Tag Archives: Rice

Rice-Cooker Cake

Posted in Baking by

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I love cake! Baking it and eating it. However with my tiny toaster oven, baking one myself seemed impossible when someone’s birthday rolled around.  I’m lucky enough to possess a reasonably sized oven now, but back in my Suwon and Cheongju days I had to be more inventive. When scouring the internet one day I came across a recipe for a cake that’s cooked in a rice cooker. I tried it and it came out really well, so soft and moist. I haven’t made one for quite some time now but I  thought it was about time I shared my recipe with all you oven-less bakers out there. I actually made two cakes this week to give you a bit of variety. First up is my rice-cooker coffee cake!

Ingredients

200g of butter

2o0g of white sugar

200g of all purpose flour (I use the buksul one for noodles and dumplings)

3 eggs

1 teaspoon of baking powder

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

1 shot of espresso (you could use instant too)

Buttercream frosting

260g of butter (2 slicks)

400g of icing sugar (sugar powder)

1-2 tablespoons of espresso coffee

Directions

Cream together the sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs. Then stir in the coffee and mix well. In a separate bowl sift the flour, baking powder and cocoa powder. Fold into the coffee mixture. Take your rice cooker pan and line it with a piece of parchment paper. Then put the cake mixture inside. Press the cook setting and then continue to keep checking it every time it pops up. You may have to go though several cycles depending on the make and model of your rice cooker. However you will get there in the end so hang in there. You can tell when it’s done when the top is spongy to the touch. Remove the cake from the pan and leave to cool for a couple of hours.

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To make the frosting let the butter get to room temperature then mix together with the icing sugar. Add the coffee a spoonful at a time. If it’s too thick add more coffee.

When the cake has cooked. Slice through the middle to make your two layers. Put half the frosting in the middle and half on top.

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Decorate with a dusting of cocoa powder. Voilà a very easy cake made in the rice cooker.

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Crystal Jade Restaurant

Posted in Restaurant Reviews by

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As you may know, we are off to Hong Kong tomorrow to ring in the New Year. It has been a tradition of mine to for quite some time now that I spend New Years Eve in a different country every year. New years Eve can be such a let down, but if you spend it in a different place then you have no preconceived ideas and it always ends up being a great night. Anyhow, I thought I would leave you with one last post before I venture on my holidays since it is related to Hong Kong.

Last Saturday we were out and about in Myeongdong doing some last minute Christmas shopping when we were feeling rather peckish. Personally I can never find anywhere other than Ashley’s in Myeongdong that I really like to eat. However shopping days do not always go hand in hand with all you can eat buffets. It usually puts a swift stop to all shopping.  We were having a browse around and saw a sign for Smokey’s, a burger place up on the 6th floor of Noon Square mall. However when we got there we saw this place next door and decided to try it instead to get us in the mood for all the dim sum we will be eating in Hong Kong.

They have a wide and varied menu consisting of many Chinese delights that I would have loved to have sampled. Noodle soups, wontons, fried rice, and meat dishes. There was a large variety that seemed of more of a western style than the Korean. Which is always a thumbs up for me! As I said before, we were eating light so we had an order of dumplings.

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I ordered the steamed soupy pork dumplings – 6,000 for 6. In my zest to eat them I forgot to take a picture of the soupy goodness inside. For such a bargain these were incredibly tasty. The juice inside was great along with the soft doughy dumpling and a piece of pork these are my new favourite lunch. 6 was the perfect amount and with the free tea and traditional picked vegetables this was an ideal lunch.

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Niall decided to get a mixed set of three spicy soup dumplings and 3 pork -7,000. Although in the end he said he preferred the original pork ones that I had ordered. They also have crab, and cheese varieties available.  I cant wait to try them in Hong Kong now, who knows how many I shall manage to eat in the next week.

Although hidden at the top of the mall I’m very glad we ventured up to this little place, the series of escalators was well worth it and I’m sure this will be my new lunch venue of choice when I’m out shopping in Myeongdong. Not only is the food tasty and cheap but you even get some entertainment in the form of the chefs in the kitchen, showing off there talents as you watch them make noodles.

Crystal Jade restaurant is located on the 6th floor of Noon Square at 83-5 Myeong-dong 2(i)-ga, Jung-gu, Seoul. It’s the same building as CGV and H&M. The closest station is Euljiro 1-ga Station (Line 2), Exit 6.
Walk straight for about 200 meters. The turn when you reach 7-11 and walk along the main shopping street.  Noon Square is on the left. You can call them on 02-3783- 5428 or visit their website for more details.

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Tiger Masala

Posted in Restaurant Reviews by

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Last night we were on our way home all set to blend up some roast pumpkin for soup when we saw that Tiger Masala had finally opened its doors. We had been very excited about trying the new Indian restaurant right on our doorstep and the soup was swiftly forgotten.  Although we have a good selection of cuisines within our neighborhood, Indian is not one of them, and I’m sure Tiger Masala will make an excellent addition.

The restaurant is very small, tiny in fact but what it lacks in size it makes up for in personality on an otherwise dull street. Although with Bakers Table and Poutine Factory on the same stretch it seems as though our bus stop is proving to be quite the culinary hot spot.

On to the food… The menu like the restaurant is quite small and straight forward but I’m happy to take a smaller menu of quality items over quantity any day. It reminded me of Casablanca’s chalk bard of sandwiches. They have seating for 10 plus a singles bar, or they will wrap it all up for you to take away and eat in the comfort of your own home.

We decided to go quite small for us and ordered a butter chicken (7,000) The dish is quite small, but at only 7,000 you wouldn’t expect to get much more. With a flavourful sauce and a few pieces of chicken, this was a nice dish.

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We also tried the Paneer palak. A spinach and cheese curry. Slightly spicy and sure to be a hit with the vegetarians. I’m a big of a fan of paneer cheese so I was glad to see it on the menu.

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We also ordered a rice and a naan bread both 1,500. The naan was standard fare, sadly no garlic naan as of yet but since its so cheap it would be hard to complain. We were pleasantly surprised to see pilau rice and not the standard white. It always livens up dinner time with a bit of color. We also ordered the cucumber raita, which I consider to be an Indian must have and never order a meal without it. This one was really tasty and I would eat it alone just as a dip. Quite a bargain considering its 3,000 price tag!

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Overall I’m sure I will be visiting Tiger Masala again very soon. It’s cheap, convenient, and local. Would I make the effort to come here for a real dinner instead of one of the larger restaurants in Itaewon? Probably not. However, I think this place will be very popular with locals. For anyone who doesn’t like cooking, you cant beat a curry, naan and rice all for 10,000. The menu also includes several veggie options so I’m pretty sure it will be popular with the veggie crowd too as well as the locals. They also have a loyalty stamp card, rewarding regular customers.

Tiger Masala is located 1F, 713 Itaewon-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, Korea 140-200. To get there come out of Noksapyeong station (line 6) exit 2 and walk straight down past the entrance leading to Hae bang chon and go over the pedestrian bridge  above the road. Take the left set of stairs down. It’s just two doors down from the bakers table just under the bridge. You can call them on 070-7563-1411 or check out their facebook page.

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Taj Palace

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So last weekend some lovely friends of mine from Busan came to visit. One of their requests was that we go to the Indian buffet. Never one to turn down an opportunity to eat all I can, I was right on board with the idea. Its been a while since we have been for an Indian, so I was really looking forward to it. There are various Indian buffets around Seoul, but Taj Palace is usually our favorite.

For 17,500 on weekends you get access to the all you can eat buffet. They have a variety of different curries, rice dishes, salad and all the garlic naan bread you can eat. They also have a soup and a dessert offerings too, but I never manage to get that far, after two plates of curry I’m usually stuffed to the gills.

In my eagerness to eat everything, my pictures are a bit on the iffy side. Here is a showcase of some of the dishes they have on offer.

Chicken Tikka,  Butter Chicken, Chicken Saag and Lamb Vindaloo

Bean Sagaloo, Mixed veg curry, saffron rice and noodles.

As I said I’m a big fan of an Indian buffet, you get to try a bit of everything and this one certainly delivers. There are plenty of curries to try and they have a decent range of heat between them. Their naan bread is also to die for. They have a separate menu if you wish to order any extras, like samosas or raita. It’s a great option for vegetarians and meat eaters alike, and you certainly get a good meal for 17,500.

Taj Palace is located in Itaewon at 2F 132-2, Itaewon1 -dong, Yongsan-gu , Seoul.  Come out of Itaewon Station (Line 6) exit 3 and walk straight until you reach Dunkin Donuts. Take a right at the corner and continue walking up the hill, its just opposite King Club and the Foreign food mart. If you would like more information about their menu, check out their website http://www.tajpalace.co.kr/  which includes descriptions of all their curries. Or you can call them on 02-790-5786.

Halloween Stuffed Peppers!!!

Posted in Recipes, Vegan / Veggie Friendly by

I can’t actually take credit for these, I’m nowhere near creative enough to come up with an ingenious idea like this. I saw the picture on allrecipes.com and decided to set about making my own version. However I think they are so cute that everyone needs to take a look.

Cut the top off your pepper like you would a pumpkin then carve a cute little face out of it. I must confess that I didn’t even do that bit either , I got niall to do it for me. You can stuff your peppers with anything that takes your fancy, I used spicy rice and vegetables with some grated cheese but anything will do, let your imagination run wild.

Vietnamese Claypot Chicken

Posted in Recipes by

I picked up this recipe at the cooking class I did whilst I was in Vietnam. It’s not a dish I had ever made before but it’s incredibly tasty and easy to make. I finally got around to buying my clay pot last week, so I thought it was about time that I made this dish again. I picked mine up from the kimchi pot lady based in Hae bang chon, but these dishes are very common throughout Korea and you shouldn’t have too much trouble finding one (they are used for various jiggaes and soups).

I bought my pork stock in Vietnam, it’s a Knorr brand one, we stocked up as soon as we tasted this delicious dish. You can find pork stock in the foreign food mart, but if you can’t find it you could always try it with chicken instead.

Ingredients

2 Chicken Breasts (you can also use pork or firm white fish)

1 onion

5 cloves of garlic

1 tablespoon of oil

2 tablespoons of white sugar

2 tablespoons of pork stock

2 tablespoons of fish sauce

1-2 teaspoons of chili powder

1/2  a teaspoon of black pepper

100ml- 150ml of water

Directions

Pour a tablespoon of oil into the bottom of the clay pot. Slice your onion and garlic and add to the pot. Chop your chicken breasts into pieces and put them into the pot too. Add all of the other dry ingredients to the clay pot and mix everything together. Add the water and mix again. Leave to marinate for at least 20 minutes. I usually make this up in the morning before work, that way it has all day.

When it has finished marinating, cook on a medium flame if you have a gas cooker or high if you have electric. Put the clay pot directly on to the heat with the lid on. It should take around 15 minutes to cook. The chicken will be cooked through and the sauce will have reduced. You can stir it every five minutes or so just to check the sauce isn’t catching on the bottom. Serve with brown rice and green vegetables, I used broccoli and green beans but I’ll leave it up to your discretion. Voilá delicious healthy clay pot curry.

China Factory

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So for us it has been a week of factory eating. First came Poutine Factory and now here’s China Factory. I do enjoy my food when it’s in factory form. China factory is a chain of restaurants owned by the CJ group, those wonderful people who brought us VIPS.  I thought that it’s about high time that I started covering a few more chain restaurants. I know that we are very fortunate to live in foreign food heaven, but everyone isn’t as lucky as us. Korea is a pretty big country and some of you are flung far and away from the glittering lights of Itaewon. So I want to start covering more places that are found here there and everywhere.

We had spent an enjoyable and fun packed morning at the immigration offices and since we had cleverly made an appointment we had an hour or so to kill. What else to do than to go for lunch. The big Hyundai department is in Mokdong, brimming over with delectable delicacies from around the world. However we decided to go and pay China Factory a visit. I had been once before and enjoyed it immensely, also because it was lunch time I knew it would be cheap.

When you arrive they will give you a menu. For the set price fee you can either choose one premium dish or three regular dishes. Never one to believe that less is more, we opted to get three each. The menu is pretty extensive with lots of western style dishes as well as the Korean ones. You also get your choice of tea, access to the all you can eat dim sum bar plus fruit and ice-cream for dessert.

We perused the menu, chose our dishes, and set about attacking the dim sum bar. They had various fried and steamed dim sum or mandus if you will. These were fine but nothing special in the taste department. They did have the very adorable hello kitty dim sum as well as other various animals and cartoon characters. Although sadly they were filled with red bean which I find to be the most vile food on the planet so I couldn’t actually eat those but they were still cute none the less.

As we were tucking into our mandu the first plate we ordered came out. It was the Beijing style sweet and sour pork. I really liked this dish, the slices of pork were tender, covered in a crispy batter and smothered in light sweet and sour sauce. My only complaint was that the portion was far too small, by the time I had given Niall his share there wasnt much left. I could have eaten twice this much by myself! Other than that it was good.

The next dish to arrive was the Kungpao Chicken. This is Niall’s favorite dish so we had high expectations. Sadly they were not met. Although the portion was of a decent size the taste left a lot to be desired. It just had a kind of unpleasant bland burning taste that so many Korean foods have. There was no sweet or spiciness just a kind of numbing heat. Compared to one we had the other day elsewhere it really didn’t fare well. It’s a shame as last time we enjoyed it.

The Mongolian beef arrived shortly after and it had so many beansprouts on it I first thought it was something else. Since it has shrimps and squid in it, I think you can understand my confusion. The few pieces of bulgogi in amongst all that veg qualified as Mongolian beef. There was nothing wrong with the meat per se, I was just expecting large chunks of it in a sticky brown sauce. The real problem of this dish was again the bland burning sauce that covered it.

Finally things turned around as out came the lemon chicken. This was my favorite dish. The chicken was light, tasty, and covered in a lovely batter. The sauce was lemony and sweet. It could have had a little more zing but overall I enjoyed it. Again a bigger portion would have been nicer, luckily I had managed to trade off my portion of the il fated Kungpao chicken and got to enjoy this mostly to myself.

After the meat came the spicy fried rice with chicken and onion. It had the look and smell that you want in a fried rice, but sadly in my rush for fried rice I had overlooked the word spicy. It wasnt that it blew my brains out, I do enjoy hot food. It’s just after some of the previous dishes containing that same bland heat I was looking for a bit of respite. This rice was doused in flakes of red chili. Clearly someone in the kitchen was being far too heavy-handed with it. I’m quite certain that it wasnt that bad last time. The onions were crunchy and there was plenty of egg it’s just after all that chili I couldn’t really taste anything. The heat had scalded my taste buds rendering them near to useless and all the green tea in the world wasnt able to change that.

Last of all was the Singaporean fried noodles. These were fairly good and at last it was nice to eat a dish that tasted a little different. They were nothing to write home about in the taste department but a good way to finish the meal. It would have been good to have more noodles and less vegetables though. A common problem in Chinese noodle dishes.

Overall I think the review is more positive than negative and I would go back again. There are some nice dishes on the menu and plenty of others that I would have liked to try. I would definitely ask them to tone down the chili flakes though. After tax it worked out at about 20,000 each which is pretty fair considering the amount we got. Considering you get the tea and as much coffee as you like plus the fruit, ice-cream, and dim sum bar, I think it is worth it. You also get to try a lot of dishes at once , which is what I personally want from a Chinese meal. No, it’s not as good as Ho Lee Chow but it’s also half the price, and we still left equally as full if not more so.

We visited the Mokdong branch which is open from 11am – 11pm. Prices vary from 18,000 -26,800 depending on the day and time you visit. If you would more information about China Factory, including location and phone numbers  check out their website. http://www.chinafactory.co.kr/

Thai Chicken Soup

Posted in Recipes by

So I realize its still pretty warm outside at the moment and hot soup is not really on everyones mind but since I just moved house I had a few bits and pieces that needed using up so I thought I would make this tasty Thai soup. I am a big fan of anything I can make a large portion of in one pan. That way I can portion it out and eat it for a few days in a row. Some people might think that’s a bit boring but once I get a taste for something I have to eat it again and again until I get sick of it. You could also put it in little containers and put a couple in the freezer and just zap them in the microwave when you want to eat it. I do this with quite a lot of the foods I make so there is always something for dinner if I don’t fancy cooking.

Ingredients

2 pints of chicken stock (preferable home made, just boil left over chicken bones in water)

300g of left over roast chicken

1 can of coconut milk

1 onion

4 cloves of garlic

1 red pepper

1 green pepper

2 table spoons of green curry paste

3 stalks of lemon grass (I bought mine at the foreign food mart in Itaewon)

4 kariff lime leaves (a friend brought me these from home, but I think they are in the foreign food mart too)

200g of rice noodle

A bunch of spring onions

1 lemon

Directions

Fry the onions and garlic until they have softened. Add the green and red peppers and fry for a couple of minutes, before adding in the curry paste. Pour the chicken stock into the pan along with the coconut milk and bring to the boil. Chop up the lemon grass very finely and throw it into the soup. Add the kariff lime leaves and leave to reduce by half. Add the rice noodles into the soup and cook for a further 5 minutes or until the noodles are done. Add the juice and zest of the lemon. Throw in the chicken and spring onions and serve. Voilà a tasty Thai chicken soup.

Rosemary and Lemon Roast Chicken

Posted in Recipes by

So chickens are on sale this week in my favorite supermarket a bargain a 3,000 each. I considered it to be such a bargain that I decided to buy two and eat twice as much, saving myself no money at all (boy am I smart). I must state that chickens here are rather on the small side, to stay the least . It’s certainly not beyond the realm of possibility to eat a whole one (or two). I must confess though that I didn’t eat all the meat, I had some left over which I used to make Thai Chicken noodle soup the  recipe coming later this week. Most of my roast chicken recipes are more of a winter theme, so to summer it up I served it with rice salad. The left overs also made a great lunch to take to work. My schools dinners are poor at best, unless boiled bean sprouts and kimchi float your boat? They do not float mine!

Ingredients 

Roast Chicken

1 whole chicken

1/4 of a lemon

2 sprigs of rosemary

2 cloves of garlic

1-2 table spoons of olive oil

A pinch of salt and pepper

Rice Salad

200g of brown long grain rice (I used brown as that’s what I prefer but white would be ok too)

1 green pepper

1 red pepper

1 yellow pepper

15 cherry tomatoes

1/2 cucumber

A bunch of spring onions

1 lemon (or just use the 3/4 left over from the chicken)

1 tablespoon of olive oil

A pinch of salt and pepper

2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar.

Directions

Put the two sprigs of rosemary, the wedge of lemon, and the garlic inside the chicken. Rub the outside of the chicken with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper, cover with tin-foil and roast for about an hour at 200. Cooking times may vary, it may need longer depending on the size of the chicken. To check it’s done, cut into the thick part of the thigh,if the juice runs clear its ok. Once the chicken is done, cook for a further 10 minutes without the foil just to crisp up the outside.

For the rice salad, cook your rice and then run it under cold water when it’s done. Leave it to drain. Chop the peppers, tomatoes, cucumber, and spring onions into small pieces and mix them in with the rice. Add the lemon juice, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Feel free to add some fresh herbs if you have some on hand. Voilà my easy roast chicken and rice salad!