Ah hummus, there is nothing like a big tub with pita bread or chips while watching a movie. Sadly too many people in Korea, are living a life without hummus. I can’t bear to think about the suffering that some of you have to bear, constantly longing for this delicious yet healthy dip. For those living in and around Itaewon, finding hummus is no problem at all. You can even buy my hummus if you are lucky enough to live in Hae Bang Chon. But what about everyone else? You can make your own of course, check out my recipes here or here. But for some, all that soaking and blending is just too much hard work. You shouldn’t  be deprived  of all that chickpea goodness just because your lazy. Don’t worry salvation is here in the form of Hummus In Korea.

Hummus in Korea, delivers hummus directly to your door. Luckily for us delivery companies are setting up all the time, bringing us more and more of the foods  that we miss from home. So now you can have your hummus delivered, and eat it too. So it was about time I got to try some of this fabulous hummus. Coming in 6 delicious flavours (garlic, red pepper, olive, egg plant, jalapeno and spicy),  there is something for everyone. Prices vary between 5,550 – 7,000. You can buy packs of 4 (24,000) to save money or just choose your favourites.

I’m not going to lie, I tried five. After all, fat girls don’t get fat by just choosing one flavour. They were all good, but here are my favourite 3.

My top spot is a close call but I would have to give it to the roasted red pepper. A glorious orange colour and delicious taste of roasted red peppers throughout. Couldn’t get enough of this one. It was just as tasty as I hoped it would be.

Second place was surprisingly jalapeno heaven. It was the one I was least looking forward to, and thought I could just palm it off on my boyfriend. However after one fingerful, I knew he wouldn’t be getting any. It had the essence and flavour of jalapeno without being too hot or spicy. It was perfectly mild and delicious. In fact I haven’t been able to stop thinking about this one since and will have to try having a go at making my own. Be sure to add this one to your order.

My third favourite was probably the crazy for garlic. The regular hummus we all know and love with extra garlic. It was well balanced and the garlic was not at all over bearing, like some can be.

To make things even better for you, hummus in Korea sell pita bread too. Sold in packs of 1 for 1,500 or 3 for 4,000 don’t forget to add a few to your order.

Fat girl I hear you cry, how can we get our hands on this wondrous hummus? Well here’s how. Click here to get to the website, fill out the form and click place order. Do a simple bank transfer to pay and sit back and relax while you wait for your delicious delivery. Delivery costs 4,500 and they deliver  Tuesday- Friday and it generally takes between 24-48 hours. Pretty cool right. Visit the website for more details and to place orders.

I have been making samosas for some time now but I have only just got around to sharing the recipe with you. We had a big housewarming party last week (hence the skittles soju), so I made up a big batch of these babies for finger food. If you are unfamiliar with Indian cuisine, samosas are the Indian version of a springroll, filled with potatoes, vegetables or meat, served in a triangle.

You can buy these springroll wrappers at the foreign food mart in Itaewon, they also have them at the Pinoy Mart in HBC. They come in various sizes  you can get huge ones, mediums and smalls. The ones I used here are the small ones as I was making them for the party. However I find the medium ones the easiest to work with.  You can use pretty much any vegetables for your filling, just use whatever you have. You need the potato as the base but after that its up to you. I like to put in courgette, sweet-corn and peas if I have them on hand. You can also add meat.

Ingredients

20 springroll/ samosa wrappers (I used the smaller ones)

4 medium potatoes

3-4 mushrooms

1 – 2 egg plants

2 tomatoes

1 green pepper

1 onion

5 cloves of garlic

1 tablespoon of cumin

1 teaspoon of garam masala

1 teaspoon of coriander

6 tablespoons of olive oil

Salt and pepper

900ml of soybean oil for deep frying

Directions

To make the filling, boil your potatoes until they are soft and fluffy. Then drain and leave to cool. Fry the onion and garlic in a little oil until it has softened. Add the pepper and aubergine and cook for a further 5 minutes until they are lightly browned and cooked through. Add the tomatoes, mushrooms and the spices and fry for a few more minutes until everything has mixed together. Once this mixture is done remove it from the pan and leave to the side. In the frying pan heat 4 tablespoons of oil then add the potatoes (you may want to roughly chop them first). Fry them in the pan so they start to get a bit of a crispy coating on them, but move them around so they break up into small pieces. After five minutes of so add in the rest of the vegetables and mix everything together. Remove from the heat and leave to cool before filling the samosas.

You will need to defrost your wrappers before using. As they are so thin it doesn’t take too long. Just leave them on the side for about 30 minutes. Peel them off carefully as and when you need them and throw a damp cloth over the rest to stop them drying out. Fold your samosa paper in half making a rectangle as shown below. Take the bottom left hand corner up to the top so it makes a triangle shape. Fold this half over again so its back to a square then fold it over once more so you have your triangle. This may take a little bit of time to get the hang of but it gets easier the more you do it.

Take your pocket in your hand with the cone facing down. There will be several layers inside. Make a space between the second and third ones with your finger then put the filling inside. about 2 teaspoons worth is plenty. Push down the filling with your finger then fold or tuck the flap into the samosa to make the triangle. You can use some beaten egg to help this stick down to make sure the edge has completely sealed. There are plenty of videos on youtube if you have any trouble.

Put the samosa on a plate whilst you make the remaining ones. As you are stacking them up try not to let them touch each other so they don’t stick together. If you have any unused wrappers put them back into the packet and put them back in the freezer. Unfreezing and refreezing does not seem to harm them.  Heat your oil to 350 degrees or until a small piece of bread sizzles at the top and goes brown within a few seconds. When the oil’s hot enough pop 3 or 4 into the oil. They should take a couple of minutes until they are golden brown on both sides. Remove them from the oil and drain on kitchen roll to remove excess oil.  Repeat until all the samosas are done. If you’re looking for a healthier method of cooking then you can bake them in the oven with a little bit of oil sprayed on top of them. They come out reasonably well, although not as well as the deep-fried ones. You can serve these on their own with a nice raita dip (recipe here) or as side dish to curry. Either way they are a very tasty snack.

I was at my favorite Korean supermarket yesterday and managed to get 7 aubergines (eggplants) for 1,200 won. How could I resist such a bargain? So I decided to make baba ganoush, a yummy eggplant dip. After the sucess of pizza dough I thought it would have a crack at making some flat breads too. This recipe is very easy to follow although with the dip you can alter it to suit your own tastes.

Baba ganoush

Ingredients

7 aubergines

3 table spoons of tahini (you can buy this at the foreign food market or make it yourself, its just sesame seeds and olive oil blended together)

2 tablespoons of sour cream (optional)

2- 6 cloves of garlic

lemon juice

salt

table spoon cumin

Directions

Slice your aubergines down the middle and drizzle with olive oil, then roast them in the oven for 20-30 minutes until they are soft inside and the skins are crinkly. I also roast the garlic at the same time. After they have cooled scoop out the flesh and mash with a fork, or you can do this in the blennder. The more traditional way is to just use the pulp inside, but i don’t like to waste the skins so i usually blend them up too (I dont think it really affects the taste either way). Add the roasted garlic and tahini and blend again. Then stir in the cumin, lemon juice and salt to taste. Drizzle with olive oil, paprika and some chopped fresh herbs to make it look pretty.

Flat Bread

Ingredients

500g of flour (I used the one for noodles and dumplings)

2 tablespoons of oil

10oz of water

8g pack of yeast (found in most Korean supermarkets)

2 tablespoons of salt

1 tablespoon of mixed herbs

1 tablespoon of cumin

Directions

Stir the salt and instant yeast into the flour and mix well. Add the oil and water until the flour becomes dough like, you may not need all of the water or you may require a little more. When the dough is in a big ball and clearing the sides of the bowl and the bottom you have the right consistency and its time to start kneading. Knead the dough for about 5 minutes to make it more elastic. If you want to make pita breads in the oven then , leave the dough for an hour or so to proof. However if you want to make flat breads and cook them in the frying pan as I did you can start straight away. Take a small ball of the dough and roll out thinly on a floured surface with a rolling pin (if you dont have a rolling pin you could use a can of something heavy, although I think its well worth the 2 dollar investment at Daiso). Dry fry the flat bread  for a minute or two on each side until its lightly browned and cooked through. Then serve with your delicious dip.