Korean Pork Bone Soup

I know I only been away from home for 2 weeks, I already missed Korean Pork Bone
soup. As the convience of living close to little Korean town, I go to Korean
restaurant often in Toronto.

The Korean restaurent I often go to is called KA Chi. It has two locations, one is
in little Korean, the other is in Kensington market. For less than $8, pork bone
soup comes with a bowl of rice and other free small dishes. When it is cooked right,
I love the pork so tender that falling off the bone. The meat is juicy and soaked in
mild spicy soup. Sometimes it comes with potatos, sometimes don’t . But it always
topped with sprouts.

I am so addicated to the pork bone soup, but not the rice. I don,t know what kind of
rice they are using, but it is always too much water and sticky. Maybe it is a
Korean style? I am not sure.

The restaurant is often packed with young Koreans and Chineses. One reason is
because they are cheap food. The raised price a little bit after the expension, but
it is still very good price.

Even I tried to cook it at home with all the Korean ingredients, it just not taste
like in the restaurent. I hope they do not use MSG in the stew, or it will break my
heart.

Seaweed

Seaweed is not really in North American’s daily diet. Staying in Toronto
for many years, I started to miss some of my favorite food: seaweed is one
of them.

In China, kelp (large type of seaweed) is commonly used in the soup or
hotpot. When I was a child, my mom always makes sure that I eat enough
seaweed. She said it is healthy, but can’t really explain the scientific
reasons. If you are interested, to read more:
http://www.itmonline.org/arts/seaweed.htm
http://www.naturalnews.com/006586.html

It is amazing Japanese and Koreans find many ways of using seaweed in
daily diet. There are various types of seaweed, mainly Kombu (large
seaweed), Wakame (often in miso soup or as salads) and Nori (thin dried
seaweed sheets).
http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2310.html

My favorite Wakame(generic name) is Kukikame (stem seaweed). Wakame salad
is easily found in Japanese restaurant in Toronto. However they never
specify what kind of Wakame they are serving ( I bet most of them have no
idea either). If I am lucky, I will get Kukikame, it is almost like thin
noodles with various green shades. (See Pic1)

I also love Japanese Aonoli (thin seaseed). My friend Saoli bought it for
me from one of Japanese store at Finch Ave (See Pic2). In Manpuku
restaurant (see last month’s blog) put Aonoli on top of octopus YaKi and I
really love the special flavor. I put little bit on rice as topping.

Food on Fire

Many Canadians go to cottage to relax in the summer, especially during
long weekend. My Asian friends think it is a mysterious place since they
have no concept of Cottage. I was luckily invited to a cottage north of
Toronto last week.

The cottage is located at the river bank, surrounded by forest. Besides
canoeing, hiking, fishing, another typical Canadian thing to do at the
cottage is starting your day with beer. We woke up around noon, after a
light lunch all my friends started bathing in the sun with cans of
beer. They drank beer all day and night long.

After the sunset, it is a good time for fishing.I showed my friend how to
clean the fish, which i learned from watching my mom cooking. It is not
as difficult as you thought! Try it, you will enjoy your fish more!

If you want to know how to clean a fish, check it out:
http://www.ehow.com/how_2080_clean-fish.html

Beer Can Chicken

Beer and chicken! What a great combination!

Friend R prepared to cook Beer Can Chicken on BBQ, but unfortunately that day was raining. So she ended up cooking the chicken in the oven about 1.5 hrs. It was the first time she tried. I have all my thumbs up for the juicy chicken!

As you can see in the picture, a can of beer is inserted into chicken’s body. They cooked 2 chickens, one is plain with honey; the other is rubbed with Montreal meat spice. Both chicken turned out amazing-Crispy golden skin with juicy tender meat! Although the beer used has very light flavor so I didn’t taste any beer flavors in the chicken. Maybe a stronger beer is better.

There are YouTube videos on how to make Beer Can Chicken on BBQ:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=envkFOn2AyQ

Ginger –cheap Asian style with No Tips

Ginger –cheap Asian style with No Tips

The restaurant named Ginger is located on 521 Bloor st west, which is the one I always go. They have other locations on Church Street and Carlton Street. You pay the bill before you eat the food and you pick up your own cutlery and water. They do bring food to your table. Tip is not required just like in Asia.

They claim they cook Vietnamese cuisine with no MSG. However the soup they served tastes like MSG stock for me. Maybe there wasn’t any additional MSG added, that is what they meant.

I never tried their vermicelli and rolls. The two dishes I always get are : Fried Fish w/Ginger Lime sauce $ green mango on rice and curry Lamb with Rice. ($7.25, great price!)

The fried fish is addictive but deep frying stuff easily gave me pimples. For those have no reaction to the frying food, I highly recommend the dish. It goes so well with the sour /sweat sauce and green mango salad.

In winter, I can’t get sick of curry lamb. They are so good! Big chunks of lamb are tender with potatoes or someday taros soaked in curry. I prefer taros because the subtle flavor but you have to try your luck at Ginger.

It is a nice restaurant if you are looking for cheap and decent Asian food. Although I heard the pad Thai is not so good, try it yourself!

Purple Yam

There are over 150 species of yam grown throughout the world. Depending on the variety, a yam's flesh may be various shades of off-white, yellow, purple or pink, and the skin from off-white to dark brown. The other day I bought a Purple Yam from Korean supermarket on Bloor Street. I am so surprised by its funky purple color. It is a bit less sweet than the yellow yam, but more fluffy and starchy.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ube

In Shanghai, I love eating purple yam ice-cream (purple taro ice-cream is similar). I always thought they put food color to make it purple. I can’t believe this time it is real color!

You can find everything Purple on internet: rice cake, ice-cream, dessert, jam, and cup-cake. I found someone cooked purple sweet potato soup, looks so beautiful!

http://mainmainmasakmasak.wordpress.com/2008/01/17/purple-soup-sweet-potato-yam/

Also check out Ube Roll - purple yam flavored Swiss roll:

http://simplyannes.blogspot.com/2007_03_01_archive.html

And for other colorful vegetable and fruit, check out this blog:

http://www.crookedbrains.net/2008/02/rainbow-vegetables-fruits.html

Octopus – sushi-grade

One of the fish stores in Kensington market adds sushi-grade fish into the store few months ago (Near Baldwin & Augusta Ave). During the day time, they sell fresh made sushi for $3.99. Inside, sushi-grade fishes are wrapped in plastic container and stored in the fridge. A small hand-size tuna will cost about $9- $12, depending on weights.

I bought a pack of cooked octopus tentacles about my hand-size big for $8. Since it is already cooked, all I need to do is to cut them into thin slice. It is a bit chewy and has a natural sweet flavor.

Personally I think the tentacle has beautiful shapes and it is very funky. The most tender, moisturized grilled octopus I have ever had was in Montreal, in a Portuguese restaurant not far from Marche Jean Talon. Unfortunately I forget the address and name. The waiter there told me the secret of their octopus: fresh and baby octopus. (Of course, most baby animals taste really tender).

Resta Pasta

I freelanced at Technicolor last week. Because the company has many employees, they have a kitchen department, who cooks for everyone. The kitchen is open-concept. While you order food you can chat with one of the cook. If I work there full time, I am sure the chef will be my best friend.

This is on the employee’s lunch menu, which have at least 6 varieties. That day’s special is Resta Pasta:

Hot Italian sausage, beef, sweet pepper, sundried tomato, onion in curry creams sauce, side salad and homemade garlic breadstick-- For $8.50 (tax included).

How can I resist the combination of Italian hot sausage, sweet pepper and sundried tomato?

The dish is perfectly cooked, and homemade garlic breadstick is also addictive. I loved everything in that dish!! YUMMY…

Rice Congee – how to deal with left-over rice

Rice congee is common comfort food, usually as breakfast in China. Left-over rice (from the day before) is slowly cooked with a lot of water, so the result is watery rice porridge. (Boring!)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rice_congee

I never liked it when I was a child, because it looks like eating glue. Most home-cooked congee is plain with rice and some other side dishes (salty eggs, pickles, etc), nothing fancy. I thought that was the most boring breakfast and refuse to eat it.

After I came to Toronto, I really get into eating congee. Cantonese cooking really brings the congee to another level. They add a lot of meat and varieties to the simple congee dish. There are some restaurants in north Toronto only serves congee, like Congee Wong. Since they have lots of customers, I assume the congees are not made from left-over rice.

My favorite congee is fish congee. I normally have it at King’s Noodle restaurant (at Spadina & Dundas). The congee is the right texture, not too watery. I don’t know what kind of fish is that, but it is not fish at all. The fish is very tender. Thin slices of ginger and green onion add nice strong punch to the blank congee. If you want more, add some white pepper powder.

Hong Kong Shrimp Paste –fishy smell to get rid of unwanted guests

Shrimp paste is made by grinding up salted, fermented shrimp and has a strong, salty, fishy flavor. I have never had it until I came to Canada (from most Cantonese restaurants). It is commonly used in South Asia cooking. Since I grow up in east china, I totally missed out many years of shrimp paste consumption. I have to make up for it from now on.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrimp_paste

Shrimp Paste can be bought in most Asian market. The bottle (see pic) is a travel souvenir from Hong Kong. Tiny shrimps are sun dried and made into paste on some small Hong Kong islands. There are many brands you can choose in Toronto’s Asian supermarkets also.

In Cantonese restaurant, I always order Xia Jiang Tong Cai (Tong Cai – certain kind of veggie with hollow stem, See Pic). The dish is about $12. The strong shrimp paste adds lot of flavor to the blank vegetable. Tong Cai is in season during the summer about $ 1 per pound in china town. They sell 2 kinds: the darker green is soil-based and lighter one is water-based. I prefer the greener ones for better nutrients.

Since I love it so much I started cooking it at home with shrimp paste and garlic. There is no extra salt needed since the shrimp paste is already salty. The paste adds a very strong fishy flavor to the dish, not everyone will love it. After cooking the whole house smells fishy, therefore is not recommended if you don’t have good ventilation. Some people will think the smell is repulsive. Look at the bright side: if you don’t want someone come to your home, e.g. your mother-in-law, you can try to cook the shrimp paste.

I am interested to know how other counties use shrimp paste. Wait till my next trip to South Asia.

Toronto Turkish Festival

It is hold at Young-Dundas Square, from August 2-3, 2008. Their website is: http://www.torontoturkishfestival.org/festival/index.asp?idx=SPONSORS_ALL

We all know Young-Dundas Square is tiny, so I don’t expect a big festival there. Just as I expected, there is only one main stage with some dancing, music. Since there is Turkish food, I have to check it out.

Besides Turkish coffee and tea, it is really impressive to see that Turkish women make Gözleme at the spot (see lower corner of Pic). $5 each

“Gözleme is a savory Traditional Turkish handmade and Hand rolled pastry. Fresh pastry is rolled out, the thinly rolled out dough is then filled and sealed, then cooked over a griddle, traditionally this is done on a saç. “ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/G%C3%B6zleme

At the festival, they only have choice of potato or cheese. I tried a cheese one. It is too salty for me, otherwise it is quite tasty. I bet the one with spinach, feta and minced meat will be really good.

Hmm, and the meat are sooooo good!! I have never seen that giant pile of meat before. Unfortunately with $5 plate dish, they only give you tiny amount of meat. If I can I would buy a few pounds home.

As for desserts, they are really good and very sweat. I especially love pistachio in the dessert. $1 per dessert.

Overall, it is fun to try some Turkish food with music and dance. But the dollar doesn’t give you the best value.