In the land of kimchi

It’s best to watch the video for more instructions.

Easy Kimchi (according to Maangchi):
Cabbage:

• 10 pounds of napa cabbage (adjust the recipe if you use less. I used 7 pounds).
• 1 cup of kosher salt

Cut napa cabbage into bite-size pieces. Wash and soak the cabbage for a few minutes. Then salt the cabbage in a large bowl and let sit for 1.5 hours. Every 30 min gently mix and turn over the cabbage. After 1.5h, rinse the cabbage and drain.


Meanwhile make…
Porridge:

• 3 cup of water
• 1/2 cup of white sweet rice flour
• 1/4 cup of white or coconut sugar

In a pot, hit the water with the rice flour and constantly stir. With in 3-5 min, the porridge will thicken up. Add the sugar, and stir some more for 1min. Take off heat. Let cool to room temperature.

Ginger-garlic paste:

• 1 cup of peeled garlic cloves
• 2 TB of fresh ginger
• 1 cup of fish sauce
• 1 medium sized white onion, peeled

Place in food processor and process for 1 min.

Porrigde-Chili paste:

• Mix the cooled porridge with the ginger-garlic paste.
• add 1-2 cups of chili flakes (just 1/2-1 cup if you don’t like it too hot)
• mix it all up.
• Add
  • 2 carrots, thinly sliced
  • 1 cup of daikon, thinly sliced
  • 1 bunch of scallions, sliced on an angle
• Mix the vegetables in the paste.

Make kimchi:

• Prepare a large storage container with a tight fitting lid. You will store the kimchi in the fridge to ferment for a few weeks.
• Put on some rubber gloves.
• In a bowl, mix a portion of salted, drained cabbage with a laddle full of chili paste. Mix up, and place in storage container.
• Mix until all is mixed up and placed in storage container.
• Place in fridge and wait for fermentation. It will start after 2 days, and smell slightly sour.

Coconut waffles (vegan)

It is Friday. A lot went through my mind this week. Is the zika virus really such an explosively spreading threat as it is made out to be? Is it really responsible for the birth defects reported in Brazil? The whole hysteria eerily reminds me of Dan Brown novel “Inferno”.  I read somewhere that scientists try to bio-engineer a male mosquito that, if pairing with a female of the zika carrying mosquito species, the female would lay eggs that don’t develop into mosquitos. Inferno 2, revenge of the humans.

It would be funny if it would not be concerning.

Yesteryday, I read a blog post on the Bloggess, about Dave.  It made me think that I watch too much hulu and surf the internet to keep up with people I often don’t even know.

It is mild outside. Much of our snow has melted. It feels more like March than end of January, and mentally I am steering towards spring and summer, making mental notes about spring fashion and running outdoors again.

This week I experimented with a new recipe, coconut waffles. This is an easy recipe and gives waffles a bit of an exotic edge. Have  a good weekend!

Coconut waffles (vegan)

Makes 4 smaller waffles (1 breakfast for 2 not so hungry people)

• 1/2 cup of allpurpose flour
• 2 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 TB of coconut flour
• 1 TB of raw coconut sugar
• small dash of cinnamon
• 1/2 cup of coconut milk (used the drinkable kind, not the canned)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon for raw grated ginger (optional, but cuts through the sweetness)

1. Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl, and then add the wet ingredients. Combine and mix until the waffle dough is smooth.
2. Preheat waffle iron (depending on the model, a green light goes on). Spray with nonstick canola oil spray (or wipe with some oil).
3. Bake waffles according to the waffle maker's instructions, which usually means putting about 1/4 cup batter on the iron, closing, and waiting for a light to go out. I baked mine longer than the light signal (about 4 min altogether so that they are on the crispy side).
4. Serve to your liking.  I just had them with butter and jam.

Spicy Mung Bean Curry with Potatoes

Spicy Moong Dal with Potatoes (Bangaladumpa Upma Koora)
Makes 2-3 servings

• 1-2 TB of grapeseed oil (or high heat, neutral tasting oil)
• 1 teaspoon of mustard seeds
• 2-3 small dried hot peppers, crushed (Pequin Red Chilis)
• 1/2 cup of moong dal (shelled split mung beans)
• 1 pinch of  asafoetida
• 1 TB of grated fresh  ginger  (I keep my ginger frozen, it last longer)
• 1 larger white onion, peeled and finely diced
• 1 spring of fresh curry leaves
• 1/2 ts of ground tumeric
• salt to taste
• 1/2 cup of tomato paste
• 12 small waxy yellow baby potatoes
• 1 bunch cilantro
• 1 lime

1. Heat the oil in a skillet. Fry the mustard seed, dried red chile peppers in the oil until the seeds begin to splutter.
2. Sprinkle the asafoetida powder over the mixture. Add in the chopped onion and the curry leaves to the mixture and cook until the onion is lightly browned, about 3 minutes.
3. Add the turmeric, ginger and salt, and stir.
4. Add the mung beans/moong dal, 3 cups of water and  the tomato paste. Stir well, until the tomato paste is well distributed. Bring to boil, reduce the heat, cover with a lid and cook for 30min, until the lentils are tender.
5. While the curry is cooking, heat a pot with salted water, add the potatoes, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 15-18min.
6. Drain the potatoes, distributed in bowl, and smash with a fork.
7. Add some of the lentil mixture over the potatoes.
8. Squish some fresh lime juice over the lentils, and sprinkle with chopped cilantro.