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KFC Korean Fried Chicken

June 13, 2021 by admin Leave a Comment

The other day I had a rushed introduction to making KFC – Korean Fried Chicken wings. Thanks to COVID lockdown, a lunch meeting moved from Gami Chicken to Zoom. I was challenged to make my own fried chicken so I did.

Korean fried chicken is a serious thing, apparently. I’ve never eaten it or made it! There are a million recipes online.

The chicken part of the recipe came from Donna Hay here. I chose it because it was a single fry and seemed relatively simple. It was pretty good, but not enough coating stayed on the chicken. And next time I want to try double-fried.

The sauce recipe came from the Great British Chefs website here. Such a great source for recipes. You’ll see that the chicken coating involves more work so I’ll try that next time.

The sauce was brilliant. You need to keep a tub of Korean gochujang chilli sauce in your fridge. It took me ages to find some, but now finding some is quite easy, as long as you know that it is a paste in a tub. Where the recipe says “ketchup” I used BBQ sauce not tomato sauce. Sesame seeds added on top.

I’ve since discovered that we have a good local Korean restaurant, and they deliver! So this week I’m going to have real KFC for the first time!

Steamed Pork Buns

June 13, 2021 by admin Leave a Comment

I have a goal of becoming a bun gun. That’s right, a dumpling king. It’s going to take years of practice so I might as well get started. Neil Perry’s Spice Temple is my guide. It has a great array of different kinds of dumplings with recipes for dough and filling. The other night I made these northern-style buns.

The filling is made from pork belly braised in a kind of master stock and then shredded and mixed with reduced cooking sauced, thickened with potato starch. The recipe said to simmer for 20 mins but mine took closer to 90 mins to become soft.

But this post is all about the bun itself. The recipe requires Hong Kong flour. I had no idea what this was, and after some research, found out that it is low in protein, lower even that 00 flour, but that would be a good substitute. However in the baking section of your supermarket, you will hopefully find this Lighthouse brand flour for Cake, Sponge and Steamed Bun! Yes! I’m sure that there is actual Hong Kong flour is Asian supermarkets, but this will do for now. You’ll note that it is self-raising flour.

Making the buns
The recipe is as follows and supposedly makes enough for 30 buns. I made half the quantity as there are only two of us.

500g or 3 1/2 cups of flour
1 tsp caster sugar
1 tsp dried yeast
300ml warm water

Sift flour and sugar into a bowl.

Dissolve yeast in water. Stir into the flour and mix together. Knead on the bench for 10 minutes (or put it into the bread machine as I did.)

Wrap in cling film and rest for 10 minutes.

Punch down the dough and knead for another five minutes.

The recipe says to divide into golf-sized balls. I made 16 that were smaller than golf balls. How big is a golf ball these days anyway?

Roll out each ball to 10cm diameter. The recipe said to fill with 2 tablespoons of filling, but my amount was more like 2 heaped teaspoons.

I’ve not had lessons in how to make these things. I should look on Youtube. Anyway I pull up the edges and then try to crimp/fold around the diameter and then at the end twist the top together. They’re not perfect but they’re OK. Leave them for 5 minutes to rise a bit….

Sardines on Toast

May 24, 2021 by admin Leave a Comment

Sure, it’s more fancy than sardines on toast. The dish is based on a recipe from The Sydney Broadsheet cookbook published by the Broadsheet City Guide. I have both the Sydney and Melbourne cookbooks which are. full of excellent cafe and restaurant meals – tasty, complex, and capable for home cooks.

I love sardines. Healthy and sustainable seafood. And on this occasion, available at the old price of $7 per kilo. And by now I know how to prep sardines. Really.

The original recipe had the butterflied sardines stuffed with a coriander and almond meal pesto. I made a basil and pine nut pesto (garlic, no cheese).

The base is puff pastry topped with a beetroot relish, and I’ve made a similar recipe before. Here’s the cookbook version.

Beetroot Relish
60ml olive oil (recipe says 80ml but it was too oily at the end)
1/2 brown onion, finely diced
3 garlic cloves< finely diced
1 long green chilli, chopped (not sure how this is different from “finely diced”)
2 beetroots, peeled and grated (I used baked beetroot, and realised later that it probably meant raw beetroot)
2 tbsp dark brown sugar
1 tbsp coriander seeds, lightly toasted.
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper…

Pumpkin and Goat Cheese Ravioli

May 19, 2021 by admin Leave a Comment

We have a glut of pumpkin. Last night I made this easy and tasty cheat’s ravioli using gow gees dumpling pastry.

This made about 18 ravioli which is enough for 3 people. The quantities are all very approximate!

2.5 to 3 cups of roast pumpkin
100gms of soft goat cheese
2 to 3 tbsp grated parmesan cheese
1/4 cup pine nuts
Salt and pepper

You can vary the pumpkin and cheese ratio to your taste.

Mix these together well. You can also add something else – some grated nutmeg or lemon zest or a pinch or paprika or a few chopped sage leaves.

Make the ravioli, of course. Seal the edges with a little water.

Melt 1/3 cup of butter in a saucepan with 12-15 sage leaves (you may need to make more than one batch). Cook on medium heat until the butter is starting to brown and the sage leaves are crispy. Pour the butter into a bowl so it doesn’t keep cooking. You can warm it later if needed.

Cook the ravioli in gently simmering water. It will only take a couple of minutes.

Serve with the burnt butter and sage leaves and some shaved parmesan.