Best vegan cupcakes ever!

Ok I do not usually cook vegan anything, nor have I eaten anything vegan apart from salad and some traditional Korean dishes. But I have been itching to try out a few recipes , because I was curious and believed that vegan cooking was bland and cardboard tasting.


I decided to use the recipe from here . I saw her on Cupcake wars just last week,( never heard of the programme before and found it on line..rather interesting for sure!) And I have to say that it tasted better than any normal cupcake that I have had the chance to eat here in Korea and bake myself.

Though I tweaked the recipe to use gluten free flour, cocoa and soy milk, as well as tofu, but also I have made a batch for my son using this recipe and they seem to disappear with no complaints! ( Granted he is 3.5 and will scoff anything with icing on it! But sometimes he will ONLY eat the icing, but ate the whole thing so it meets his picky standards!)

 I cooked them at 180 for around 25-30 mins until the cake tester came out clean. I let them cool.

And I used left over frosting I had in the fridge that I had made for a client a couple of days before.
But for those of you who looove frosting with dairy in it then you can't go wrong with Martha Stewart's fluffy vanilla frosting BUT I have found the most amazing vegan frosting that is sinfully sinful here and here

Mapo Tofu - Spicy Pork and Tofu

Well, I have been having a hankering for some proper Chinese food ( not the stuff you can order from the restaurant) has been Mapo tofu (麻婆豆腐)  The real stuff I use to eat in China. You knw the stuff that is so hot that is makes your tongue numb and no amount of Bai jiu can affect you:)

So I have been trawling the internet for a recipe. One similar to the one I learnt from my friends Dad, and the closest one I found was one here 

It tastes so very very similar to the one I have been craving, but since I live in Korea find the exact ingredients..

And it turned out something like this....

The ingredients you will need...

1 block silken tofu (19 oz box)
1/4 lb ground pork ( I used Chicken mince)
3 tablespoons Sichuan spicy bean paste (辣豆瓣酱)
2 tablespoons chilli powder
2 tablespoons cooking oil
3 tablespoons chilli oil
1 tablespoon Sichuan peppercorns (roasted and ground to powder)
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
1 teaspoon fermented black beans (rinsed and pounded)
2 stalks of leeks or scallions (chopped into 1 or 2-inch length)
2 gloves garlic (chopped)
1/2 cup water
Salt to taste

* In light of the fact that Sichuan peppercorns and possibly Sichuan spicy bean paste are not readily available in Korea I just added more fermented black beans and the Korean sauce 두반장 - which has beans/chillies and yumminess all mixed into it)
And if you do happen to have Sichuan peppercorns you are a bloody lucky bugger! They are numbingly HOT! So bloody hot that they will make your lips and tongue numb if you use waaaay too much

Cut the tofu into small pieces, drain the water from the tofu and set aside.
Heat up a wok and pour in the cooking oil and chili oil.
Add the chopped garlic, ground pork, spicy bean paste and stir-fry until the pork is half-done.
Then add in chili powder, soy sauce, fermented black beans and stir-fry until aromatic. Add in the tofu and water; stir gently to blend the tofu (don’t break them) well with the sauce.
Lower the heat and simmer for about 3-5 mins or until the sauce thickens. Add in the roasted Sichuan peppercorn powder and chopped scallions.
Gently stir and blend well. Dish out and serve hot.
If you don't want it this spicy ( and this is the proper Sichuan spice level - Which for those of you who are unfamiliar is pretty bloody spicy!) add less Chilli oil and powder.

February 2012

Bloody hell January went by so fast!
Well as you know my mission in January was to eat no chocolate! ( Sadly for the first week of Jan I was craving it...oopsie preggo hormones ) But I did not touch another piece after that! So clap clap for me.
Acutally I think I have gone off sweet things like chocolate, jelly beans, lollies of most sorts!

No it's the second week of Feb and my resolution was to do more exercise ( cough cough)
I have got all my gear at school ready and rearing to go ( however the unexpected cold snap and bloody snow put a wee dampener on my plans.)
Also I have a wee group of friends who are committed to doing the "30 day Shred" or better known as 30 days of pure utter hell ( But I thoroughly enjoyed it in my non pregnant form)
But somehow being almost 4 months pregnant and doing star jumps and crunches is just not doable, so I have been searching for something similar but aimed for us preggo chicks. I have found a few and have yet to download them..sigh.. One thing I really want to do while desk warming is downloading these workouts, but my school computer has a super firewall system built in that I just can not get around..and I am always too busy at home or tired at home to remember to find these workouts! DOH

But from today I am definitely going to do more exercise, I need it, as does my son, and hubby does too! ( Lazy monkey pants the lot of them!)

Ok enough waffle for me....mmmm waffles.... will let you know what I did next week!

BIG OOPS my Jan goal was to exercise more!! Oh f**k.. well I got that mixed up didn't I..well this month it's no Chocolate and lots of exercise. You can tell I did bugger all in January can't you!!!

Day two of operation 12 or bust...

Ok, so I am not going to write every day about how my exercise is going, not going etc as that would be super boring for you to read and me to write, I think it would be akin to something like this:
Day One: Did 20 mins of exercise
Day Two: Fell flat on my arse in the snow, walked back inside, exercise 2 mins, shower 10..

So I guess every week I will write a wee bit every now and then on my update. So far yesterday I did some exercise, it included running to the bathroom several times to puke my guts out ( morning sickness, thank you!) walking back, I think that may have been 5 mins of exercise.
I did go for a wee walk with my son, so possibly another 5 mins but it was too bloody cold.

I am waiting to see if I can eat lunch and then afterwards if it stays down or comes up I will go for a walk anyway, because even though it is a lovely sunny day outside it is minus 17, which thank god it warmer than the minus 24 I woke up to! I am feeling a bit of the ol' cabin fever setting in, cos there are only so many hours of desk warming and power point making you can do in a day before you want to chew your own eyes out.

So lets just say Day two is going to be a semi cold but nice day for a wee bit of exercise and screw the Grade 1 teacher... ( who complains about me getting my fat arse outside to waddle/jiggle)

Goodbye 2012...Hello 2013

Well 2012 was a blast! It had it's usual ups and it's downs, definitely had some of THOSE moments you never wish to repeat, but oh well what doesn't kill you makes you stronger...right? ( unless it's some kind of weapon, then you are royally screwed!)

 Now I have a small group of lovely, wonderful, sexy and fantastic friends who are scattered through out Korea. ( you know who you are!) And I have had the chance to meet some of them in person, run with some of them, and flop down dead on the ground with them ( 5 km fun run my arse... no fun at all...but I did it!)
One of these lovely ladies proposed that for our New Years revolution we chose 12 things and do them month by month. Now this is a pretty damn good idea! Usually I make my New Years Lie....resolution just before I pass out on the last day of each year, stick to it for about 1 month if I am lucky and then by May, I can't remember what the hell it was I vowed to do.

 So I have made a list of 12 things I NEED to do for this year. And here they are in random order;

 1) No more Chocolate! ( I am allergic to the bloody stuff but will make myself sick just to eat it's creamy, delicious, smooth chocolately goodness.

 2) Exercise Everyday.

 3) No more processed sugar!

 4) Cut down on the carbs! ( There are other sources of energy besides potatoes..and I am only a quater Irish!)

 5) Start healthy eating habits!

 6) More sleep!!!

 7) Teaching my 3 year old son to sleep more!

 8) Also teach said son English, cos honestly he sucks at it. His Korean is fab and pulls words out of his arse that even I don't know!

 9) Stop hating myself. 

10) Meditate at the end of each day and release all the crap and stress I hold on to.

 11) Cut down on computer time!! ( Facebook you evil bitch!)

 12) Save money.

 Now as I sit here glued to the computer screen scoffing a chocolate biscuit I think I will start with the Exercise everyday!

 As some of you know, I am big, like size of a house big, and the fact that I piled on 20 kg with my first born and am now knocked up a second time I am NOT going to gain 20 more fecking kg to add to that and become the size of a small beached whale!

 With the help of my lovely friends, I started training to run the 5k fun run ( granted I have not ran since I was about 20 (so a good 12 years or so!) During this I lost 12 kg..woooooo was so proud, then the weather changed and I got lazy, too cold to run, too cold for a walk, all sorts of excuses I could think of!
I was about to start seriously training for the 10k fun run, when I found out I was pregnant...sigh..well there goes my plans to run!
HOWEVER the 10k can be a fun run or a fun walk, right?! So I am going to start getting out even if it's for 10-20 minutes everyday and walk, be it by myself, or with my son, or hubby.

 I have to do this. I don't want to fail again, I lost so much weight before with Weight watchers and eating correctly and then just to let it all go!
 It's surprising easy to gain weight but a serious bitch to lose it. I want to be healthy for my children, I want to be able to run after them, chase them down and tickle them till the pee, not wheeze after them and give up. I want to be able to fit down a Korean slide with my son and peanut( sex unknown)
I want to run and jump and play and swim with them. I want to do what my mum did when she lost weight, she is like me, well was like me, always teased for being bigger than the others ( not fat, I mean I was built like a bloody rugby player muscles and all) had the same problems as me, thighs rubbing during summer, having a waist 2 sizes smaller than your bum and thighs. But be damned if she sat around and did nothing. After she had my brother she got her arse into gear and made the changes she needed, which was great, and she still is making changes. So my role model I guess is her, my mum. She doesn't know this yet so maybe I will tell her soon or tell her when I am comfortable about me being me, and the shape I am..so maybe well into this year around October ^^ After peanut pops out and I lose some weight :)
Ok enough rambling, let the month of daily exercise BEGIN!!!!

My friends Kim and Jang

I know I am abit late putting this up and I apologize from the bottom of my..well bottom :)
But I must tell you all about my friends Mr Kim and Mrs Jang! No they are not married to each other but they were very naughty 2 weeks back and got caught by me in the Kitchen with the mixing spoon.

In Korea anywhere from the 1st week of November to the last week is a time called 김장 ( Kimjang) Were anyone who is remotely a Korean woman gets in their cars drives 5 mins to the supermarket, and buy enough cabbage to feed a small African nation, a good 4 kg of garlic ( to keep their hubbies unwanted hands off them) fermented little shrimp ( because they can) super expensive Asian pears ( honestly sugar is just as good!) fermented anchovy juice/soy sauce ( smells vile) and weird arsed leafy greens which I have no idea what they are called in English... where the prices for radish and cabbage is dirt cheap but the price of dried chilli flakes shoots through the roof. Honestly it's ridonkulus the price of 1 kg of chilli flakes! I almost shat my daks when I saw the price at Emart! $20!( and that was the generic brand.. the others where from $25 - $52!!!) I was bloody glad I didn't have more than 5 cabbages at home otherwise I would have totally screwed my budget up!

That plus buying 새우젖 (funky fermented tiny shrimp thingees) and 잡쌀 (glutinous rice) was no meager feat either. Where is usually they are piss cheap and it's the fecking veggies that are bloody expensive!

And thus this is how Mr Kim and Mrs Jang got caught making out in my kitchen.. in a huge bowl .. need I say more.

Now I have never in my life EVER ( I need to stress this) attempted to make this much Kimchi without a) my MIL or b) any Korean woman. My hubby was as much use as tits on a bull but at least he helped me towards the end.

Our conversation went like this:

Hubby: Um .. what are you doing?
Me: I am going to make Kimchi.
Hubby: *Doubtful look on his face* "Are you sure you can?"
Me: Sure! I watched the cleaning lady make it at school on Thursday.
Hubby: Ah ha.. right I will go look up a recipe.
Me: I don't need a fecking recipe. I watched her, she told me what to stick in it.
Hubby: Right I know a good website.
Me: Oh piss off.

This was the Saturday morning. I went and got my beautiful leafy babies out and laid them on the ground

Now what you have to do its attack these little beauts with a huge knife, and cut them into halves, then halves again. So essentially quarters.

Now these little cabbages are dirty little minxes and needed a bath. So I gave them a good scrubbing and then rinsed them ( get as much excess water out of them as possible and then bang a WHOLE lot of rock salt over then and let them soak over night)

Then I went to sleep^^
The next morning they turned into well this

Now you have to rinse these again to get rid of all the salt and then squeeze the shit out of them. Because NO one likes runny kimchi! :) Well actually if you don't squeeze the excess water your kimchi is going to be swimming instead of "floating"^^

For the next stage you must make a '풀' kind of glue with the Glutinous rice as it binds all the chilli flakes and everything into a delish goo. It doesn't matter if the rice hasn't all dissolved into nothing-ness as long as the grains mush up when you rub them between your fingers.

Then you get some radish and grate it finely. I used 2 1/2 big ones because I have 5 huge arse cabbages.
To that I added a big bunch of 깢 ( weird arsed purple leafy goodness) and mixed it about.

I then blitzed up 1 kg of garlic and one Asian pear

( ok this is the second lot of garlic as I honestly didn't do enough the first time >.<) To the radish, leafy greens, garlic and pear I added about 3/4 kg bag of chilli flakes, 1/2 jar of 새우젖 without all the extra juice, a 1/4 - just under 1/2 c of anchovy fishy juice, hubby added a handful of salt ( eeek) about 3 tbsp of sugar and mixed it all around then added the rice paste

I was having so much fun that my son decided to join me...

( See Mum, I can even use my feet!)

Now there are no photos of me rubbing the paste all over, in and around the cabbage as my chief photographer ( hubby) was made to help^^ And my son constantly opened his mouth like a little chickadee and consumed a lot of freshly made kimchi. He was very happy.

Then you bundle it up and bang it in Kimchi proof plastic containers.

Now after slaving all day doing that I was informed that when one makes said kimchi one must also make 보쌈..

boiling of the pork

Searing of the pork

Our feast!!!!

Needless to say I drank soju and slept like a log!

은행 and 어묵 what could be better

Ok so I finally found a recipe that I could actually understand and had the ingredients for ( I added broccoli cos I just love the stuff, reminds me of baby trees)

Anyways what I found was called 어묵과 은햏볶음 pretty easy really.
This is what it turned out like:

If your like me nothing beats "fish cakes" on a cold winter's day while your freezing your tit's off outside waiting for a taxi at 3 am in the morning. ( oh those were the days)
So here is the recipe:

1 packet of 어묵 (fish paste cake/fish cake? I never really know what
to call it)
1/2 tablespoon of sugar
1 BIG arse handful of Ginko nuts
1/2 onion - roughly sliced
4-5 tablespoons of soy sauce
1 tsp of crushed garlic
1 tsp of sesame oil
1/4 c water
1/2 tsp cooking wine ( I used soju*^^*)
1/2 tsp chilli paste
1/2 tsp honey
pinch of salt
roasted sesame seeds
1/2 carrot - julliened

Right first stick the soy sauce, honey, sugar, garlic, cooking wine and chilli paste in a pan with the water. Stir thoroughly on low heat.
Add the chopped up Fish cake and add the Ginko nuts, stir to coat and cook gently until the ginko nuts are soft.
Add the carrot and onion and cook for a further 5 mins. Make sure it doesn't burn!!
Add the sesame oil and sesame seeds at the end and mix well.
Serve as a side dish or as a main.. keeps well for about 2 or 3 days afterwards^^ ( Great with Rice!!!!!^^)

I have a lovely bowl of stinky nuts *giggle*

If your mind was in the gutter when you read the title, then your my kind of person! But actualy I meant to say Stinky bowl of Ginko nuts^^ Or their nom de plume 은행.
Now before coming to Korea I had no idea what these were, or even why they smelt so bad! ( Think baby milk puke mixed with dog pooh and other various faeces and you got the smell...yummy eh!?)
But I was uber curious to see these little old ajumma's toting bags around wearing gloves, picking up these things off the ground. It wasn't till years later ( 5 yrs to be exact) that I actually tried Ginko nuts for the first time in a bar. I think I may have been slightly wasted but I did enjoy them and their smooth texture and interesting taste.

Last week I found out that there were only 20 students at school and 2 teachers and 2 admin staff. That was it !! After lunch we stole down to the schools veggie plot and borrowed some 무 ( radish) and there infront of us was all these Ginko trees. ( queue heavenly music)
Now there had been a few old biddies in the morning collecting all these berries, and there was bugger all left on the ground. So I spied a big ol stick and the others found some rocks so we began to pummel and stone these trees.
I got quite a few Ginko's.. see my stash!?

I had to soak these buggers in warm water to help get the nuts inside. And loooooord did it stink to high heaven.
The conversation I had with hubby was kinda funny

Hubby: Leigh, did you fart?
Me: Ummm , not within the last 20 mins I didn't.
Hubby: What the hell is that smell?
Me: Ah, 은행
Hubby: Fuck, it stinks! Close the door
Me: Ok.

So I spent a few hours coaxing the little nuts out of the stinky fleshy pods and into a baking tin and banged them in the oven to dry out before I could get the yummy-ness inside

Now I have to figure out what to make with them.

C is for Cookie, that's good enough for me!

Ok So I have been super busy *insert - lazy* and I apologise to all my fans out there ( a whole 3 at most^^)

So I was beckoned into the kitchen by my lovely hubby last weekend, waving a packet of M&M's above his head, doing some kind of rain dance.. or so I thought, actually he had just rescued said packet from the sticky hands of our son, and was actually trying to shake him off.
Our conversation went something like this;

Me: Whaaaaat are you doing?
Hubby: Bloody Benjamin had the M&M's
Me: Yes, well you did leave them on the table. He likes Chocolate you know.
Hubby: I know! But you have to make cookies!
Me: Have to make what?
Hubby: Mr Oh wants cookies.
Me: Mr Oh can make his own bloody cookies.
Hubby: But yours are the best in the whole world.
Me: *slapping myself in the face* Ok I will make cookies.
Huby: Can you wrap them individually?
Me: *One eyebrow raised*
Hubby: Oh and put them in a box.
Me: (*#(&^*&#*!&@ sigh.. Ok.

End of conversation.
There was also some crying involved from my son as he wanted to eat the whole bloody bag of M&M's but was super angry when he got 5!

So what actually transpired was this, hubby had been bragging about my baking skills to his work buddies, and they dared him to bring a box of cookies ( man he is gullible) And Mr Oh whom I have never met is hubby's GM thus had the athourity to make him do things, so he asked hubby nicely if I would make them some cookies. Chocolate chip cookies that is.

So I went about looking for a recipe that doesn't involve a shit load of butter, and found a very interesting vegan recipe from myrecessionkitchen
I will try this out this weekend, but I settled for a run of the mill normal chocolate chip cookie recipe ( which I can't remember which one I used) and made up 3 batches of these bad boys

Hubby: Why are they colourful?
Me: Ahhh, because I used the M&M's.
Hubby: They aren't crunchy are they?
Me: Ah, no. Did you want crunchy ones.
Hubby: *sigh* no these will do.
Me: * mentally slapping him around the head*

When hubby returned truimphantly from work he declared in his words
" They are the best ones ever had" ie. They were the best ones they had tasted so far.
I even got a text from one of his workmates's wife saying she had heard that I made great cookies and would like to learn^^
Definitely made my day

Weekend

Well last weekend my son had gone to bed for some random reason at 7:40ish ( I think it was due to the fact that he hadn't had a nap at daycare) and hubby was quietly playing on his PSP and I was all by myself and wanted to do something, make something . So I rummaged around and found this in my kitchen.

Then I rummaged some more and found this

What the hell is that you may ask.. well it's "ingredients" to make soap! Yup I spent my Friday night making soap..and lip balm ha ha Man I am old!

So I added everything into a huge pot, melted it down, added the oils, and smellies and strawberry powder and poured it into my mould like so..

But I had ALOT still left over so I grabbed al the moulds I had and made

( mini dinosaurs for Benjamin..cos he loves to wash his hands)

lips, hearts, flowers and a handbag

(baby apples for Benjamin to take to daycare.)

So my house is now all soaped out! We have soap coming out the wazzoo, but atleast I smell good and feel all squeaky clean. ( Homemade soap feels so much better on my old, dry, wrinkly skin^^)

Oh and my strawberry lipbalm, is smackingly good.
Think I will try and make Banana and cinnamon next when the strawberry is all gone. Though hubby has put in his order for soju flavoured lipbalm.. not sure if I can do that yet!! PLus think he would just eat the thing and get drunk!

Everyone say "Hooooo~~~ddok"

ㅋㅋ Gottcha! Well I thought since it tis the season for change ie Summer to Autumn I decided to whip up a batch of these delish Korean sugary peanutty fried pancake thingees!
Plus Benjamin loves these! And it's really simple.
My friend who will be called "S" has a problem with wheat ( she thinks) and she had sent me a txt about asking what they are made from and said she had a nommy one made made with rice and cornflour. So I thought to myself hmmmm lets see if I can make some non wheat ones too. I had rice flour,, yeast, and all the other ingredients and I set out to make them. However they turned out to be an EPIC fail. They were more like flat sonpyeong with sugary goodness on the inside..DOH. If only I had used both rice AND cornflour.

Well my son was lucky cos I made him a normal lot.. exhibit A

and exhibit B

Hmmm I hear you say whilst licking your chops and smacking your lips together. WEll I will tell you it's easy as pie to make and here is the recipe:

Dough
125ml flour
1 egg
40ml milk
2 tsp white sugar
2 tsp yeast
1.2 tsp salt.
10 ml warm water
Filling
30 g Brown sugar
cinnamon
2 tbsp crushed peanuts

Seven steps away from deliscious-ness on your plate...

Step 1:
Stick the flour, sugar and salt in a bowl. Give it abit of a mix.
In a cup mix the egg and the milk thoroughly, and add it to the flour. Mix this really well to form a dough.
Step 2:
Add the yeast to the warm water and stir it around. Let it sit for a few minutes and then add it to the dough mixture and mix well. Knead for a few minutes, then cover the dough and let it rise for 30 mins until double in size.
Step 3:
Mix the brown sugar cinnamon and peanuts. ( Now I like cinnamon so I give it a good shake or 3, but you can add as little or as much as your heart desires. Though I would say no more then 2 tsp!)
Step 4:
Heat oil in the pan. (Now traditionally Hoddok is cooked swimming in oil! However I don't like that so I make mine less fried!)
Step 5:
Punch down teh dough and knead it ( with a little extra flour so it's not too sticky. Make into 8 balls.
Step 6:
Flatten the balls into a circle roughly the same size as your hand. Add some filling ( maybe a tablespoon) and seal. continue for all 8.
Step 7:
Place balls *haha* sealed side down and cook for 30 seconds then flip them over and squish them flat and cook for 1 min, then turn them again and cook till golden brown.

Be very very very very careful! These suckers are full of hot melted sugar which you can burn not only your tongue but other various body parts when you bite into one and find out exactly how hot it is on the inside and drop it like it's hot. So let them sit for a few mins, or cut them up..

Enjoy.

An ode to 무 ( 깍두기)

Muu, muu how I love thee, though I was buggered if I knew what to make with them when my hubby presented me with these gigantic things!!

But then he commanded me.. "Make me 깍두기( radish kimchi) woman!"
Thus 깍두기 was made.

Now I have only ever made this once and for me I liked it, not too spicy, not too fermented, but my hubby commanded me, I want spicy stuff, none of this pussy foot kimchi you make.
Right, bugger you I secretly thought so I set about a diabolical plan of making the spiciest Radish Kimchi he has ever had!! ( queue evil laughter)

So to start off with I washed and peeled those suckers, then sliced them into about 2 cm slices, and then diced those babies up

Now this is the part where you wash them, salt them and let it stand for 30 mins. Now those 2 big arse radishes made alot of little baby radish cubes so I used about a good handful of rock salt and 4 tablespoons of sugar. Mix them around and set aside.
When time is up,save 1/3 cup of the juice, drain,rinse and put them in a really BIG bowl.

Now for the kimchi spicy paste.
The ratio I used was this
1 onion, 6 garlic cloves, 1/4 Nashi ( Japanese pear/ 배) , 1/4 cup of Fish sauce ( 멸치액젓 not sure of spelling forgive me I get things mixed up sometimes) 4 spring onions sliced .The original recipe called for 2/3 cup of chilli flakes but I stuck in a good 1 1/2 cups ( evil I know!)

Now with the paste you roughly chop up onion, pear, and bang the garlic in your kitchen whizz and whizz the bejezzes about of it ie

Then you add the fish sauce, 1/3 cup of the radish juice, spring onions and the chilli paste, and mix it really really well.

Doesn't that colour just scream " If-you-eat-me-I-will-burn-your-tongue"^^

Then rub that glorious spicy paste all over those tiny little innocent radish cubes and watch them scream.

Typical me pose.. now you see why I don't want to be in photos, I have no dress sense!!

Now if your scared to use your barehands it's ok to use gloves. I had to cos well I had a cut under my thumb nail of all places and chilli and cuts just DO NOT go together. Plus the fumes from the mixing where bringin tears to my eyes, and my son was crouching looking at me, then to the kimchi, then to me again and then fanned his mouth in the sign for spicy^^
Also I found out that when the paste touched my beautiful lily pale skin I got big red rashes!Bloody hurt too!

So my possums that is how I make radish kimchi, though ideally you should leave it out of the fridge for a good day or two, so we haven't tried it yet. Though me being me I did swipe my tonuge across the finger tip of my glove, my tongue fair shot itself back down my throat. I fear my possums I will not be able to eat said creation ...bugger.

Crunchy Lemon and Poppyseed muffins.

So for the long weekend that we just had here in Korea I decided I must get rid of the lemons that have been sitting in my fridge for like years!! ( Well not years but a couple of weeks, maybe a month) So I was thinking.. Hmmm Lemon curd ( nope will make me fat..fat enough without it) Lemon cheesecake... Hmm no cream cheese ( plus alctose intorelant) bugger I though to myself, all the yummy lemon ideas either had shit loads of fattening goodness in them or tons of dairy products.
As I was sitting at the kitchen table I spied a plastic bag that my mum had bought over and it had a packet of cayenne pepper and a packet of poppy seeds. Then it hit me.. Lemon and Poppyseed muffins! ( Not Lemon and cayenne pepper muffins.. that would taste well...hmm not sure, may have to try that sour and spicy??)

So anyways off I went grating my lemon rind ( tis a bitch to do. If people can invent premade diced frozen coriander cubes, surely someone can pre grate freaking lemons!) adding flour, baking powder and sugar to my lemon rinds, and giving it a good ol shake about, then adding the liquids ( melted butter, eggs and soy milk and some extra lemon juice.. like so

Then gently folding the liquid into the dry like so

Cos if you mix it too well the muffins don't rise, they go all chewy and flat...And no one likes flat muffins do they^^

While they coked I made a glaze from the squeezed lemon juice and sugar, and when the muffins were perfectly cooked I brushed them ALL over with the glaze, and they kinda got crunchy when the sugar and lemon juice dried.

Now should I share the recipe or not? Hmmm that is the question is it not.
Fair enough I am in a generous mood, I used this recipe by Alison Holst ( fantastic woman!!) but tweaked it abit so here is the recipe

Lemon and Poppy seed muffins
2 cups self-raising flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup poppy seeds
2 lemons - zested and juiced
100g butter
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/4 cup sugar

Method
Heat oven to 200C, with the rack just below the middle.

Put flour, sugar, lemon rind and poppyseeds into a large bowl.

Heat the butter until just melted. Add the eggs and the milk and beat
with a fork until combined. Tip the liquid into the dry ingredients and fold together until the flour is dampened. DO NOT beat till smooth.

Spoon mixture into 12 regular muffin pans which have been lightly butter or non-stick sprayed.

Bake for 10-15 minutes , or until the centres spring back when pressed. While muffins cook, squeeze the lemon juice and mix with the second amount of sugar (The sugar should not be dissolved).

Allow the muffins to cool in their pans for 3-4 minutes, then take them out and brush the lemon and sugar mixture everywhere. Cool on a rack

Enjoy!!

Banchan 1

Now I love to make 반찬 ~ Korean side dishes! I try to make enough for the week or usually at the moment whenever I remember.

Now I have this weird fascination for 냉이. I have no idea what it is called in English so I used daum to find it.. it came up with Shepards purse?!!? That can't be right I thought.. who would name a plant that?!
So I googled it and there it was, proud as can be Shepard bloody purse! (Looks nothing like a purse) and it had it's Latin name listed next to it ; Capsella bursa-pastoris.
Neither name hit me in between the eyes with recognition, even with my vast background in horticulture, did I have an inkling as to what this bloody thing was...
Anyhoo it looks like this

I love this in 됀장찌개 it gives it an.. oh I can't explain the taste..an earthly goodness to it. It doesn't taste like dirt or worms or anything like that, it's just really really delish and if you like veggies, then you will like this!!

Right so anyways this is what you need to make 냉이나물

4 handfuls of 냉이( shepards purse)
4 spoons of Bean powder ( 볶은 콩가루)
1 spoon soya sauce
1/4 tsp of salt
1 finely minced spring onion
1/2 tsp minced garlic
2 tp of sesame oil
5 c water
1 spoon of rock salt.

First wash the 냉이 really really well( cant stress that enough!). Dirt tends to hide in those suckers and nothing worse than chomping on a bit of grit!

Then boil it in salted water for about 2~3 minutes.Rinse in cold water ( like a longer version of blanching). And drain well.

Then add the bean powder, and mix it well. This makes less 빡빡해 ( crisp I guess it would be)
Next add the soya sauce, garlic, salt, onion and sesame oil.

Then you should have something that looks like this

I forgot to take a photo of the last stage so I borrowed this picture...
( thank you naver!!)

Surprise!

Ok can you guess what I am going to make with these ingredients?? This is something I make when I cant be arsed cooking...

ha ha that's right 부대찌개 ( Budaejjigae) on days when I can't be bothered cooking I usually whip up a stew or filling soup so instead I decided to make Budaejjigae,( as I have been having a craving for it... Not sure why.. hope I am not up the duff!) Budaejjigae is a famous spicy concotion of kimchi, spam, sausage, beans, and everything else you may happen to have hanging around your fridge. Apparently inspired by the army..

It's piss easy to make and I'll guarantee you can't bugger it up!
So I will share with you "my" way of making it.
WARNING I like mine to be spicy.. so you may want to adjust the Chilliness of it all!

Ok well here is what you need for the 양념 (seasoning/marinade/sauce)
3 HUGE arse spoons of Chilli flakes ( 고추가루) 1 small spoon on Chilli paste (고추장) 1 ~2 big spoons of soya sauce (간장) and one BIG spoon of crushed garlic.
Mix them all together and you get something like this

Mmmmm deliciousness in itself!

Next you need 5 big cups of 육수 ( broth) I made my own using those funny big dried 멸치 ( anchovies) specially for soups...

Next for your big pan/wok you need the following
150g Minced pork ( or beef/chicken/turkey if you dont have Pork and or and have an aversion to pork)
150g spam ( hmm I guess you could try and substitute this for some tofu/protein made goodness if you want, but it does tend to give the soup a certain yum factor on the flavour scale)
a couple of snags sliced ( sausages for those of you who don't speak Kiwi English. Not real ones but those fake plasticky processed looking ones
that are often found in hot dogs^^)
1 onion (sliced) 1/4 can of Baked Beans, several handfuls of kimchi ( plus extra kimchi juice) several handfuls of sliced rice cake ( 가레떡) and a big spring onion sliced.

Place the mince in the middle of the pan. Put the spicy sauce ontop of it. Place all the ingredients around it and then add the broth.

Like so...

Bring to a boil and then simmer for about 15 mins until everything is close to being completely cooked and then for the piece d'resistance place a packet of plain noodles ontop.
Cook till noodles are soft . Then dig in!

My husband's comment was " Wow this is great! Better than mine. If I was in the army I think everyone would want seconds and thirds. Good job baby"

Well that comment warmed my cockles, though the fact that the food in the ROK Army is not of the highest standards and they think Choco-pies are luxury I am not sure if I take that as a compliment of not^^

So bon appetite my lovelies, would love to know how yours turned out!!!

Mexican Chocolate Snickerdoodles

I was bored this weekend and was browsing my FB when I came across an notice about an event in Itaewon ( fund raiser ) and a couple of the women involved had a bake sale. I was looking at their pictures and there was a picture of this amazing looking Mexican Chocolate Snickerdoodles, so I thought.. best try them out!

I searced the web and found one on Punk Post Kitchen though I tweaked it abit, as I didn't have the ingredients..
So I used hot cake syrup instead of maple

lactose free milk ( yes I have found some!!!!)

and 고추가루( Dried chilli flakes) instead of cayenne.

The mixture is really thick, but fun to roll into shape. It's like the science experiment that involves warm water and cornstarch.. looks liquid but solid.
It's solid until you handle it and it kinda almost turns to a really thick goo if your not fast enough. Definitely fun!

Now I am one of those people who don't really like thick biscuits. I prefer my slim :) But I suppose no matter how thick or thin you make them they defintiely have a kick to them with the chilli!!

Hubby was nice enough to be a guinea pig, he said they were good, then I askedhim to tell me truthfully, then he told me he wouldn't buy them..ha .. well I think they taste ok and his friend thought they were great..so .. hmm may have to try them out on my friend
But hopefully you will enjoy them if you want something easy and different to make!