i never understand the saying that contrary to cooking, you have to be precise in baking. so you must stick to a recipe a 100% in the latter.
naturally speaking you will yield to the closest results when sticking to a recipe (and if i don't run out of some ingredients or the recipe turns out not trustworthy i always do...).
but taking 247 gr of four instead of 250 gr is as discretionary as it would be in cooking, i think.
and also i don't get why measuring by volume should be trickier than measuring by weight. american baking recipes with cup measurements are great fun to me. i always use a little glass as utensil and it never failed.
sometimes i make a dough on a gut level which is practical to use up some ingredients.
for this sweet bread i stirred up apple puree (selfmade and passed over), quince jam, mashed banana, two eggs, a hint maple syrup, little canola oil, baking powder, baking soda, pinch of salt with whole spelt flour. and out came a wonderfully moist cake bread with a complex fruit aroma. the only disadvantage of intuitive baking - you can't make the exact same thing again although you wished :)
anke gröner reminded me that i haven't had tofu for several weeks. how is that possible?!
while making this dish i had to think of jean-george vongerichten's ginger fried rice introduced by mark bittman and smitten kitchen. an equally simple but genius treat.
find the original recipe here.
side note: as can be seen by this dish, "plenty" isn't only mediterranean. not at all.
lacking time is no excuse not to eat your veggies, okay? what is easier than eating raw food??
just as foggy winter weather is no excuse.
if you are lulled because of too much time spent in heated rooms and because of insufficient daylight, devouring hot stews or dampfnudeln is contra-productive. afterward you will long for the bed even more. i am speaking of own experiences ;)
instead a crunchy sour salad will wake you up like one round outdoor swimming. so why not start a day with it.
in the picture: some spinach, slices of celery stalks, spring onion, parsley, 1/2 blood orange, black pepper with 1/2 mashed avocado (no dressing because of laziness).
ramyun does not equal ramen. the first name derives from the latter but while the japanese usually associate a delicate noodle soup with it, koreans exclusively mean highly addictive junk food.
(if it wasn't addictive why would there be ramen blogs since 1997? an era when i didn't really know about the world wide web, let alone weblogs...)
the ramyun addiction could be the reason why koreans don't nourish healthier than other people. the traditional cuisine, that is, low-fat, dairy-free and vegetable dominated.
there is no possible situation where you would turn down a bowl of ramyun or cup ramyun.
breakfast, lunch, dinner, as main dish, as dessert, after holidays when you are almost fed up with festive foods, after a carousal...
always having in mind how harmful the stuff is (contains saturated fat plus flavor enhancers) we still enjoy it.
thus since longer time i tried to make ramyun myself according to the ingredients' list on the package.
with ansung tang myun, which is a fishy type, it worked out really well. it takes 10 min to make while the processed one (see comparison pic) would take 5 min. i can live with that :)
directions:
1) per each serving bring 1/2 liter water to a boil.
2) meanwhile add 1/3 tsp minced garlic, 1/3 tsp minced ginger (i rarely can be bothered to peel and mince them, so i keep both stored this way) 1/2 tsp black pepper, 1/2 tsp sugar, 1 tsp red pepper flakes (gochugaru), 1 tsp wakame, 2 tbsp soy sauce and optionally, 1 tsp vegetable oil.
3) with a scissor cut some spring onion into the pot. with a vegetable peeler add some carrot juliennes.
4) as soon as the broth cooks add asian wheat noodles. (haven't found tasty ramen noodles yet, so i take udon. my favorite brands are japanese and they are steadily disappearing from the markets here. which is very depressing and makes me feel sorry for the japanese and become even more depressed about the environmental problems but that is another chapter.)
5) after the noodles are getting softer (will take around 5 minutes) lower the heat and add 1 tbsp miso. stir well and cook for another 2 minutes.
6) pour everything into a bowl and garnish with fresh onion rings and sesame seeds (attention: this step is not authentic ;)).
note 1: eat it with kimchi (if not selfmade, i can totally recommend this brand which gets luckily more and more easy to find in the groceries).
note 2: koreans use steel chopsticks (wooden and plastic ones only when they are on the go...). and to clarify this as well, we never use these porcelain "asian spoons".
note 3: if the serving was not filling enough, one would dump cooked rice into the broth and eat the rest as cooked rice usually is on hand in a korean household. apart from that there is no reason to eat remaining ramyun broth.
note 4: korean snack bars usually offer ramyun as well as kimbap. if you have both one would (after having eaten the noodles) dump the kimbap into the remaining broth (it's great fun and not as freaky as it sounds but you don't have to...).
most likely i cannot settle back until i possess all the acclaimed new cook books of this season. the vegetarian cookbook by alice hart is no exception. full of beautifully presented unfussy recipes with a twist. what's not to like about it?
i had kept cooked spelt in the freezer since a longer while and have finally found out what to do with it. this wonderful spelt salad from the book consists of oven roasted shallots, carrots, walnuts and dried apricots (switched to them for the suggested plums) and is mixed with goat cheese, cress (instead of the suggested parsley as i had none) and a garlic-mustard-vinegar. nice takeaway, too.
