What is Banchan? Banchan (pronounced "bonchon") refers to the assorted sides served alongside a main course in Korean cuisine. About 2 to 12 banchan are served at any meal; are served in small portions, meant to be finished at each meal and are replenished during the meal if not enough. To me, the most important and well-known is kimchi, follow by cucumber kimchi ,daikon kimchi, soybean sprout salad, seasoned spinach and many more. As promised, i will try to post the banchan that i so often cooked when we have a korean bbq meal.
There are three dishes in Korean cuisine most people are familiar with. The first one is kimchi which is fermented spicy cabbage. The 2nd and 3rd most popular are Korean barbecued beef dishes, Bulgogi and Kalbi / Galbi. The primary difference between bulgogi and kalbi/galbi, is the cuts of beef used, although the marinate is the same.. Kalbi/Galbi uses short-ribs while Bulgogi is thinly sliced, against the grain rib-eye steak. The marinate makes these two types of beef, sweet, tender, juicy and makes a deliciously enjoyable eating experience. Originally cooked over a wood fire but when prepared in at home or restaurants nowadays, the meat is often seared on a special curved broiler plate/hibachi grill placed in the middle of the table, where each guest cooks his or her own.
Bulgogi and Kalbi/Galbi are served as a main dish with a bowl of hot steamy white rice or as a component in other Korean dishes such as japchae, lettuce wraps, banchan (an assortment of Korean side dishes), bibimbap, and kimbap to name a few. I will post some of the banchan recipes in my up-coming postings, so do come back for them.
I named this bread Flax-o-nana cos it is a banana bread with flaxseeds and oats added. I have heard so much about Flaxseeds, .is it the new wonder food? Some call it one of the most powerful plant foods on the planet.That’s quite a tall order for a tiny seed that’s been around for centuries.
I had wanted to bake healthy so this banana bread was baked with whole wheat flour, flaxseed meal, quick oats and instead of butter, i used olive oil. All healthy, healthy and suprisingly, it turned out very well and it was accepted by the family with no questions. The flaxseed meal was nutty and the bananas kept the cake moist. This recipe is definitely a keeper. i did bake a banana bread with whole meal flour before and it was a total disaster, the bread was dense, googy and whatever, it was definitely not a bread.. I have given up trying to find out what went wrong and brave myself to try this recipe. BTW, the disaster did not go to waste, it was recycled and became banana biscotti which turned out to be a hit.
Samosa, the delightful tasty little savory patty is a great gift to the world. from India. Samosa is so delicious and addictive that it cannot be mentioned in singular, Samosa, it has to be plural - Samosas, cos when served, - 'satu makan dua mahu" - in Malay, translated - 'you eat one and you will ask for seconds'. Samosas are cheap, easy to make and the beauty is, you can make them in so many different ways, each cook adding their own different signatures to this time honored patties. I have known Samosas as triangular patties made with popiah skin filled with spicy potatoes, peas and meat but my neighbor told me that the traditional Indian Samosas are made with homemade pastry and the shape is not flat triangle but more puffy, pyramid shape. When i heard, "traditional", i get all excited, i have to keep all sorts of tradition die, even it is not my tradition. This has been in my to do list for a long time and finally i gave these Samosas a try.
There are many right ways to make BBQ Ribs and it's all up to you and don't let anyone tell you that it isn't right. After all the best pork BBQ rib is the one you like best. So if you want them fall off the bone tender then make them that way. You can put sauce on them or not, you can make your BBQ Ribs spicy hot, or sticky and sweet, however, whatever.
I, for one does not like to buy store bought sauces and being part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program, I received KC Masterpiece Barbecue Sauce Southern Style for sampling. When i received it, it was the time of the week where i am cleaned out of fresh ingredients. I had no ingredients and no time too, i was kept busy making mooncakes but i had to prepare dinner. This bottle of barbecue sauce was beakoning - cook with me!, cook with me!. So, i defrosted some pork ribs
and took out the SLOW COOKER. Now all i needed was an onion, yes, there was an onion all alone in the basket. Thank goodness it was still good, you know how onions die on you fast. These 3 ingredients, pork ribs, onions and barbecue sauce, went into the slow cooker - set it and forget it. Dinner was served 3 hours later with the best tasting ribs ever. The sauce was just right, it did not need any adjusting, just have alot of napkins during dinner.
I saw Gale Gand of Sweet Dreams in The Cooking Channel one morning, baking this marble cake which she said was deliciously moist. I don't know why, but lately i was not able to make a pound cake which will marble the way it should. So, when i saw Gale Gand did it, i had to give her way of marbling a go. When i went into Cooking Channel for the recipe, then did i know who Lily was. When you all first read the title, you might have thought that i have named a marble cake after myself. How i wish!!!!!! I am not that talented to have created a recipe. I might have dished up some dishes for dinner, cooked with what i have in the fridge or the pantry but never create a cake recipe. I am so blessed to be able to go into the internet and find so many recipes that so many bloggers graciously and sincerely shared and i thank all of them.
My grandson, Alexander turned six on 26th July but his birthday party was posponed cos there was a freak accident which burned him quite badly. He had to have a skin graft and it was done a few days before his birthday. Thank goodness he has recovered well and we celebrated his birthday with several of his Grade 1 classmates. He wanted his cake to be like Renee's, with all the Pokeman characters but i told him that the cake will be too big and convinced him to have only Picachu and promised that Picachu will be playing tennis, his favorite (or his Dad's) sport, anyway his team was Sport Balls.
Brita Filtering Bottle As promised by Brita, this bottle does give you great-tasting water on the go, without the cost and waste of bottled water. The reusable Brita® Bottle filters ordinary water as you drink, to make tap water taste great anywhere. The best part is it’s BPA-free, dishwasher safe (top rack) and recyclable.
Clorox Disinfecting Wipes
I have bought Clorox Disinfecting Wipes before cos my grandchildren's school asked for them and it has to Clorox only. Now that i have used them, i know why the school wants this brand only. The Wipes did their job especially in the car, on ice-cream night.
Glad To Go Lunch - I think Glad has come up with this ingenious all-in-one solutions which made it easy to pack combos that you want to keep separated, like salad with dressing or soup with croutons. Glad® To Go Lunch features a large reusable plastic container, along with a dressing cup that snaps into the lid — perfect for holding condiments or toppings. Renee is pretty excited to pack her crispy shrimp fritters with the sauce separated.
All of these products are awesome tools for a busy working mom like me. Seriously, I can use all of the tools that I can get.
Disclosure: I received these items as samples for review purposes on behalf of the DailyBuzz Moms Tastemaker Program. All opinions are mine
When Don from Simplybest From Food and Life posted Gravlax, i told her that i have not tasted Gravlax before and she gave me a lengthy tutorial on how to cure the salmon. Don and I chat on skype ever so often and it does not necessary the both of us, when we see Peng online, she will be added to the conference and the three of us will chat until the cows come home, that is 'the cows in Germany'. I knew Don from way back when food forums were very popular, we were very active members and we met many other members who were just as passionate in cooking and baking. Although most food forums died naturally, our friendship continued to another level, we chat on skype.
Nothing new or exciting ever happen in Aurora(this is my opinion only) but when IKEA officially opened its store, almost all coloradans had to visit it and that included yours truly. It caused massive congestion, not only the traffic was affected, the queue in the food court was more than a mile long. My daughter, Sandra and i had ample time to choose what we would like to eat as the line was long.....and while we were nearing the dish that we like, the lady in front of us, pointing to the dish and saying out loud - How digusting !!!!!. Sandra looked at me and i returned eye contact with her and wondered???? What is wrong with the Gravlax Salad that we wanted to eat so badly? We looked at all the plates of Gravlax Salad on display, they looked perfectly fine. They turned out to be the best salad i have ever eaten.(i am not a salad fan). After tasting that delicious cured salmon, i thought of Don's tutorial and i must get some salmon fillets for curing. I have always mentioned to friends that if you wish hard enough, you will get your wish granted. I wished i had salmon fillets and i had a box of freshly caught salmon from Alaska, frozen and perfectly packed. Thank you Andy for fulfilling my wish, now i can make Gravlax . i did cure 2 pieces of salmon and they were better than what i had for lunch at IKEA. Thank you Don and Andy , i hope you will cure some following this recipe. This recipe is for one pound of salmon fillet and you would have to calculate the other ingredients according to the weight of the salmon fillets.
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Not Called Team CAN For Nothin'
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