Oven Baked Apples

A few days ago I went to the orchard (Stribling Orchard in VA)to pick up apples. I had been to a blueberry farm a few times but I was a little nervous when I first visited to pick apples. So I was worried about various things. "Is there my favorite apples like fuji and gala?",  "What if an apple does not reach my hand, how to pick up apples on high ground?". But as I started picking apples, my worries were all gone.
At the front of the farm, I received a map with the kind of apple trees and the apples that were out of reach were picked with a long stick. Very easy! But unfortunately, there were no Gala apple trees and the Fuji apples had already been taken by many people. Very sad. 
So I tried golden delicious apples. It was an excellent choice! It was very, very fresh, juicy and the apple peel was also thin, so it was good to eat! When I bit into an apple, the juice filled my mouth. Yum!
The photo above shows oven baked apples from the orchard.

Ingredients
3 - 4                          apples
1 t                             vinegar
1/2 T                         baking soda

Directions
Preheat oven to 300 degrees.
Rub and clean apples with baking soda.
Put water in a large bowl and add vinegar.
Immerse apples for 5 minutes and rinse.
Slice apple thinly 2-3 mm and pat dry with paper towel.
Put the apples on the baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes.
Then turn the apples and bake again at 250 degrees for 30 minutes.

Enjoy!

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Green Onion Kimchi - Pa Kimchi

Napa cabbage kimchi is not the only kimchi? Green onion kimchi is also kimchi.
One of my favorite kimchi has to be green onion kimchi (pa-kimchi in Korea) - yes, you can also make kimchi with green onions. So, I made green onion kimchi, today. 
If you like Korean bbq, you probably like green onion kimchi. Because I love green onion kimchi with Korean pork belly (samgyeopsal in Korea) as it spices up the non marinated meat very well. It has a salty and spicy flavor and mostly consumed as a side dish. The combination of meat and green onion kimchi is really fantastic. If you have not eaten this yet, try it!

Ingredients
3.5 lb                                                green onions
2/3 C                                                fish sauce

kimchi sauce
2 C                                                   Korean hot pepper powder
3 T                                                   minced garlic
1/2                                                   onion, pureed in blender
3 T                                                   salted shrimp sauce
2 T                                                   sugar

batter
2 T                                                    flour

2 C                                                    water

Directions
Rinse green onions and pat dry.
Put flour and water in a pan and stir and simmer on a low heat and let a cool.
Sprinkle fish sauce over white part of green onions and marinate for 15 minutes - turn it over 2 times.
Mix kimchi sauce and rub on the green onions slightly. 
Put it in a jar or glass container and sit in a cool and dark place ( cool room temperature is recommeded)for at least 2 days then store in the refrigerator 4-5 days before you eat.

Recipe is inspired by
http://m.post.naver.com/viewer/postView.nhn?volumeNo=5163132&memberNo=19357942&vType=VERTICAL

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Korean Seafood Pancake - Haemul Pajeon

A quick, crispy and crunchy savory pancake is prepared with a simple batter, mixed seafood and fresh green onions - gently pan fried with soy dipping sauce. It's Korean seafood pancake, Haemul Pajeon. In the Korean language, Haemul means seafood, Pa means green onion and Jeon means fried batter.
It's the perfect excuse to have healthy savory pancakes for dinner, because there are a lot of vegetables (green onions) and seafood. Also, it's a good dish to eat when it's cold and rainy like a soup that I posted a few days ago.
Here is a tip, make a lot of Korean pancakes, you can store them in the freezer. From the freezer, you can always microwave it to heat up. But, to bring back its crispiness, heat it up in a pan over low heat without oil until warm and crispy. You can eat more crispy pan cakes. Yum!

Ingredients
A handful green onions
1 C                               frying powder
1 C                               potato starch
2 C                               water
1 C                               seafood, thawed frozen octopus
2 t                                 garlic powder
2                                   eggs, beaten
cooking oil
potato starch to taste for top

dipping sauce
1 t                                 soy sauce
1/3 t                              water
1/2 t                              Korean hot pepper powder
1/3 t                              sesame oil
Mix all.

Directions
Clean and cut in half green onions.
Rub thawed octopus with salt and rinse and pat dry.
And cut octopus into bite size.
In a bowl, add frying powder, potato starch, garlic powder and water and mix well.
Beat eggs in a bowl and set aside.
Preheat the pan on medium to medium high until the bottom is heated and reduce the heat to medium.
Spread green onions in the pan and pour 3 T  batter then add seafood with more batter.
When the food is cooked a little bit, pour eggs in and cover about 2-3 minutes.
Sprinkle with 2 t potato starch and flip the pancake and cook about 1-2 minutes.
Serve with dipping sauce.
Enjoy!

Recipe is inspired by
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yINCF_Nj-dI

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Potato Soup

One of the foods that I remember is soup when the weather starts to get cold. Just thinking about soup makes me feel warmer. Good!
When I opened refrigerator I saw potatoes, I made potato soup. 
Ingredients are very simple. If you have potato, milk, cheese, you can make it. That's it!
I wanted to make it a little more delicious, I made croutons using some pieces of sandwich bread in my freezer. It was an excellent choice!

Ingredients
3                                                    potatoes
1/2                                                 onion
1 C                                                 milk
1 C                                                 whipped cream
1 C                                                 cheddar cheese
3 T                                                 parmesan cheese
1 C                                                 water
2 pieces                                          sandwich bread
salt, pepper and parsley to taste
olive oil to cook

Directions
Peel and cut potatoes and onions
In a pan put olive oil and add onion and stir fry until brown.
Add potatoes and stir fry until potatoes are half done.
Add milk, cream, water and boil.
And then add cheddar cheese and season with salt and pepper and let cool.
Blend using hand blender.
Cut sandwich bread into bite size and in a pan without oil, put bite size bread and fry until golden brown.
Serve in a bowl and garnish with parmesan cheese, parsley and croutons.
Enjoy the soup!

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Kimbab - Korean Rice Roll with Kale

I made kimbab again, because I wanted to eat kimbab and eat healthy. So I used kale - it contains a lot of beta-carotene, vitamins and  anticancer properties. 
The method of making Kimbab is the same as I made it a few days ago and I just used kale instead of spinach.

Refer to here...
http://yhj95sm.blogspot.com/2017/09/kimbab.html

How to cook kale? It is also like how to make spinach.

Spinach
Blanch 2 lb prewashed kale in boiling water about 15 seconds to soften and rinse with cold water.
Drain and squeeze slightly and season with salt, soy sauce, minced garlic and sesame oil to taste.

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Chicken Salad with Sweety Drop Peppers

Look at this, it's sweety drop peppers. Isn't it lovely?

My teacher, Lisa gave me sweety drop peppers - so sweet! - so I used it in a salad.
I've never seen it in any grocery stores or eaten it, too. So I was very excited to make the salad. It would be much better - using a new ingredient is always exciting and fun!

Ingredients
2 pieces                           chicken thigh
1 piece                             sandwich bread
1/2 t                                 dried basil
1/2 t                                 dried oregano
1/2 t                                 dried parsley
1 t                                    garlic powder
1/2 t                                  onion powder
1 t                                     smoked paprika powder
1                                       egg
1 T                                    flour
2 T                                    canned sweet corn
2 T                                    canned chick pea
2 C                                    sliced lettuce
1 T                                    3 blend cheese
olive oil spray
sweety drop pepper, carrot, corn chip and cucumber to taste

Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Rinse and pat dry chicken and remove fat.
Grind sandwich bread with food processor.
Beat egg and set aside.
Mix flour, dried herbs, garlic, onion powder, smoked paprika powder, salt and pepper.
Put parchment paper on a baking sheet and spray with oil.
Coat chicken in flour mixture, then egg and finally in bread crumbs.
Put chicken on a baking sheet and spray with oil again.
Bake 13-15 minutes each side - total 25-30 minutes.
Slice them into bite size pieces.
In a large salad bowl, add each vegetable, sweet corn, chick peas and add chicken.
Add corn chip, sweety drop peppers and cheese to taste before serving.

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Korean Meat Pancake - Yukjeon

I made meat pancakes, because it was Korea's Thanksgiving Day a few days ago.
Actually, I don't celebrate Korea's Thanksgiving Day in the US, but it was too pretty a day not to do anything, so I made traditional Korean holiday food.
What would I make for the holiday? I thought and thought and decided Korean meat pancake (Yukjeon). This recipe was even better than I thought it would be.

Ingredients
1 lb                              thin sliced beef, short rib beef
2                                  egg
1 T                               flour
1 T                               potato starch
salt and pepper to taste
cooking oil a little bit

Directions
Slice beef thinly.
Beat egg and set aside.
Pat dry blood and spread thin beef in a tray.
Dredge beef in flour and potato starch.
Coat it with egg.
Heat cooking oil in a frying pan over medium high heat.
When both side are browned pancakes are ready to be taken off the heat.

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Bulgogi Rice Bowl - Korean BBQ beef with Rice

I made a simple and delicious dish that uses bulgogi. It's bulgogi rice bowl!
Bulgogi is thinly sliced beef marinated with sweet and salty soy sauce. It's one of the most popular Korean foods also - I think people who are interested in Korean food would know it.  In fact Koreans eat bugogi with rice and some side dishes but this dish is just a bowl of food. In other words, it can be said that it is fusion food.
Usually, the bulgogi is marinated with sweet soy sauce for a while, but you don't need marinating time. It's so SIMPLE!
Original recipe is from the Yoon's Kitchen of Korean TV program.

Ingredients
Sauce
1/5 C                                 soy sauce
1/5 C                                 water
2 T                                    sugar
1/4                                    large onion
1 T                                    minced garlic
1/4                                    medium apple or Korean pear
pepper to taste
1/4 lb                                 each of carrot, onion and green onion
1 lb                                    thinly sliced beef
some prewashed baby vegetables
1 T                                     vegetable oil
sesame seeds and sesame oil to taste

Directions
Blend all the bulgogi sauce ingredients.
Julienne carrots, green onions and onions.
Preheat oil in a pan.
Stir fry vegetables in preheated pan and add beef with sauce and keep frying until cooked.
Serve the bulgogi with baby vegetables and rice.
Sprinkle sesame seeds and sesame oil before serve.


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Deep Fried Perilla Flowers - Fried Perilla Cluster

In the morning and evening, the cold wind was blowing, so small white flowers started to bloom on sesame plant.  A few days ago the small, cute white flowers began to fall off and I used them to make deep fried perilla clusters. When I was living in Korea, I didn't make it - maybe my taste is getting more and more Korean, the longer I live in US.  In fact, these days in Korea, Koreans don't eat them often. Would this be a memorable meal or special dish?
Once a year, you can eat perilla clusters.  Let's try!

Ingredients
30                               perilla clusters
1 T                              frying powder
frying oil

fried mixture
1/2 C                          frying powder
1/2 C                          cold water
2 T                             potato starch

Directions
Dredge in frying powder, shaking off the excess.
Mix fried mixture slightly, don't need to mix for a long time.
Coat perilla cluster in prepared batter and shake off excess.
Fry in hot oil until golden brown and drain well.


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