 1 tbsp oyster sauce
• 2 tbsp light soy sauce
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1/2 cup of water
• 1 tbsp cornstarch mixed in cold water
• some parsley to serve
• salt and pepper to taste

How to prepare it:

1. Place the tongue(s) in a pan and cover with water or stock. Cook and cover until tender for about 2,5 hours. During cooking keep the tongue covered with water. 
2. Set apart the tongue for cooling down. 
3. When cooled down, take away the fat and skin and discard. Save the stock for other use. 
4. Cut the tongue into bite size pieces (1cm cubes).
5. Heat oil in a pan.
6. Saute onion, carrots and garlic for a few minutes.
7. When the onion is soft, add the beef tongue and cook for 3 minutes.
8. Add the oyster sauce, soy sauce, sugar, and Worcestershire sauce. Stir and simmer for 1-2 minutes.
9. Add the mushrooms and water. Take it to the boil and simmer until the liquid reduces.
10. Add salt and pepper to taste.
11. Put-in the cornstarch and water mixture. Cook until the sauce thickens.
12. Put a portion a serving plate. Sprinkle with parsley.
13. Serve with mashed potatoes.