I got a bag of Tteokbokki from a Korean grocery store the other day.
I thought I would like it, but what I didn’t know at that time was that I would love it.
My husband is not a big fan of rice cake in general, but he even liked it.
So I was excited to cook it (or eat it) again.
The rice cake doesn’t have strong flavor, so I like to serve it in rich thick sauce/soup.
This time Japanese curry and Hijiki seaweed accompanied it, and it was a good idea.
This type of noodles are popular in Japan as well, but I was excited to try the Korean version for the first time.
I got this black bean paste from a Korean grocery store a few weeks ago, and I was happy that I was finally able to try it.
It turned out super delicious!!
The sauce was beautiful dark and thick.
Several weeks ago I started this little project, visiting ethnic grocery stores in the Twin Cities area, one a weekend.
I’ve been rather busy the past few weeks, and I’m taking a little break from it.
But the last store I explored was a Korean store, and some of the things I bought included this Korean rice cake.
This was my first time to cook it, and I decided to serve it in a traditional way.
I didn’t buy these from the particular store, but I’ve already had them in my pantry/fridge.
I don’t know much about Korean cuisine, but I believe these are some of the things they use a lot, and I was glad I got to use them for this dish.
My first impression after my first bite was “HOT!!”
But after the first bite, I really enjoyed this dish.
Yes, it is spicy, but it’s also very flavorful.
My husband and I don’t do well with spicy food (we always ask for “mild” whenever restaurants offer that option!), but we both agreed that this was a good spicy dish.
First of all, this steamed cake turned out beautiful and delicious!
It was soft and moist with dark rich flavor, and I already ate a half of it by myself.
I do have to make a confession, though.
This was actually my second try to make Ma Lai Gao.
The first one was delicious, but the texture was too different.
It was moist but dense.
For this one I completely changed the ingredients, and it resulted in a much softer, not dense, texture.
However, the texture is still not like the authentic one, (again based on pictures and descriptions I see online because I’ve never tried the real thing).
It’s soft but not springy.
So at this point, I just call this a steamed cake.
But a damn good one!
Chinese food is very popular in Japan, and I felt I had a good grasp of their cuisine.
So when I came to the U.S. and found a lot of dishes on many Chinese restaurant’s menus that were not familiar to me, I was shocked.
Kung Pao Chicken was one of them.
I never had the dish in Japan, but it quickly became one of my favorites.
I’m always looking for a fun product to try.
I found this vegan soy meat at the Asian grocery store, and I thought this would be a good “meat” to be used for Kung Pao as “chicken.”
The instructions on the package tell you to soak them in water for 30 minutes to make them soft, but they were far from “soft” after being soaked for more than 45 minutes.
Eventually, I cooked them in boiling water for 5 minutes or so.
Next time I will definitely boil them to avoid wasting time.
The “meat” browned well, and the texture was pretty good.
I think coating with strong sauce is the key when it comes to soy meat, and this dish worked well.
This is what I wanted to make with my first homemade Chinese noodles (previous post).
It’s called “Ankake Yakisoba” in Japanese, but basically it’s “crispy fried noodles with vegetables and thick sauce”.
This was my first time making this dish with homemade noodles, and I absolutely loved it!
Homemade noodles really make a huge difference.
There are two important things about this dish, and one is that you want to make sure that your noodles are fried super crispy so that you can really enjoy the great combination of the crispy noodles and thick sauce, which is the second important thing (the sauce has to have the right thickness, not too thin, but not too thick either!).
YUM!!
I make other types of noodles, like pasta and Udon, and I thought it was time to try Chinese noodles that can be used to make ramen or fried noodles.
I think my general noodle-making skills are getting better, and Chinese noodle making was not too different from other types of noodle making.
The only thing that was tricky was that you have to cut it into thinner strands.
I did my best, but they could be even thinner.
They cooked beautifully!
After some extended winter time off, I went back to work this week.
During my time off I ate fried noodles for lunch almost every day.
Before we started the plant-based diet, I never really paid much attention to oyster sauce.
I liked it, but I always felt that had a strange name because for some reason I didn’t think there was actually any oyster in it!
So when I realized that oyster sauce was off our list, I was bummed because I liked the rich flavor.
Then I found how to make oyster sauce vegan in “The Homemade Vegan Pantry” book, and I had to try it.
The sauce turned out fantastic!
It’s thick, rich, and flavorful, and even has some “ocean” flavor.
These canned vegetables make any dish instantly “Asian”!
Based on a little reading I did, Ma Lai Gao is a traditional steamed cake, popular in Hong Kong.
I’ve never had a chance to try Ma Lai Gao, in Hong Kong, or anywhere else, but when I found a vegan gluten-free recipe in a book by Ms. Hiroko Shirasaki, a popular Japanese recipe developer, I got interested.
It steamed beautifully.
I didn’t know exactly what to expect, but I liked what I saw and tasted.
This cake is soft and moist, and has a depth in the sweetness, but not overly sweet.
But after making it, I did a little more research, and I found out that the authentic one has a rather fluffy (rather than moist or sticky, which I was going for!) texture.
I’m not sure if there is a next time, but if there is, it would be fun to make some changes to get the fluffy texture,
I asked my husband what people eat on new year’s eve in the U.S., but I got the impression that there isn’t really any specific dish.
So I decided to make Chinese-themed food, which I’ve been having craving for.
Vegetable pot stickers.
Mapo Eggplant and Tofu.
Vegan “Duck.”
I also made fried noodles, fried rice, and broccoli with chili garlic oil.
My craving was completely satisfied!
Now I need a little nap (or workout actually) before dinner.
