Gimbap

This was delicious but we did not have enough rice or nori to make as much as we wanted to eat for 4 of us (1 adult, 3 kids). So next time, double the rice and get lots of nori (we had 5 sheets). Everyone loved it. Based on maangchi recipe.
3/24 Have made this several times without soy sauce in the beef to make it gluten free. Most recently at XBD's request. Leftovers brought for DBD's lunch/snack. Best to leave uncut in fridge and cut in the morning to prevent drying out. Tried new 10 sheet korean seaweed pack from AO.

• 
  sushi rice (2 c uncooked rice per 5 sheets)
  
• 1/2-1 lb beef (skirt steak, tenderloin, or ground)
• carrot matchsticks
• pickled radish, cut into strips
• spinach, blanched, rinsed in cold water and squeezed
• 3 eggs
• optional: cucumber sticks, pepper sticks, imitation crab sticks, avocado strips
• garlic, minced
• soy sauce
• brown sugar
• salt
• sesame oil

1. Rice: Cook short grained rice in rice cooker. Place hot rice in large shallow bowl. Mix with 1/2 t salt and 2 t sesame oil per 2 c uncooked rice. Let cool until it's not steaming. 
2. Spinach: Combined blanched spinach with 1 cl garlic, 1/2 t salt and 2 t sesame oil. Mix well. Chop. Place on large plate with pickled radish slices.
3. Carrot: Combine the carrot matchsticks with 1/4 t salt. Mix well and let sweat for 5-10 min. Squeeze out the water. Heat pan and add a few drops of oil. Saute carrots for about 1 min. Place next to spinach.
4. Beef-1: In a bowl, combine 1 garlic cl, 1/4 t black pepper, 1 T + t 1 brown sugar, 2 t soy, 2 t sesame oil. Mix in trimmed, sliced steaks or ground beef. Mix well by hand. Set aside to marinate while preparing eggs.
5. Eggs: Crack 3 eggs into bowl. Remove stringy white bits. Beat with 1/4 t salt. Drizzle a few drops of oil on heated pan. Wipe off excess oil. Turn the heat to low and pour egg mixture into pan. When the bottom is cooked, flip. Remove from heat and let it cook in pan for another 5 min (This is to prevent browning). Cut into 1/2" strips. Place next to spinach.
6. Beef-2: Heat pan over med-high and cook beef, stirring.
7. Assembly: Place nori on bamboo mat with shiny side down. Evenly spread rice leaving 2" gap at top. Dot top with rice for sealing. Place favorite filling inside, making sure to reach left and right edges. Use both hands to roll tightly, pressing mat as you go. Slice each roll with sharp clean knife.
8. Use leftover toppings to make poke bowl.

Cheater Bulgogi Beef

You can make bulgogi sauce from scratch, but instead I just bought jars from the local asian market. Tried one and the DBD really liked it, so going to add this into the dinner rotation.

• 90 g bulgogi sauce
• ~1 lb beef (rundreepjes, thinly sliced steak, other)
• oil
• vegetables (sprouts, mushrooms, gailan, carrots, etc)
• rice/noodles

1. Marinate the beef for 3 hours to overnight, covered in the fridge.
2. Heat oil in pan and cook beef until cooked through (~2 min each side).
3. Remove to serving dish.
4. Saute vegetables in saucy pan.
5. Serve with rice or noodles.

Single Layer Cake with Fruit

MM doesn't like too cake that much so made a single layer birthday cake. This is easy to do with fresh or frozen fruit. I used frozen peach slices. XBD said there should have been more fruit. There was only a small amount of leftovers that was finished the next day.

• 
  8 T (113 g) butter, room temp
  
• 3/4 c sugar
• 1 t baking powder
• 1/2 t salt
• 2 eggs, room temp
• 1 t vanilla
• optional: 1/4 t almond extract
• 1 c flour (or mix of almond meal)
• 1.5-2 c fresh or frozen berries/stone fruit (sliced)
• 2 T - 1/4 c sugar (depends on tartness of fruit)
• 1 t cinnamon
• whipped cream (slagroom/heavy cream 30-36% fat, sugar, vanilla)

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease 8-9" square pan or 9-10" round pan
2. Beat together the butter, sugar, powder, and salt until smooth.
3. Beat in eggs, one at a time, scraping the bowl each time.
4. Stir in extract(s).
5. Mix in flour to make a stiff smooth batter.
6. Spread the butter in the greased pan.
7. Add the fruit and bake.
1. If using fresh berries, sprinkle on top of batter and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. Bake for 35-40 min.
2. If using frozen fruit, bake the cake batter for 10 min (to set the bottom of the cake). Remove from the oven, sprinkle the fruit evenly, and top with sugar and cinnamon. Continue baking for 40-45 min.
8. Remove when light golden brown. Cool slightly. Serve with whipped cream.
   
   
   

Sunshine Wreath aka Citrus Twist

This is my favorite recipe so far from Samantha Seneviratne's cookbook, Joys of Baking. Its warm yellow spiral design and wonderful fragrance can't help but bring a smile to my face.

The first few times I made it, I did it by hand. Truly a labor and I couldn't help add a bunch of flour because it was so gloppy after adding the butter. Now that I have a stand mixer, it's so easy to just let the machine do the work and the butter eventually gets worked in without having to add more flour (or feeling like I'm going to injure my arm from the intense kneading). I even made 2 doughs in the same day (saving one to bake a couple days later).

DBD watched the video on how to make it and caught that you can use the spread on toast as well, and  made sure to save some the last time we made it (in fact, DBD and XBD made the filling together while I lay on the couch). 

8/22/23 Made this for a summer gathering. Still a personal favorite.

Japchae

I've missed jap chae so much since leaving Seattle. Combined with not being able to eat onions and peppers, it's high time I made it myself. I bought a package of the Korean japche noodles in Canada, and then gave it away when leaving the country. I've found some here in the asian market and finally got around to making it. Delicious. Original recipe was for 4 oz noodles, but that was not enough. Neither was just 1 egg yolk.
Jan '23 Made this with GG and having her chop half the veggies made this go so much faster. Didn't have any scallions.
1/9/24 Had no garlic left, still tasted great. 4 eggs but XBD said it still wasn't enough.

• 
  4-8 oz chapchae noodles (sweet potato starch noodles)
• ~4 oz beef (filet mignon or pork shoulder, cut into strips
• 2 shiitake mushrooms, rehydrated
• carrot, cut into matchsticks
• eggs
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• scallions, cut into 2 inch long pieces
• 4-5 white mushrooms
• spinach
• salt + pepper
• soy sauce
• sugar
• sesame oil
• sesame seeds

1. Put the beef and shiitakes in a bowl with 1 clove garlic, 1 t sugar, 1/4 t pepper, 2 t soy sauce, 1 t sesame oil. Cover and refrigerate.
2. Prepare the egg strips.
1. For traditional yellow egg. Beat egg yolks (without the white stringy stuff) with some salt. Heat the pan and add 1 t oil. Wipe off excess oil so only a thin layer remains. Add the egg and turn off the heat (this keeps the egg as yellow as possible). Tilt to spread to thin layer. Cook for about 1 min and then flip and let it sit for another minute. Let it cool and slice it into thin strips. 
2. For whole eggs (if you have no use for egg whites), beat the whole egg and make flat eggs (chinese fried rice style). Cut into strips. 
3. Bring large pot of water to boil. 
1. Blanch the spinach for 30-60 seconds. Rinse the spinach in cold water, squeeze out the water. Chop. Put in large bowl and mix with 1 t soy and 1 t sesame.
2. Cook noodles, stirring for 1 min. Cover and cook for another 7 min until they are soft and chewy. Strain and cut them a few times with scissors. Add noodles next to spinach. Add 2 t sesame, 1 t soy, 1 t sugar (per 4 oz noodles).  Mix noodles well to season and keep from sticking.
4. Heat skillet over medium high heat. Add 2 t oil and saute green onions with salt for 2 min. Transfer to noodle bowl.
5. Heat skillet with 2 t oil and cook white mushrooms with a pince of salt, about 2 min until softened and juicy. Transfer to noodle bowl.
6. Heat skillet with 1 t oil. Add carrot and stir fry 40 seconds. Transfer to noodle bowl.
7. Heat skillet with 2 t oil. Add beef mixture and cook until no longer pink. Transfer to noodle bowl.
8. Add 1 garlic clove, 1 T soy, 1 T sugar, 1/2 t pepper and 2 t sesame oil to the noodle bowl and mix together. Add the egg garnish and 1 T sesame seeds.

Waffle Machine Treats

MM got a panini machine with extra inserts 2 weeks ago. I've been busy making UFE (unidentified flying eyeball), egg bubble waffles, waffle shells, fusion taiyaki...these are some of the names we've given to the various creations. I've been using the flat ball insert and the shell shaped one to make various waffle creations reminiscent of NYC egg waffles. The grill I have is a much larger ball, and flatter. The device does not flip. The cooking time is only 65-90 seconds, but it's time consuming to fill each crevice precisely. I've found using the shells is easier, and can easily be filled like a Japanese taiyaki. They take 3 minutes to cook.

Essentially any waffle/pancake recipe can be used. For the taiyaki like ones a thinner batter is better so the filling can be covered quickly. I don't use vanilla since it ends up tasting like a fortune cookie (see old mjwaffle recipes for experimentation).

Batter 1 - Regular

I made as listed and also substituted coconut milk and egg whites. Cut in half easily for smaller batch size. Makes about 80 balls or 8 shells.

• 
  200 g flour (all purpose or glutinous rice)
  
• 8 g baking powder
• 80 g sugar
• 2 eggs
• 140 ml milk
• 20 g melted butter
• optional: one chocolate chunk per ball

Batter 2 - Chocolate Delight

This is a thick batter but makes a deliciously rich dessert ball. Microwave the cocoa and butter until melted. Stir and add rest of ingredients one at a time. Makes 44 balls. (I also experimented with adding flour/milk/baking powder, but the original recipe is best).

• 45 g cocoa powder
• 80 g butter
• 40 g sugar
• 2 eggs
• 40 g flour (all purpose or glutinous rice)

Batter 3 - Egg White only

I had leftover whites from making empanada dough so wanted to try an explicit egg white recipe. This came out very soft. It made 6 shells (5 filled, 1 plain).

• 
  1 c flour (150 g)
  
• 25 g sugar
• 1/2 t baking powder
• 1/4 t baking soda
• 1/4 t salt
• 3/4 c milk + 1.5 T lemon juice, sit for 5 min (or buttermilk)
• 1/8 c butter (healthy slab)
• 2 egg whites

Filling Options

• chocolate chunk (kids love this in the ball, but I prefer them plain because they remind me of NYC days)
• banana slices + chocolate chunks (this was loved by all, in the shells)
• jam: cherry, raspberry, strawberry (XBD preferred cherry over raspberry)
• raisins
• red bean paste
• custard
• chocolate cream

Chinese Style Shrimp and Snap Peas

The traditional dish is shrimp with snow peas but we have an abundance of snap peas growing in the garden and they make a fine substitute. I found this incredibly delicious but the kids were not keen on it (nor did they refuse to eat it). It's important to prep all the ingredients while marinating so they can be added quickly to the pan.

• 
  450 g/1 lb shrimp, deveined, shells removed
  
• 2 t cornstarch
• 1/2 t salt
• 1 T shaoxing wine
• big bowl of fresh snap peas (or snow peas)
• 1 T ginger, minced
• 3 cl garlic, sliced
• 2 T high heat oil
• 1/4 c chicken broth
• 2 t soy sauce
• 1 small stalk green onion, big pieces if not eating, small if eating
• 2 t sesame oil
• optional: white pepper, water chestnuts

1. In a medium container, combine cornstarch, salt and shaoxing wine. Add shrimp. Stir. Let marinate for 15-20 minutes.
2. While marinating, prepare the ginger, garlic, peas and green onion.
3. Use high heat to preheat pan for 1 minute. Add oil and heat another 30 seconds.
4. Add the garlic and ginger and stir for 30 seconds.
5. Add the shrimp with all the marinade, peas, broth and soy sauce. Stir for 2 minutes.
6. Add the green onion and stir another minute.
7. Remove from heat and drizzle with sesame oil.
8. Serve over rice.