Korean Sauces 101

I decided to finally write a recipe for Korean Gochujang sauce...I eat it all the time with my Bibimbap.  Now I just have to adjust the recipe. I tried it out and it should be fine.  You CAN substitute soy sauce for bean paste if you have none.

Bibimgochujang Sauce

1 Tbsp Gochujang paste

1½ tsp honey

2 tsp sesame oil

2 tsp white or apple cider vinegar

½ tsp Chinese-style soybean paste

1 tsp fresh garlic paste or ½ tsp garlic powder

Dash of cayenne

1 tsp toasted sesame seeds

Love and best wishes 

Kyle Swayne

Jam on!

If you know me, then you know I learned to love making jams and pickles....and when I grow my own stuff and put them in a jar, it makes me feel spectacular!  So tonight after working at my call center, I came hope to use up all my cranberries from trying to ferment my own Sauerkraut.  So I then made some cranberry-apple jam.  I also had some left over, so....I decided to add some mango to make some spectacular jam.

Cranberry-Apple Jam

1 small bag of cranberries, chopped in fourths
One Apple finely chopped or minced
3/4 - 1 cup of sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 - 2 tsp of pectin

Makes about 2-3 cup jars

Basically just boil slowly on medium, adding water when needed.  Cook for about 30 minutes. You can puree it with a hand-mixer.  Add to a jar and seal.  Boil covered in water in a caner about 30 min or so.  Take out and place on a towel and let it cook, weak any water from the top or around (gently) with a towel.  Once it pops on top, that means it seals. 

Mango-Cranberry Jam

1 handful of Cranberries, quartered
1 mango sliced and diced
1 tsp pectin
1/8 cup sugar

Makes 1 cup jar

Cook about 30 min in a pot.  Add water when necessary. Place in jars, making sure not to get any on the rim.  Boil about 30 min covered in water in a caner.  Take out and weak water away gently with a towel. Once it pops on top after cooling, then it is sealed.

Have fun playing around and making different fruit or vegi jams!
Love,
Kyle S.

Rotmos

Everyone loves mashed potatoes, but have you ever had mashed....rutabagas? Rutabagas are a great alternative for potatoes, especially for someone on a diet.  They are lower in carbs, they have more fiber, they are higher in vitamins, etc. They also taste, great...or at least I think so...they taste, to me, like a mix between a potato and a turnip.

I wanted to make a recipe for something rutabaga and saw a while ago on wikipedia that there was a dish called rotmos. It means 'root mash' in Swedish and is often served along side ham or cooked swedish sausage like falukorv.

Rotmos

1 Rutabaga peeled and cut into cubes
2 potatoes peeled and cut into cubes
1 large carrot peeled and cut into cubes
Water for boiling
salt for water
salt and pepper for seasoning
(butter is optional)

Basically cut up the roots and put them in a large pot and cover them with water.

Cook the vegis until the rutabagas turn a nice golden yellow. Then you drain the water and mash up the roots!

I ate mine with some nice Italian sausages.

A lot of people it it with nice boiled peas. I hope you try it and enjoy this dish!

Loooooooove Kyle!

KIMCHI!!

So it's been some time since I've written a blogpost. Well, honestly...its been too long.  A recent conversation with one of my subscribers (Shoutout to Jen!) led me to thing about my blog and remember the intense desire to keep writing blogposts...er- at at least one more...at that... Anywho! If any of y'all know me well, then you know that I love things that take time to make through microorganisms (I.e. wine, yogurt, etc.).  So I thought I'd give a good try at kimchi.

For a little back story, I learned to like kimchi after eating a delicious kimchi taco at choo choo when I worked there.  It wasn't the traditional kimchi taco that they usually sold, but a variation that I made.  It was very delicious and suggest you make it.

Kimchi Taco

Flour Tortilla
Sweet bulgogi meat (I believe hangar steak)
Kimchi
Deep-fried tofu
A mayonnaise-based peach chipotle sauce

Now I'll try to explain Kimchi

Kimchi:
1 Nappa Cabbage (cut into bite-sized pieces 2"x2")
1/2 Korean radish or daikon radish cut into thin strips (2 inches long and 1/4 inch think)
3 green onions (cut diagonally into bite-sized pieces)
Salt for salting the vegis

Sauce:
1-2 cups of powdered korean chili peppers
6 cloves of garlic
1/2 onion
2 Tbsp fish sauce
1 - 1/2 Tbsp sugar
1/4 apple or pear
1 Tbsp gochujang chili paste (optional)
1/2 tsp ginger ground or 1 tsp ginger juice
2 tsp rice-wine vinegar
1 Tbsp of old kimchi juice culture

First you need to take the three vegis (cabbage, radish, and green onion) and put them into a large bowl.  Next sprinkle 1 or 2 big handfuls of salt over them and mix well (depends on how teeny your hands are).  Let them sit for 1 1/2 hours to 3 hours or until the vegis are salty and limp.  Drain off the water and then wash the vegis in three changes of water.

Next you have to make the sauce...it's not hard...basically puree the crap out of it in a blender.  You may have to add some water or something. Then place it into the vegis, once they have been thoroughly drained, and mix.  You may have to wear a glove if it's too spicy. Put it in a covered pot like the one in the picture and let it sit out for a day or so.

Lactobacillus Kimchii is the main agent at work pickling and preserving this food, but works along with other bacterium.

Good luck...and remember...there is risk for contamination or spoilage if not done well...so if you're brave enough to try it, then maybe you should also seek other resources. Luckily mine turned out well. I was surprised because I set it in the sun for several hours and actually heard it bubbling like it was supposed to.  It freaked me out, but apparently it worked. 

Good Luck!
;D Kyle!

Clam Chowder

Hey guys now that school's out for winter break, I have time to get some blogging in. Tonight, to celebrate not having class and being able to eat and cook good food, I decided to make some yummy seafood.  And what's better than scallops? (apart from lobster) It probably didn't hurt my decision that a guy on travel channel was eating clam chowder today!  So here goes! (BTW, I totally recommend this recipe)

Kyle's Clam Chowder

½ pound small bay scallops

3 pieces fresh ham sliced or 6 pieces bacon crumbled

1 clove garlic crushed

1 potato Cubed

½ onion chopped

1 small rib of celery chopped

½ tsp herb and spice mix

¼ tsp black pepper

1 Tbsp bacon grease or drippings from the bacon

¾ cup heavy whipping cream

¾ cup milk

1 Tbsp clam juice

1 Tbsp flour

½-1 tsp salt

Herb and Spice mixture:

1 tsp parsley flakes

1 tsp Turkish oregano

1 tsp thyme

1 tsp rosemary

½ tsp basil

½ tsp dill

½ tsp marjoram

½ tsp tarragon

Pinch of nutmeg

Pinch of allspice

Once you prep the spice mix keep it in an older spice container or such. 

Basically I make mine different in that I brown the stuff before ever so slightly before I add in the liquid.  I first added in the herb and spice mix, bacon grease, garlic and ham.  I fry it up a bit and then add in the onion, celery, and potato.  Once it has fried, I mix together in another bowl (while it's still cold) the liquids and the flour and stir it up until all the lumps are gone. I Next I add it in along with the bay scallops and slow-cook it on medium to medium-low until the potatoes are soft and cooked through. 

Serve it hot with bread or oyster crackers and a glass of gingerale! :D

Enjoy Guys! 

¡Kyle S!

Ancho Tea

I once again have failed to post another post, so I will just post another easy one. 

When I was making turkey pie from all the left-over turkey that I had, I decided to taste the water I had left over from my ancho chili pepper that was smoking hot!  It was delicious; not what I would expect!

Ancho Tea

1 mug of boiling hot water
¼ tsp lavender flowers or
2 tsp lavender sugar
Sugar to taste


First open up the chili so the water can get inside.  Remove all the seeds completely and throw them away.  Next take boiling water and pour it into the mug.  Then place the ancho in the water and submerge it.  Let it sit for a minute and take it out and let it drip out.  Don't stir it with the chili inside because then your tea will taste too much like peppers. 


Next add the lavender or lavender sugar. Strain it if you'd like and enjoy! It tastes a little bit different than tea, but still good!

Your's truly...
KYLE!!!!!

Flavored Sugar

Hey guys, I have to apologize for not writing a blog post in some time.  I've been a bit busy and am freaking out about school a little bit right now, yet I owe you all one thing I suppose.  So I think I'll post a blog post of Flavored Sugar.  I've been experimenting with unusual ingredients recently and made some of my own flavored sugar.

Flavored Sugar

1-2 Pints of white sugar
Powdered and whole form of flavor

Flavors:
2-3 tsp lavender (ground up and sifted into powder)
1-2 tsp cinnamon (ground up to powder in sugar) plus a stick
1 vanilla bean (whole or scraped and mixed in)
9 dried spearmint leaves (ground up as powder in sugar)
1 dried organic citrus peel (cut very thinly whole and a little ground with sugar)
2 whole freshly dried roses' petals (whole in the sugar)
1-2 tsp various other spices (like allspice, nutmeg, clove, chili pepper)
1-2 tsp cocoa powder (mixed into sugar)
1-2 Tbsp matcha (mixed in if you want instant green tea)
1 tsp freshly ground coffee (ground up into powder with sugar and sifted)

Basically choose any of these ingredients of another of your choosing and mix it up (DRY!) in a pint mason jar full of sugar and then use it.  I prefer to use it as sugar in green tea, but you can use it to bake to give extra flavor or enhance other flavors.  I would try and avoid mixing too much

I recently made 4 sugars.

1) Lavender Powder sugar
Made from mixing up powdered lavender flowers into sugar.

2) Cinnamon Chai sugar
Made from mixing up powdered cinnamon, clove, allspice, ginger, black pepper, and nutmeg into sugar.

3) Cinnamon infused sugar
Made from adding in 3 broken cinnamon sticks into the sugar and letting the scent infuse to a subtle and sweet flavor.

4) Lavender infused sugar
Made from adding 2 Tbsp lavender flowers into a small pouch placed in the sugar letting the scent infuse for a subtle and very floral flavor.


I hope this makes you want to play around and try some combinations with sugar.  Just try not to mix too much and get some bad tasting thing.  Be careful and have fun!!

~XOX~ Kyle ~OXO~