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!

Part two: Squid and bean paste soup

I was faced with this the other night....

What the hell was I going to do with this fully intact squid? Then it came to me, why not try making 오징어됀장찌개... so away I went.

First thing I had to do was de-squid the squid. ( ie take out its guts, and squishiness)

After much screaming and getting squid bits between my fingers I ended up with this beautiful sexy sleek thing

And sliced it up into pieces. And made soup following this recipe :

4 cups water ( when you rinse the rice)
2 Tbsp bean paste
1 handful of cockles
300 g semi firm tofu
1 tsp of seafood stock
1 handful of chopped leeks
dash of salt

Heat water up and dissolve the bean paste.( 10 mins)
Add cockles and boil for about 5 mins.
Add tofu and squid.
Boil for about 5 mins.
Add chopped leeks towards the end and serve with rice, kimchi, banchan etc

I add a few 청양 chillies. ( super hot ones) for a kick in the teeth.

Ben's birthday

Well my lovely wee boy turned 2 in August, and I decided against my better judgement to have a party at home in our tiny apartment instead of at a kids cafe. I have learnt the lesson of having 10 or so under 5 yr old kids in one room is a really really bad idea on a hot summer's day!!!

So I made a few things like gluten free sausage rolls! They were made from potato, some rice flour etc. I know it's easy to find gluten free stuff in New Zealand but nigh on impossible here in Korea!^^

Thought they tasted ok, not bad for a first attempt, as I honestly suck at making pastry, I get so frustrated with it and impatient.. but this recipe was awesomely easy to make!

I also made a cake similar to Tayo the little Bus which my son loves, however It didn't turn out how I wanted it, but oh well my son loved it, but I didn't get any good shots of it, so I will have to find some from someones Facebook account^^

I also made little cupcakes for Ben to take to daycare for his party there. He loves Barancle Lou.. so I made cupcake toppers from royal icing.
I have never attempted to make anything like this before EVER so for my first time I think I did ok... I know my son was so excited to see them!!

The beginnings of my Lou Army

Head... check... body... check... beaks..CHECK!!!

...eyes... YES.. finished!!!

I was excited to finally see them on the cupcakes, though my icing failed but oh well^^

Korean food : Part One

Well since I live in Korea I thought maybe I should impart some of my favourite Korean recipes that my MIL has taught me to cook. And I have had the most surprising comments from my husband, when he told me " You can make this better than my mum!" If that didn't blow my socks off having my MIL tell all her friends that I made the best Mi-yok soup she has tasted. I was
truely humble that day and strived to perfect the art that is Korean cooking.

So I though I would start with something really very simple.

됀장찌개(Dwenjang jjigae) or for those that don't read Korean Fermented Soy Bean paste and Tofu Soup.

What you need are the following ingredients ( and this got a Wow, this is like my Mum's one from Darling hubby)

Now the secret of the smoothness of the soup is to use the water that you wash your rice in ( MIL secret tip) So when your washing the rice fill a large pot with this water.

Like so.

Then add 2 BIG spoons of the Fermented Soy Bean paste.
Huge tip is to dissolve it in a ladle submerged in the pot, Otherwise the paste will stay in one big hunk.

To this add a big handful of pre washed cockles. I guess my North American freinds would call them clams (?) Anywhoo a BIG handful ( I like cockles^^)

While this boils away get one 애호박 a young pumpkin, like a marrow light green.
Anyways slice that into quaters and chop roughly.

Next add some enokitake mushrooms. They are long and stringy!

Next roughly chop up 1/2 an onion and add it to the mix.

Drain your tofu and use as much or as little of a 300g pack you want. I like to use alot of it so I stick the whole thing in.

Then let it bubble away for 20 mins. If it's alittle bland I add a tiny bit of salt and some shellfish stock.

I add some scallions, a good handful, roughly chopped and then bubble away for another 5 mins until it ends p looking like this...

Then you serve it with Kimchi, rice and other side dishes that you happen to have in the fridge.

Honestly it is an easy recipe and very delicious and healthy. Even my 2 year old son loves this. Well he loves all Korean soups so...

I hope you try this out. YOu can't go wrong with it!

Enjoy
( I had to "borrow" the pics of the young pumpkin, tofu and onion off the web as I forgot to take photos ...doh so thank you to the people who posted them^^)