Traditional Napa Cabbage Kimchi (Vegetarian Type)

I love making pickles, any kind..  and this is a very first time I make kimchi (Korean Style Pickle) . Actually is easy to just visit Korean Store near by and get one, but cooking is in my DNA - I see many videos and recipes before I make my own kimchi.  The recipe comes from Maangchi, owner of Korean cooking website.

I slightly copy the recipe with a little adjustment since I choose to make vegan style, which I skip using squid or shrimp - anyway, please visit her youtube video or her website to get a clear tutorial HERE

This is a big batch recipe, I just make a half portion of recipe since I want to find out if this recipe work or not, which no surprise work very well.

Traditional Napa Cabbage Kimchi (Vegetarian Style)
Recipe : Maangchi

Ingredients :

Makes about 8 pounds (3.6 kg) of Kimchi
For salting cabbage:

6 pounds napa cabbage (3 to 4 heads of medium napa cabbage)

½ cup Kosher salt

For making porridge:

2 cups water

2 tablespoons sweet rice flour (glutinous rice flour)

2 tablespoons brown sugar

Vegetables:

2 cups radish matchsticks

1 cup carrot matchsticks

7 to 8 green onions, chopped

1 cup chopped asian chives (substitute with 3 green onions, chopped)

Seasonings and spices:

½ cup garlic cloves (24 garlic cloves), minced

2 teaspoon ginger, minced

1 medium onion, minced

½ cup fish sauce

2 cups hot pepper flakes

Directions

Prepare and salt the cabbage:

If the cabbage cores stick out too much, trim them off.

To split a cabbage in half without shredding the densely packed leaves inside, first cut a short slit in the base of the cabbage, enough to get a grip on either half, and then gently pull the halves apart so the cabbage splits open.

Cut a slit through the core of each half, 2 inches above the stem. You want the cabbage leaves to be loose but still attached to the core

Dunk the halves in a large basin of water to get them wet. Sprinkle the salt between the leaves by lifting up every leaf and getting salt in there. Use more salt closer to the stems, where the leaves are thicker

Let the cabbages rest for 2 hours. Turn over every 30 minutes, so they get well salted. From time to time you can ladle some of the salty water from the bottom of the basin over top of the cabbages if you want to

After 2 hours, wash the cabbage halves a few times under cold running water. Giving them a good washing, to remove the salt and any dirt. As you wash, split the halves into quarters along the slits you cut into earlier. Cut off the cores, and put them in a strainer over a basin so they can drain well.

While the cabbage is salting for 2 hours, and in between the times you’re turning it over, you can make the porridge:

Combine the water and the sweet rice flour in a small pot. Mix well with a wooden spoon and let it cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes until it starts to bubble. Add the sugar and cook 1 more minute, stirring. Remove from the heat and let it cool off completely.

Pour cooled porridge into a large mixing bowl. Add garlic, ginger, onion, fish sauce, and hot pepper flakes. Mix well with the wooden spoon until the mixture turns into a thin paste

Add the radish, carrot, and green onion, plus the Asian chives (or more green onions) and the water dropwort if you’re using them. Mix well

Make kimchi:

Spread some kimchi paste on each cabbage leaf. When every leaf in a quarter is covered with paste, wrap it around itself into a small packet, and put into your jar, plastic container　

On fermentation:

The kimchi will start fermenting a day or two at room temperature, depending on the temperature and humidity of your room. The warmer and more humid it is, the faster the kimchi will ferment. Once it starts to ferment it will smell and taste sour, and pressing on the top of the kimchi with a spoon will release bubbles from beneath.

Once it starts to fermented, store in the refrigerator to use as needed. This slows down the fermentation process, which will make the kimchi more and more sour as time goes on.

Brown Velvet Vigor Shake

Have you ever considering to eat Raw Food ? The foods are consumed in their purest, most simple form - un cooked ; unprocessed ? Or become vegetarian ? I never consider my self as a vegetarian ; don't get wrong I'm not eat big chunk of steak for so long ; I prefer to eat fish , tofu .  Well - I try my best to eat a healthy food whenever I can !  This post is not talk about a healthy raw food, how good balance diet is..  NO, you yourself know what best for your body.  I just want to change my eating habit a little bit.

 

This happened when I saw friend of mine, a very talented young lady, Dita - she is posting about a healthy smoothie recipes, heey .. it's look good, think the taste must be good too.  Do I interest to try ? well, I tag the recipes already but not try  yet, until I went to local library and by accident find 'Raw Energy Book by Stephanie Tourles' . I read the book from 1st page until finish while waiting my daughter practice at the gym.  It was interesting book, and next morning , I filled my shopping basket with some of fresh fruits, fresh vegetables. 

 

I try one of Stephanie's recipe, to my surprise the taste is so good - I drink a big cup for my breakfast - and I didn't feel craving for sweet at all.  Well, this is not diet recipe but I consider as detox drink , I still eat 'normal' lunch, and drink another cup for dinner , wow I feel good ...

 

So daily I combine recipe from Stephanie Tourles and Dita (check her recipe HERE) , they recipes satisfy my hunger in a good way :)

 

Brown Velvet Vigor Shake

Recipe : Raw Energy Book

 

Ingredients :

2 cups purified water

8 pitted prunes (if hard, soak for 1hour before bleeding) ~~ medjol dates is work too

2 medium banana, cut into chunks

1/4 cup raw oatmeal flakes ~~ I substitute with 1 tbsp. flaxseed meal

2 tbsp. raw tahini (sesame seed paste) ~~ I skip this

1 tbsp. raw honey or agave nectar (optional)

pinch of sea salt (optional)

 

Directions :

Put the water, prunes , banana, oats, tahini, and honey and salt if desired in a blender, and blend on medium until smooth and thick.

 

Pour into glasses

 

A good source of : age-defying, anti oxidants, and B vitamins plus potassium, natural sugar, protein, fiber

 

 

Ketan Serundeng Ikan / Glutinous Rice Cake with Shreded Fish Topping

I've been contacted by Lubna Karim - from Yummy Food ; to participate into her event "Joy from fasting to feasting" about a week ago. But with all 'the chaos' around me ; I hardly to manage my time until today . 

I love her idea to share our tradition to other fellow blogger during Ramadan - wish I have more time to take more decent picture than the one I sent to her.

Take a peek at her blog and her event HERE - and you will find so many interesting recipes from all around the world and common serve during Ramadan.

I share 'Ketan Serundeng Ikan'  recipe and will be posted at her blog on August, 7. This recipe is always bring my childhood memory back - the time that I love to sit together with my family for iftar (fasting break time).  After all, what better than soul food for yourself, huh ? :)

 

 

Ketan Serundeng Ikan // Glutinous Rice Cake with Shredded Fish Topping

 

Ingredients :

 

500gr glutinous rice , rinsed well, soaked into the warm water for 1 hours, drained

 

250ml lite coconut milk

2 tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp salt

 

Ingredients for fish topping :

300gr red snapper fillet or tuna or tilapia ; steam for about 10 minutes ; shredded when is cold enough to handle

2 Bay Leaves

3 tbsp vegetable oil

1 1/4 tsp salt

1 1/4 tsp sugar

2 Lime Leaves

 

The Spices, grind very well all the ingredients bellow with mortar or food processor :

3 medium garlic

2 red bird pepper / 2 tbsp sambel oelek

1/2 tsp coriander powder

5 shallot

Directions :

1. Steam the glutinous rice for about 10 minutes

2. Meanwhile In medium pot, boiled coconut oil, turmeric powder, salt - stir very well. Than, add into the rice, mix together, add lime juice. Steam it again until cooked through about 15 more minutes.

3. Fish Topping : in medium wok, saute the spices , bay leaves, lime leaves with vegetable oil until translucent, than add shredded fish , stir ; add sugar and salt. Cooked until the mixture become dry.

4. Serve the cake rice with fish topping. Enjoy.



Klepon Ubi

 

This recipe is a little bit of modification from original recipe, as I know the original recipe just using glutinous rice flour. But the new one add sweet potatoes - to me, the texture is more soften than regular one and yet delicious. And this dessert become popular among Indonesian's Food Blogger - I tell you, how easy media attract you ^_^

Thought using purple potatoes giving more pretty colors too, but too bad I couldn't fine the purple one so just grabbed the red / yellow sweet potatoes than.

KLEPON UBI
Recipe Ingredients:
200 grams of sweet violet / red/ yellow potatoes (steamed, mashed)
150 grams white glutinous rice flour
1 teaspoon salt
approx. 100 ml or less cold water water (for dough)
500 ml of water (for cooking)
100 gr grated coconut (steamed + add a pinch of salt)
50 g brown sugar (chopped)

Directions :
Combine sweet potatoes, white glutinous rice flour, salt and water. Stir well.
Take a little dough, fill with brown sugar. Make a round shape as big as lime size
In medium pot, boiled water. Add the potatoes ball , cooked until the dough are floating. Try not to put too many dough so not over crowded.
Roll in shredded coconut.
Serve.

Persian Noodle Soup // Ash-e Reshteh

Finally the fall season is here, oh .. I missed my summer time. Well, actually the weather still pleasant reached 70 F everyday, but we need a jacket to walk around off course. And this is a good time for soup :) to make you feel warm and healthy in the same time. So I chose Persian Noodle Soup, this soup is not look appetizing , but I tell you .. this soup is sooooo delicious and healthy. My daughter loves persian noodle soup, ahaa.. the easy way to feed her with vegetable. And don't forget spinach is a great choice to stay healthy.

According to my husband, Iranian loves to eat noodle soup for snacking ! oh.. not me or my daughter, this soup is a heavy soup, can fill you up for the rest of the day. If you decide to do some a little diet, just eat soup ... you wont be hungry anymore

Persian Noodle Soup // Ash-e Reshteh

Ingredients :

2 large onions, sliced thinly length wise

6-8 cloves of garlic, minced

1/3 cup chickpeas / garbanzo beans

1/3 cup navy beans

1/3 cup red beans

1/2 cup lentils

2 tsp turmeric

3 cups fresh parsley

2 cups fresh cilantro
1 cups fresh mint

20 springs of fresh chives or scallions ( green portion of scallions only)

1 1/2 lb baby spinach

2 oz reshteh - Persian noodle or substitute with linguine

1 tsp flour

salt & pepper for the taste

Garnish

1 large red onion, thinly sliced

2 tbsp dried mint

kashk, whey ( sour cream can be substituted for kashk)

Directions :

Soak beans for a few hours in water.

Sauté onion and garlic until translucent. Add chickpeas / garbanzo beans, red beans, and turmeric, salt, pepper. Sauté for a few minutes together.

Add 8 cups of water or stock . Season with salt, cover and cook for one hour.In the mean time rough chop all the herbs

Add lentils and herbs to pot. Cover and cook for another 1/2 hour on low. Stir the pot every so often during the cooking process

Break off noodle into three sections and add to the pot.

Add spinach.  Cook covered for another 1/2 hour. Make sure to stir the pot every so often.

Place flour in a small bowl. Take 3 tablespoons of the liquid from the soup and add to the flour

Mix well until there are no lumps. When adding flour to soups it is always a good idea to use this technique to ensure that there are no lumps in the soup.

Add water and flour to the soup. Adjust seasoning by adding salt. Cook for 1/2 hour longer on low. At this point your soup is ready as the beans should be cooked. You can further cook the soup to deepen the flavors, however, it must be on very low temperature, since this soup is very thick, chances are the bottom will stick.

For the garnish fry onions in oil. I have found that vegetable oil works best and the chances of burning the onions is much less. Once the onion turns translucent, lower the heat and allow for the onions to slowly caramelize

Once they have tuned into a golden color add dry mint and allow for the onions to crisp up. This takes about an hour from start to finish. It is best to prepare the garnish while cooking the soup .

Place soup in a bowl, add a pinch of fried onion to the center along with a dollop of sour cream if you like (or just skip like me :D )

Tips :

1. Since I have no patient with chopping vegetables especially cilantro and parsley, most the time I just put everything into the food processor, and voilaa... just a second, all the veggie chopped very nicely. 

2. Waiting for beans become tender is spend a lot of time, when I'm in rush i use can bean instead but add the beans near the end of the process so that they don't overcook

Es Cendol // Indonesian Cold Dessert

Es Cendol (pronounced 'chen-doll') is an Indonesian drink made from rice flour served with coconut milk, sugar palm and ice cubes or shaved ice. And the word "es" is Indonesian for "ice". Cendol vendors are a common sight in Indonesian cities.

And also Es cendol is common beverage during Ramadan's month, very refreshing after fast for almost 12-14 hours :-)

Es Cendol Ketan Hitam

Ingredients :
5 pieces of jack fruit, diced into 1-cm pieces

Tape Ketan Hitam *see Note*

Ice cubes

Cendol:

50 grams rice flour

100 grams mung bean flour (Indonesian Version called : HUNKWE)

160 cc water

salt to taste

2 teaspoons green coloring food

Pandan Leaves

Brown Sugar Sauce, boil until thick and sieve :

500 grams dark brown sugar (my version was : Javanese Brown Sugar)

100 grams granulate white sugar

200 ml water

Pandan leaves

Coconut Milk Sauce, boil into low heat :

1500 ml coconut milk

1 teaspoon salt

Pandan Leaves

Preparations:

Cendol: mix all the ingredients in the medium pot, cooked for 5 - 10 minute, until mix together and boil until thick and done

Put cendol dough through Cendol sieve, pressing to produce individual pieces. Put in basin containing cooked water and add ice cubes. After the individual pieces of dough have hardened, drain and set aside. (or you can use meat grinder too)

To Serve: pour brown sugar syrup into a glass or bowl. Add cendol, jack fruit pieces, Tape Ketan ,coconut milk and ice cubes

Tape Ketan :
Tape ketan is prepared by cooking glutinous rice with water, cooling and inoculating the cooled rice with crushed ragi yeast cake.

The amount of ragi added is about 1 yeast cake per 1 to 3 cups of uncooked rice. The crushed ragi powder is stirred in the cooled rice-mix, and then the ingredients are placed in a covered bowl and fermented at room temperature [about 85°F] for 1 - 3 days.

Traditionally, the rice is usually coloured green with green plant extract, but today, artificial food colouring has taken the place of natural plant extracts. Although there is a non-coloured variety of tape made from white glutinous rice.

There is also Tape ketan-hitam, prepared with black glutinous rice. The preparation is the same as for tape ketan, substituting white glutinous-rice with black glutinous rice, ketan-hitam (hitam means black in Indonesian)

Spinach with Golden Potatoes

My husband love spinach, I love potatoes ... so let's mix together in one plate ... tradaaaaa... !! no one fight anymore ^_^

Spinach with Golden Potatoes

450 gr spinach

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1 tsp black mustard seeds

1 onion, thiny sliced

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1 inch fresh root ginger, finely chopped

300 gr golden potatoes, cut into 1 inch chunks

1 tsp chilli powder

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup water

Heat the oil in a large pan over a medium heat, and fry the mustard seeds until they begin to splutter. Add the sliced onion, crushed garlic, chopped ginger. And fry about 5 minute, stirring.

Stir in potatoes, chilli powder, salt and water cook for 8 minute , or until potatoes tender, stirring occasionaly.

Add the spinach to the pan, cover and simmer for 5 minute. Ready to serve.