Sesame Chicken

Today’s recipe is a guilty pleasure treat. Chinese food! I really enjoy getting sesame chicken when back home in Canada, but it’s a lot harder to find in Korea, although not impossible. There are a few places that have popped up this year in Seoul. Both Panda Express and P.F. Changs now have locations in the city if you’re looking for a quick fix. However, if you’ve got an oven or toaster oven then try out this delicious recipe below.

Sesame Chicken
Recipe adapted from The Recipe Critic

Ingredients
2 large chicken breasts
3 eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
1 1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup canola oil
4 tbsp ketchup
1 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste

Directions
Preheat oven to 325 ̊F or 160 ̊C. Cut the chicken breasts into one inch cubes and place in a large bowl. Season with salt and pepper. Add cornstarch to the chicken and stir until all the pieces are well coated. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs together with a fork. Dip the coated chicken pieces into the eggs. Heat oil in a large frying pan or wok, over medium high heat. Cook the chicken pieces until browned. Place the chicken in a greased baking dish. In a medium bowl, combine both vinegars, sugar, soy sauce, garlic powder and ketchup. Wisk until well mixed. Pour sauce over chicken and bake for 45 minutes. Stir the chicken every 15 minutes. Serve over white rice and broccoli. 

Fish Tacos

The Simmering Seoulmate and I have been eating a lot of Mexican food lately. We only have one month left in Korea and we are trying to hit up all of our favourite spots. We have been to Coreanos, Gusto Taco, and Vatos over the past couple of weeks.

Vatos was a big favourite of ours about three years ago when we first lived in Seoul, back when it was at its small back ally location. We enjoyed munching on Kimchi Carnitas Fries and sipping on margaritas, while hanging out with friends. Over these past three years, many Mexican fusion restaurants have popped up all over the city and we’ve sort of forgotten about Vatos because we’ve found a few other places we prefer. This past month, we ventured back to Vatos and it has become a new favourite again, so we’re glad we went back.

Fish tacos are something we’ve tried at several of the restaurants, but both of us enjoy the Vatos ones the best. The fish to taco ratio is perfect and the fish is moist with a crunchy batter. We decided to try and make our own fish tacos and they turned out fantastic! Check out the recipe below and enjoy!

Fish Tacos

Ingredients 8 tortilla shells cherry tomatoes purple cabbage red onion lettuce

Fish 2 tilapia fillets 1/2 cup flour 3/4 soda water 1/2 tbsp cornstarch salt to taste

Sauce 1/2 cup sour cream or plain yogurt 1 1/2 tbsp Dijon mustard 1 tbsp lemon juice 1 tbsp dried dill

Directions

For the slaw topping, chop about one cup of red cabbage and place in a medium bowl. In a small bowl, combine the sauce ingredients and stir until well mixed. Spoon two tablespoons of the sauce into the cabbage and mix. (Keep the rest of your sauce for another dinner. It pairs well served over both chicken and fish.) Set slaw aside. Chop and prep the rest of your desired toppings and set aside, as these tacos should be served immediately. For the fish, cut each tilapia fillet into four equal strips. In a large bowl, combine the flour, cornstarch, and salt. Slowly pour the soda water into the dry ingredients and stir gently. Heat a large pan with an inch of canola oil, over medium high heat.  Dip your fish pieces into the batter and fry in pan, until golden brown. Remove from oil and drain on a dish lined with paper towel. Build your tacos and serve immediately!

Makes 8 fish tacos.

Check out my chicken taco recipe here!

Potato Latkes

Happy New Year everyone! I hope everyone enjoyed their holidays. I spent my vacation in Phuket, Thailand and had a fantastic time. I’ve decided that I love Thai food and I’m going to attempt to make some of my own at home, using spice packets I picked up at the airport on my way back to Seoul.

I’ve only got a few months left in Korea before I move back to Canada for good and the week that followed Christmas was a whirlwind of craziness. I decided to relax this weekend, so I made something that I’d been craving; Potato latkes. These delightful fried potato pancakes have been a favourite side dish of mine since I was a young girl. I remember my mom making them for dinner and me eating several of them!

We ate them for lunch, but they make a great side dish to any main course. Give them a try or let me know below how you like to make these delicious potato treats!

Potato Latkes

Ingredients
4 medium potatoes peeled 1/2 onion fined diced
1 egg yolk
2 tbsp flour
salt and pepper
vegetable oil

Directions
Heat a skillet over medium high heat and place about a tablespoon of oil in the pan and cook onions until soft and translucent, about 2-3 minutes. Set aside.

Grate the potatoes with a cheese grater into a medium bowl. Place the grated potatoes in a tea towel or cheese cloth and squeeze out as much water as possible. Place them back into the bowl and add in flour, onions, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Add in the egg yolk and stir until all ingredients are combined.

In a large skillet, heat about an inch of vegetable oil over medium heat. Take about two tablespoons of the potato mixture and press flat into the hot skillet.  Cook for about two minutes or until they edges appear brown. Flip and cook for another two minutes. Place on a plate lined with paper towels to drain. Serve with sour cream or apple sauce.

Makes about 12 – 15 medium latkes.

Polish Pierogi

Christmas is fast approaching and with the shopping, busy school schedule, and prepping for vacation, I am finding myself slightly overwhelmed. This will be my third Christmas away from my family back in Canada and it’s the one holiday I have the hardest time missing. Being in Korea hasn’t been all that difficult for me as far as adjusting to living in a different country and I haven’t had a difficult time with homesickness, but Christmas is my favourite holiday and there are so many things I miss. I miss our annual tree trimming party and helping prepare all the wonderful trays of food, the smell of a real tree filling our living room, the beautiful flower arrangements my dad makes every year, the decorations…so many decorations, my family, and last but not least, our traditional Polish Christmas Eve dinner.

Our family Christmas Tree a few years ago.

Every year on Christmas Eve, my mother’s side of the family used to get together at my Babcia and Dziadzia’s house to celebrate. We would eat a feast of fish and at least four kinds of pierogi that my Babcia spent all day making. When I was younger I didn’t care for fish, so that meant my plate was filled with pierogi. In fact, my cousin and I used to compete to see who could eat the most. I’d like to think I won every year, but who knows. Now that my grandparents have passed away, and the children have grown, the tradition has lost some of its magic. My mom still makes pierogi and my cousin has made some too, but none will ever be as fantastic as my Babcia’s. Every year that I have been away from home that tradition is the one thing I miss the most.

This year, I will be in Korea on Christmas Eve, so the Simmering Seoulmate and I spend one afternoon making some pierogi, so that I can have a little piece of home this Christmas. We made the classic potato and cheese filled ones and saved some of the mashed potato and made some feta and spinach ones, too. Check out the recipe below to see how to make these polish delights! Merry Christmas.

Polish Pierogi

Ingredients

Dough 4 1/2 cups flour 3/4 cup warm milk 3/4 cup warm water 2 egg yolks 3 tbsp melted butter 1 tsp salt

Potato and Cheese Filling 1 onion, finely chopped 1/4 cup butter 6-8 potatoes 1 cup grated cheddar cheese salt and pepper to taste

Directions
Dough: In a large bowl, combine egg yolks, milk, water, and butter mixing well. Stir in flour and salt. Knead for 5 minutes on a lightly floured surface or until ingredients are well combined and the dough is smooth and soft. Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl. Cover with a kitchen towel and let rest for 30 minutes.

Filling: Meanwhile, peel and cut potatoes into large pieces. Place potatoes in a large pot of water. Bring to a boil and cook for 15-20 minutes or until soft. Mash potatoes in the pot with a potato masher. Sauté onions in butter over medium heat until they are soft and clear. About 2-3 minutes. Add them to the mashed potatoes. Stir in cheddar cheese. Add salt and pepper to taste. Let filling cool.

Once the dough has had time to rest, working with half the dough at a time roll it on a floured surface to about 3mm thick. Cut circles in the dough using a round cookie cutter (or if you don’t have one, use a cup like I did).  Place a tablespoon of filling in the center of each circle. Fold over creating a half circle and pinch the edges closed. If eating right away, cook pierogi 10 at a time in a large pot of boiling water for about 5 minutes or less. You will know they are ready when they float to the top of the water. Stir a few times to prevent sticking. Serve with sautéed onions and sour cream. If you are freezing them like we did, place in a single layer on a parchment paper liner cookie sheet and freeze overnight. In the morning, move frozen pierogi to a zippered freezer bag. If cooking from frozen, they may need a few extra minutes in the boiling water. Enjoy!

Makes about 6 dozen.

Lemon Chicken Fillets

Today’s post is a quick and easy dinner option for you; Lemon Chicken Fillets. They are delicious and easy to make. You can serve them with a variety of side dishes and vegetables. Check out the recipe below.

Lemon Chicken Fillets
3 large chicken breasts
zest of 2 lemons
2 eggs
3/4 cup flour
1 cup panko bread crumbs
1/2 tsp parsley flakes
oil for frying

Cut your chicken breasts in half lengthwise Tip: If the chicken breasts are still a bit frozen they are a lot easier to cut in half. Season with salt and pepper. Heat about a 1/2 inch of oil in a pan over medium high heat to shallow fry your fillets. Combine panko, lemon zest, and parsley flakes in a large bowl or shallow dish and set aside. Pour flour into another shallow dish. Wisk eggs together with a fork in one last dish. Dip each fillet into the flour, then the egg, and then the panko mixture. Last, fry in oil for about 3-4 minutes on each side. Serve with a lemon slice.

Makes 6 fillets.

Sausage and Fennel Pasta

This pasta dish is one of my absolute favourite dishes to eat. The licorice taste of the fennel compliments the spiciness of the sausage well. However, living in Korea comes with sacrifices on readily available ingredients that I can easily get back home in Canada, so I’ve only made this pasta twice in Seoul. I don’t shop at the foreign food marts that often as they are expensive and honestly I usually end up spending too much money on things I don’t need…like $7 bags of Salt and Vinegar chips. Anyway, The Simmering Seoulmate and I happened to be at a store in D-Cube that always sells fennel and grabbed a bulb (along with some other fresh goodies, as mentioned in my previous post). Also, this weekend, we visited one of our favourite places to grab a cocktail, Bulldogs in Iteawon, and stopped in at Highstreet Market on our way home. Highstreet sells a lot of great deli items, including their homemade spicy Italian sausages which are delicious and have an affordable price tag. After picking up the sausages I was extremely excited to come home at make this dish. (Special thanks to the Simmering Seoulmate for doing most of the chopping) You should definitely try making this dish on a crisp fall evening and don’t forget to pour yourself a glass of the red wine too!

Sausage and Fennel Pasta

Ingredients
1/2 fennel bulb

1 onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic minced
1/2 tbsp fennel seeds
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup red wine
Two 400ml cans plum tomatoes
One 500 g package of rigatoni



Directions
Heat oil in a large pan over medium high heat, add chopped onion and sauté for a few minutes. Remove sausage from casings and add to pan. Use a fork to break up the meat and stir continuously, until almost cooked. Add fennel, garlic and fennel seeds. Cook for a few minutes and then add wine. Boil until wine is almost all evaporated and add the cans of tomatoes. Use a potato masher to smash the tomatoes in the pan. Simmer sauce uncovered for about 15-20 minutes. While the sauce is simmering bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and add your pasta. When pasta and sauce are finished cooking, pour sauce over past and top with parmesan cheese. Enjoy!

Makes 4 hearty portions

Chicken and Basil Pizza

Yesterday, the Simmering Seoulmate and I were craving a nice homemade pizza. We had some red onion, red peppers and fresh basil left in the refrigerator, so we decided to combine them. The basil was a lucky find from a small grocery store at D-Cube in Sindorim. I’ve added it to pasta dishes and really enjoyed it. Fresh herbs are hard to come by in my area, so I’d hate to see them go to waste. We also found fennel! I can’t wait to make one of our favorite sausage and fennel pasta dishes soon.

I hope you are having a great month and enjoying some cooler weather. This pizza is easy and delicious. Enjoy!

Ingredients
1 ball of pizza dough (I used this recipe from Bobby Flay which makes enough dough for 2 pizzas)
1/4 cup tomato sauce
2 cups shredded pizza cheese
2 chicken breasts cooked and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1/2 red onion cut into thin slices

1 roasted red pepper finely chopped
handful of fresh basil

Directions
Preheat oven to 400 ̊F (200 ̊C). Roll out your dough and place it in your desired pan. Spread tomato sauce over the dough. Sprinkle the cheese evenly over the pizza. Add red onion and roasted red pepper. Spoon the chicken over the pizza. Cook pizza for about 25 minutes. Add the fresh basil leaves after the pizza is removed from the oven.

Makes 1 pizza.

Twice "Baked" Potatoes

         Woooooo weee! Hello! It’s been a busy few weeks. I have been traveling to Hong Kong, catching up with work, and celebrating. The weather here is still hot, but is cool in the morning and at night. I’m looking forward to all things fall, as it’s one of my favourite times of the year.

          My trip to Hong Kong was absolutely amazing, with a minor setback (more of that later). I would 100% recommend travelling to Hong Kong if you can. The Simmering Seoulmate and I spend a wonderful five days in Hong Kong at the beginning of September. We saw amazing skyscrapers, walked around down by the harbor, sailed on a boat, rode the Peak Tram, visited the Big Buddha, and of course went to Disneyland! I wanted to do a whole post about the delicious dim sum and other Chinese food that we ate in Hong Kong, but unfortunately I came down with food poisoning the night after our big dim sum meal. But, don’t worry, I've still been cooking and have a recipe to share with you today.    

The Simmering Seoulmate and I found these enormous potatoes at our local mart. We have also made a trip to Costco recently and purchased a bunch of staples and a few other treats, like bacon and cheese! One night, he was craving twice baked potatoes so I whipped up a very indulgent version of them below which included both cheese and bacon, yummy!

So technically these are only once baked, because I was feeling lazy, but they were delicious all the same. I made the mistake of cutting the potatoes in half before microwaving them, don’t do that. The tops dried out and were a bit difficult to scoop the potatoes out of the skin.

Ingredients
2 enormous potatoes
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese
3 sliced of bacon
3 tbsp milk
2 tbsp butter
1 tsp garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste
2 green onions chopped

Directions
Step 1 - Place your potatoes on a dish and stab them with a fork a few times. Microwave them for eternity, because that’s what it felt like waiting for these monsters to cook through. But, really microwave them for about 20 minutes. While the potatoes are being zapped, fry the bacon until crispy and cut up.

Step 2 – Preheat oven to 400ºF or 200 ºC. Scoop the potatoes out of the skin leaving about 1/2 a centimeter still attached and set skins aside. Add the milk, butter, salt, pepper and garlic powder to the potatoes and mash until there are no huge chunks.

Step 3 – Add the mashed potatoes and top with grated cheese, bacon pieces and green onions. Pop into the oven until the cheese is bubbly. About 10 minutes.

You can serve these with sour cream if you like, but we ate them as is. I hope you enjoy these as much as we did! Enjoy!

Makes four huge portions

Quinoa Stuffed Peppers

Happy Sunday everyone! Last week, I made stuffed peppers for the second time. They are quickly becoming a weeknight dinner favourite in my house. They are fairly easy to put together and you can add whatever kind of meat and veggies you’d like. The quinoa really fills you up! This is a dish that can be made vegetarian by simply skipping the meat. I hope you give them a try.

Ingredients
1 cup quinoa
2 cups vegetable stock
500g ground pork
1 head of broccoli chopped
½ onion finely diced
4 cloves of garlic
4 large red peppers
Pinch cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp chili powder

Preheat oven to 400  ̊F. Add quinoa to vegetable stock and bring to a boil. Turn heat down and simmer on low for 15 minutes. While the quinoa is cooking, steam broccoli for about 10 minutes and chop into small pieces. Cook onions and garlic with ground pork in a frying pan with a splash of olive oil and some salt and pepper, until the pork is no longer pink. Cut the tops off the peppers and use a spoon to scoop out the seeds. Once your quinoa is finished cooking add the pork mixture and steamed broccoli and stir to combine. Spoon the filling into the peppers until filled all the way.

Topping
3 tbsp panko breadcrumbs
2 tbsp parmesan cheese
1 tbsp butter
½ tsp Italian seasoning

Melt the butter and combine ingredients in a bowl. Sprinkle on top of the stuffed peppers and bake for 30 minutes at 400  ̊F

After stuffing the 4 peppers fully, there was some filling left over, which I ate later that week for lunch, but you could definitely stuff 6 peppers if you wanted too.