Kimchi - one of the great foods!

Let me introduce you to kimchi, one of the world's greatest, tastiest, healthiest foods!

Kimchi is a Korean food that is very popular in Japan. It is a spicy pickle made from vegetables, garlic and red chilli, served with almost every meal in Korea. In Korea, I hear that there are more than 200 different kinds of kimchi; in a typical Japanese supermarket there are probably about 10.

Over the years I've tried many of them, some of them were way too salty and fishy for my taste. I like this fairly standard one made from cabbage.

According to Wikipedia, Health Magazine named kimchi as one of the top 5 'World's Healthiest Foods' for being rich in vitamins, aiding digestion, and even possibly reducing cancer growth. It is very high in dietary fibre, vitamin C and carotene, and is also rich in vitamin A, B1, B2, calcium and iron.

It is a probiotic and antioxidant food. Small scale studies show that it may have some efficacy in repressing avian flu H5N1 (well-fermented 3 year old kimchi mind you!), and they are now testing it's use against swine flu A/H1N1. I'm a little cynical about this... Both of these are viruses, not bacterial infections. However, I can see that if it strengthens your immune system, that has to be a good thing!

Over the last few years, I've been eating it a few times a week. Actually I think the first time I ate it was in okonomiyaki. I like it with grated cheese and brown rice for breakfast, and/or as a snack when I get home from work. If I put the rice cooker on with a little kimchi at the bottom of the rice, then oh, the delicious smell that greets me when I get home from work! (However, the rice actually cooks better if you add the kimchi at the end of cooking). Sometimes, I eat a little just as it is, especially if I have a cold! I certainly miss eating it when I'm away. All this has made my mouth water, guess what I'm going to have for tea tonight?!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimchi
http://eating.health.com/2008/02/01/worlds-healthiest-foods/
http://english.kbs.co.kr/News/News/News_view.html?id=Dm&No=63596

Creamy Mushrooms in a Roll

Recently, one of my brothers gave me a couple of cookery books by Nigel Slater. I really like Nigel Slater's style of writing, and I find myself inspired by his recipes, wanting to adapt them to my taste. He says in his books that many of his recipes are adaptations of other people's recipes, so I have no qualms in doing the same...! Anyway, this is my adaptation of one of his recipes, adaptations made for my limited cooking equipment, time and using a lot less cream (and healthier sour cream rather than double cream)...

Ingredients (serves 1)
small piece of unsalted butter for frying
1 small onion, chopped
100g mushrooms, chopped (I used bunashimeji, sometimes called beech mushrooms)
1 crisp roll, or the end of a baguette
about 30ml sour cream (or two heaped teaspoons)
salt, pepper and paprika for seasoning

Method

• Hollow out the roll or baguette end, reserving the bread.
• In a saucepan, melt the butter. Add the onions and fry over a medium heat until softened.
  
• Add the mushrooms, crumble in the breadcrumbs and continue to fry until golden brown.
• Stir in the sour cream and mix until hot. Season with a little salt, and lots of paprika and freshly ground mixed peppercorns.
• Spoon into the hollowed out bread roll and eat immediately!
  

Egg Drop and Salmon Soup

All quantities are approximate - it's really not important to measure everything out. I used a 400ml bowl because this was breakfast! If this was a side dish, then this would easily serve 2.





Ingredients (serves 1-2, multiply quantities as necessary)
400ml of water made into a light stock (I used katsuodashi which is stock made from bonito flakes, but any stock would be ok)
a dash of soy sauce (about 1 teaspoon)
1 - 2 teaspoons of seaweed, perhaps wakame (I used nebarumekabu)
1/2 teaspoon of potato starch or cornflour, mixed with a little water)
1 teaspoon ginger paste or grated ginger with juice
2 slices cooked or smoked salmon
1 egg, beaten

Method

• Add the seaweed to the stock and heat until very hot but not boiling.
• Mix in the soy sauce and ginger, and stir in the potato starch mixture. It will not noticeably thicken, but will just stop the egg from sinking to the bottom.
• Add the salmon, and stir in the beaten egg, which will set immediately in strands.
• Serve immediately.
  

Black Forest Chicken

OK, so I know that this dish may make you question my sanity... Yes, it really is chicken in a cherry chocolate sauce...

I still had lots of cherries to use up, along with some dark chocolate, after making a Mexican dish, Chicken Mole the other day... Recipe for that to come when I've done some more experimentation with the chilli quantity!

Actually this tastes very nice with a green salad of mixed herbs, cucumber and segments of orange and yellow grapefruit, not included in the nutrition data.

Nutrition Data (per portion)
Calories 250.5
Protein 23g
Carbohydrate 19g
Fat 8.5g
Dietary Fibre 3g

Ingredients (serves 2)
26 cherries
25g unsweetened dark chocolate (at least 70% cocoa solids)
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary
130g skinless chicken breast, cooked
1/2 lemon, juice and zest

Method

• Marinate the chicken breast in the lemon juice for at least 2 hours, or overnight.
• Remove the chicken and slice into bite-sized pieces. Keep the lemon juice.
  
• Put 20 of the cherries in a blender with the chocolate, rosemary and balsamic vinegar. Blend until smooth.
• Over a low heat, warm the sauce so that the flaked chocolate just melts. Remove from heat, stir in lemon juice and cool.
• Stir in the chicken and serve, garnished with the remaining cherries and some lemon zest.
• Delicious with a green herb salad, diced cucumber and segments of orange and grapefruit.
  

Cherry, Rosemary and Onion Chicken on Rice

I was going to make oyakodon for lunch again today, but realised that I hadn't put anything new on this blog for some time... A quick look at the fridge revealed that I had a large quantity of cherries that I needed to use up...





Nutrition Data
582 calories
Protein 25.5g
Carbohydrate 101.5g
Fat 11.5g
Dietary Fibre 5.5g

Ingredients
12 American cherries, pitted and chopped
1/2 onion, chopped
1 tablespoon fresh rosemary
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 teaspoon sesame seeds
50g cooked chicken, sliced and cut into small pieces
1 tablespoon mirin
1 teaspoon soy sauce
100g brown rice, cooked

Method

• Cook the rice according to directions.
• About 1o minutes before the end, saute the onion and rosemary in the olive oil for about 5 minutes until golden brown, and then add the cherries and the sliced chicken and heat for another minute.
• Pour in the mirin and soy sauce, continue heating for about half a minute until the liquid has reduced.
• Serve over the rice.
  

Freezing Food

I'm going to start this post now, and update it as and when...

Avocados
Usually, I buy avocados for a recipe either too far in advance and so they go bad in the duration, or on the day and I buy them overripe and so they're also already going bad. So today I mashed 2 nice ones up with 1 tablespoon of lemon juice and some mixed ground pepper, put them in small plastic bags, getting rid of all the air, and froze them. They will keep for 3-6 months in the freezer.

Creams etc
This works well for double creams, mascarpone, creme fraich etc.  Freeze in ice cube trays and use as and when.  Brandy cream only semi-freezes because of the alcohol content.

Lemons
Whenever I use a lemon for juice, I always zest it and add the zest to a freezer bag in the freezer. But, there are many times when I need lemon juice and don't have it. Freeze lemon juice as ice cubes and then put in a freezer bag.

Sausages
When you buy a pack of these, it's worth cooking them all and then freezing them individually wrapped in foil, in a freezer bag. Take them out as required the night before. I chop some of them up before I freeze them too, to make preparation of some dishes even easier.  In the UK, you can also but tubs of 50 chipolata ready-cooked sausages which are perfect for freezing.

Fig, Melon, Mozzarella and Parma Ham Salad

Ingredients
3 slices melon
1 fig, cut into 1/3s
mozarella slices
3 slices raw ham
a little maple syrup and lemon juice


Method
Arrange all the ingredients on a plate and sprinkle with a little maple syrup and lemon juice.

Poached eggs again

About a year ago, I bought a microwave egg boiler, which I thought was a fantastic idea. It boiled eggs from cold to soft-boiled in about 5 minutes from the fridge. All was fine for about 8 months of occasional use until one day it blew up in the microwave, never to be trusted again!

Now I've found that you can poach eggs really easily and incredibly quickly in the microwave. Just fill a cup with cold water to about a third to a half full, break an egg in, and microwave on high for 45 to 60 seconds depending on how you like the egg. Much better, and not at all messy!

Citrus Salmon with Strawberry and Mango Balsamic Dressing

This is a variation on my previous recipe that I tried today, all shades of pink and orange! This time the salmon is steamed and cooled rather than panfried and eaten hot.






Nutrition Data
Calories 378
Protein 30g
Carbohydrate 55g
Fat 4g
Fibre 9g

Ingredients
1 ruby grapefruit
1 orange
1 skinless fillet salmon (about 100g)
4 strawberries
about 1/8 of a mango
about 2 teaspoons of balsamic vinegar
shredded dried chilli and lemon zest to garnish

Method

• Steam the salmon and allow to cool.
• Meanwhile peel and segment the grapefruit and orange and arrange on a plate. Sprinkle with shredded dried chilli.
• Put the cooled salmon on top of the fruit.
• Make the dressing. Put the strawberries, mango and balsamic vinegar in a blender and whizz for a few seconds.
  
• Spoon the dressing over the salmon and fruit, and sprinkle with a little lemon zest.
  

Rolled Ham and Vegetables

This recipe has been adapted from one in my housing company's monthly magazine. This is a popular bar snack in Japan. It's delicious hot, but I'm going to have it cold at work tomorrow sometime, together with some rolled omelette and edamame! Minus the beer of course...





Ingredients
3 slices parma ham or other raw ham
3 long green beans, cut in half and then finely sliced lengthways
same length of carrot, julienned
30g enoki mushrooms, the ones that look like pins
1 teaspoon of sesame oil for frying
For the dip (optional)
1 tablespoon each of soy sauce and mirin (recipe also uses same quantity of sake, but I didn't have any)

Method

• Prepare the vegetables.
• In a small frying pan heat the oil over a low heat.
• Roll the vegetable strips in the ham.
• Put in the oil seam-side down and fry until golden brown, turn and repeat twice or three times more - about 6 minutes.
• Serve hot with the dipping sauce.
  

Coconut milk agar jellies

These are the coconut milk kanten jellies that I made. After making the basic jelly mix below, I then made 4 variations. The one at the bottom right looks a bit lumpy, because the mixture was already setting.





The 4 variations, clockwise from top left: with chopped strawberries (add gradually, topping up with jelly mix as you go so that the strawberries do not sink to the bottom), added dessicated coconut, added dessicated coconut with chopped strawberries, basic mix. I wouldn't add the dessicated coconut again - I think it's better smooth.

Ingredients
4g pack of agar (kanten)
250ml of water
250ml of coconut milk
4 teaspoons honey

Method

• Prepare any fruit that you want to add to the jellies.
  
• Heat the water to simmering point and sprinkle the contents of the sachet in, stiring continuously. Continue stirring for 1 -2 minutes until the agar is fully dissolved and there are no lumps.
• Remove from the heat and stir in the coconut milk and honey. Mix well.
• Working quickly, pour the mix into individual containers, adding other ingredients.
  

Mixed Bean and Chicken Green Curry

This is in fact an 'everything' creamy curry! I wanted to make something delicious and easy, in a large quantity to freeze for work. This did the job very well!






Nutrition Data (per portion, excluding rice)
Calories 245
Protein 15.9g
Carbohydrate 25.3
Fat 9.4g
Dietary Fibre 7.2g

Ingredients
1 large onion, chopped
1 teaspoon olive oil
400g can red kidney beans, drained
400g can borlotti beans, drained (also known as cranberry beans or roman beans)
200g can sweetcorn, drained
130g frozen green peas
140g skinless cooked chicken breast, chopped
210g pack generic packaged green curry mix (I used S&B Green Curry)
150ml canned coconut milk
brown rice to serve
lemon zest for garnish

Method

• Cook the rice.
• Meanwhile, fry the onion in the oil until golden brown.
• In a large saucepan, add all the other ingredients except the green peas. Add the onion.
• Cook over a medium heat for about 10 minutes until hot. About 2 minutes before the end of cooking time, stir in the peas.
• Serve on a bed of rice and garnish with lemon zest.
• This freezes well.
  

Easy Agar Jelly (or Kantan Kanten, sorry!)

As a child, I never liked jelly, possibly something to do with the way it wobbled...?! As a student I discovered the delights of vodka jelly, and little by little I grew to like it!

Some friends gave me a homemade fruity jelly yesterday, and it was delicious. But the interesting thing is it was made from agar (kanten in Japanese, written in hiragana). Agar (sometimes agar agar) is a type of seaweed which is used for gelling liquids. It is virtually tasteless, calorie-free (until you add the extras!), but contains iodine, calcium and iron and dietary fibre. Unlike gelatine which doesn't set properly if you add kiwifruit or highly acidic fruits, agar has no problems with setting. You don't have to leave it to set in the fridge, it sets in under 30 minutes even in temperatures as hot as 27C, and it doesn't melt. I've become a fan!

The above jellies I made using orange juice, strawberries and a hibiscus flower in syrup (thanks to a present from my brother!) In the fuure, I'm going to try using coconut milk and dessicated coconut, and a layered fruit jelly, and maybe one using other edible flowers setting the flowers at the bottom. I never thought I would get so into jelly!

In the UK, you can probably buy agar powder at health food shops, and it is on the Waitrose website, but certainly also on EBay, www.mountfuji.co.uk (search for kanten, I've used this website before, they are reliable), or in stick form at the Japan Centre in Picadilly www.japancentre.com (again, I've used this website before and they are reliable).

Ingredients
4g sachet of agar (kanten)
400ml water
200ml orange juice
fruit or flowers

Method

• Boil the water and turn down to simmering point.
• Slowly add the agar powder, stirring continuously. Continue stirring and heating for 1-2 minutes, or according the instructions on the packet, until it is completely dissolved and there are no lumps.
• Remove from the heat and stir in the fruit juice.
• Pour into 5 individual moulds, and add fruit. Leave for about 30 minutes to set.
• Alternatively add the fruit, pour in a thin layer of liquid, let it partially set (1-2 minutes) and repeat to build up the layers.
• Delicious chilled!
  

Melon, Proscuitto Ham and Blue Cheese Salad

This is just to make me remember that the combination is basically good, but these are the ingredients I would use in future...
Ingredients
Thick slices of melon
Slices of proscuitto ham
Dolcelatte soft blue cheese
1 teaspoon each of olive oil and lemon juice


Method

• Arrange 3 wedges of melon on a plate and the ham on top.
  
• Scatter crumbled blue cheese over the top.
• Combine the olive oil and lemon juice, and drizzle over the salad.
  

Chilli Bean Dip

Ingredients
400g can red kidney beans, drained
1/2 onion, chopped
3-4 tablespoons of non fat set yoghurt or yoghurt cheese ( made from about 250g non fat regular yoghurt)
1 teaspoon chilli powder (I used chipotle powder - souvenir from a friend!)
Freshly ground pepper

Method

• Drain the kidney beans.
• Put everything in a blender and blend until smooth.
  

Low Fat Lemon & Pepper Houmous

High in fibre, this is a nice snack with crisp breads or vegetable sticks, spread onto bread, or just on its own! It freezes well.

Ingredients (serves 2)
400g can of chickpeas (garbanzo beans, ceci)
3-4 tablespoons of non fat set yoghurt or yoghurt cheese ( made from about 250g non fat regular yoghurt)
Juice and zest of 1 lemon
Freshly ground pepper

Method

• Drain the chickpeas.
• Put everything in a blender and blend until smooth.
• Serve with crispbread, pitta bread, or vegetable sticks.
  

Pan-Fried Citrus Salmon

Nutrition Data
Calories 570
Protein 26g
Carbohydrate 50g
Fat 33g
Fibre 14g




Ingredients
100g skinless salmon fillet
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 grapefruit
1 orange
1 small avocado
fresh mint, ground pepper and dried chilli to garnish

Method

• Peel and segment the grapefruit and orange in a bowl.
• Roughly chop the avocado and tear up a handful of mint leaves and add to the fruit.
• Put on a plate, reserving any drops of juice.
• Scatter dried chilli over the top.
• Heat the olive oil in a frying pan over a medium hot heat.
  
• Grate pepper over both sides of the salmon fillet. Put in the frying pan, and pour over any juice. Fry for about 3 minutes both sides until cooked through and golden brown.
• Serve immediately on top of the fruit.
  

Onion Topped Tofu on Bean Sprouts and Leek

Many recipes come about not through planning of good combinations, but accident. Today I discovered that all these ingredients desperately needed using up, so...

Much to my surprise, it was delicious!





Nutrition Data
Calories 427
Protein 31.2g
Carbohydrate 31.7
Fat 23.9
Fibre 7.9g

Ingredients
200g pack of firm tofu
100g bean sprouts
1 leek, chopped
2 tablespoons of onion & garlic bruschetta topping (from Jupiter), or any other onion topping
1 teaspoon olive oil
Lemon zest to garnish (I keep some in a small bag in the freezer)

Method

• Stir fry the bean sprouts and chopped leek in the olive oil. Put on a plate.
• Wrap the tofu block in a double thickness of kitchen paper and microwave on high for 1 minute. Put on top of the vegetables.
• Heat the onion topping and spoon over the tofu. Garnish with lemon zest.
• Serve immediately.
  

Yoghurt Cheese

In preparation for my next posts on bean dips, here is a recipe for yoghurt cheese, which can serve as a substitute for either set yoghurt, or a slightly sour cream cheese.

Ingredients and Equipment
1 carton of plain natural yoghurt (I use probiotic non-fat yoghurt)
1 coffee filter (I use a 4-7 cup capacity filter)
1 large mug
1 elastic band or string
Plastic wrap

Method

• Fix a coffee filter inside the mug, using and elastic band or string around the top of the mug. There should be at least a 1inch (2.5cm) gap between the filter and the bottom of the mug.
• Spoon in the yoghurt until full. In my mug, I can put in about 200g of yoghurt.
• Cover the mug and leave in the fridge overnight.
• In the morning, the curds and whey will have separated.
• The curds in the filter can be used for dips or as a spread, or eaten with fruit; the whey can either be drunk straight, or added to soups, juices or to the cooking liquid in rice.
  

Brown Rice and Kimchi Breakfast 'Pancake'

This recipe came to me last night just as I was abut to go to sleep! It was as delicious as I imagined, definitely going to make it a regular!

Nutrition Data
Calories 394
Protein 17.4g
Carbohydrate 57.7g
Fat 9.3g
Fibre 5.1g



Ingredients
70g brown rice
20g soy beans
100g kimchi
1 egg

Method

• Cook the brown rice.
• In a bowl mix together the other ingredients. Add the cooked rice and mix thoroughly.
• Heat a lightly greased frying pan, spoon the rice mixture in and flatten. Cook for about 3 minutes each side until browned.
• Serve immediately.