Tag: appetizer
Black Bean and Chicharron Tamales
Black Bean and Chicharron Tamales
Tamales are one of my favorite Mexican foods. This tamales are so good that I ate the entire recipe over the course of 2 days when I made this. Black beans in tamales sound great to me, but when you mix in crushed chicharrones, the tamales are taken to another level! There is a lot of steps to making tamales. You definitely need to have patience when making these; but it will pay off in the end.Try making tamales in a banana leaf. It gives them a whole different flavor.
Servings: 16 tamales
Ingredients
- 2 cups masa harina flour
- 2 cups Mexican style black beans
- 2 cups chicharrones crushed
- 1 cup lard
- 3/4 cup chicken stock
- 3 green onion chopped
- 2 tsp salt
- 16 corn husks plus more
Instructions
- Boil enough water to pour over the corn husks. Weigh down the husks with something to make sure they are all submerged. I used the pot I boiled the water in. Soak for 45 minutes.
- Whip the lard in a bowl with a spatula until smooth. Add in the masa harina flour. Mix.
- Measure out 2 cups of chicharrones.
- Lightly crush.
- Mix the chicharrones into the dough.
- Mix in the black beans, green onions, salt, and chicken stock.
- Form a small turd-like dollop of the dough down the center of a corn husk.
- Fold the right side of the husk half way over the tamale.
- Fold the top part of the husk over the tamale.
- Roll it up.
- Do this until you run out of dough. This recipe yields about 16 tamales.
- Since I don’t have a proper steamer to steam these tamales, I used my sticky rice steamer. Fill the pot with 2 inches of water and bring to a boil. Layer all of the tamales so they are standing somewhat upright.
- Cover with any remaining corn husks. Put a kettle lid over the tamales. Steam for 1 hour.
- Let the tamales rest for 10 minutes before serving. Eat them in the husk. Top with sour cream and a salsa of your liking.
Sweet Pork Belly
Sweet Pork Belly (Moo Wan)
Moo Wan is a sweet Thai pork belly appetizer. This recipe is very easy to make and only takes very little time. I happened to have some rice noodles that I wanted to get rid of, so I put some of this pork belly over it, garnished with green onions. This would also be great over rice if you want to make this the main course.
Servings: 4
Ingredients
- 1 lb diced pork belly
- 1/2 cup shallots thinly sliced
- 2 tbsp light soy sauce
- 2 tbsp dark soy sauce
- 1/3 cup palm sugar
- 1 cup water
- 2 tbsp vegetable or canola oil
Instructions
- In a wok or saute pan heat cooking oil over medium high heat. Sauté the shallots for 2 minutes.
- Add the pork belly. Brown on all sides, 5 minutes in total.
- Add in light and dark soy sauces and the water. Simmer on medium heat for 10 minutes.
- After 10 minutes of simmering, add in the palm sugar. Let dissolve into the liquid and simmer for another 10 minutes.
- Enjoy your Moo Wan!
Kimchi Pancake
Kimchi Pancake
I was recently in Koreatown in L.A. at my favorite restaurant Yanji Gamjatang. It was 1 AM. I was stoneded and hungry. I ordered myself some bibimbap. While I was waiting for my food, a table across from me ordered a shit ton of food. One of the things they brought out was a giant kimchi pancake. It must of been more than 1′ in diameter. It looked absolutely amazing. It dwelled in my mind for 2 days until I decided to go back again. I ordered this pancake. As big as a steering wheel. It was so good. Slightly spicy from the kimchi. It was served with a simple dipping sauce made up of soy sauce, water, vinegar, sugar, and gochugaru. The next day after I came back home to MN, I instantly made homemade kimchi so I could make this recipe.Whatever type of ethnic cuisine that you are passionate about cooking, I recommend that you make a very small investment in the ingredients that make up what the food is. For Korean cooking, I suggest starting with korean salt, gochugaru pepper flakes, gochujang paste, doenjang soy bean paste, soy sauce, toasted sesame seeds and oil, salted shrimp, and a Korean pancake mix. I always have a ton of garlic, onion, ginger, cabbage, and green onions. 2 types of rice cakes and fish cakes in my freezer along with a bag of anchovy stock ice cubes.If you have all of these ingredients in your cupboard, this kimchi pancake is quite easy to make. You can definitely use a pre-made pancake flour if don’t want to make it form scratch. I like the price point of making it homemade, especially considering how many different types of korean pancakes I’ve been eating. The purpose of the sweet rice flour is to give the pancake an elasticity instead of making it fluffy. If you want your pancake to be less spicy, omit the gochujang paste. Other than this, make sure that your batter is thin. The goal is to have a thin and crispy pancake, not a thick and fluffy one.
Enjoy this recipe. It’s become one of my favorites.
Enjoy this recipe. It’s become one of my favorites.
Ingredients
Korean Pancake flour
- 3/4 cup wheat flour
- 2 tbsp sweet rice flour
- 2 tbsp cornstarch
- 1/2 tsp salt
Pancake batter
- 1 cup Korean pancake flour
- 1/4 cup sweet rice flour
- 1 tbsp gochujang paste
- 1/4 cup kimchi juice
- 1 large beaten egg
- 1 cup ice water
Pancake ingredients
- 1 cup kimchi
- 2 green onions chopped
- 1/4 medium onion sliced
Dipping sauce
- 1 tbsp light soy sauce
- 1 tbsp water
- 1 tsp vinegar
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1/4 tsp gochugaru pepper flakes
Instructions
Korean Pancake flour
- Mix all of the ingredients together. Set aside.
Pancake batter
- Squeeze out as much of the kimchi juice as possible a set aside. Thinly slice the kimchi.
- Mix all of the batter ingredients together.
- Add the kimchi, green onions, and onion to the batter. Mix thoroughly.
Cooking the pancake
- On a griddle or skillet over medium high heat, add 2 tbsp of cooking oil. Add half of the batter to the center of the pan. Move the pan around to let the excess batter go out to the edges. You want this pancake to be thin and crispy. Cook for 6 minutes.
- Flip. Using a wide spatula, press down across the top t help flatten the pancake. Cook for another 4 minutes.
- Serve with the dipping sauce.
