Napa Cabbage Kimchi

At last, I mastered the art of making napa cabbage kimchi!  Or something like that.  For years, I've tried to make my own kimchi at home and it always turned out mediocre.  Then I finally found a recipe that sounds close to the real deal and I tried making it.  I was really happy with the results.  Now I'll never have to buy expensive kimchi and I can make extra to share with family and friends!

This recipe uses the whole cabbage fermenting method.  I wanted to make it easier to serve and mix with the kimchi paste so I cut the cabbage into bite-sized pieces before brining it.  I skipped the first five steps and followed the instructions from her Easy Napa Cabbage Kimchi recipe instead.

Napa Cabbage Kimchi
From Aeri's Kitchen

Main Ingredients:
1 large napa cabbage (4 lb)
2 cups Korean radish
1 cup garlic chives
5 green onions
3/4 onion
2 hot peppers

Brine Ingredients:
10 cups Water
½ cup coarse sea salt (for salt water)
⅔ cup coarse sea salt (for sprinkling)

Sauce Ingredients:
2 cups water + (3 T water and 3 T sweet rice flour)
¼ sweet apple + ¼ onion
1¼ cup coarse red pepper powder
1 - 2 T sugar
¼ - ⅓ cup fish sauce
3 T garlic, minced
½ T ginger, minced
½ T salt
2 T sesame seeds

Directions:

1. Remove any bad parts from the napa cabbage.
2. Divide the napa cabbage into 4 pieces. 
3. In a huge bowl, combine 10 cups of water and ½ cup coarse sea salt to make salt water. Stir until the salt is dissolved.
4. Prepare ⅔ cup coarse sea salt. Divide the salt evenly for 4 pieces of cabbage. Sprinkle the salt inside each leaf. Put more salt on the thicker parts than the thinner parts. This step is important to make kimchi. The right amount of salt and time to marinate the cabbage will change the results of your kimchi.
5. Dip the cabbage in the salt water. Put something heavy (like a big pan full of water) on top of the cabbage to keep them under the brine. That will help the cabbage to get salted better. Leave it for 4 to 5 hours until the cabbage leaves become a little soft.
6. Rinse the salted cabbage twice in water.
7. Drain the water, and set it aside for about 2 hours until more of the water drips out or you can squeeze the water out.
8. Mix 3 T of sweet rice flour and 3 T of water.
9. In a pan add the mixture and 2 cups of water. Boil it until it makes bubbles on medium. Keep stirring it so that it will not stick to the bottom.
10. Cut the radish very thinly into 2-inch lengths.
11. Cut 5 green onions the same length as the radish.
12. Cut the garlic chives into 1½-inch pieces.
13. Cut 2 hot peppers thinly and slice ¾ of an onion thinly.
14. Grind ¼ of an onion and ¼ of a sweet apple.
15. In a big bowl, add the rice flour mixture, 1¼ cup of red pepper powder, and 2 cups of radish. Mix everything together.
16. Add the rest of the ingredients: chopped onion, hot peppers, garlic chives, green onion, onion & apple mixture, 1-2 T sugar, ¼ - ⅓ cups fish sauce, 3 T minced garlic, ½ T minced ginger, and 2 T sesame seeds. Mix all of the ingredients well. Taste it and adjust taste, adding more salt if needed.
17. Spread some of the mixture into each leaf of the cabbage. Make sure all of the surfaces get covered in the sauce.
18. Put the kimchi in a glass jar or container. Keep the kimchi at room temperature for about a day, then put it in the refrigerator. It will take several days to a week until it is properly fermented depending on your refrigerator’s temperature.

Eat your kimchi with rice or as a side.  I made kimchi fried rice because it's so easy and simple to make.  All you need is chopped kimchi, overnight rice, green onions, kochujang, sesame oil, and a fried egg.  Sometimes I like to add spam to my kimchi fried rice.  So ono!

Zucchini Muffins

It's been a while since I baked so I decided to dust off my mixer and muffin pan for some yummy zucchini bread. I was looking back and noticed that I made zucchini bread when I first started this blog. I must have been very lazy at that time because I didn't post the recipe.  I couldn't recall where I found the recipe so I had to sort through all my printouts in my old recipe binder and tada!  I found it!  I've adapted the recipe to include whole wheat flour and less sugar.

Zucchini Muffins
Adapted from Joy Joy of Baking


1/2 cup walnuts, toasted and coarsely chopped
1 medium zucchini, grated
1/2 cup peeled and grated apple (about 1 large apple)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 cup canola oil
3/4 cup granulated white sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup shredded coconut (sweetened or unsweetened)


Preheat oven to 350 F and place rack in center of oven. Coat each muffin cup with cooking spray or butter.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, ground cinnamon, and nutmeg.

In a separate bowl, beat the oil, sugar, eggs, and vanilla extract until well blended (about 2 minutes). Beat in the grated zucchini and apple. Pour in the flour mixture, beating just until combined. Then fold in the nuts and coconut.

Distribute the batter equally into the muffin cups, filling them up to the top. Bake until the bread has risen and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 25-30 minutes. Place on a wire rack to cool for about 5 minutes and then remove the muffins form the pan and let cool.

Makes about 12-14 muffins. (I had more batter than was needed for 12 muffins so I made a couple of mini muffins).

Spaghetti with Kale and Tomatoes

It's kale time again!

Spaghetti with Kale and Tomatoes
Adapted from Real Simple


Ingredients

6 oz whole-grain thin spaghetti
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 medium red onion, thinly sliced
4 cloves garlic, chopped
dried chili flakes
salt and black pepper
1 bunch kale, thick stems removed and loosely chopped
Roma and grape tomatoes
1/3 cup chopped roasted almonds
parmesan cheese

Directions

Boil water in a pot and steam the chopped kale for about 5-8 minutes; remove. Cook the pasta according to package directions in the same pot. Reserve ¼ cup of the cooking water and drain the pasta.

Meanwhile, heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onions, garlic, chili flakes, and salt and pepper to taste. Cook, stirring occasionally, until lightly brown, 4 to 5 minutes. Add the kale and cook, tossing frequently, until tender, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the tomatoes and cook, tossing frequently, until the tomatoes begin to soften, 1 to 2 minutes.

Add the pasta and reserved liquid to the kale mixture and toss to combine. Toss in almonds and garnish with parmesan cheese.

Serves 4

A Simple Pizza Dough Recipe

I made a pretty darn healthy pizza last week. Can something like pizza even be healthy you ask?  It is to me if you are making the dough from scratch using whole wheat flour and topping it off with choke vegetables like tomatoes, mushrooms, asparagus, onions, and olives. Oh yeah, I also used the cilantro pesto I kept in the freezer from the batch I made in my previous post.

We enjoy making our own pizza at home because you get to customize it the way you want.  We even do pizza potlucks with my family to see what creations other people come up with. I've tried many pizza dough recipes and this one is foolproof. This recipe uses a KitchenAid stand mixer but since I don't have one I just kneaded it by hand and it turned out just fine.

The Best Pizza Dough
From Eat, Live, Run

Makes 2 large pizza doughs

Ingredients:

2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tbsp olive oil
1 1/3 cup warm water
1 packet yeast
1.5 tsp sea salt

Method:

In a mixing bowl, combine the warm water and yeast.

Stir in the salt and flour and mix on medium high speed on your KitchenAid for 5 minutes. While the mixer is going, drizzle in the olive oil.

When the dough is soft and elastic, take out of the bowl, rub with olive oil and then place back in the bowl, cover with a dish towel and let rise for one hour.

After the dough has doubled in size, cut in half to make two large pizza doughs or make mini doughs. You can also freeze whatever dough you're not using in a freezer bag for another time. When you are ready for your pizza, roll out the dough, cover with your toppings and bake at 425F for 10-15 minutes.

Is Kale the New Spinach?

Remember the first time you had broccoli or spinach as a kid?  I don't know when or how it happened but at some point while growing up, I finally appreciate all the health benefits I reap from eating these leafy green plants.  I'm trying to eat my 5 a day as much as possible but rising food prices is making it hard to eat healthy these days.  My sister and I drove by this produce stand yesterday and I was so glad that we turned the car around to check it out.  I could hardly believe my eyes when I saw kale for
$0.89 a bunch, onions for $0.25/lb, and zucchini for $0.69/lb, just to name a few.  I was so happy to go home with a $6 bag full of fruits and vegetables!  It totally made my day.  

I've been hearing a lot of rave about kale these days and it really got me interested.  Of course, I can never buy them because they are expensive and rarely go on sale.  I was really excited when I brought the kale home and decided to cook them right away for dinner last night.  Now it's my turn to rave about it.  Did you know that kale is chock full of antioxidants, vitamins, and calcium compared to spinach? This is the meca of all superfoods!  This is how I hype up vegetables so my husband will eat them.

The vegetable itself is kind of tough and bitter so I've found out that you only eat the leafy part and discard the stems and center ribs.  They are often times sauteed or steamed and even baked into crispy kale chips.  I decided to sauté them with garlic and onions with some chili flakes and paprika seasoning.

Sautéed Kale with Garlic and Onions
Adapted from here and there

1 pound kale, tough stems and center ribs discarded and roughly chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 onion, chopped
2 garlic clove, minced
Pinch of red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp salt

Cook kale in salted boiling water for about 5-10 minutes, then drain.  Heat olive oil in skillet on medium high heat and sauté onions and garlic until tender.  Add red pepper flakes and paprika.  Stir in kale for a couple of minutes and add salt to taste.