.: evil jungle prince :.

Kkaennip (깻잎 or 들깨), otherwise known as Korean shisho, perilla, beefsteak plant, and even wild sesame, is part of the mint family and is used as a topping in Korean cooking. Another use is to make it into kimchi (깻잎 장아찌).

I began growing kkaennip in my garden a year or two ago when I started preparing dishes which called for it as a topping. Kkaennip grows remarkably well over the winter in the California desert, maturing in late February. It enjoys full sun with relatively cool temperatures. (It seems to prefer sandy cactus soil over normal vegetable soil.) It does not like hot weather, however, and will go to seed immediately if planted past March.

Kkaennip kimchi, according to my cookbook, is prepared by collecting mature leaves, rinsing them, and tying them together with string. (It's important to leave some stem intact for this purpose.) They are then rinsed (dipped) as a group in a salt water brine to prepare them for pickling.

The leaf bundles are then mixed with the seasoning, which is prepared by:

1. Mixing rice porridge (a teaspoon of rice flour + a little water stirred over flame until it thickens slightly), 2-3 tsp fish sauce, 2 tsp red chili flakes, 1 tsp red chili powder, 3 tsp garlic, and 1 tsp ginger.

2. Mixing the seasoning throughly and then interleaving it between the kkaennip leaves.

3. Placing the seasoned leaf bundles in a covered container and weighing them down with a heavy plate or bowl. Cover. Allow to ferment (according to taste preference) and eat over a period of time as a sidedish.

This is my first attempt at making kkaennip kimchi and I'm really excited to try eating it in a few days. I have sampled canned kkaennip kimchi but have never eaten this dish fresh. Considering that I love the taste of fresh kkaennip and love the taste of kimchi, I think I am destined to enjoy this immensely.

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 06:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Last night I discovered an eggplant that needed immediate attention so I decided to make myself a meze (snack) plate. At the center here are tzadziki (Greek yogurt seasoned with grated cucumber, salt, garlic, olive oil, and lemon) and baba ganoush (Middle eastern eggplant puree). Surrounding the two dips are some finger sized pita bread pieces seasoned with olive oil and zatar and baked until slightly crispy. A bit of flat leaf parsley was added for color and flavor.

Baba ganoush is such an easy and tasty dish that it's an old standard around my household. I don't think I've met a person who doesn't like it. It's prepared by:

1. Slicing a large eggplant in half, sprinkling the halves with olive oil and baking them at 350F until they turn a golden brown on top. Remove, cool, and scoop out the flesh. Press with a fork in a strainer to release excess water.

2. Puree very briefly the flesh with a clove of garlic, salt, olive oil, cumin, lemon juice, and 2-3 spoonfuls of tahini. Don't over-puree so that it's stil a little chunky.

3. Serve with a bit of olive oil and paprika on top.

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 07:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (9)

Sure, it may difficult to post a picture of soggy bread and make it look appetizing too, but please take my word that this poutinga (Corfu bread pudding) was outlandishly delicious and went just perfectly with a little cup of espresso.

I'll post the recipe a little later, but this poutinga is made with orange zest, vanilla, sugar, raisins, prunes, and is topped with an apricot-citrus sauce. The walnuts on top add a bit of crunch.

Wow, this was so damn tasty. Have you ever eaten something that instantaneously transports you to a distant place which is somehow familiar through taste and texture? This feeling, which I don't have a name for, is what struck me as I bit into this poutinga. Its flavors were so vibrant and unexpected.

After a four day weekend, preparing myself for work is a struggle. But the poutinga made it much easier. There is a lot left over, so I think I'll take the remainder to my co-workers and let you know what they think when I update this entry with the recipe. I have a feeling they're going to appreciate this one.

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 07:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

The thought that I was in New Orleans only a week prior to the disaster still haunts me a bit. I always wonder about the people I saw -- where are they now? It is hard to reconcile the vivid memories I have of that city with what what I've seen on television.

I can't say I'm a huge fan of Cajun cooking, but one dish which left an impression on me was gumbo. To be honest, the gumbo I ate there was pretty bland and boring, but as I ate it I thought to myself: "This could be an excellent dish if prepared properly." I assumed I was eating watered down tourist fare. What got me excited about it however was the unique blend of spices. These flavors were fairly alien to me in a good way. I left the restaurant feeling disappointed but inspired at the same time.

So today, a few months later, I tried cooking gumbo myself. Wow. Awesome. I can now declare that I love this dish. What my restaurant version was lacking I kicked up a couple notches here -- heat! In place of bland bell peppers, I instead utilized jalapeno peppers. I also replaced the suggested canola oil with an infinitely more flavorful virgin olive oil. This was a departure from authenticity, I admit, but my approach to cooking has always been about catering foods to one's own taste.

1. First I prepared a "roux" by sauteeing olive oil and a bit of flour. This was stirred continually until it turned a rich brown color.

2. Next was added 1 onion, 2 celery stalks, 3-4 jalapeno peppers, 3 cloves garlic, and black pepper to taste until the vegetables began to soften.

3. Gradually I stirred in in a mixture of vegetable broth, 3-4 diced tomatoes, 2-3 tsp Worcestershire sauce, 1-2 tsp Tabasco sauce, 1 small can corn, 9-10 cut okra, 1 tsp basil, 1 tsp thyme, 1 tsp cumin and 2 bay leaves. This was then covered and allowed to simmer for 20-30 mins. Shrimp were added a few minutes before serving. (Add salt to taste.)

Damn spicy and totally rockin' in taste! Serve with a few spoonfuls of white rice on top.

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 05:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (7) | TrackBacks (1)

What happens when you fuse together the aromatic spices of Indian chai, black tea, and sweet bread? The answer is a delightfully spicy sweet bread which will knock your socks off in terms of its sheer flavor power.

At times I get cravings that demand immediate attention. Yesterday I heard a voice from somewhere deep witin my soul shout: chai! I had to have these flavors straight away, and as I began brewing my black tea I began to wonder what else might be made with that classic flavor combination of cardamom, cloves, cinnamon, sugar, cream, and tea. As my tea brewed, I stumbled across this recipe.

1. Combine 3/4 cup sugar and 1/2 cup (unmelted) butter. Beat until fluffy.

2. Mix in remaining ingredients: 2 eggs, 1/2 cup black tea, 1/3 cup milk (I used soy milk -- see below for reason), 2 tsp vanilla extract, 2 tsp baking powder, 3/4 tsp ground cardomom, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon, 1/4 tsp ground cloves, and 2 cups flour.

3. Bake at 400F for 50-60 mins or unti ltoothpick comes out clean. (For convection ovens, I suggest 380F and 40-50mins.)

By the way, you may have noticed that most of my dishes are dairy free, with the exception of recipes utilizing yogurt which I buy imported from Greece. This is intentional.

Recently I became aware of the fact that American milk producers now inject rBGH bovine growth hormone into milk producing cows in order to increase milk production. rBGH hormone is not destroyed by the pasteurization process and also causes mastitis in hormone-treated cattle, resulting in the contamination of milk with significant levels of pus. Mastitis requires the use of antibiotics to treat, which leaves residues that are also passed on through milk consumption. This is why American milk is banned in Europe.

I encourage everyone in the U.S. to learn more about the use of rBGH hormone in United States dairy farms, in order to come to your own enlightened conclusions. Do compare Codex Alimentarius Commission's opinions (i.e. the outside world's opinions) with the shameless propaganda produced by corporate lackeys at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 07:52 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

With hundreds of newly ripe lemons available on the two trees in my backyard, I began to contemplate how I might make imaginative use of at least one or two of them. This is how I decided on today's lunch, which was potato and pea samosas with fresh cilantro relish. Both dishes use fresh lemon juice.

After grabbing a samosa pastry recipe from Hooked on Heat blog, I prepared the samosa stuffing with another recipe I had on hand. It varied a little from Hooked's recipe in that it used fresh green chillies and amchur (dried mango powder). I opted for this recipe because yesterday saw the arrival of a shipment of spices from iShopIndian.com and I was subsequently anxious to try using amchur for the first time. After taste-testing the filling, I was so glad I did. In times past when I have tried making samosas, there has always been something missing. This was it -- joy! It tasted just like an Indian restaurant samosa. This could be dangerous.

I ate my samosas with a fresh cilantro relish, which totally made the dish complete with its zesty, tangy taste-spike of fresh herbs and lemon juice.

1. To make it, I first fried a dried red chili, 1/4 tsp cumin seeds, 4 curry leaves, a bit of dried coconut flakes (in place of fresh shredded coconut which I lacked), 1/4 tsp fennel seeds, 2 tsp sugar, and a little salt to taste in a few drops of oil until the coconut turned brown. This was removed and then placed in the food processor.

2. I next added a bowl of fresh cilantro leaves and a handful of fresh mint leaves. To this I added the juice of two fresh lemons and pureed. This mixture was then chilled.

These were wonderful to eat. Samosas are one of those classic memory foods for me; biting into one brings back a flood of past sensations. My mind always associates the subtly-spiced taste of samosas with England in particular, where they can be purchased at every corner store. Sure, they may be deep fried and terribly unhealthy, but we have allow ourselves an indulgence from time to time, don't we?

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 01:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I must have been peering into the future a few days ago when I made up a new batch of kimchi (paech'u mak kimchi, or cut and jumbled style kimchi). With all of its garlic and ginger, Korean food makes for such excellent comfort food when one is feeling under the weather. Go figure I'd start to develop a cold on the same day my kimchi was ready to eat.

But what to eat with it? After a little thought I decided on tuboo steak, or Korean tofu steaks with yang nyeom jang sauce. These are easy to make if you have some firm tofu lying around and make for an excellent vegetarian dish, either as a banchan side dish or as a meal unto themselves with a big bowl of rice. What really makes these special is the yang nyeom jang. The pungent, salty, hotness works as a great counterpoint to the subtle taste of the tofu.

1. Prepare the nang nyeom sauce by mixing 3 tsp soy sauce, mincing one green pepper, 1 tsp green onion, 1 tsp crushed garlic, 1 tsp chili pepper, 1 tsp roasted sesame seeds, and 1 tsp sesame oil. Set aside.

2. Cut firm tofu into squares. Sprinkle on a little salt and pepper, and then coat them entirely with flour. Dust off excess flour and set aside.

3. Heat oil and fry the tofu steaks until they are quite crispy/firm on either side. Drain off excess oil by placing on paper towels. Drizzle on nang nyeom sauce upon serving.

Recipe: Tuboo Steak
From: Korean Cooking for Everyone
Page: 60
Recipe Rating: **** (four stars)
<--- click for more info on this book

And here is the cabbage and radish kimchi (섞박지)which just became ready to eat today. This type of kimchi requires only 2-3 days of maturation before it is ready to eat, unlike other types of kimchi which require many weeks. It is considered a "popular daily kimchi," according to my kimchi cookbook. It's also a little different in that the cabbage is broken into pieces before the 'so' (seasoning) is added -- most cabbage kimchis are left semi-intact, the so (seasoning) added between the leaves. In this case, the leaves are broken and jumbled together with the so, crisp radish pieces, and green onion.

I was pretty happy with this kimchi!! The taste was refreshing and light, and the addition of the radish cubes only accentuated these tastes and textures. This combination really made for the perfect under-the-weather meal.

Recipe: Paech'u Mak Kimchi (Cut & Jumbled Kimchi)
From: Kimchee Cookbook
Page: 114
Recipe Rating: **** (four stars)
<--- click for more info on this book

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 06:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Last night I was an experimentation mode and decided to try something entirely new. Armed with half a durian and inspired by a muffin recipe I'd been eyeing which used jackfruits, I thought I'd give "durian breakfast muffins" a go. I'm so glad I did, because these were simply delicious!

1. In a mixer, I combined 1 cup flour, 1/2 cup durian pulp, 2 eggs, 2/3 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup coconut milk, 1 tsp baking soda, 1/4 tsp salt, and 1/4 tsp vanillla extract. The contents were then poured into a muffin pan.

2. This was then placed in the oven at 325F (310F for convection ovens) and baked for a little over 15 mins.

Man alive, did these smell great! Self restraint was in order, however, as I had been drinking while making these. Not wanting to combine alcohol and durian consumption (a terrible mistake I naively made before which made for my most commented-upon blog entry ever, long ago), I held off until this morning. Biting into the durian muffins released a whole rainbow of complex, heaty flavors! After a bite or two, I immediately had a mad craving for banana, which I ate along with my muffin. Sure enough, a quick lookup online confirmed that banana is considered a cooling food. Amazing what our bodies tell us if we listen, isn't it?

By the way, if you're not familiar with the famous durian fruit, the picture above shows some other Flickr user's durian fruit stall picture. I have yet to try a fresh durian -- my muffins were made from frozen durian because it is impossible to buy them in the desert -- but I anxiously await the opportunity. Personally I think the taste of durian is fabulous. Yes, it may be frightfully pungent in smell and yes, if looks could kill it would easily wipe out entire villages, but the durian is a confirmed friend of mine.

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 07:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (13)

With the weather outside so utterly ideal today (80F, sunny, with cool breezes), I am channeling Greece today in a big way. It's for this reason I decided to prepare midia saganaki (μύδια σαγανάκι), otherwise known as Greek mussels au gratin.

I'm still aglow after eating this dish... heaven. This dish is typical of what I like about Greek food: the combination of simple ingredients, fresh herbs, and a bit of pungency thrown in. Nothing is complex about it, and yet as with all Greek dishes there is a real cacophony of flavors here. On the surface a contradiction in terms, perhaps; Greek food however accomplishes this somehow.

1. To prepare this dish, I began by adding the mussels to a pot with a small amount of water. Once they were steamed and opened, I removed the mussels, removed the mussel meat, and rinsed thoroughly. The leftover stock from the pot was poured through cheesecloth and then set aside.

2. Next I chopped four tomatoes and sauteed them in butter with a little Italian parsley, adding a bit of salt and pepper to taste. After they broke down, I reintroduced the musselstock and reduced until the mixture began to thicken. I then added half a teaspoon of sugar and 1 tsp of vinegar, a necessary souring agent in this dish.

3. Finally, I placed the mussels in a gratin dish and poured the thickened tomato mixture over them. This was baked for 15 mins at 350F. At that time, feta cheese was added to the top and the dish was baked for an additional 15 minutes. A bit of fresh parsley was added as a garnish.

Make sure and eat this dish was lots of crispy bread to soak up the gratin. I can also personally suggest a nice cold beer. :-)

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 12:50 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

I'm a devoted beer drinker, but things didn't start out that way. When I initially began uncorking, I devoted myself to the art of mixology. And boy did I give a lot of parties back then. Perhaps I will again when this house remodel ever gets finished?

Anyway, I was playing around last night with iDRINK's cool functionality that allows a person to enter in all of one's available household liquor. Once an inventory is completed, out pops a list of cocktails that can be prepared with them. When my list done, I of course had no choice but to make this particular cocktail based on its name alone.

Bald Woman Cocktail

0.25 shot Grapefruit Juice
0.75 shot 151-proof rum Rum

Combine with ice and shake.

To all the bald women out there (and their admirers), this one is for you -- cheers.

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 07:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (7)

This amazing book I just received from Amazon has again managed me to get excited about my other great love, Greek cooking, so I thought I'd act in my impulses and try baking a Greek Easter bread called Tsoureki since I happened to have all the ingredients on hand.

I've linked to the recipe above -- I won't reprint it here as I'm still experimenting with it, altering it to suit my tastes by omitting egg yolks and milk. (I used egg whites and soy milk instead.) I'd say I still have a ways to go in tweaking the recipe to my personal preferences, but the first try turned out pretty well. The combination of anise, orange peel, and almond is really an amazing one.

One problem that I have is the 'conversion challenge' presented by my convection oven. Normally recipes can be easily altered to suit convection ovens by lowering the temperature by 20 degrees or so, but in the case of baking it is always the case that my bread crust browns far too soon. Subsequently, in order for the bread to become thoroughly baked, the crust becomes far too hard and brown. I need to figure out a solution to this.

Lunch today was again bibim naengmyun, in an attempt to use up as much as my kkaennip as possible while it's fresh and available. The peppers here are from my garden, too: the gochu fresh from the vine, the sliced jalapenos frozen over the winter in my freezer.

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 02:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

It has been deliciously warm today, with mid-afternoon temperatures in the mid-80s and no wind at all. For the first time this year, I opened all the doors of the house, welcoming in not only the fresh air but the sounds of singing birds, all seemingly as happy as I am about the warm temperatures.

My garden is likewise coming alive now. While the herbs were the first to really spring to life, they are now being following by the cacti, agaves, and chili pepper plants.

Last year my Korean gochu chili pepper plant (고추) fruited for the first time. It produced about 20 gochus, long and crispy. Taste-wise they are a rough equivalent of shishito peppers, with barely any heat noticeable to the tongue. I made kimchi with those that were harvested. I was curious though to see how long it would take the remaining peppers to turn that incredible lipstick-red color, so I left a few on the vine. To my surprise, it took three months of winter for them to achieve this.

The hue of this red just gives me goosebumps. Glad I have the camera to capture it!

Today I noticed that the plant is also producing its first new crop of gochus. Can't wait to try some new ways of preparing them, besides kimchi. Perhaps lightly grilled with some bonito flakes on top?

My aloe vera plant is also breaking out in color. A few days ago it shot out this long, flowering shoot. It's no wonder there are so many hummingbirds around, as they absolutely love when the agaves begin to flower -- the buds are ready-made them. (By the way, the broad leaves in the background belong my new avocado tree. It is also flowering so I'm crossing my fingers for at least an avocado or two this summer.)

My aloe plant actually came with the house when I bought it, so to speak. Though very little of the former owner's flora/landscaping exists now, this plant was found growing from beneath a wall that separates my house from the neighbor's property. It was oddly healthy for where I found it, so I placed it into a container where it has been growing happily for the past four years.

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 03:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

As usual, I was craving coconut in a big way today. This craving of mine in turn got me looking at coconut recipes on Recipezaar in an attempt to locate an interesting recipe that would satisfy my insatiable appetite for coconut. Stumbling across this recipe, I wondered if I wouldn't be able to notch up the coconut factor by using a real coconut.

1. I began by using a hammer to whack open a fresh coconut. It fell cleanly into two pieces, coming pre-scored from the grocery store. I then used my handy-dandy scraper tool and scraped out the coconut meat for use in the muffins. Mmmmm, coconut!

2. I then preheated the oven to 375F and placed 1 1/4 cups flour, 2/3 cup sugar, and 1 tsp baking soda in a mixing bowl. Set aside. In a blender, I briefly blended 2 ripe bananas, 1/2 cup butter, 1 egg, and a dash of vanila concentrate. I then combined the two and mixed,, adding 1/2 cup of the freshly grated coconut near the end.

3. After dividing the batter into paper cups, I then placed the remaining fresh coconut on top of the muffins. These were baked for 25 mins.

I was pretty happy with these. The taste of the freshly grated coconut really made the dish, although if I were to bake these again I would leave out a lot of the sugar. The called-for amount of 2/3 cups sugar was too sweet for my taste, although most of my countrymen would probably beg to differ.

Because somebody asked, here is a photo of the scraping tool I used on the coconut (see wooden tool at bottom). The upper part of this wooden tool is what I used to scrape the coconut, which did a fine job. The bottom portion, by the way, is used for shredding green papaya and does a far better job than anything else I own. This is one of my favorite kitchen gadgets and likely the most useful and valuable 99 cent purchase I've ever made. It's from the Philippines. (Can't remember what it's called though?)

The plastic tool up above is another one of my don't-know-what-I-did-before-I-found-this tools. The serrated edge at the bottom is the best cucumber and daikon shredder I have ever used, although surprisingly it is terrible at shredding green papaya. The top portion which is a straight edge is used for skinning vegetables such as potato, carrot, daikon, and cucumber; alternatively it can be used to make very thin, sashimi-style cuts of vegetables. I love this thing and at $10.00, a wise investment. This one is from Japan and was purchased at Mitsuwa Department Store.

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 05:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

Now that it is finally starting to warm up a little here in the desert, my herbs are showing their appreciation by maturing vigorously. Although I planted a number of them this year, these two are the first to offer themselves sacrificially to my cooking altar. They are obviously the bravest of all the seeds I sowed.

Kkaennip ( 깻잎 or 들깨] ) remains my favorite herb -- yet another secret that the Koreans having been hiding from us Yanks for far too long. Its taste is similar to basil but more minty, and yet the overall taste is quite subdued. These are delicious chopped fresh on naengmyun and I can't wait to prepare my first dish of the year. (Last year I also made kimchi pizza using kkaennip in place of basil and felt it turned out smashingly.) As there seems to be some question whether or not kkaennip is the same herb as shiso (perilla), I'm going to refer to this herb by its Korean name from now on.

While I was visiting my mother this year and roaming around her favorite nursery, my eyes stumbled on a packet of mitsuba ( 三葉通草 ) seeds (Japanese trefoil). I planted them for the sake of experimentation and have been impressed how vigorously they are growing in our desert winter climate. I still don't have much idea of how I can culinarily utilize them outside of miso soup, but I'm looking forward to trying this herb out.

Anyone have any experience with or in advice on the use of mitsuba?

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 03:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)