Maangchi 2: Hwedupbap (Raw Fish Mixed with Rice and Vegetables)

I love gochoojang, a spicy Korean chili pepper paste. When I was growing up, we primarily used it as a dip for lightly steamed vegetables that were eaten with rice wrapped up in leaf lettuce (sahm). In college, if I didn't have any other bahn chan available, I would spread Sam Bok gochoojang (my favorite brand) over white rice or ramen noodles and eat it as a reminder of home.

I also love sushi and I've only ever seen raw fish served in the Japanese style: sliced tuna or salmon (or other seafood delicacy) served over a ball of seasoned rice or wrapped up in a seaweed handroll. Most places around here will use sriracha (a Thai chili sauce that is both spicy and tangy) when making spicy sushi rolls, but my favorite local sushi joint, which happens to be Korean-owned, offers a twist. When you order spicy scallops or raw oysters, the sauce they use is gochoojang. My mouth is salivating even as I write this.

Leave it to The Motherland to combine my two loves into a single dish: Hwedupbap and thank-you to maangchi.com for introducing me to it.

This dish, made from raw fish mixed with raw vegetables, is similar to another one of my favorite Korean meals, bibimbap, the mixed rice and (cooked) vegetables dish that I blogged about here. Hwedupbap is a little more feasible for home cooks because it requires very little preparation, especially when you buy the sashimi (sushi-grade raw fish) already cut-up from the Asian market (pictured on the right side of the photo below).

Maangchi's recipe calls for cucumbers, carrots, lettuce and gaen yip (often referred to in English as sesame or perilla leaves). Korean people typically eat raw gaen yip wrapped around rice with gochoojang (similar to sahm) or they will cook it in soy sauce and serve as bahn chan. It has a very strong, distinctive flavor and is one of my favorite Korean greens. Lucky for me, my father grows tons of it in the backyard all summer long (although you can buy it year round at most Korean markets).


The steps are simple:

1. Season the gochoojang.
2. Chop/prepare the vegetables.
3. Layer everything in a bowl over rice.
4. Mix and chow down!

Busy Mom Modifications and Tips

• If you are a vegetarian, Maangchi includes instructions on how to prepare tofu in place of the raw fish. We frequently ate steamed tofu with a thin, seasoned gochoojang sauce as a meal when I was growing up, so this alternative sounds very tempting to me.
• You can use any vegetables or greens that you like here. I added radish sprouts and raw vidalia onions that were very thinly sliced.

The Results
Delicious, although I'm not sure this is the best use of expensive sashimi. The gochoojang flavor really overpowers the delicate fish. I'll probably try this with tofu the next time I make it.


Ratings

• Difficulty: Easy!
• Time to prepare: 20 minutes, not counting the time to cook the rice
• Prognosis: Will definitely be making this again

My Shopping List
I spent $10 on the sashimi, which was enough for two people. I also bought the radish sprouts. I had everything else at home.

Maangchi.com 1: Teaching My Son to Cook Korean (Kalbi and Bahn Chan)

I've been debating what to cook from next - one of my all-time favorite books, Vegetarian Times Cooks Mediterranean, or my favorite Korean cooking site. The Geek cast the deciding vote: "Not vegetarian, please." so maangchi.com it is.

I stumbled across Emily Kim's Korean cooking website a few months ago and fell totally head-over-heels in love. After mulling over her recipes for several days, I couldn't decide what to make so I made ELEVEN different dishes in one afternoon. (The photo below is of the produce from that one day's shopping excursion.) Everything turned out superb, very authentic, and delicious. I've never had much luck making Korean food but maangchi makes it easy with her written instructions, photos, and videos.

On a separate note, my kids are out of school for the summer. One of the responsibilities they assume when there is no school is to cook lunch and dinner when they are home with me. My 14-year old daughter enjoys cooking and loves to try new things. The other day we enjoyed breaded mahi mahi in browned butter and a lovely mesclun salad with grapes, feta and walnuts and a homemade raspberry vinaigrette.

My son, on the other hand, is a much more reluctant cook. He'll only make something if it is quick and easy. If the recipe begins with Campbell's condensed soup, all the better. I'm supervising his menu selections and am much more involved when he cooks.

I decided to kill two birds with one stone today - I told my son we would be making a Korean meal for dinner, one I could blog about. I decided to make Kalbi, Korean grilled ribs,

and I had my son make rice (in the rice cooker) and four different bahn chan (side dishes):

• eggplant
• bean sprouts
• cooked radish
• seasoned pickles.

(The little red cubes are a type of kim chi made from radishes, called Kaktugi. That is also from maangchi.com but I made it a few weeks ago.)

I'm not posting very many photos or instructions because, as I mentioned, you can get them all from the website. Hopefully you'll still be inspired to give some of these and other Korean recipes a try.

Busy Mom Modifications and Tips

• Making four different dishes at once gave me a chance to teach my son about multi-tasking when cooking. We read over all four recipes and determined what order to work in. First we got the rice cooking and then steamed the eggplant. Next we cooked the radish and then steamed the bean sprouts. Seasoning and mixing everything was the final step.
• I'm not a fan of measuring ingredients when it comes to making bahn chan, although the measurements/amounts are provided for you. I prefer to taste and test as I go along and instructed my son to do the same. For example, he did not cook the radishes the extra 10 minutes as the recipe instructed. After a couple of minutes of stir-frying, he decided the texture was good and so we took them off the stove.
• The radish and cucumber (for the sprouts) were supposed to be cut into matchstick size. I'm wary of making the kids do too much cutting, especially when it calls for fine knife skills like julienne. I chose to use the shredder in the food processor instead. The shredded vegetables really are too small and thin for traditional Korean cooking but I'd rather have that than bloody fingers. Plus it's a lot faster, which is an important factor when you are working with a teenager who would rather be playing video games.
• I did not have the Korean pear called for in the ribs marinade so I left that out. Didn't miss it a bit.
• I buy Korean pickles at the grocery store, which saves me the trouble and time of pickling them myself. They tend to be very salty so as soon as I get them home, I dump out the brine that they come in and put the pickles in a jar of fresh water. I'll change the water once a week or so.

The Results
Everything turned out delicious. My son was pretty pleased with the results as well.

Ratings

• Difficulty: Everything was easy
• Time to prepare: The ribs had to soak for 20 minutes, the marinade took about 30 minutes, and grilling took about 45 minutes. The bahn chan took just over an hour, from start to finish for all four dishes.
• Prognosis: We'll definitely be doing this again!

My Shopping List
I had to buy the ribs and the produce (eggplant, bean sprouts, radish, pickles). I already had all the seasonings at home.

ABLR 4: Vidalia Onion Pie and Monkey Bread

I'm ready to move on to a new cookbook so I thought I'd finish with two ABSOLUTELY YUMMMMY dishes from America's Best Lost Recipes.

I love Vidalia onions. I was first introduced to them by another one of my BFFs, who I'll simply refer to as D. When our kids were babies, I lived just a few minutes up the freeway from her and we would get together every Sunday morning to walk, drink coffee (with cream and two teaspoonfuls of Ghirardelli cocoa, which might explain why we never lost any weight), and unload all our troubles on each other. A few years ago I moved about 25 miles away and now it takes much more planning to get together, but we do so whenever we can and it always involves food.

D. has family all over the United States and when relatives come to town, they always bring food native to their corner of the world, most notably salmon from the Pacific Northwest and Vidalia onions from Georgia (this was before they became available in grocery stores here in California). The first time I had a Vidalia, an aunt had brought it from back east and D. made me a sandwich on rustic bread with mayonnaise, sliced tomatoes, salt, and strips of vegetarian bacon. PURE HEAVEN!

I always buy a Vidalia when I see them at my local grocery store and savor every bite. Recently though, I was at the local Warehouse store and found 10 lb bags of Vidalias so of course, I had to buy a bag. Have you ever noticed how small a 10 lb bag looks in the warehouse and how huge it is once you get it home and into your tiny kitchen? After eating Onion/tomato/vege bacon sandwiches for three days (and having used up only two of about 20 gigantic onions), I knew it was time to look for new ways to cook them.

Now to me, onions are a condiment, a seasoning. Even in my sandwiches, they are used to enhance the tomato and bacon. It would never have occurred to me to use the onions as the main attraction, and never in a pie. Don't let the name fool you - this was incredibly delicious. Crisping the bacon gives it just the right amount of texture and saltiness. A half cup of sour cream is just the right amount of tang. And carmelizing the onions sweetens them even more.



Everyone who tried it (The Geek, my kids and me) was surprised at just how FABULOUS onions could be.

***

I love all foods that start out as yeasted dough, especially if I can eat them fresh and warm from the oven. Bread, doughnuts, pretzels, cakes, cinnamon rolls...the list goes on and on. So of course I knew I was going to make Monkey Bread as soon as I saw the recipe. In all truthfulness, it is the reason I bought this particular cookbook - Monkey Bread is featured on the cover and several people commented on how good it was in the online reviews. Once again, the Cooks Illustrated chefs do not disappoint.

Making bread from scratch can be intimidating but thanks to modern-day appliances like the Kitchen Aid stand mixer, whipping up this dough was a breeze. After the first rise, you cut the dough into tiny pieces and roll in butter and cinnamon sugar and then put it in the pan for a second rising.

What comes out of the oven are ooey-gooey bite-sized pieces of pure heaven that you then drizzle with icing. YUMMMM!!

Busy Mom Modifications and Tips

• The kids don't eat pork so I made two onion pies, one with bacon for The Geek and the other with turkey bacon for the kids.
• The recipe calls for the onions to be carmelized in the bacon fat but turkey bacon does not release that much grease so I ended up adding oil to the pan. It was taking forever to get the onions to brown so I added butter, which speeded up the carmelization considerably.
• I am without a food processor right now and am too lazy to make a pie crust manually using a pastry cutter so I bought frozen pie crusts from the store. I didn't particularly like the pre-made crust, but the kids and The Geek said it was fine.
• I love my pastry mat for rolling out dough (see photo of the Monkey Bread dough). The measurements are drawn right on the mat so it's easy to roll things like pie crusts out to exactly the right size. The silicone helps to keep the dough from sticking, and clean-up is a breeze.
• The monkey bread dough took twice as long to rise (for both risings) than the recipe's suggested times. I suspect either my yeast was a bit old or the liquid that I proofed it in was too hot. Fortunately the dough did rise eventually.

The Results
Both items were out-of-this-world delicious!

Ratings

• Difficulty: I rate both these items medium difficulty. Carmelizing onions without burning them takes practice and if you choose to follow the recipe, you would be making the crust from scratch. The monkey bread requires special appliances and kneading skills.
• Time to prepare: The onione pie took about an hour (using a store-bought crust). The monkey bread took about 4 hours because the dough took so long to rise.
• Prognosis: Both are incredibly delicious and well worth the effort.

My Shopping List
Special ingredients for the pie included bacon, turkey bacon, vidalia onions, sour cream, heavy cream, and the pre-made crust. The monkey bread is made with the usual kitchen staples.

ABLR 3: 24 Hour Salad and Joe Froggers

I'm not sure what counts as "California Cuisine," but dishes that are light and fresh and combine flavors from different cultures is what comes to mind. When it comes to Midwestern fare (not sure you can apply the word 'cuisine' to this kind of cooking without offending home cooks in that part of the country), I think of hefty roasts, hearty casseroles, baked potatoes drowning in sour cream, homemade pies with melt-in-your-mouth crusts, and freshly picked apples and warm cinnamon doughnuts in the fall. Having grown up in Michigan, I also think of chewy salt water taffy and lucious fudge thanks to occasional family trips to Mackinac Island.

There are some food items that I associate with the Midwest and more specifically my childhood, mainly because I don't ever buy or cook with them now. Potato salad and sandwiches made with Miracle Whip (instead of mayonnaise). Cottage cheese and canned fruit (in heavy syrup). Campbell's condensed cream of mushroom soup (in everything that wasn't Korean). And Cool Whip, the non-dairy frozen whipped topping. My parents LOVED Cool Whip and we had it on just about every kind of dessert that you could conceivably put it on.

One of my mother's co-workers gave her a recipe for a jello salad that we simply called "Green Stuff." It was lime jello mixed with cottage cheese, crushed pineapple, chopped nuts, and Cool Whip. After she made it the first time, we were never without it at home. It was the first thing I would reach for in the fridge when I got home from school. And of course the combination possibilities were endless. Sometimes my mom made it with raspberry jello (what we referred to as "Pink Stuff"), with different types of canned fruit, various nuts, sometimes with coconut flakes, and so on and so on.

I don't see too many jello or even Cool Whip/whipped cream salads these days, not even at church potlucks where they ruled the buffet tables in my childhood. Neither of those items seem to be too terribly popular here in health-conscious, preservative-free SoCal. All the more reason to make the 24 Hour Salad. Often referred to as Ambrosia salad, it is typically made with canned fruit, nuts, whipped cream and marshmallows. The people at Cook's Illustrated stepped it up a notch by creating a recipe that begins with a cooked custard base and uses heavy whipping cream instead of the frozen, non-dairy stuff.

***

Now it is not my intention to make just desserts from this book but it seems those are mostly what catch my eye. I'd never heard of Joe Froggers before but when I read the opening paragraph of the recipe, I was hooked:

"These wonderful flat, oversized molasses-spice cookes are moist, salty, rum flavored, and most unusual (and addictive)."

How can someone read that and NOT be compelled to make them?!!

I have to say, these cookies were a bit of a disappointment. The first problem, which was entirely my own fault, was that the molasses flavor was OVERWHELMING. The recipe warns the cook to use mild molasses and specifically warns against the robust kind. I ran out of the regular about halfway through and so I used robust since that was all I had on-hand. Big mistake. I also found the cookies to be a bit too salty and not rum-my enough. And never having made this type of cookie before, I took the first batch out of the oven too soon and so the texture was a bit gummy. That said, I am certainly willing to try this recipe again, this time using the right kind of molasses and cutting the salt in half.

Busy Mom Modifications and Tips

• The 24 Hour Salad has to sit for a day (hence the name) in order for the flavors to combine. It really makes a difference! And as I mentioned, it keeps well in the fridge for several days.
• The cookie dough has to be refrigerated for at least eight hours or else they will spread too much in the oven.

The Results

• I thought the 24 Hour Salad was delicious but my son took one look and said "I don't like that kind of salad." My daughter ate a bit and said it was good but never touched it again. I ended up eating it over several days and I'm happy to report that it kept quite well in the fridge.
• Nobody in my house liked the cookies.

Ratings:

• Difficulty: Both recipes are easy
• Time to prepare: The salad takes about 30 minutes to prepare and a day to sit. The cookies were quick - 15 minutes to make the dough but then you have to refrigerate the dough for 8+ hours.
• Prognosis: I'm on the fence about the cookies. I liked the salad but if no one will eat it but me, then I probably won't be making it too often.

My Shopping List

• The 24 Hour Salad recipe calls heavy cream, frozen sour cherries, and marshmallows (not to mention canned pineapple chunks and mandarin oranges and slivered almonds). I just happened to have all those things in my kitchen on this particular day thanks to my son's recent attempt to make homemade cherry garcia ice cream.
• The Joe Froggers required dark rum as well as the several different spices, all things I keep on hand.