Sunday, March 3, 2024

Happy Korean Pork Belly Day With Jjajangmyeon...


Cookin' Korean Jjajangmyeon ๐Ÿ‡ฐ๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿœ to celebrate 03.03 National Pork Belly Day in Korea and after being inspired and drooling watching new Netflix food series Jjajangmyeon Rhapsody. It traces the flavourful evolution from its Chinese origins to being South Korea's most beloved comfort foods with chef, restauranteur and food researcher Paik (Baek Jong-Won).

Fun Food Fact: Koreans celebrate this day with pork belly dishes because the first part of its Korean word for pork belly is "sam" in Samgyeopsal, which means three (sam; ์‚ผ), and the rest of its word, layered (gyeop; ๊ฒน) and flesh (sal;์‚ด). Paying homage to this special cut of pork on the third day of the third month is brilliant! Popular in Chinese and Korean butcher shops resembling bacon, samgyeopsal has three visible layers: the outer skin, then a two-inch layer of thick fat and attached to that two to three inches of lean meat. You can get them with or without skin-on.


As you might have seen on Korean dramas ๐Ÿ‡ฐ๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ“ฝ, it’s also the most popular dish for home delivery especially on a move day ๐Ÿ’จ. A more recent phenomena, jajangmyeon has become a symbolic dish that single people eat with their friends on Black Day (April 14) to commiserate with each other over black noodles for lacking a romantic relationship. The sauce is made with chunjang (์ถ˜์žฅ), which is a Korean-style black bean paste made with fermented wheat flour, soybeans and caramel sauce. Chunjang must first be fried in oil to become a jjajang sauce to remove the bitter and sour taste of the bean paste.


A humble and affordable dish, tonight, I added cabbage, potatoes and zucchinis on hand cooked with chopped pork belly and shoulder. But the allure of the dish is the aromatic onions- lots of it cooked in water thickened with cornstarch slurry! Served with chewy fresh wheat noodles, a side of prepared fried chicken (a perfect pair) and my home pickled radishes, it was an acceptable slurpeable messy mouth mess ๐Ÿ˜‹ . Or make it another popular version- black bean sauce over rice called jjajangbap ๐Ÿ–ค๐Ÿš๐Ÿฅ„ Next time I will try it with bacon for that smokey flavour to enhance the earthy rich jjajang further ๐Ÿ‘!

Leftovers for lunch the next day


Check out the step-by-step recipe:

Korean Jjajangmyeon (Black Bean Sauce Noodles)
Serves 6 (adapted from Koreanbapsang.com)

6 servings of fresh Korean wheat noodles (refrigerated)

For the Sauce:
7 tablespoons Chunjang (์ถ˜์žฅ), Korean black bean paste some may be labelled as jjajang (์งœ์žฅ)
3 tablespoons cooking oil
1.5 tablespoons sugar
1.5 tablespoons oyster sauce - optional
1.5 cups chicken stock or water. You can add 1/2 cup more for thinner, more liquidy/watery sauce 
1.5 tablespoons cornstarch dissolved in 1/4 cup of chicken stock or water

Meat:
1/2 lb. pork belly and 1/2 lb. pork shoulder (preferably with some visible fat, pork butt, etc.)
1 teaspoon grated ginger
1 tablespoon rice wine (or mirin)
⅛ teaspoon each salt and pepper
2 tablespoons cooking oil
1 tablespoon soy sauce

Vegetables:
2 large onions, diced
2 medium potatoes, small diced
3 cups chopped green cabbage
1 medium zucchini, diced
1 small cucumber, shredded (topping)
Green onion, slivered (topping)
 

Have a pot of water ready to cook the noodles. Turn the heat on when you start cooking the meat. This way you will have the boiling water ready, for cooking the noodles, by the time the sauce is done.

Cut the pork into 1/2 - 3/4 inch cubes. Marinate the pork with rice wine (or mirin), ginger, salt and pepper while preparing the vegetables in same dice size.


In order to get chunjang into a jjajang which means fried sauce, you must first fry it. Add the black bean paste to a small saucepan with the oil, sugar, and the optional oyster sauce. Fry it over medium heat for 2 - 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Set aside in a bowl.


Heat a large pan with 2 tablespoons of cooking oil over medium high heat. Add the pork and stir fry until no longer pink, adding a tablespoon of soy sauce half way through. Add the onion and potatoes; cook until soft, stirring occasionally. Add the cabbage and zucchini and continue to stir fry until vegetables are softened.


Stir in the black bean paste and mix everything together until all the meat and vegetables are coated well with the paste.
 

Pour in the stock (or water) and bring it to a boil. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes. Stir in the cornstarch slurry and cook briefly until the sauce is thickened. Add more sugar if desired to taste.


Add the noodles in the boiling water. Cook according to the package instructions and drain. Do not overcook. The noodles should have a firm bite to them (al dente). If the noodles are very starchy you may want to rinse slightly and drain well.


Place a serving size of noodles in each bowl. If you want the noodles hot, microwave it first. I find that in restaurants, the noodles is often served warm with the black bean sauce warm to hot. Spoon the sauce over the noodles and garnish with the optional cucumber matchsticks, green onion slivers and a sprinkle of toasted sesame seeds. Alternatively, you can serve sauce over cooked rice- jjajangbap ๐Ÿš๐Ÿฅ„.


Stir well to coat, pull up and slurp. Keep napkins nearby :)



Chef Paik's affordable and casual specialty restaurant has opened in North York @paiksnoodle_canada serving flavoursome jjamppong (spicy seafood noodle soup) and jajangmyeon alongside delicious crunchy tangsuyuk- deep fried pork with assorted vegetables in a tangy sweet sauce. Check it out ๐Ÿคค๐Ÿ’ฅ!





Friday, February 16, 2024

February is Celebration Month with Lunar New Year and Valentine's Day...

 
Gung Hay Fat Choi! Sun Tai Geen Hong! Soon Soon Lay Lay! Greetings and many best wishes to those celebrating Chinese and Lunar New Year a prosperous, healthy one with only good, smooth and sweet things to come ๐Ÿฎ!


Hosting my first CNY celebration at my new-ish home with extended family with Singapore Fried Noodles, and Red Bean Purple Rice Coconut Tapioca Soup Dessert ๐Ÿฅฃ! 


Singapore Fried Noodles

The family potluck spread

But of course we cannot ring in the year entering the Dragon without the legendary dragon himself Master Lee (handcrafted statue created by my super artist brother Marten Go @mgo.preserveddragons๐Ÿ‰๐Ÿ™).


Mirroring my brother's sentiments, the year of the Dragon brings abundant energy, vision and growth. Being the most powerful and auspicious animal, it is the reason to pursue your dreams, express your ideas and expand your horizons this year!

"When you say that something is impossible, you have made it impossible..." "Knowing is not enough. We must apply. Willing is not enough. We must do" -- Bruce Lee

Let's Go Dragons ๐Ÿ‘Š๐Ÿ’ฅ!

Our Newcomer Kitchen Willing to Work winter term is well underway ๐Ÿ’จ. Introducing our very diverse groups of women- evening program Seven Senses Kitchen and daytime group Cuisine Connections.

Seven Senses Kitchen

Cuisine Connections

Working hard and having fun producing a total of 100 gift bags for a Valentine's Day ❤ event for our longtime partnering school at Crescent (a private boys middle school). Calling our bags Hugs and Kisses, buy one or buy both to seal the XO. This is part of the experiential learning for our lesson on product to market from production, labeling to packaging.


Which bag would you buy?


HUGS

๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ฌ Abigail's Nigerian chocolate coated chin chin
๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡ซ Samurai's Afghani jalebi
๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ด Vicky's Colombian Alfajor dulche de leche cookies
๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ถ Nada's Iraqi orange and chocolate cookies
๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡ซ Sahar's Afghani sheer pira milk fudge with dried fruit
๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ณ Shatavisa's Indian ladoo date and fig balls
๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ท Hamideh's Persian sohan saffron tahini biscuit

KISSES

๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡ญ Carolina's ube purple yam jam served with Skyflakes crackers (Philippines origin)
๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡ฐ Samina's Pakistani chana dal bars with dark chocolate
๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ฌ Blessing's Nigerian seasoned plantain chips
๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡ฆ Hajar's Moroccan dark chocolate dipped fingers with rose petals
๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ฉ Omnia's Sudanese kahk cookies filled with pomegranate Turkish delight (lokum)

❤ Happy Valentine's Day ❤



Delivering our Hugs and Kisses gift bags to Crescent School for the boys and their families to pick up and enjoy. This was a collaboration on the theme "Love Letter to the World" where each student wrote on hearts what their message of love is to the world ✍๐Ÿ’Œ






With the very diverse groups of women we are working with this winter term, what great synergy it is to have the symphony of love in the form of treats... from the world to them in these great giftable bags ๐Ÿค—๐Ÿฅฐ! ๐Ÿ‡ธ๐Ÿ‡ฉ๐Ÿ‡ฒ๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡ฐ๐Ÿ‡ต๐Ÿ‡ญ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ท๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ณ๐Ÿ‡ฆ๐Ÿ‡ซ๐Ÿ‡ฎ๐Ÿ‡ถ๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ด





Tuesday, January 2, 2024

2023 Wraps and 2024 Begins...


Happy New Year everyone! 

Sharing two notable holiday dinner spreads with close friends - homestyle Greek pork souvlaki, tzatziki, roasted lemon garlic potatoes, Turkish bulgur and Lebanese fattoush salads, Chinese bbq pork char siu and Japanese mochi cake with @lisaeats.


And take out Iraqi assorted kebab and roasted chicken platters with homemade Lebanese fattoush salad, crispy roasted potatoes and Vietnamese veggie rolls with my bestie.


What is the common theme in both these meals? As much as they lean towards one cultural cuisine, it welcomes and embraces the addition of other country flavours, making the experience both global adventurous and harmonious on the kitchen table.

Takes me back to my roots, as far as I can remember in the beginning of my food career. In my early Kraft Kitchen Days as a recipe developer, I always had multiculturalism in mind. I believe I was instrumental in bringing global diversity to the forefront in both our What's Cooking? and Quebec equivalent qu'est-ce qui mijote? magazine recipes to the mainstream audiences. That was nearly 20 years ago. And my love for multiculturalism only ramped up from there ๐ŸŒ๐Ÿ’ž.




In a world where change is constant, imminent and inevitable, somethings just never change...

And that in itself, is some kind of wonderful❣ #ethos 

It was a great year end wrapping up my food programs at Newcomer Kitchen and at TDSB Community Services ๐Ÿ’ž! I am so ever grateful for being able to combine two loves in my career. They are my I.K.I.G.A.I #lifepurpose ๐Ÿ’ซ

On my Passion for Empowering Newcomer Women:

To mirror Cara, NK Executive Director's sentiments which is so beautiful and powerful,

"Watching such special women burst into smiles
Also knowing how scared they are inside
To do their best, that "positive stress"
And their transformative experiences no matter how small they seem at the time
Are why we do what we do ..."
How extraordinary it is to witness this regularly ๐Ÿฅฐ.


On my Passion for Cooking With Kids:

My dream is to make a difference…
for our children now and tomorrow
Equip them with solid skills, not just borrow
Food education at home, at school
Pass on how-to knowledge, that’s the tool
Important skills that must be taught
Life lessons gained that can't be bought
Too many suffer from not knowing
Cooking is the key to healthy growing
There is a better choice
Empowerment is the voice
Together we can make a difference…
for our children now and tomorrow! -- Susan 

Follow Your Ikigai... ๐Ÿ’ซ

๐ŸŽ‰ 2023 was a year of tremendous growth at Newcomer Kitchen! From moving into a larger office space equipped with a demo kitchen, to hiring 2 additional staff and launching our second XP food business program with pride, including our first series of Moroccan Mnencha workshop over at Evergreen Brick Works for the holidays... this was certainly a year to celebrate our wins ๐ŸŽŠ! 

Congrats to our recent cohort grads- Afro-Asian Eats and DISTIINCT for completing our Willing To Work program. We wish you all the success in your endeavours, and will work with some of you again in XP!


To the ladies currently in our XP, we are very proud of your accomplishments as you take the new learnings to the next level. Your individual menus look incredible and delicious, and we can't wait to see where you go from here ๐Ÿ™Œ! 



To our friends, partners and followers, thank you for your ongoing support ๐Ÿ™. May the new year bring you many laughter and happy memories! We look forward to bringing you more events, more workshops to tantalize your senses and take your taste buds on a global adventure. Many cheers!!




And to wrap up this post... As The Depanneur owner Len Senater exclaims "2024 is going to be amazeballs!"

Announcement ๐Ÿ“ฃ: New cookbook launch ๐Ÿ™Œ๐Ÿ‘ฉ‍๐Ÿณ๐Ÿ‘จ‍๐Ÿณ๐Ÿ“š The Depanneur Cookbook is finally arriving in March!

(All excerpts are from Indigo's overview of the cookbook) It celebrates Toronto’s astonishing cultural diversity, telling the modern immigrant story of the city through 100 recipes from 100 cooks and exploring the Dep’s transformation from old corner store to a buzzy place of tremendous culinary creativity.

More than three years in making, The Depanneur Cookbook: Stories from Canada's Unlikeliest Restaurant — Canada's most successful Kickstarter cookbook ever — is finally hitting the shelves March 5th!



Over a decade ago, Len Senater set out on an adventure to create meaningful experiences using food as the medium. Since then, Len’s idiosyncratic pop-up space, The Depanneur—a tiny, old corner store transformed into “A Place Where Interesting Food Things Happen”—has featured hundreds of talented cooks and served thousands of eclectic meals. Through culinary events such as casual Drop-In Dinners to family-style Supper Clubs, hands-on Cooking Classes to insightful Table Talks, The Depanneur has discovered unique ways to foster community through food, all while avoiding the pitfalls of more traditional restaurant experiences. From a decade of unbridled culinary creativity emerged the idea of celebrating the remarkable accomplishments of this experiment as a book.

Launched as a Kickstarter campaign in November 2020, The Depanneur Cookbook showcases the astonishing range of Toronto’s culinary talent. Equal parts documentary, manifesto, and cookbook, the book features delicious food, poignant stories, and beautiful photography. More than just a collection of authentic home cooking from around the world, it is the only cookbook that truly captures the incredible culinary diversity of Toronto.

Len used to sit on Newcomer Kitchen's Board of Directors. Congratulations! We look forward to more collaborations and inspiration in all that you do ๐Ÿ‘๐ŸŽŠ!



Looking forward to what food ventures 2024 has in store.... I say Bring. It. On!


Thursday, December 7, 2023

Easy Chinese Steamed Snow White Rice Cake...


I'm dreaming of a whiiite... rice cake ๐Ÿš❄๐ŸŽต๐ŸŽถ Soft, bouncy and springy... oh my!! A snow white cake for a snow white kind of day ๐ŸŒจ

Traditional Chinese rice cake (aka white sugar sponge cake, Chinese honeycomb cake) is not made like your typical baked cake. It is steamed. White rice flour and white sugar is cooked over the stove with water, cooled then set aside to ferment with the addition of yeast until the batter surface is bubbly. The activated yeast creates a spongy consistency with a honeycomb look after steaming. It is very simple to make at home with four ingredients.


The flavour is mellow sweet with a bit of pleasant tang due to the fermented batter. The blend of rice flour and yeast is similar to nostalgic sweet Chinese rice wine and a taste I love. But the real beauty here is all in the bounce #beautybounce #squeezeworthy #whitedelicious #snowwhitebeauty

They say it is best served warm, but I love it cool- it has this refreshing flavour that makes your taste buds crave for more... bite after bite ๐Ÿ˜‹

Chinese Steamed Rice Cake
Makes 1 size of 9" pie plate

200 g rice flour (not glutinous)
110 g sugar
350 ml water
3 g yeast
30 ml warm water

Prepare The Batter by adding rice flour, sugar, and water in a bowl. Whisk until smooth (the batter should be smooth and thin without any lumps).


Place the bowl in a pan with water and heat over medium-low heat for five minutes. Whisk continuously without letting the flour thicken on the bottom. The viscosity should be medium smooth. After heating, remove it from the pan and let it cool.

Combine the yeast with warm water in a bowl and mix well. When the batter is cool, add the yeast mixture and mix well. Then, cover the bowl with wrap. Let it ferment at room temperature for 1 to 2 hours until tiny bubbles are formed.


Pour the batter into your heat-proof safe plate for steaming. Steam for 14 minutes on high heat (DO NOT OVERCOOK or it will turn out dry and hard). After steaming, remove from heat and allow it to cool well.


Cut the rice cake into your desired size and shape. Enjoy! ๐Ÿคค๐Ÿฅฐ


Chinese Steamed Rice Cake (Full Recipe)
Makes 1 size of 9" pie plate

200 g rice flour (not glutinous)
110 g sugar
350 ml water
3 g yeast
30 ml warm water

Prepare The Batter by adding rice flour, sugar, and water in a bowl. Whisk until smooth (the batter should be smooth and thin without any lumps).

Place the bowl in a pan with water and heat over medium-low heat for five minutes. Whisk continuously without letting the flour thicken on the bottom. The viscosity should be medium smooth. 

After heating, remove it from the pan and let it cool. Combine the yeast with warm water in a bowl and mix well. When the batter is cool, add the yeast mixture and mix well. Then, cover the bowl with wrap. Let it ferment at room temperature for 1 to 2 hours until tiny bubbles are formed. 

Pour the batter into your heat-proof safe plate for steaming. Steam for 14 minutes on high heat (DO NOT OVERCOOK or it will turn out dry and hard). After steaming, remove from heat and allow it to cool well. 

Cut the rice cake into your desired size and shape.