카스테라 - Sponge Cake

I remember growing up in Korea, loving this sponge cake. I would eat it whenever I could, and savour the taste of soft cake melting in my mouth, and wash it down with a gulp of cold milk.

When my family immigrated to Canada, I didn't know the translated name of this cake, and the sudden change in food and culture made me forget about this cake. It was when I got into highschool and discovered the existence of korean grocery market in Toronto, that I rediscovered this sponge cake.

Recently, I bought a stand mixer, and this was the first cake I baked. And I was so pleased at how easy it was to make this cake with the stand mixer. It was always the meringue that was so labour intensive, and time consuming, with all the beating of the egg whites that it requires. I always got sore arm from beating the egg whites into stiff consistency.

Now with the stand mixer, I can bake this cake and enjoy the cake with ease. Why did I not purchase this mixer earlier? And to make it even more convenient, I make this cake in the pressure rice cooker, and the cake turns out very soft and moist! The wonders of technology even extends into the kitchen and I am loving it!

If you don't have a rice cooker, you can use a cake pan and bake it in the oven, at 374F for 30-45 minutes. I put 30-45 minutes, because the cooking time can vary depending on how small or big your cake pan is. The thinner the cake, the shorter baking time it requires and vice versa. You'll know that the cake is ready when the top of the batter turns golden brown.

I like to enjoy the sponge cake plain with a cup of black coffee, but you can put icing sugar on top, or put some almond slices on top just before putting it in the oven.

Enjoy!


Ingredients
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flour 2 cups
sugar 1 cup
eggs 6, separated into white and yolk
milk 1 cups
baking powder 2 tsp
olive oil 1 cup (or butter)
vanilla extract 2 TBSP

Instructions
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1. In a large bowl, mix flour, sugar, and baking power.

2. In a smaller bowl, whisk milk, egg yolk, olive oil together. If you have a mixer, whip this mixture in speed 6 until it turns creamy. Add vanilla extract and whip a little longer just to mix the vanilla into the mixture.

3. In a larger bowl, whisk egg whites and sugar, until a stiff peak forms when you take the beater out. If you have a stand mixer, beat the egg whites and sugar at whipping setting (speed 8) until the meringue turns stiff, and a peak forms when you take the whipper out of the bowl. This should take anywhere between 11-15 minutes. Make sure that the bowl is completely dry of any water or oil, otherwise the meringue will not turn stiff. Any drop of water or oil prevents the trapping of air bubbles during whipping.

3. Pour milk mixture from #2 into the bowl containing beated egg whites (#3), and mix well. Add the flour mixture (#1) into the bowl and mix well. Do not overmix, otherwise you run the risk of losing all the fluffiness of the mixture.

4. Add a coat of butter to the inside of the rice cooking bowl or a cake pan if you are using the oven. (I use butter flavour oil spray). If you are uisng a cake pan and an oven, it's also a good idea to line the inside of the cake pan with baking sheet (or parchment paper) to prevent the cake from sticking to the pan. Fold the paper and fit it over the inside of the cake pan like a glove. This cake is a light, fluffy cake so it can be difficult to separate the cake from the pan even if you coat the inside of the pan with butter.

5. Pour the complete mixture into the rice cooker bowl (or a cake pan).

6. Cook using the multi cook setting for 40 minutes. If you are using the oven, bake at 375F for 30-45 minutes.

7. When the cake is done, flip the rice cooker bowl upside down onto a cooling rack, and let cool.

8. Slice and serve with milk, coffee, or your favourite beverage.

Curried Braised Lamb Shanks with Dried Fruit

30 ml (2 tbsp) olive oil
6 (2 packages of 775 g each) lamb shanks
1 onion, chopped finely
15 g (1 tbsp) all-purpose flour
2 g (½ tsp) ground cumin
1 g (¼ tsp) Cayenne pepper (optional)
750 ml (3 cups) apple juice
2 Cortland apples, quartered
100 g (3 oz) dried apricots
100 g (3 oz) dried prunes
60 g (2 oz) almonds
10 g (1 tbsp) powdered curry
To taste salt
2 sprigs coriander, finely chopped

1) Brown lamb shanks with onion in very hot oil for 5 minutes, stirring (be careful not to burn chopped onions). Sprinkle flour, ground cumin, and Cayenne pepper (if using) and continue stirring. Add apple juice and simmer for about 45 minutes.

2) Add apples, dried fruit, almonds, curry and salt and mix well. Continue cooking for another 10 minutes.

3) Serve over a bed of Du Puy lentils or flageolets sprinkled with coriander.

6 servings
Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 60 minutes

-- From Canadian Living --

Cashew Beef on Skewers

Ingredients:

10 lbs bulgoki meat
10 TBSP Fish Sauce
10 TBSP Tamarind Paste
2 Cup Water
10 TBSP Sugar
1/2 cup bottled steak sauce
1/2 cup peanut butter
2 cups (before grinding) roasted cashews
5 tablespoons dark soy sauce

Instructions:
1. Marinate the meat with above ingredients the night before serving
2. Soak the bamboo skewers in water in the morning for few hours
3. Feed the sticks with the marinated meat.
4. Preheat the oven to 375F. Place the meat on a baking sheet and bake for 15-20 minutes.
5. Serve hot.

This recipe was created for a party of 20 people. You can cut the amount of ingredients by half or a quarter for serving 10 people, or 5 people.

Asian sesame dressing

Yield
Makes 1/2 cup

Ingredients
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
1/4 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
Preparation

Whisk together all ingredients.

Korean BBQ Rib - Kalbi

Ingredients

2 - 4 lbs of kalbi meat (korean bbq ribs)
1 cup water
1 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoon of garlic
1 teaspoon of ginger
2 tablespoon of sesame oil
1 tablespoon of sesame seed
1/2 cup of chopped up green onions


Instructions

1. In hot water, melt the sugar, and then add the soy sauce to it.
2. Let above 1 cool down to a room temperature.
3. Mix rest of the marinade ingredients together in the cooled down mixture from 1.
4. When you taste the marinade, it should be a little strong (too salty and too sweet at the same time). This is the perfect concentration, as the meat will add it's own moisture to it, and soften the taste.
5. Mix the meat and the marinade sauce, and let it sit in the fridge overnight.


It's perfectly fine to have extra marinade for the meat when marinating. It won't overpower the taste if you have meat sitting in extra marinade.

If you want to save some marinade sauce, use just enough to soak the meat to the top and save any left over in the fridge or freezer. Saved marinade can be used to marinate the meat later.

Any extras marinated kalbi can be frozen in ziploc bag and kept in the freezer. When ready to eat, defrost it for several hours and then grill it.

Bon appetit!

Pumpkin Bread Recipe

Pumpkin Bread Recipe

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups (210g) flour
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 cup (200 g) sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup (1/4 L) pumpkin purée*
1/2 cup (1 dL) olive oil
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup water
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/2 cup (1 dL) chopped walnuts

* To make pumpkin purée, cut a pumpkin in half, scoop out the seeds and stringy stuff, lie face down on a foil or Silpat lined baking sheet. Bake at 350°F until soft, about 45 min to an hour. Cool, scoop out the flesh. Freeze whatever you don't use for future use. Or, if you are working with pumpkin pieces, roast or boil them until tender, then remove and discard the skin.
Method

1 Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Sift together the flour, salt, sugar, and baking soda.

2 Mix the pumpkin, oil, eggs, 1/4 cup of water, and spices together, then combine with the dry ingredients, but do not mix too thoroughly. Stir in the nuts.

3 Pour into a well-buttered 9x5x3 inch loaf pan. Bake 50-60 minutes until a thin skewer poked in the very center of the loaf comes out clean. Turn out of the pan and let cool on a rack.

Makes one loaf. Can easily double the recipe.

-- from "http://www.elise.com/recipes/archives/000842pumpkin_bread.php"