Hoddeok 호떡 - Sweet Korean Pancakes

Recently last year, I got into K-pop and Korean dramas.  It all started with Personal Taste, a drama that my aunt recommended to me.  Ever since that drama, I have been watching many other Korean dramas.  My addiction led to an interest in Korean food and desserts, so as I was watching Maangchi's videos on cooking, I discovered this recipe for hoddeok 호떡.  When I found this recipe though, I was still at my college dorm.  So once I got home, I was catching up on the posts of people I follow and I saw the same recipe on Lena's blog. :)   This spurred me into action and I decided to make the pancakes in a couple of days.

The pancakes were easy to make and they turned out okay.  I really liked how the brown sugar melted in the pancakes, giving a nice caramelly filling.  The walnuts also gave the pancakes a bit of a crunch, in contrast to the soft texture of the pancake.  However, something I was unsatisfied with was the texture of the pancake.  The pancake was supposed to be soft and fluffy, but some of mine turned out chewy.  I'm guessing it's because of the squishing during the frying process, but I'm not sure, so I plan to try out this recipe soon again.  I just looked at reviews of this pancake and it turns out it is supposed to be a little chewy.  Anyhow, this recipe is really easy and the end result is tasty. 

Hoddeok
호떡




Recipe from Maangchi 

Oreo Swiss Roll Cake

Merry Christmas everyone!  I hope you all had a great time spending your day with family and friends.  There are many things to be thankful for, especially Jesus' birth.  I can't believe the year passed by so fast and we are quickly nearing the end of 2011 and the start of 2012!  I hope you all have a great last few days of 2011.

Since it is Christmas, I thought it would be fitting to post a recipe for an Oreo swiss roll cake because it resembles the yule log cake that is popular during this time  I have always wanted to make a swiss roll cake, but the thought of rolling up the cake and having it crack always deterred me from making this cake.  In addition, the many eggs that this type of cakes requires always scare me due to my fear of messing up the cake and wasting the ingredients.  However, I finally made this cake due to a carton of heavy cream that needed to be used up and a dinner party that I was going to attend.  I easily found the recipe for the Oreo swiss roll on Honey Bee Sweets.  (Btw, this post is alllll the way from September, Labor Day weekend.  I am sooo behind.)

This cake was easier to make than I expected.  I thought it would take around 3 hours, hands on, to make it.  However, I was able to finish making it in around 2 hours.  This cake turned out to be a pretty successful cake, ignoring the cracks that is.  I loved the texture, it was soft and spongy, not dense at all.  The oreo heavy cream filling sandwiched in the roll had a pleasant taste to it; it was mildly flavored and just right, not too sweet.  The oreos and cream tasted like cookies and cream ice cream, especially after you refrigerate the cake.

Here's the recipe for you to enjoy. :)  Thank you Honey Bee Sweets for sharing this delicious recipe!  I posted up a brief summary of the directions to help make my pictures more understandable.  Please refer to Honey Bee Sweet's recipe for the ingredients and better instructions. 

Oreo Swiss Roll
Recipe from Honey Bee Sweets

Steamed Peach Buns 寿桃 II

Recently, I just started college!!  It's definitely a new, exciting experience to go through.  College is somewhere that people have to become more independent.  The teachers now don't remind you to do your homework and things like that.  They now expect you to do everything and if you don't do it, a bad result on a test is what you get.  So after starting school back in September 22, I was "busy" with other things like getting used to college, dorm life, and making friends.  School isn't that hard, at least not as hard as I expected.  I'm enjoying school life I guess.  I'm dorming and I have two other roommates.  We get along really well. :)  I'm have lots of fun with them; they always make me laugh.  Also, my hall activities are pretty fun too.  Since I'm in an all-girls hall, the only all-girls hall in my school, my whole hall is pretty close.  We even had a hair and nail polish night where we just had fun.  Oh!  I also got a new job, at the Student Center.  Yesterday was the first day I worked and it was pretty interesting.  I think I like my new job. :D  Anyway, that's basically what has been happening recently, just wanted to keep my readers updated.  Now....on to the recipe. This is the one that is a continuation from my red bean paste post.

On September 9, I decided to make steamed peach buns, aka 寿桃, again because it was going to be my boss' and grandma's birthday.  Last time I made them, I messed up because it was too cold, so I didn't let the buns rise for a sufficient amount of time.  However, this time they were successful!  Both recipes are for sure very reliable.  Feel free to try both of them out.

Steamed Peach Buns 寿桃 II
Recipe from Vivian Pang's Kitchen.
 
 

Red Bean Paste

Hi  everyone!  It seems like I'm taking longer and longer breaks.  :/  Don't worry though, I'm not quitting yet.  If I do, I'll warn you in advance. :P  So just to ease back into blogging, I'm going to share a really simple recipe that I used to make red bean paste.  This little post will be followed by the real deal in a couple of days.  I won't tell you what it is now; you'll find out in a couple of days.

I got the recipe from Christine's Recipes.  Right over here.

Red Bean Paste

Ingredients
Red beans
Water
Rock sugar or regular sugar

Directions
Depending on how much red bean paste needed, adjust the recipe.  The amount of water needed in proportion for the amount of red beans is 3:1.  Remember to soak the red beans for a couple of hours before cooking the beans with an ample amount of water.  Don't cook too long so that the water evaporates and the beans are about to burn.  Cook it until the water is gone and the beans are soft.  If the beans are still pretty hard, add more water and continue cooking.  Make sure to keep an eye on the red beans.

After the beans are cooked, add sugar and mix until the sugar dissolves.

Then smush the red beans with a spoon or ladle until the red beans become paste.



Tada!


Easy peasy! :D  Btw, I forgot to add the sugar when the water was halfway gone.  So I added the sugar at the end.  If you happen to forget, don't worry about it, it's fine.  Have a great week everyone! :)

California Sushi

On the day of Mother's Day, my dad and uncle planned to make dinner for our moms (my aunt, my mom and my grandma). After I discovered that my uncle was going to make sushi, I rushed over to his house to learn how to make it. When I was little, I thought sushi was disgusting. However, after trying my uncle's sushi and tasting the weird, orange fish eggs, I found that sushi isn't that bad. Now I even go to eat sushi buffets!  I still don't like sashimi though.

The most complicated part of sushi is prepping. Cooking the rice, slicing the cucumber and avocados, cooking eggs, and etc. I think it is totally worth it though. If you go out to buy sushi, you spend $5 on a few pieces alone. If you make it yourself, you can make several rolls with $5 of ingredients.

California Sushi
Recipe from my uncle, who got it from a church friend

Makes 10 rolls, each roll may be sliced into ~10 pieces