.: evil jungle prince :.

This dish of grilled Korean squid, or 오징어구이, is a good example of "don't have the right ingredient but I'll be damned if I'm not going to make due." Whole squid are totally impossible to obtain here in the desert, so I've instead used frozen calamari rings but prepared them in a Korean style. Aesthetically not the most beautiful dish I've prepared, but oh my gosh was this delicious...

I really could not eat this fast enough. A few years ago, I would have told you I disliked squid. But now I'm a huge squid fan and I can never get enough. And fortunately, this particular batch of squid was tender beyond belief. Savory, salty, sweet, and tender with just a little bit of chewiness -- ahhhh! So delicious.

I have tried similar Korean recipes in the past but I was disappointed by the consistency of the squid as well as the marinade sauce. In this recipe, I loved both. The squid are kept tender by a combination of parboiling (quickly) and grilling. The seasoning was also heartier and zestier than what I've tried before. I will be making this again.

1. Begin by parboiling your squid very briefly. Drain and set aside.

2. Mix the marinade by combining 2 tsp gochujang, 2 green onions (sliced in large pieces), 1/2 tsp sugar, 2 tsp soy sauce, 1 tsp chopped garlic, 1/2 tsp sesame oil, 1/2 tsp sesame seeds, and a dash of black pepper.

3. Heat a grill and grill until the squid begin to blacken.

By the way, my new hobby is learning Korean! And guess what? Youtube has a fantastic series of shows devoted to just that. How cool is that?

Wish me luck!

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 06:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

Last night we were invited to a neighbor's cocktail party. I'm notoriously ill-equipped to cope with social events like these, so I'm thankful I can at least communicate with food. To my great delight, my gỏi cuốn (Vietnamese summer rolls, sometimes called Vietnamese spring rolls) were a huge hit! Everyone gobbled them up very quickly and the praise I received was overwhelming.

Gỏi cuố are unfried wraps typically made with pork, shrimp, herbs, rice vermicelli, and other ingredients wrapped in rice paper. My version is the halal version, omitting pork completely.

They were served with a spicy peanut sauce -- sorry, I don't know the Vietnamese name for it. (If you know, please let me know.) This dipping sauce is a mixture of peanut butter, hoisin sauce, fish sauce, garlic, and chili. Believe me when I say the combination of the fresh, cool, herby summer roll dipped in this spicy, savory sauce is a match made in heaven. Honestly!

I'll frankly state here that making Vietnamese summer rolls is a royal pain in the you know what. At the same time, they are so very delicious that they are worth the effort. To prepare them, you will need some patience and practice. Also it is necessary to prepare all of your fresh ingredients in advance, as the wrapping process is a quick process. Wait too long and your rice wrappers will get soggy.

1. Start by preparing your shrimp. These are dropped into boiling salted water until they turn pink. Remove, rinse with cold water, and drain. Pull of the tails and slice in two. Set aside in the refrigerator.

2. Now prepare your fresh ingredients. In a line of bowls, prepare little piles of the following: fresh cilantro with stems removed, fresh mint with stems removed, romaine leaves with the rib removed, crushed peanuts.

3. Now it's time for the difficult part. You will need Vietnamese rice paper rolls and rice stick noodles. These can be obtained at Southeast Asian grocer and sometimes at American grocery stores in the Asian food section. Starting with the rice stick noodles, remove one sheet. Bring a large pot of water to boil. When it boils, turn off. Bend the rice noodle sheet into the pot until it's submerged and cover with a lid. After five minutes of soaking, pour out contents and strain. Rinse noodles with cold water to stop them from cooking. Drain. Place in a bowl next to your fresh ingredients.

4. And now the rice paper rolls. Everybody has their own method, but here's one the works perfectly for me. In a large pan, bring water to a boil. When it boils, turn off flame. Dip one half of the rice paper roll into the water quickly and remove. Rotate. Do the same with the second half. Now place the wet roll on a plastic cutting board. The roll is now ready to be wrapped -- what is happening while you take time to roll it is it's getting softer and softer. By the time you have stuffed it and are ready to roll, the rice paper is ready too. Fill the bottom portion of each rice wrapper with each ingredient. I like to begin with three shrimp so that they 'show' through the wrapper when wrapped. Rice wrappers are rolled just like burritos. Roll from the bottom once to cover the ingredients. Now pull in the sides and roll the bundle upwards, pulling in the sides tightly all the way up. Be sure to wrap the roll tightly or it will look sloppy.

5. Now that your rolls are done, you can refrigerate the rolls or leave them out while you prepare the peanut sauce. This is easy and can be made according to taste. The general makeup is one half peanut butter, one half hoisin sauce. Begin by frying some garlic in peanut oil, add the peanut butter and hoisin sauce, and supplement with some chili (for heat) and fish sauce (for saltiness) to taste.

What do you like to to stuff inside your gỏi cuố?

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 08:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (9)

Mom is visiting this week for the holidays, so I've been thinking hard about what types of food that everybody can enjoy. The holidays also allow for a little free time in the kitchen to do some experimenting, which I always enjoy. This meal was the result of these energies: Greek fried fish in olive oil with a skordalia sauce and Turkish dandelion green salad.

Turkish Dandelion Greens Salad

This dish was easy and was prepared in advance, as its served cold. (This dish's preparation, although Turkish in origin, is strikingly similar to Korean food. Just as garlic and salt would be used in Korean cooking, sesame oil is swapped out in favor of lemon juice.) The taste of these greens is slightly bitter but very pleasant!

1. Blanch the dandelion greens in boiling water for a few minutes until soft.

2. Remove and rinse with cold water. Squeeze out excess fluid.

3. Combine with olive oil, salt, and lemon juice to taste.

4. Place into rerfrigerator and chill until ready to serve.

Skordalia

Skordalia is another easy portion of this dinner which was prepared in advance. It provides a starch base for a protein dish and is also a great way to use up stale bread. It's also an interesting and delicious alternative to the standard rice or potatoes.

1. Soak stale white bread in water, crusts removed.

2. Squeeze out excess fluid and place into food processor, together with two cloves of sliced garlic.

3. On a slow setting, puree, adding olive oil, lemon juice, and salt to taste.

Greek Fried Fish in Olive Oil

This fish may look terribly unhealthy but in reality it's fried in olive olive. So don't feel guilty.

1. Combine 1 scant cup of flour, some salt, pepper, 1 tsp olive oil, and 2/3 cup warm water. Fold in one egg white. Allow the batter to sit for one hour.

2. Place white fish into batter, then dust with plain white flour.

3. Fry fish in olive oil for about 3-4 minutes on each side, or until crispy.

Be sure to garnish everything at the end with some Italian parsley and fresh lemon slices for color and in case guests would like more citrus taste on the fish.

I would say this combination of foods was successful; everybody finished their plates except for mom, who did not eat all of her dandelion greens. She did not say so, but I think they were a little too bitter for her taste. I jokingly told her she was not allowed to leave the table until she finished eating them. Isn't role reversal great?

And what have you been eating for the holidays?

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 08:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

This is one of my "standard fare" dishes which I've made many, many times over the years so it comes as a surprise I've never actually blogged about it. It's a classic comfort dish which is absolutely perfect for a very cold day like yesterday. It's called Garides Saganaki, or Greek shrimp au gratin with feta. Supposedly it began as a tourist dish in Greece but was later adopted as a classic meze, or side dish appetizer.

My favorite way to eat this dish is with some freshly baked white bread. Hot from the oven, the warm pieces can be used to soak up the au gratin flavors.

1. Start buy preparing some shrimp and set aside. Cut one white onion into pieces and dice about 6-7 tomatoes, set aside.

2. In a pot or wok, heat some Greek olive oil and saute 2-3 cloves of garlic. Add onion and cook briefly. Add shrimp and cook until they are pink. Add tomatoes and 2-3 tsp salt to taste, 1 tsp sugar. Cook mixture until the tomatoes begin to cook down a little.

3. Place the mixture in an au gratin plate and top with a little feta cheese. Place into a preheated oven at 425F and bake until the mixture is bubbly and the cheese begins to melt. Remove and top with Italian parsley. Serve with fresh white bread.

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 05:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

I'm of the opinion that some dishes simply make themselves. A combination of weather and ingredients on hand seems to cause a sort of culinary kismet. Today my "destiny" dish was kimchi jigae (김치찌개), or kimchi stew with mushrooms and tofu.

I had to run over to Riverside today to inventory somebody's personal archives, which happened to be a in a dark, cold room. (The great irony of my career is that for somebody who detests the cold, I am always finding myself in cold environments.) After finishing up, it's all I could but think about some nice, hot meal that would warm up my insides. Back at home, the ingredients available in my refrigerator rang out like a symphony composed to tempt and taunt the salivary glands: tofu, kimchi, fresh mushrooms, garlic... of course I had to have kimchi jigae.

This batch was particularly delicious because the last batch of cabbage kimchi I made was my absolute best. If I continue the trend anyway, I believe I've finally learned the secret of top quality kimchi and this only lifts up such dishes to another level entirely.

1. I began by pouring 1-2 tsp of sesame oil into a ceramic vessel, heating the oil, and sauteing fresh onion and 2 cloves of fresh garlic. I then added some freshly cut mushrooms.

2. Once the mushrooms just began to lose some fluid, I added fresh kimchi, 1-2 tsp of powdered chili pepper, and a small amount of water that would fill the vessel about 2/3 full, and tofu. (I also added a little sea salt to taste.) The contents were then simmered until the stew was piping hot.

So easy, simple, filling, and delicious.

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 02:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Last night I experimented with a new cuisine -- Balearic. (And no, I didn't listen to techno music while I prepared the meal.) What I ended up preparing was Coca, which is a kind of Balearic pizza made without cheese.

Mine was topped with spinach, fresh tomato, pine nuts, and plenty of olive oil. (I also couldn't stop myself from throwing on some fresh slivers of garlic.) This dish was prepared by:

1. Mixing 1 tsp sugar with 3 tsp yeast and a little warm water, allowing the yeast to bubble up.

2. Mixing in 2 1/4 cups of flour, 1 cup warm water, 2 tsp olive oil, and 2 tsp white wine to make a dough. The dough was allowed to rise once, double, then shaped into a flat pan shape. The dough was thin pricked with a fork all over and allowed to rise again inside the pan.

3. Finally the dough was topped with olive oil, blanched spinach, fresh tomato, pine nuts, salt, pepper and baked for 20-25 minutes at 390F.

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 06:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

As I'm not a huge fan of chicken, I experimented with this recipe with a sense of hesitation. I was actually proceeding with the goal of using up the remainder of my anaheim peppers and to make use of the lemons outside which have just turned fully ripe recently, but to my surprise I ended up absolutely loving this dish. Using up ingredients and turning out a great meal is definitely a win-win!

Even better, it was quick and easy to prepare. Cypriot style oregano chicken (kotopoulo me rigani) can be prepared as follows:

1. Cut chicken breasts into cubes and marinate in a mixture of 4 tsp Greek olive oil, 2 tsp dried Greek oregano, salt, and pepper to taste. Cover bowl and allow to sit for two hours in the refrigerator.

2. Skewer the marinated cubes and any fresh vegetables you have on hand -- I used anaheim peppers which I felt really made this dish special. Tomatoes, mushrooms, or zucchini would also be great.

3. Grill skewers for 15-20 mins, turning frequently.

I served mine with some Greek style spinach rice -- this is also very easy to prepare and makes for a hearty meal:

1. Place 1/2 cup of Greek olive oil in a pot and briefly fry 2 cloves garlic and 1 minced onion.

2. Add 2.5 cups water, a bunch of spinach, and a bunch of dill. (Okay to use canned spinach or dried dill if you don't have fresh on hand.) Bring to boil.

3. Add 1 1/4 cups long grain rice, stir in. Add salt and pepper to taste. (I used about 2 tsp salt.) Cover and simmer on low.

4. When the rice is done, serve with freshly squeezed lemon juice on top.

Posted by Evil Jungle Prince at 02:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)