Kamote-Que (Caramelized Sweet Potatoes)

Kamote-Que (Caramelized Sweet Potatoes)

Ingredients:

1 cup Cooking Oil

3 medium Sweet Potatoes

1/4 cup Dark Brown Sugar or Muscovado

Bamboo Skewers

Instructions:

Wash the sweet potatoes; peel the skin, slice them, and set aside.

In a large frying pan, heat the oil, and add-in the sweet potatoes one at a time.    

Immediately sprinkle dark brown sugar evenly on each sweet potato slices.                       

Cook for about 8 to 10 minutes over medium heat, (depending on the thickness of the sliced sweet potatoes) until they become tender; stirring constantly.                                 

When the sugar starts to caramelize and form a glaze, stir well to coat all sweet potato slices.

Turn off heat, and transfer them on a plate with wax paper to drain any excess oil.
Thread the fried glazed sweet potatoes on bamboo skewers.

Serve warm and Enjoy. Happy Eating!!

CocoHodo Walnut Pastry Shop 코코호도 호두과자전문점

CocoHodo -  KTX GwangMyeong (Photo grabbed from cocohodo.co.kr)

Whenever my husband and I travel down south to visit my in-laws, we always drop by at some rest stop midpoint of our journey to grab a small bag of our favorite snack -- delicious walnut pastry cakes 호두과자 (hodu gwaja), and a cup of steamy, hot coffee.

Walnut cakes or hodu gwaja originated from Cheonan, South Korea. They are popular Korean street snack during the harsh winters. These tasty pastry cakes are made by pouring flour dough mix into a hot iron mold, and filling it with the sweet red bean mix pat and walnuts. 

The name hodu gwaja comes from the combination of the word ‘hodu’ (호두), meaning walnut, and 'gwaja’ (과자), used to refer to any snack such as cakes or cookies. 

These pastry cakes are found typically across Korea from street-side snack carts or the ubiquitous stalls at subway, train, and highway rest stops; hence hodu gwaja are always associated with taking long distance trips around the country. Normally, they are sold by snack-sized bags or boxes for just 3,000~5,000원.

CocoHodo Walnut Pastry

12-piece Snack Bag (간식용 - 호두과자 12개) – 3,000원 

12-piece Mini Case (미니케이스 小 - 호두과자 12개) – 3,500원

16-piece PrePack (프리백 - 호두과자 16개) – 4,500원

22-piece Mini Medium Gift Box (미니케이스 大 - 호두과자 22개) – 6,500원

36-piece Small Gift Box (선물용 小 - 호두과자 36개) – 10,000원

I’ve tried different kinds of tasty hodu gwaja; but the tastiest of all for me are the hodu gwaja from CocoHodo. A bit pricey (270원 a piece ~ 31,000원 coco special gift box), but so worth it. They are very delicious, and extremely addictive! The pastry cake is perfectly baked. Not-so-sweet; with a crisp outer pastry shell that looks like a walnut, and a rich creamy filling of sweet red bean mousse and a large chunk of walnut. Yum!

They are freshly baked, and will make a thoughtful gift for someone special. Try them too! Buy a box, and share with a friend.^^ Check their shops out. They have many branches at convenient locations here in Korea, and USA.

CocoHodo also offers variety of packed premium nuts: Walnuts, Cashew Nuts, Peanuts, Pistachios, Almonds, and Miixed Nuts.

Website:

www.cocohodo.co.kr

www.cocohodousa.com

JjimDak 찜닭 (Korean Braised Chicken)

JjimDak 찜닭 (Korean Braised Chicken)

Ingredients:
1 Whole Chicken, cut into serving pieces
2 medium Potatoes, sliced or cut into wedges
1 medium Carrot, sliced or cut into wedges
1 small Yellow Onion, sliced or cut into wedges
1 stalk Green Onion, cut into 4cm length
1 dried Red Chili, cut into 1cm length
3 tbsp Garlic, minced
13 tbsp Soy Sauce (JinGanjang)
1 tbsp Black Coffee granules
3 tbsp Sugar
6 tbsp Corn Syrup (Mulyeot)
a dash of ground Black Pepper
400 g Glass Noodles (Dangmyun)
4 cups Water

Instructions:
Soak the glass noodles into a large bowl of cold water for 50 minutes.
Drain water, and set the soaked noodles aside in a strainer for 5 minutes.

Put the chicken in a large pan.
Pour-in water, and soy sauce; Add-in the coffee granules. (The coffee granules intensify the flavor of the chicken.)

Boil on high for about 5 minutes, then reduce temperature to medium high heat.
Add-in sugar, and corn syrup.
Then, add-in the potatoes, carrots, onions, and dried chili.
Sprinkle a dash a black pepper.
Cook for about 10 minutes, or until the chicken and all the vegetables are almost cooked.

Add-in the green onions, garlic, and the glass noodles.
and cook for 2 minutes and 30 seconds more, and turn off heat.

Transfer on a serving dish; Serve hot with steamed rice, and Enjoy!!

Tablea Tsokolate ( Cacao Chocolate)

Tablea Tsokolate ( Cacao Chocolate)

Ingredients:

4 pcs Cacao Tablets (Tablea), dissolved in 1/2 cup warm water

1 cup Water

Condensed Milk

Instructions:

Dissolve cacao tablets in half cup of warm water until the mixture is no longer grainy.

In a pot or saucepan with 1 cup of water, pour-in the cacao mixture; Bring to a boil.

Once it starts boiling, twirl a wire whisk or swirl a batirol with the palms of your hand into the mixture. (This will ensure smooth consistency of the tablea tsokolate.)

Lower the flame as it starts to foam.

Continue mixing for 15-20 minutes; Depending if you like the consistency to be medium thick, or thick.

Once ready, pour into cups.

Mix with condensed milk as desired. You can also use evaporated milk with sugar.

Serve and Enjoy!!

Note:

It is best served with Suman.

As a variation. mix half of the hot chocolate drink with 1/2 cup of brewed coffee.

You can also garnish this drink with cinnamon sticks,  melted caramel, mini white marshmallows, grated orange zest, or whipped cream.

Steamed Pork in Egg Custard

Steamed Pork in Egg Custard

Ingredients:

Pork Mixture

250 g Ground Pork

1 tsp Soy Sauce

1/2 tsp Sesame Oil

1/2 tsp Black Pepper

1 tsp Cilantro, finely chopped

1 tbsp Scallions, finely chopped

1 tbsp Ginger, minced

1 red Chili, chopped (for a kick of spice) - optional

1 1/2 tsp Cornstarch

 Egg Mixture

2 large Eggs, beaten

1/2 cup Chicken Stock

1/4 tsp Salt

1/4 tsp Canola Oil

1 tbsp Scallions, finely chopped

1 sprig Cilantro, chopped (for garnish) - optional

Instructions:

Prepare the steamer. Pour the water in the steamer.

Cover the steamer lid with a cheese cloth to prevent water from dropping unto the steamed pork later when steaming.

In deep ovenproof dish, combine pork mixture ingredients.

Flatten the meat mixture to cover bottom of dish.

In a medium bowl, stir together the egg mixture ingredients.

Pour-in egg mixture over the meat and skim off bubbles.

Place into the prepared steamer, and steam over medium-high heat for 12 minutes.

Turn off heat and let custard settle; covered for 8 minutes.

Allow to cool a bit, and carefully unmold from dish.

Garnish with cilantro (optional); Serve and Enjoy!!