Homemade Momofuku steam buns - a success story!

That is correct, folks. You are looking at homemade goodness there. No 2-for-nine-bucks business here tonight.

I followed the recipe in the Momofuku cook book almost to a T and had very nearly perfect results. What they don't tell you? The pork is very salty, the homemade pickles are very salty and the hoisin is very salty. And when you combine all three, it can be a little overwhelming. Next time, I'll cut back on the salt rub and probably give the pickles a good rinse before serving.

Otherwise, I tip my hat to the great Chang on this one. The steam buns were perfect - light and fluffy. My friends were just eating them plain they were so tasty.

As it turns out, "dehydrated nonfat milk powder" is not a common ingredient in Korean cooking, and I couldn't find it easily at the HMart. I subbed equal parts non-dairy coffee cream powder (which is a little sweet) and took out 1 TBS of sugar from the dough recipe  and they were just fine!

Chang's recipe also does not come with instructions for if you do not have a dough hook and stand mixer. I just kneaded the dough very gently (since the dough hook instructions call for gentle and slow mixing) and had great results.

I also tucked a tiny rectangle of parchment into the fold of the steam buns to keep them from sticking. It worked really well. 10 mins in the steamer, and they were perfect!

I served them with a huge bowl of pineapple fried rice - so big a batch, it cracked my cheap $1 bowl from Target. Oh well... it was pretty for it's single use.

Dreaming? of leftover buns!! The recipe says it will make 50, but I ended up with 42. And after feeding 8 people, had 15 buns leftover.

Teppan Edo Japanese dinner re-creation: steak, shrimp and udon

During my last night at Disney World, we ate in Japan in Epcot, at the restaurant Teppan Edo. It was fun to watch the chef put together a meal for 8 people on the giant grill (above) but it was also a great excuse to try and re-create it at home the other night.

The main portions of the dish were easy to recreate, since I got to watch it being cooked. Zucchini and onion chopped and grilled, then mixed with udon noodles and a little soy sauce. Steak cooked to medium and grilled shrimp, served with white rice and a series of dipping sauces: white, ginger and mustard.

That's where it got a little interesting in the home kitchen. The white, I made a simple bechamel with cornstarch. It was creamy and complimented the shrimp nicely.

The ginger sauce also had kind of a peanutty creaminess to it, so I used peanut butter as the base for the second sauce.

The mustard sauce went a little awry. I had almost no idea what was in the one they served us at Teppan Edo, so I was sort of shooting in the dark. I don't think I came close to it, but it ended up tasting pretty good anyway.

Recipe: Japanese dipping sauces

White (for seafood):
Melt 3 TBS butter, then whisk in 1 TBS cornstarch. Brown slightly, then pour in 1 c of whole milk or half and half. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Whisk until thickened slightly. Set aside.


Ginger (for everything):
In a small saucepan over low heat, whisk together 3 TBS peanut butter, 1 TBS hot water, 1 TBS soy sauce, 1 TBS rice vinegar (or wine vinegar). Mix in 2 TBS freshly shredded ginger, 2 cloves minced garlic, and 1 tsp red chili flakes. Set aside


Mustard (for beef/pork):
In a small saucepan, mix together 3 TBS Korean soybean paste (doengjang), 1 TBS hot water, 1 tsp corn starch, 1 tsp garlic, 1 tsp dry mustard, 1 TBS stone ground mustard, 1 TBS hot and spicy mustard, 1 tsp lemon or lime juice.

For 2 servings:
Chop 2 zucchini, 1 medium sized onion. Saute together until fork tender. Season with pepper, sesame oil and soy sauce, then toss with cooked udon noodles. (sliced, cooked mushrooms can also be added)

Grill steak or pork, and shrimp. Serve with white rice and the dipping sauces.

Momofuku Ssam Bar: Spicy Rice Cakes and Pork dinner

Top: Momofuku Ssam Bar's spicy rice cakes and pork // Bottom: My weekend re-creation

The tteokbogi dish at Ssam bar was absolutely awesome. Jake and I, of course, are big fans of anything that involves eating tteokbogi as a main course of a meal.

This dish adds pork and some veggies to round out the rice cakes and sauce, making it a bit more like a meat sauce for spaghetti.

I knew as soon as we got home I wanted to recreate it using the recipe in the Momofuku cook book.

It turned out to be fairly complex, so I saved it for last weekend's big cooking project.

The sauce was so much more than my usual tteokbogi sauce - starchy water from boiling the tteok, gochuchang, a spoonful of sugar, drizzle of sesame oil boiled down until it coats the back of a spoon. No, this sauce was a masterpiece. 2 sliced onions, seasoned pork, scallions, greens (the restaurant uses Chinese broccoli, I used the cores of baby bok choy) mixed with gochuchang, some water, doengjaeng (Korean soybean paste) and silken tofu.

Now, I took a few liberties with the sauce -- I don't keep things like "Schezuan peppercorns" around the house. I also misread the tofu requirement and only had firm tofu - the kind you fry, not the kind you stir into sauces. That turned out to be an easy fix, I just put a few tablespoons of the firm tofu in the food processor with a few tablespoons of boiling water until it was silky and creamy.

I pan fried the tteok giving it a crispy outside to the soft chewy inside then drizzled with some sesame oil. 

Here's the sauce with the onions mixed in. It's much lighter than my usual sauce because of the tofu.

The other thing I misread was about the fried shallots that topped the meal. Turns out the recipe calls for using packaged ones -- which I have never heard of, nor seen at a grocery store. I just fried 2 shallots until they were crispy (though a little burnt on one side) and they tasted fine.

Overall, this dish was totally worth the effort. Mine had a lot more sauce than the original at the restaurant, which was fine by both me and Jake. The sausage was spicy and salty from the gochuchang and doengjaeng. The tteok was crisp to the bite, then chewy inside.

Pitas, hummus, and falafel dinner - almost like New York

Sunday dinner (clockwise from the pitas): pitas, parmesan couscous salad, hummus (smaller red bowl) w/ paprika garnish, tzaiziki, tahini and falafel.

This was the first time I had ever worked with dried chickpeas, but found it to be just as easy as everyone else has said. I covered them with boiling water and kept them on low heat for a couple of hours. Had I planned far enough in advance, I could have used cold water and just left them over night.

I used half the chick peas to make hummus, which I made using homemade tahini for the first time. About halfway through, I found a full and unopened can of tahini in my fridge, but found I like the homemade version so much better. It's richer and nuttier and less oily. The food processor really was my kitchen workhorse for this meal - and because all of the flavors were blended together, I didn't bother to wash between making the tahini, hummus and falafel mixes. Here's the hummus spread on some bagel pieces:

Next, I rolled my pita dough and let them rise. They're so cute and fluffy.

I also made a tzaiziki sauce with yogurt, cucumbers and dill to serve with the falafel.

Jake caught some awesome light photographing the pitas while they cooled. We just used the grill pan (Jake acted as grill master while I rolled each little pita)

The falafel themselves were a mixed bag. I didn't take the time to chill the mixture as suggested, so they were fairly crumbly. After frying each side for a couple of minutes to brown, I popped them into the oven on a baking sheet for another 10 minutes. The second half of the dough went into the fridge over night, and I baked them for 12 minutes on each side the next day. They held up considerably better, and I was glad not to have all the oil fried into them.

The end result was not as exciting as it had been the weekend before at Karavas Place in Greenwich Village, but still tasty when paired with a couscous and avocado salad.

Recipes:

Hummus:
2 1/2 cups soaked chickpeas
3 cloves garlic
2-3 spoonfuls of tahini (homemade optional)
3 TBS olive oil
1/4 tsp red chili flakes
pinch of salt, to taste

Blend all ingredients in a food processor until smooth. Squeeze a quarter lemon over (removing seeds) then combine again. Serve with a sprinkle of smoked paprika.


Pitas:
1 packet rapid rise yeast
1 TBS sugar
1 1/2 c warm water
(combine and leave in a warm place for up to 10 minutes until foamy and expanded)
4 c flour
2 TBS olive oil
pinch of salt

Mix yeast with flour and salt then drizzle olive oil. Knead until smooth and elasticky (I do this by hand). Invert a bowl over the dough and allow to rise for up to an hour.
Punch down, then knead briefly and shape into 12 balls. Cover with a damp tea towel or plastic wrap and allow to rise again until nearly doubled in size.
Roll balls until about six inches in diameter and thin. Grill over medium high heat until browned on both sides.
Serve warm.


Falafel
2 1/2 c of soaked chickpeas
1/2 a medium onion
3 TBS chopped cilantro
3 TBS chopped parsley
2 cloves garlic
1 tsp cumin
salt/pepper to taste
1 tsp baking powder
4 TBS flour

Combine all ingredients in food processor until coarsely chopped. Use hands to gently shape small golf-ball-sized balls, then flatten slightly.
Optional - fry on each side 3-5 minutes until browned
Transfer to a cookie sheet at bake 12-15 mins on each side at 300 F.
Serve with pitas, tahini, hummus and tzaiziki sauce.

Momofuku inspired ssam

Finally back to the cooking! I finally used a gift card from the end of my last internship and put it toward a big ticket item: the Momofuku cookbook. 

In truth, I've never eaten at a Momofuku restaurant. But after just an initial flip through of the book (which is full of recipes, and also the well-written back story of the chain), I think I'm going to have to make it a destination on my next NYC trip. 

I made ssam tonight - which is the feature of one of Chang's restaurants, and one of the items we made on the grill at mine and Jake's recent trip to Hee Been. Being, as previously discussed, one of the worst Korean's in the world, I couldn't actually explain the differences between bossam and ssamgyapsal - in my eyes, they are both sliced pork belly wrapped in lettuce leaves and served in doengjang or ssamjang and grilled garlic. The term "ssam," as best I know, simply returns to the "wrap" portion of the dish.

Following the direction from the Momofuku book, I prepared the sliced pork belly with salt and sugar. I gave it a few cracks of pepper for good measure.

Pork belly acts a bit like giant slices of bacon. It gets crackly and delicious when tossed on a screaming hot grill pan. The pork belly I bought came with the skin still on. I sliced it off, and threw it into the freezer with my many "for stock" odds and ends.

Most Korean restaurants serve thinly sliced raw garlic with their barbecue dishes. It can be a little intense, so it's common at table-top grilling places for people to throw the garlic on the griddle, like I did here. The garlic grills in the excess fat from the pork, and turns brown and sweet.

Ssam pork, grilled garlic, ssamjang (seasoned soybean paste) and lettuce for wrapping. Layer everything inside the lettuce and pop it into your mouth! 

Dreaming? of my future meal-to-be at one of the Momofuku restaurants. 

PS - if anyone can actually explain the difference between bossam and ssamgyapsal, PLEASE do so in the comments! I'm dying to hear the truth on this! 

Makin' whoopie (pies, that is!)

Saturday night, and we're still snowed in. The big win for today is the fact I was able to master whoopie pies! :) YUM. 

Here's how it all went down: 

First, amazingly chocolatey batter. I used this recipe from epicurious.com, except I found myself without buttermilk, yet again. I substituted 6 oz yogurt, 1/4 c half and half, and 1 1/2 TBS white vinegar whisked together.

I also finally found a use for the melon baller my mother slipped into my stocking a few years ago (after a conversation when I asked what on earth people would use a melon baller for. Today was the first time I've used it!) I also kept a little dish (it's a condiment dish I nicked from Applebee's a few years ago) of vegetable oil nearby, and dipped the melon baller in it after each one. This keeps the batter from sticking and generally causing a mess. It also coated the balls with oil, and gave them a nice shiny crisp.

BAKING!!!

Cooling -- this recipe made about 4 sheets of cookies.

In the mad rush that was the pre-blizzard snow storm, I forgot to grab marshmallow fluff. Giant, very bizarrely keeps this with the peanut butter and jelly, not with the baking supplies, nor with the other marshmallows. 

 

The recipe doesn't call for it, but I had a little cream cheese (about a two-inch piece) that I threw in, as well as an extra half stick of butter and more fluff. I also used about 2 TBS half and half to help thin it out a bit. 

  

In the end, they were perfect. The insides fluffy and tasting of marshmallow, the outsides soft and cakey. YUM. 

 

snOMG! snoMAGGEDON! snoPOCALYPSE!

So, as you may have heard, the entire Washington Metro has effectively shut down for fear of an apocalyptic snow storm that began midday yesterday.

 

My car, as of about noon, Saturday. 

Photo by Jake

Yes, we have about 20 inches of snow so far. What to do? Yes, that's right... cook. I joined the throngs of foolish idiots both Thursday night AND Friday morning and braved the markets - first to HMart (this was the weekend we were supposed to go), then to Giant. As a result of NWS and other "officials" making recommendations that people should prepare for up to 5 days, they of course, began ransacking the stores, stocking up like it was Y2K all over again.

First project: Homemade pho.

I've been on a major pho kick lately, and poor Jake (who does not believe "soup is a meal") has been a good sport, and been dragged from pho house to pho house over and over again.

So, I finally decided to try my hand at making it. I used two recipes as reference texts, one from Serious Eats, and one from Viet World Kitchen (at the recommendation of one of the commenters on the Serious Eats post). I didn't exactly stick to either recipe, and had somewhat mixed results.

First, I did follow the advice of @aqnguyen and charred the onion and ginger first. I'm not sure if this really helped for the ginger, but it sure smelled nice. Additionally, since I do not have a large 12-quart stock pot, I tried to use two small stock pots. But, I'm not sure I had enough bones, onions or ginger for this. My stock, after the initial 2-3 hours, was a bit watery.

The onions and garlic got added to 4 lbs of beef soup bones (as they were labeled at the HMart. Fairly cheap, not a bad buy. And the tendon meat that fell off these was out of this world) and a bunch of spices. Star anise, cinnamon, cloves, white pepper (my addition), crushed garlic cloves - skin still on, and fish sauce (I accidentally bought oyster sauce and substituted). I also had a half bunch of cilantro leftover from tacos, which I split, and tossed into each pot. I split these ingredients among the pots and covered each with water. After 3 hours, I tasted and, although my house smelled amazing, the broth was disappointingly watery.

The stock went back on for another two or so hours. I tried keeping the pots uncovered and at a high boil, in attempt to boil down the stock, and intensify the existing flavors. I also added some salt, and more oyster sauce. I tried transferring most of the bones and seasonings into one pot, to try and intensify the flavors, while allowing the other pot to boil down even further.

Finally, it tasted delicious. I pulled as much tendon and soft meat from the bones as I could. Loaded up my bowl with noodles, raw slices, the tendon...

Then ladled in the boiling broth, bean sprouts, cilantro, pepper slices and lime juice. YUM.

Was it perfect? Of course not. My broth is way darker than it's supposed to be. I strained it many many times, but I know there's still some stuff (broken bits of cinnamon stick, mostly) floating around. 

Was it delicious? Of course!! And it's amazing to have a big bowl of pho waiting for me at any time! I think if I were to make it again, I'd probably buy the soup bones, and boil them storebought stock (there's a good one I get for mul naengmyun that I like) with the spices in a satchet -- but probably not start entirely from scratch again. It took too long, and was kind of a pain! 

Dreaming? of a magically clean kitchen, so I can get to my next snOMG/snoMAGGEDON cooking adventure!!

Better than takeout

Chinese takeout is not only insanely bad for you (so much salt, oil, possibly MSG, nevermind the portion sizes), it also tends to get a bit pricey if you depend on it often.

Therefore, I bring you this: better than takeout orange chicken with snap peas.

This is a great example of a) reasons to marinate the heck out of your chicken and b) ways to sneak in an extra serving of fruit.

Orange Chicken recipe (exact proportions to come, but here's the general idea)
Marinate chicken pieces in 2 parts soy sauce, 1 part sesame oil, 1 part rice vinegar, (about 1/3 c and scant 1/4 c each), 2-3 crushed cloves garlic, 1 tsp ginger, 1 tsp red chili flakes and the juice of 3 oranges.
About 30 mins before cooking, mix 2-3 TBS corn starch in with the chicken marinade.
Drain the chicken over a saucepan, collecting all of the marinade.
Add to the saucepan similar proportions of soy sauce, sesame oil and vinegar, 3 TBS brown sugar and juice of another orange (or two). Heat 5-8 mins until sauce thickens and reduces by about half.

Heat a teaspoon of oil in a wok. When it shimmers, toss in the chicken and sear quickly. When the chicken begins to turn opaque and crisp, drizzle 3 TBS honey over.
Reduce heat of the wok and mix in the sauce.

Top with toasted sesame seeds and chopped scallions.
Serve with rice or noodles and a vegetable side (I did steamed snap peas with salt, pepper and sesame oil)
Enjoy!


Another side project I was up to last weekend was making a big batch of chicken stock for some chicken soup while I was sick with a cold.

Stock is another one of those great things to keep on hand - and now that I've got a real freezer, making big batches is perfect.

First, pull as much meat from two store-bought chickens (you could - of course, roast your own chickens, but hey -- I was sick!!).

Next, toss the bones and skin into a stock pot. I also had a wilting bunch of parsley I tied up and threw in.

Add your aromatics (carrots, celery and onion are traditional. I also put in the dark green parts of some leeks I had left) and fill the pot with water

Put a lid on it, and simmer away. I also added some season salt and a few cloves of garlic for added flavor. Others traditionally use a bay leaf, I think.

After an hour or two or three (or in my case, whenever you wake up from your sick kid nap), strain your stock, freeze half, and enjoy. It's silkier, thicker and more complexly flavored than anything you can buy in a carton or can at the store.

Dreaming? of trying popovers this weekend! Can't wait.

Homemade perogies, first attempt

So, last month, The Boy and I went up to New York City where a fellow food-friend recommended we go to Veselka in the East Village. Best. Perogies. Ever.

Armed with some advice from a query I posted to Serious Eats, we decided to attempt to recreate the crispy, potato-cheesy goodness.

We used the leftover garlic mashed potatoes from last week's steak dinner (they were too gluey to eat anyway!) and mashed in some shredded cheeses (we had some chedder, swiss and mozzerella in the fridge -- but it would appear that more authentic would have been farmers cheese), and fried onions chopped small.

The dough (as usual) started to get a bit melty in the poorly ventilated kitchen. And we ate them all before we got a chance to take the end result pictures, but we got a good one of filling them up:

The little bundles got wrapped up, forked tight, boiled, browned and served with some sour cream.

Not nearly as crisp and puffy as the ones at Veselka, but not a bad first attempt. Definitely a noble cause for leftover mashed potatoes.