The weather in Australia these days is a bit warmer, seeing as it will officially be the start of Spring in just two days. And this means that it will almost be Autumn for the people in the Northern Hemisphere. Today, I will try and accommodate for both halves of the earth by introducing you guys to both spring and autumn dishes.
A traditional Korean Dish eaten during Chuseok 추석(?) (Mid-Autumn Festival) is SongPyeon (송편). It is made of chewy stuffed tteok (rice cake), honey or another soft sweet material such as sweetened sesame or black beans are used as fillings. Pine needles can be used for imparting flavor during the steaming process. It is often found as half-moon shaped, but it can be made into various shapes. I myself find that it is in many ways similar to the Japanese and Chinese mochi, because it is made from rice flour and it is also with something sweet. How to make, it is in fact very simple......
Ingredients
• Non-glutinous rice, 5 cups(making 10 cups of powder)
• Salt (15ml)
• Mugwort ssook garu (쑥가루)(?)(50g)
• Salt (1 ml)
• Gardenia seeds & omija juice (honeyed juice), as needed
* Filling
• Chestnuts 10 (200g)
• Sugar (30ml)
• Young soybeans (100g)
• Salt (1ml)
• Sesame (100g)
• Honey (45ml)
• Mung beans () 1 cup
• Honey (75ml), Salt (2.5ml)
• Cinnamon powder (15ml)
• Pine needles (300g)
• Sesame oil, as needed
Method
1. Wash non-glutinous rice 3 to 4 times and leave it soaking in water for 8 to 12 hours. Remove the soaked rice from water and sprinkle some salt and grind into a fine powder. Place the Mugwort(쑥가루) in boiling water with salt, remove and then chop into fine pieces.
2. Take the powder for the rice cake and divide into 4 parts. Leave one part as it is, another part for the Mugwort(쑥가루). As for the other two parts, mix one with water from pine endodermis, and mix the last part with omija juice and knead it to make dough.
3. Peel chestnuts and cut into 3 or 4 pieces, include some sugar and steam lightly. Take the young soybeans, peel and add a bit of salt. Wash the sesame and when dry, roast and then mix with honey. Take the red beans that have been soaked in water, boil and then grind and mix with honey, salt, cinnamon powder to make the filling.
4. Take little pieces of the prepared dough. Press your thumb into the middle of the piece to make a round, flat piece. Place enough filling in the middle, fold and press the ends to make nicely-shaped songpyeon. Next, wash the pine needles and then dry.
5. In an earthenware steamer, place pine needles on the surface of the steamer and songpyeon on top. Stack more pine needles and repeat the process to add as many layers of songpyeon in the steamer as possible. When you see steam evaporating, place the cover on top. Steam for about 25 minutes on high.
6. Next, take the pine needles out, dip songpyeon in cold water, rinse quickly and apply some sesame oil.
*hint:Songpyeon that's not yet been steamed should be covered with a thin damp cloth to prevent the dough from drying or cracking.
And there you have it, a sweet and easy to make snack in Autumn which is warm and bound to please you as the weather gets colder.
And now, for the people who live in the Southern Hemisphere, how about a dish which is cool and fresh for the approach of Summer with the arrival of Spring?
I know that this recipe may be a bit too early, but it is NaengMyeon(냉면). There are two variations of the dish, mul naengmyeon (물 냉면) and bibim naengmyeon (비빔 냉면). The former is served as a cold soup with the noodles contained in broth made from beef, chicken or dongchimi. The latter is served with a spicy dressing made primarily from gochujang (red chili paste) and eaten all mixed together. In the case of bibim naengmyeon, a bowl of the soup broth used in mul naengmyeon or plain broth from the boiled noodles itself are often served on the side.
Mul naengmyeon (물 냉면)originates from Pyongyang. Pyongyang naengmyeon is mainly made from buckwheat and the broth of beef or pheasant. It also uses dongchimi broth or a mixture of it, while adding the sliced pieces of the radish to the dish. Vinegar, spicy mustard and sugar is added according to taste before eating. Because the noodles are made mostly from buckwheat, they have a less chewy texture so they rarely need to be cut before consumption.
The version of bibim naengmyeon originates from Hamhung, the hoe naengmyeon (회 냉면). Hoe naengmyeon is bibim naengmyeon with additional marinated raw fish (hoe), usually skate. It is eaten with the spicy gochujang dressing and other ingredients all mixed together. Vinegar, sugar, and sometimes sesame oil is added according to taste. The noodles of Hamhung naengmyeon are usually made from potato or sweet potato starch, so the noodles are very chewy in texture compared to those of Pyongyang naengmyeon.
The following recipe will be for both versions of naengmyeon.
Ingredients
•A package of cold noodles, onion, garlic, green onions,
•ginger, cucumber, egg, 1 bosc pear, hot pepper flakes,
•hot pepper paste, sesame seeds, vinegar, sesame oil, corn syrup,
•salt, soy sauce, sugar, mustard powder
Method
1. Make stock by boiling 8 cups of water, 3-4 shiitake mushrooms, dried kelp, and 8-10 dried anchovies (You will see how to make this stock in my soon du bu video) and cool it down.
2. Prepare toppings for naengmyeon
•Mustard powder: Mix 2 tbs of mustard powder and 1 tbs water and put it on warm place to ferment it.
•Cucumber: Slice a quarter of cucumber thinly and sprinkle a pinch of salt, 1 ts of sugar, 1 ts of vinegar, and a pinch of hot pepper flakes and mix it and set it aside
•Bosc pear:Slice a half pear thinly and soak it in water and add 1 ts sugar to protect it from changing color
•Egg: Hardboil an egg, cut it in half, and set it aside
3. Make hot and spicy sauce for bibim naengmyeon, by grinding these ingredients:
A half of peeled bosc pear, a quarter of onion (about 3 tbs), 1 ts garlic, 1 ts of ginger, ½ cup of corn syrup, 4 tbs hot pepper flakes, 3 tbs hot pepper paste, ¼ cup of apple vinegar, 1 tbs sesame seeds, 3 green onions, 1 tbs soy sauce.
Place the ground sauce into a container and add 1 tbs sesame oil and 1 ts of fermented mustard and mix it.
4. Make naengmyeon broth by mixing 1 cup of Yeolmu kimchi juice and 2 cups of stock.
5. Boil the noodles:
1.Put noodles into boiling water in a big pot (2/3 of the pot is filled with water). The direction of cooking noodles is on the back of the noodle package and it usually takes 3-4 minutes to boil after putting the noodles into the boiling water. You can take some sample to check if the noodles are cooked enough or not.
2.When the noodles are cooked, move the pot into a kitchen sink and pour cold water and remove some water and pour cold water again. This process helps the noodles get chewier.
3.Place the noodles into a basket or colander and keep rinsing and draining the noodles until all starch from the noodles are removed.
6. Serve it cold cold!
For mul naengmyeon:
•Put some noodles into a serving bowl and fill the broth until the noodles are submerged.
•Add crushed ice and place toppings: yeolmu kimchi, a few pieces of pear and cucumber, and a half side of boiled egg on top.
•Add 1 ts of mustard
For bibimnaengmyeon:
•Put some noodles into a serving bowl.
•Add a half cup of icy broth
•Place some hot and spicy sauce, yeolmu kimchi, a few pieces of pear and cucumber and a half side of boiled egg on top.
•Add some more sesame oil if you want.
There you go, a summer dish for you to practice making in Spring so you have it perfected for Summer.
So, yea, that is going to be it for my post today. I hope that you guys liked it and i will be back with more to write about later in the week.
BYEE
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