Korean side dish: Myulchi Bokkeum

Now a Korean meal isnt complete if there arent banchan, side dishes.

Whenever dining in Korean restaurants here, the side dishes are always the ones filling up the table space, say there would be at least 5 different types of side dish with a kimchi. But funny when we were actually in Seoul, its not like that. I dont know, I maybe wrong or I just happen to go to the wrong restaurants, but MOST of them, no actually all the restaurants I went to, had just a maximum of 3 side dishes. Kimchi, radish, and if ure lucky, maybe some pickled cucumber, radish or seaweed or rice cake. And we had to go take them from a big bowl. Heh..and refill it ourself if we need to.

So well, that was just an experience. This time around, for the Korean cooking session, I wanted to make what they call, myulchi bokkeum; stir fried anchovies. Now this is confession time, we dont have a habit of using anchovies in any of our cooking (at home), for as long as I can remember. When travelling overseas, my friends would pack dried anchovies But to me, I probably wont use it cause its just not a usual thing. So being me, talentless at buying seafood or any dried seafood, I was more worried of the buying part more than the cooking.

But luckily, at the Korean grocery store, they sell anchovies as well. I honestly think its better to use the smaller type of anchovies rather than the medium sized ones, which are the ones Im using. Larger ones are for soup stocks. They only have medium and large, my choice was obvious.

For this dish, the things you need to have are anchovies (of course surely you need that) and corn syrup. If you want to make it spicy, you would then need gochujang. I made both, of course. It keeps well in the fridge and its very versatile. It can be added to porridge, fried rice, noodles soup or even just eating as it is.. If you want it to be more sticky, just add more corn syrup. Mine was more caramelized and dry.

Myulchi Bokkeum (fried anchovies)

(adapted from Maangchi)

• 2cups anchovies
• 2tbsp olive oil
• 3tbsp brown sugar
• 1tsp minced garlic
• 2tbsp water
• 2tbsp corn syrup
• 2tsp sesame oil
• sesame seeds
• (for spicy version, I just added 1 heaped tbsp of gochujang)

Method

Stir 1 cup of small dried anchovy in a heated pan for 1 minute.Add olive oil and stir it for another minute. (Pic 1)

Push the cooked myulchi to the edge of the pan away from the heat.

Make sauce by adding sugar, minced garlic, water, and corn syrup to the cleared spot on the pan. (Pic 2)

Tip the pan so only the sauce is over the heat. Simmer it until the sauce looks shiny. (Pic 3)

Mix the cooked anchovy with the sauce and turn the heat off.

Add sesame oil and sesame seeds.

partici! pate

Good Friends @ Genting.

An overnight stay to escape the city's heat and soaring temperature.

Woke up early for breakfast at Good Friends @ Genting Highlands.

A restaurant with a good selections of Dim sum and Chinese cuisine.

Conveniently located one escalator down from the main casino.

The cool atmosphere was a plus point but the noisy diners was a big no-no !




Xiao Long Bao-a bit thick skinned but filled with hot, juicy meat that oozed out with the first bite-eat it with black vinegar and thinly sliced ginger.. Chinese Dumpling-pan fried at the bottom and filled with minced pork/spring onion-very nice texture. Vegetarian Yee mee- topped with a Tapioca starch gravy-a good mixture of vegetable like Chinese long cabbage, straw mushroom, carrot, sweet pea and black fungus. Chicken rice- a piece of roast chicken drumstick with round cabbage/carrot om it's side- sweet brown sauce as a dip.

Location: Highland Hotel,

Genting Highlands, Pahang.

Marnot

Spain, Part IV: A lunchtime eatery that we stumbled on while wandering in Madrid.

Home-cooked recipes form the heart of this restaurant. Here's Spain's traditional "quarter of an hour" soup, a reference to the time needed for the main stage of preparing this broth. Brimming with seafood, ham & veggies, this is soul food indeed.

Veal meatballs. Surprisingly succulent, not gamy at all.

Scrambled eggs with veggies. Tasted almost Chinese; it's kinda interesting to realize that while we often think of things like tapas & paella as the cornerstone of Spanish cuisine, those wouldn't necessarily be what many Spaniards eat at home.

Fish omelet. Not sure what fish was used in this, but it wasn't tuna (thankfully). Not our favorite preparation for an ! omelet, but worth trying for novelty value. Perfect with the white wine we sipped for this meal, but our photo of that Sauvignon Blanc has somehow vanished.

Marnot,

Chueca, Madrid, Spain.

Northern Thai Food for a New Mag

We had the best intentions for one, maybe even two posts this week. But relatives arrived, work piled up, travel plans had to be made, life got in the way. It happens.

In a couple days we all depart for Cambodia and Chiang Mai (and Dave heads to Vientiane for the first time since 1995, for a spot of work). While we're on the road we'll try to post from there, if not of there.

In the meantime, there's a new beautiful food magazine out of Norway called Aroma. The publishers invited us to put together an article for the first issue, and we wrote and photographed on something we'll be enjoying very soon: northern Thai food.

You can purchase an English language version of Aroma, available for ipad and Android, as well as in pdf form, here. For the Norwegian language version go here.

One more bit of news: this month's issue of Australian Gourmet Traveller magazine includes a lovely write-up on food in Penang. I (Robyn) happily steered GT writer and editor Pat Nourse to some of my most loved eats in George Town ... and was surprised to see the article includes a photo of me at our very favorite restaurant Tek Sen. Thanks to Pat and photographer Christopher Wise for making me sound informed and look not too bad.

Thanks for sticking with us, despite our dismal postin! g record of late. Happy weekend, everyone!

Savory Egg Custard With Clams

Savory egg custard with clams.

Hub's cousin, who loves crabs, likes to tell us about theRMB500/RM240/USD80 steamed savory egg dish that she ate in a restaurant in Shanghai. Eggs are cheap but the whole flower crab that sat in the middle of the dish was from Borneo. Now I loathe to tell her that flower crabs are cheap here and that the same dish would cost probably less than RMB80. The point of course is that the crab flew to Shanghai from here, and it better be on business class rather than coach, given the high price they command.

Flower crabs are known as blue swimmer crabs in other parts of the world. We used to get them live but now they come mostly frozen so I eat mud crabs instead. Mud crabs are hardy, surviving for days on nothing as long as the mozzies don't get their eyes.

Instead of a crab, which I imagine would be messy to eat with steamed egg, I used clams to create the same dish. As a rule, I add 1/2 cup (125 ml) water to every large egg when making savory Japanese steamed egg (chawan mushi) but for Chinese steamed egg, which is steamed in a large dish to be shared by the family, I use a little less water for a slightly firmer custard. I first steamed the clams, since I wasn't eating all of it the same day, and used the juice from steaming as part of the liquid to make the custard. The resulting egg custard was unbelievably delicious! If you can get hold of soft-shelled clams, all the better. This dish was absolutely one of the best dishes I've eaten and you won't be able to make ! the same dish because my secret ingredient was some liquid that came from steaming the Chinese sausages that Lily's mom made this winter. Lily's parents live in Jiangxi (or Jiangzi?), China and they operate a restaurant. Their sausages this year are the fattest I've ever seen and I was doubtful whether I was going to eat them or throw them to the dogs. I tested one today and am absolutely speechless with wonder. You really can't judge a sausagebook by its lookscover. The sausage was so fresh, so savory sweet in a light and refreshing way, had just the right level of saltiness and even the fat was wonderful--el dente and bursting with delicious oil. So yum. I used to abhor oil and fat until I went to China. Now I believe fat is not just tasty but also essential to maintaining youthfulness. Swear. But never mind if you don't have the heavenly sausages; life's not fair. Make the dish anyway the next time you come across a nice batch of clams.

A note about steaming eggs: high heat will puff the eggs up and result in a rough surface (like my dish today). Steam gently and slow and the custard will have a perfectly smooth surface.


Lily's mom's sausages--the best (so are Leila's mom's but they are from different regions so they differ in flavor).





Savory Egg C! ustard W ith Clams
4 large eggs, beaten well
1 3/4 cups clam stock*
1/4 t salt or to taste
some white pepper
400 to 500 gm clams (preferable soft-shelled)

*liquid from steaming the clams + water

1. Wash clams well and steam** at high heat for 5 minutes until just opened. Retain the liquid. Keep the steamer on.
2. Top up the clam liquid with water and add to the eggs. Add salt and pepper and beat well with chopsticks or fork. You can strain through a fine sieve for a finer and even texture if like. I don't.
3. Pour the egg mixture into a heat-proof dish, arrange the clams in the dish and steam at medium low heat for 8 to 10 minutes or until just set.

**steam the clams first just in case you get sandy ones. Also, the clams give out liquid which can mess with the texture of the eggs.