All posts tagged: kimchi

Brussels sprout kimchi

Fermented Goodies: Brussels Sprouts, Mustard Greens Kimchi

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Better late and never! The latest freezing temperature, I hope, will do some justice to this post. But then again, there isn’t a right time for fermentation obsession, is there? I took advantage of the cold weather with drizzles and gutsy wind, I busied myself with much delayed winter chores. But before I begin, I send out my apology for not being able to do the annual kimchi workshop, nor any Korean food events this winter. But I certainly will this year! I hope that you still made your favourite kimchi to store away for months to come. On my part, so caught up between two jobs, I was getting anxious that I might not be able to make any kimchi myself. The bigger issue than time, though, was not finding Napa cabbages in Canakkale! As a desperate resort to stock some fermented goodies, I made kimchi with Brussels sprouts and mustard greens, called ‘hardal otu‘ in Turkish. There are three things that give me a sense of security, and they are Kimchi/Cheese/Wine. Neither a man …

pork kimchi

Slow Roast Kimchi Pork with Super Crispy Skin – Paired with Mavroudi or Mavrud of Thrace

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Celebration and indulgence… That night marked the end of the long-distance living or dual location households. It’s OVER! Hooray! It was hard; it was costly; it was stressful; it was emotionally damaging. I know many couples are doing this, whether or not by choice, and I wonder how they manage it. Well, it didn’t fit for us and the biggest struggle was not being able to eat together and, for him, not finding any food outside. When I asked what he wanted for dinner on his moving day, he screamed ‘PORK!’. So I took out two packets of pork shoulder cut from the freezer the first thing in the morning. I scored the skin in a criss-cross pattern and rubbed it generously with coarse salt. I also drizzled some kimchi juice over the meat and sprinkled Schiuan pepper and rosemary. After resting in the fridge the whole morning, it was ready for the oven. Since the cut was individually packaged, not in whole, I had to find a way to make it sit with the skin …

brussels sprouts sambal

Chicken Liver Sambal Goreng: No Waste Food, Free Range Chicken

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I’ve been in Istanbul for work and another Kimchi workshop, which was fantastic. Apologies to those who had been turned down due to the size of the class. From now on, I’ll give a private class, so if you have a group who is interested in making Kimchi, please contact me privately. I’m going to make a separate event page for workshops soon so please check in regularly, though I feel bad I’m not writing as often as I should. Well, spring is around the corner and I’ll be more active. Now I’m back home to prepare my trip to Raw Wine London. Let me save this subject for another time and talk about beautiful Canakkale. I’m so happy to be back here. When I was in Istanbul, people kept asking about my life in Canakkale. People who grew up in Istanbul or in a big city can’t imagine life in a small town; to them, leaving it behind is the end of the world. I don’t have such an attachment, very blessed, and I adapt to any place as long as …

radish miso tahini

KIMCHI Workshop and Radish Spinach Miso Tahini Rice Bowl

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It was fun making kimchi with many people and I was proud to share my know-hows and clarify some of the myths surrounding the most essential Korean food. I was also very surprised by the enthusiasm of the participants, who seemed more obsessed with kimchi than me!

I would like to thank those who joined the event and also, Istanbul Cooking School for opening their space for us.

korean food

Flavours of Korea and Far East @Revolte Cafe Pub

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Another Korean food event took place last Saturday. This time it was a little different to the previous as I, self-taught and instinctive cook, was joined by a professionally trained chef, Seçkin @5KitchenModa. While working together in the kitchen, I was reminded of ‘The Cook and the Chef‘, the Australian TV show, though I’m not as old as Maggie! I’m hoping to mature like her though. A lot of people showed interest in the event again and the tables got quickly booked out. This time it was for finger foods rather than a full course meal, which is usually more labour intensive. Imagine rolling out 100 dumpling wrappers and rolling 100 spring rolls! What makes it even more difficult is the lack of access to basic ingredients. I could have easily bought the tofu and bean sprouts but I made both from scratch because I don’t like the taste of tofu sold here. And Seckin even smoked the fish for the sushi because we didn’t want to use imported farmed salmon. When I was introduced to him, I sensed that we …

Kimchi Shrimp Fried Rice with Balsamic Pomegranate Reduction

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One of the things I had to give up after my infatuation with wine started to take a big part of my life is “kimchi“. I don’t have to explain about what it is any more, thanks to the Korean Wave, which has spread Korean culture and cuisine across the globe. I had an interesting encounter with a Korean lady, who runs three Korean restaurants in Paris. We talked about developing the Korean cuisine and matching Korean food with wines. I’ve heard about and experienced the popularity of Korean cuisine among the French in big cities, but after talking to her, it became more convincing. Korean food is known as healthy cuisine overseas whereas it’s known to me as the spicy and salty enemy of wine. So when discussing the issue of Korean food and wine, it brings up many aspects of flavours and cooking. I made this radish kimchi while I was in France and gifted a few people for a taste. People get excited about probiotics and health benefits of kimchi, and keen …