Food: Homemade Hoddeok

This has been sitting on my draft for like forever.
(-__-")

I'm beginning to lag again when it comes to posting. Anyway, i figured that i should post it now before i left this buried & forgotten in my draft..hehe

So, this time, i'll be showing you how to make homemade Hoddeok. I made the classic hoddeok (left) & the one with cheese filling on it (right).

Hoddeok is a Korean pancake, actually it's more of like a popular street food in Korea mostly during winter season. To be able to enjoy this treat at its maximum its best served when it's piping hot & has just been out of the pan.

It's really easy to make this & it would be perfect for kids during snack time for you can put in a filling that you want. You can buy the ingredients in the grocery. I have most of the ingredients here at hand because i am mostly the one who cooks & i love trying out different recipes.

So, let's get on the recipe...
Ingredients:

• 2 tsp. instant dry yeast
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• a cup of lukewarm water (or milk- but i prefer water)
• 3 tbsp brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder
• chopped nuts (you can go for cashew, peanut, walnuts, almond, etc)

Procedure:

1. In a mixing bowl combine the lukewarm water (make sure that it's not too hot so that the yeast will live), sugar, salt, yeast & vegetable oil. Stir well. Let it sit for 15 minutes at the most until there would be some bubbles forming at the top (which would mean that the yeast are already active).

2. Then add the flour on the mixture then mix it well.

3. You can use a spoon on whatever you feel like using in mixing it. Mix, Mix, Mix....

4.  Once everything is all mixed, let it sit for an hour or two or up until it's double in size. Waiting time will depend on your kitchen temperature. The hotter your kitchen is, the more likely it will rise faster. Cover it with a plastic wrap

5. Then you can prepare your filling. You can put any filling that you feel like eating. In this case, i want to go for the classic hoddeok filling which is just brown sugar, cinnamon & nuts. Just mix them altogether...

6. When the dough has risen (sorry i forgot to take a pic of it), knead it to remove the gas. I suggest that you cover your hands with flour/oil before you start kneading it with your hands so that it won't stick. Then let it rise again for another 20 minutes.

7. After it has risen the second time, knead it again to remove the bubbles then that's when you will start dividing them. This recipe will yield 10-12 pancakes so i suggest that you roll out the dough then divide it into equal parts.

8. Take one dough then roll it in a circle... flatten it then make a small well in the middle where you can put in the filling like so....

9. Then pick the edge of the dough to seal the filling in.

10. As what i said, this recipe will yield 10-12 pancakes. In my case, i was able to make 12 but of course it will depend on your personal preference, the bigger pancake you make, then the less you'll be able to have. My pancakes are ready to be cooked!

11. Heat the pan then add a bit of oil... just a little bit of oil so that it won't stick on pan. When the pan is hot, then put it. If you were not able to seal dough in a neat way, then put the sealed part facing the bottom of the pan.

12. Flip it after 20 seconds then flatten it using your spatula. Pancakes are flat so just do it. Flatten it with all your might!Then continue cooking until it's golden brown...

13. Then flip it again so the other side will cook too. See the brown sugar? They're already melting & beginning to caramelize in this stage.

14. Serve hot!

Itadakimasu!
*bites*
Be careful when you bite it for the hot caramel might burn your tongue if you are not careful!

Unlike the usual pancakes which has a liquid-y texture, this one is easy to cook since this is like a bread. It's better than the usual pancake too because this one is firm to the bite & it's chewy.I can't quite describe it, but it just something that i will be making over & over. You won't need any syrup at all since the inside of this pancake is already sweet & caramel-y with that cinnamon on it!

You can put different fillings like cheese or finely chopped ham or whatever you are craving for! I know that this one takes more work but, believe me, this is worth all the work! You won't ever want ordinary pancakes again once you eat this. hahaha!

You can prepare this in the morning to be served for your kids for their after-school snack. You can prepare this ahead of time, just cover it with wet towel so it won't dry out.

Hope you give this a try!
^_^

I want to be able to make Taiyaki (or Bunggeopang in Korea) but i don't know where to buy that fish shape mold. Do you know where i can buy it here in the Philippines? Buying it online (internationally) is out of the question for i don't want to be charged a fortune once i go to the PO to get it.

Hope you all will have a good start for this week!
I can't believe that November is almost over & we are already on the last month of this year. Christmas is definitely in the air!

Jaa ne~!
^_~

Food: Homemade Yogurt~

Yogurt has been around for thousands of years & has been commonly used for dips, soups & as a healthy snack. Milk undergoes the process of fermentation by certain bacteria which results in it being thick & tangy which we know as yogurt. So we are eating bacteria that actually aids in digestion.

I'm sure that a lot of you include it in your diet, especially for those trying to lose weight. I think yogurt is actually expensive if you buy it in that small container. What if you are on a yogurt diet & loves to snack on yogurt?

A small container of yogurt that measures 125g is sold for Php 25 each ( $.57)
What if you buy it for the whole family? Let's just say a family that has 4 members eats yogurt everyday.
Mum would have to spend Php 100 ($2.28) everyday, Php 700 ($15.96) every week & Php 3000 ($68.40) for the whole month just for yogurt.

Personally i think it is expensive although we know that there's no such thing as 'spending too much money for your family's health', since we only want what's best for our family.

But did you know that you can just buy it once & would never have to buy again..ever?!
You can keep that Php 3000 & spend it somewhere else. Uso ja nai! I'm not lying!

You can make your very own yogurt at home in just a day. Honto!

It's all thanks to my student, Sue.
We were just talking about random things one day..asking how she spent her day & same with mine. Then i told her that i went to this yogurt parlor & from then on we talked about it. She said that she loves homemade yogurt & since i am always inquisitive, i asked her how she makes it. I was surprised that it sooooooo easy to make yogurt! It doesn't even require any special tools at all!

When i made my first batch of yogurt i was actually quite skeptical. I was thinking that this would be an utter failure for i have this idea that something sold expensively should be needing rocket science in concocting it. But i was wrong!

It was a success!

I still can't believe that i made these for just 1 day! I made a Strawberry flavored yogurt & just a plain yogurt. It taste the same as those store bought ones. I asked my mum to try it... she said ' oh!you bought Nestle yogurt?' i said 'NOOOOO!!! This is my own yogurt!' Her eyes went big!

Bwahaha!
Now i can save the money that i use to buy yogurt & just spend it somewhere else... Happy ol' me!
If i can do it, so can you. Even kids can do it.

You just need milk & yogurt... plus a lot of patience. That's it!
So let's start..

I bought i carton of milk that measures 1 liter & a small tub of yogurt.
If you want to use a low-fat milk feel free to do so. I just haven't tried using soya milk though... I try to not eat/drink anything that has soya in it for i think i am already suffering from rheumatism for my knees are somewhat painful when the temperature is cold.

We know that yogurt contains bacteria. We know that bacteria thrives if the environment is wet & warm. That's all we need to know in yogurt making.
^_~

Most people actually heat the milk up to almost boiling point. In my case, i don't because letting the milk reach boiling point is tricky... i won't go into details about the milk substances & reactions, just know that boiling milk would require you to keep an eye on it all the time since it can burn easily therefore altering the taste.

I pour the milk on a pan ...

Heat it up for 30 seconds at most just to make the temperature a good breeding ground for the bacteria.

Most milk being sold in the grocery are already sterilized so you don't need to boil it anymore to kill any bacteria. You can actually just let the milk stand on your kitchen counter for an hour at the most so that it would be at room temperature. But then if you are having fresh milk delivered straight to you by the milk man then you can boil it to make sure that it is sterilized.

Pop the lid open of the yogurt

 1 liter of milk would need 1 tablespoon of yogurt. So scoop an ample amount of yogurt...

Then add it on the milk.
Whee!
I can hear all the bacteria rejoicing since they have a new breeding ground! Give it a good stir.

Then cover it.
I wrapped the lid in a cloth so that there would still be enough air. Then just let it stand in room temperature on your kitchen counter for 8-12 hours.

Voila!
After12 hours you were able to turn milk to yogurt. Magic,eh?! See how thick it became?

Then just transfer it in a big container for storage. 1 liter of milk will yield 1 liter of yogurt...but if you will strain the whey you'll be getting a glass of it, so it might be down to 3/4 of the mixture. But it's still a lot.

Just a little note though... straining the yogurt will make the yogurt more tangy. But i think you can keep yogurt longer if you strain it. So if you don't want a really tangy yogurt, don't strain the whey. Or you could strain the whey, keep it, then just add it when you want to eat a less tangier yogurt.

What's great about making your own homemade yogurt is that you can choose to just have it plain or fruit flavored. I fancy strawberry for today...so i made a strawberry yogurt...

How?
Just mix it with your choice of fruit preserve!

 

Simple, eh?

Now, i would just want to say that homemade yogurt has this slimy texture compare to store-bought yogurt. You can get rid of it by straining the whey. I think this is how Greek Yogurt is also made.

Greek Yogurt have a very thick & creamy texture compare the ordinary yogurt... almost like this.

That's why it's perfect for making Tzatziki!
*sudden craving for greek foods*
Yum! love that dip!
Hmm.. now that i think of it i ought to invent my own tzatziki too.

So, again, if you want to have a thick yogurt then strain it to remove the whey using a piece of cloth..not cheesecloth,ok? I used 2 pieces of cloth to strain it but 1 will do.

It's better to strain it for at least 8 hours to really get rid of the whey. Don't throw the whey, you can still use it for marinating/thawing meat because milk is a good tenderizer.

Hey, you can do the yogurt mask every now & then!

Well, there goes my second recipe post!
Hope you'll try making this homemade yogurt. It will save you a lot of money plus you can even make different flavors from the plain yogurt.

Jaa~!
^_^

Soda battered onion rings~

This is my first recipe post.

I actually love to cook. I guess this is also 1 of the reason why Walter loves me..hehe. Well, my body would attest to this since i have been big all my life...LOL

I like experimenting with different ingredients to produce a good recipe. I'm the type of person that doesn't really follow recipes that much. I often times put some twists on the classic recipe. Lately i have been whipping out a lot of food since i'm not able to go out.... no-bake cheesecake, pasta putanesca with my very own sun-dried tomatoes, vegetable stew, etc.

After i read Sis Madz's onion rings post, it made me crave for onion rings that the next day i decided to drop by the grocery store to whip out my own version of onion rings. I used to love the beer battered onion rings (but i really don't drink beer, mind you..hehe), but since i'm not sure how the rest of my family would like to know that i used beer, i decided to do a different variation to the classic beer batter recipe that is kid-friendly.

I wasn't able to find my camera in time when i was making the batter.. but anyway, it's very easy. You just dump everything on a bowl then mix it altogether. Feel free to add your favorite seasoning.. you can even buy those ready made powder mixes & substitute it for onion, garlic & cayenne pepper if you don't have it.

2 cups of flour (or just 1 cup depending on how much batter you'll be needing)
1 tsp garlic powder (if you want your onion rings to taste more garlicky then add more)
*1 tsp onion powder (this will enhance the taste of the real onions more )
*1/2 tsp cayenne powder (if you want it more spicy then feel free to add more)
1 tsp pepper
1 tsp baking powder (this would help make the flour rise)
*optional

Then this is when the fun begins
^_~

Pop open a fizzy beverage (in my case i just used Sprite) then pour it on the mixture instead of water.
 I think the key to making a good flour-based onion ring batter is to use a fizzy beverage.

It gives it that nice texture compare to plain ol' water. Use a beverage that is clear,ok? Don't use a cola for it would look disastrous. You can go for soda water instead if you don't like it sweet, just mix a little water on the batter so that it won't burn that easily when you fry it. Diluting the soda with a little bit of water would decrease the risk of burning it.

As for the measurement, it depends on how you want your batter to be. If you prefer a thick batter, then you can probably use 1 cup of soda+water mixture (1/4 water & 3/4 Sprite) to 1 1/2 cup of flour mixture, if you prefer a more liquid-y batter then add more liquid. Just adjust the volume of liquid to your dry ingredients. In my case, i prefer a thick batter for i like biting in something that has more texture, plus this batter really compliments the sweetness of the onions. Just whisk the mixture until everything is well blended & let it rest for at least 15 minutes.

Make sure that your oil is really hot when you fry it or else it would just absorb the oil. Anyway, it's always like that... when frying make sure that the oil is hot to avoid absorbing too much oil. When the sides are a bit brown then it's time to turn it. Don't let it stay in the oil for too long for if this burns this will taste horrible. You need to make sure that you fry it until it turns golden brown. If you fry it too much it would taste horrible because the liquid base is sweeter.

I'm sure the kids will love this!
Trust me in on this.. my little brother who hates onions ate this onion rings.

If you want to try the classic beer battered onion rings, then just substitute the soda+water mixture to beer. The batter of these rings were made from beer so you'll see that it's a bit pale compare to the soda one.

The thing about using beer as the liquid is that it makes the batter taste a bit bland but brings out the sweetness of the onion way better than using water. I just haven't found the perfect beer for onion rings yet. If you do, then tell me.

note:

• This is actually easier to prepare than using breadcrumbs & eggwash mixture because you only have to dump the onions on the batter then just fish them out 1 by 1 as you cook them
• If you want this to have more crunch then feel free to add bread crumbs just before frying.
• You are the king (or queen) of your own. Put in any kind of flavorings you wanted.onion,garlic & cayenne is just basic..u can try others too..maybe even put herbs that would agree on onion. experiment!
• It's possible to make the perfect onion ring shape by using batter, just make sure that you use a deep frying pan full of oil. It would decrease the risk of the batter spreading out ruining the perfect shape compare to frying it in shallow frying pan. Plus you don't have to basically turn the onions since it is completely submerged in the oil so you're sure that it is being cooked evenly.

You like onion rings?
Care to share your recipe?

Jaa~!
^_^