Korean Sweet Potato Pie: Holiday Recipe # 9

Just to quickly clarify before you read, this is not a Korean pie...this is a sweet potato pie made with Korean/Japanese sweet potatoes.

After living in Hong Kong with its many western conveniences (I could easily buy non Asian goods with no problem) moving to Seoul, Korea was hard for me. I was used to being able to easily shop for whatever ingredients I needed and cooked whatever I liked with no problem.

In Seoul, I found myself improving my Korean cooking, simply because there was so much Korean food available; it just made sense to cook Korean. Not only was it more convenient, it was much more economical. With my grandmother by my side, I learned so much of the traditional foods of my country and it was wonderful.

Until Thanksgiving rolled around. In Hong Kong, I was able to run to one of a number of supermarkets and get almost every single item I needed to host a full-fledged Thanksgiving meal. The turkey was delivered to me defrosted and I managed to feed 30 people out of the world's tiniest refrigerator. Turkey, ham, stuffing - several pies - the full works came out of that tiny kitchen and fridge. Seoul was not as convenient -there were some western food import shops that would have a lot of what I needed, but they were pricey. Costco was where I ended up buying the turkey (a British turkey with an accent) and I also got my ham there. I had to figure out dessert however.

Husband flew to HK for business so I sent him to a store for pumpkin and he brought back 8 precious cans for me. But I decided that I needed more than pumpkin pie for our meal extravaganza (invite list of 30 people) so I decided to try making something I'd never made - sweet potato pie. I made it with a Korean twist, using Korean sweet potatoes (고구마). The evening of the party it drew better reviews than the regular pumpkin pie.

Since coming back to the US, I haven't had the urge to make sweet potato pie, but for my church small group I decided to try it again - to see if it still tasted good and to see if it would be a favorite. With a topping of homemade sweetened whipped cream...well let's just say there are no leftovers.

This pie in particular really appeals to the Korean palate, as I think it has a restrained sweetness that comes through, but isn't overwhelming. Koreans are also incredibly loyal to their sweet potatoes and the flavor of them simply can't be beat. The texture is different from traditional sweet potato pie as it has a firmness and structure that normal sweet potatoes cannot bring.

As a note, I do make my own homemade pie crust, but feel free to use one of those premade pie crusts. It will save you a few steps. Those of you interested in making your own crust, I've included a recipe. I used to make pie crusts by hand using only a pastry cutter and a bit of elbow grease. Those of you not inclined to washing a huge food processor or do not own one, definitely invest in a pastry cutter.

Korean Sweet Potato Pie
1 9 inch pie crust, prepared

2.5 lbs of Korean/Japanese sweet potatoes
1 cup of brown sugar
1 cup of heavy cream
3 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger (or substitute 1 teaspoon ground ginger spice)
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 beaten egg white, for brushing onto pie crust.

Preheat oven to 400. With a fork, puncture your sweet potatoes with a few pricks. Place potatoes on a baking sheet and bake until potatoes are squishy, anywhere between 45 minutes to an hour. Allow to cool. (I usually do these first thing in the morning and set them aside.)

Preheat oven to 400. When sweet potatoes are nice and cool, scoop out potato flesh. Take 2 cups of sweet potatoes and put them in a bowl. Mash them up with a potato masher OR process them with a hand blender. Get the texture to be fairly smooth and uniform.

Add cream and brown sugar. Mix until well blended. Add eggs, vanilla, ginger and cinnamon. Mix well.

Brush pie crust with beaten egg white. Pour sweet potato filling into crust. Bake at 400 for 45 minutes, or until filling is set.
Serve with whipped cream.

Flaky Pie Crust

Bon Appétit | 2000 by Elinor Klivans

Makes one 9-inch crust

1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
2 tablespoons chilled solid vegetable shortening, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
3 tablespoons (or more) ice water

Food processor: Mix flour, sugar and salt in processor. Add butter and shortening. Using on/off turns, process until mixture resembles coarse meal. Drizzle 3 tablespoons ice water over mixture. Process just until moist clumps form, adding more ice water by teaspoonfuls if dough is dry. Gather dough into ball; flatten into disk. Wrap in plastic; chill until dough is firm enough to roll out, about 30 minutes.

Pastry blender: Mix flour, sugar and salt in bowl. Add butter and shortening. Using pastry blender, pushing through the butter and shortening, until mixture resembles coarse meal. Drizzle 3 tablespoons ice water over mixture. Continue blending just until moist clumps form, adding more ice water by teaspoonfuls if dough is dry. Gather dough into ball; flatten into disk. Wrap in plastic; chill until dough is firm enough to roll out, about 30 minutes.

Roll out dough on lightly floured work surface to 12-inch round. Transfer dough to 9-inch-diameter glass pie dish. Fold overhang under. Crimp edges decoratively. (Can be prepared 2 days ahead. Cover and refrigerate.)

Printable recipe

Blog Giveaway - the WINNER

Apologies all for being a day late on getting this done. But I have gotten a winner...using www.random.org.

SHUA...you're the winner! Please email me your address at joanne_choi AT yahoo DOT com

Spicy Cuttlefish/Squid - Ojingo Moochim (오징어 무침) Side Dish

I apologize for not posting any Korean recipes recently, in particular easy Korean side dishes or banchan(반찬). I haven't found much need recently to cook that many Korean dishes, primarily because no one is around to eat it. With husband's odd work hours and Son with allergies which focus on many Korean staples (soy, sesame, corn syrup, egg) there just hasn't been that much of a need to cook Korean. But with Grandmother (Mom in law) visiting house and a day trip where I was leaving the family to fend for themselves, I decided it would be a good idea to prepare some side dishes so that the family could eat.

This side dish is great because you can store it for up to two weeks and on a bed of hot rice - nothing beats it. It is sweet, salty, spicy and so yummy - and it is also what we call the "Rice Thief" as you find yourself eating WAY TOO MUCH RICE as you become addicted to the chewy texture and flavor of the squid. Even Daughters, although they find it spicy, love to eat it as they take one tiny piece, a huge glob of rice and several gulps of water to wash it down. YUM!

Spicy Cuttlefish/Squid - Ojingo Moochim (오징어 무침)

1 lb of dried cuttlefish (백진미 오징어) (this comes pre-shredded and I've seen it at both Chinese and Korean supermarkets - photo below)
1/2 cup gochujang (고추장 - Korean red chili pepper paste)
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 tablespoons sesame oil
2 tablespoons sake
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons plain corn syrup (물엿)
2 tablespoons toasted sesame seeds

In a nonstick fry pan over medium heat, mix together gochujang, soy sauce, sesame oil, sake, and corn syrup. Cook until mixture is bubbly. Remove from heat.

Open the package of your dried cuttlefish/squid.

Add cuttle fish/dried squid to the gochujang mixture. (which is warm, but NOT cooking the stove.) Working quickly, toss until everything is well coated.

Finish by sprinkling with sesame seeds. Toss again. Serve on a beautiful dish.

Printable recipe

The Asian Sandwich Bar: Allowing others to inspire you

For Luke House Church, who willingly subjects themselves to my experiments, and JA who asked me to make these in the first place.

A member of my house church sent me an email with the subject header, "Do you still take requests?" and the body of the email had the sentence, "I dunno how difficult these would be to make" and then this link, which took me to the "Moment Blog" of the NY times. In it was an article about a sandwich place named Xie Xie (pronounced "shay shay", the Mandarin word for thank you.) I read the article and it clearly showed sandwiches being made into something really splendid with great Asian flavors and ingredients. I was intrigued and challenged. I wrote back to my house church member and said, "Doable. Just have to figure out the components." He wondered when I would make them and I promised him that I would make them the next time the house church was at our house.

Only to discover the next day that we were meeting at our house. I wrote JA, letting him know that I would be making the sandwiches, and he had to provide the bread. I then spent a bit of time trying to figure out what sort of components went into the ideal Asian Sandwich since I had never really eaten one. I studied the menu at Xie Xie, which wasn't all that helpful considering I'd never had one of their sandwiches and then found a great post at Serious Eats which gave me enough information for me to figure out what I'd like to do.

I decided that I would use what I knew and just add a few components around it. I wasn't making the Xie Xie Sandwich, but my version of it, which gave me a bit of "artistic license" if you will. I decided on a "sandwich bar" concept, which meant that I would have a variety of components, and my house church guinea pigs would be able to put together what they liked.

It was not difficult to do, as I marinated the meat the night before, and just threw together the components the day off. It can be somewhat labor intensive in terms of chopping, but if you get yourself a little Japanese Mandoline, it can make your work much easier. Do not be daunted by the long list here - add and subtract what you want to make and simplify with fewer components if y0u like. If I had the list of absolutes: basil mayo, carrots, cucumber and onion jam. See - I just simplified your life.

The Asian Sandwich Bar
I used my two tried and true recipes for protein:
Korean BBQ Flank Steak
Ginger Soy BBQ Chicken.

Condiments
Basil Mayonnaise
Sesame Soy Mayonnaise
Garlic Jalapeno Mayonnaise
Onion Jam

Vegetable Fillings
Carrot Kimchee
Cilantro Cucumber Pickles
Jalapeno Pickles

Bread
French Baguette, sliced

Additional Sides, unrelated to the sandwich
Sesame Noodles with Cilantro and Scallion
Curried Slaw

I have to say, I gave myself a pat on the back because it was yummy. The more popular flavor combination was the basil mayo, beef, carrots, cucumbers, onion jam. I derived incredible satisfaction from a job well done. JA's wife was embarrassed at one point when she realized it was her husband who put me up to it, but best friend JEL stepped in and said, "Are you kidding me? This is the stuff that Joanne LIVES for. She loves it when someone asks her to make something and it comes out well." Good point JEL. I DO LOVE IT!

Asian Sandwiches - Chicken or Beef
Makes more than enough for 20 people
(you can easily half the recipe, and freeze the extra meat for later use.)

6 loaves of good French bread, sliced into appropriate sandwich portions. (I've tried it both with the crunchier crustier baguettes and a softer french bread and I prefer the softer - perhaps offer a selection)

4-5 lbs, marinated Korean Bbq Flank Steak, cooked and thinly sliced
4-5 lbs, marinated Ginger Soy Chicken, cooked and thinly sliced

Basil Mayonnaise
3/4 cup good mayonnaise (I like Best Foods AKA Hellmans)
1/4 cup basil, chiffonade (or chopped really fine)
1 teaspoon salt
pinch of black pepper

Mix all the ingredients together. Chill until needed.

Soy Sesame Mayonnaise
3/4 cup good mayonnaise
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Mix all the ingredients together. Chill until needed.

Garlic Jalapeno Mayonnaise (SPICY Warning!)
3/4 cup good mayonnaise
2 jalapenos, finely chopped, seeds and all (I use the cuisinart mini prep for this)
5 cloves of garlic, finely chopped (just chopped this together with the jalapenos in the cuisinart)
1 teaspoon salt

Mix all ingredients together. Chill until needed.

Onion Jam
1/2 stick (1/4 cup of butter)
3 medium yellow or white onions, diced
2 cloves of garlic crushed
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1/4 cup honey

In a heavy saucepan, over medium heat, melt the butter. Add onions and stir occasionally until onions are all wilted, 10-15 minutes. Add two cloves of garlic, red wine vinegar and honey, and simmer until the consistency is similar to jam, additional 15 minutes. Set aside, and rewarm over low heat when serving with sandwiches.

Carrot Kimchee
1/2 lb of carrots, julienne
1 1/2 cup rice vinegar (or whatever vinegar you have)
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons Korean chili powder (gochu gahloo 고추가루) or red chili pepper flakes
1 teaspoon salt

Mix all ingredients together in a bowl. Cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.

Cilantro Cucumber Pickles
1/2 lb of Persian cucumbers (or baby cucumbers), sliced thinly
1/2 cup cilantro, finely chopped
1/12 cup rice vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt

Do NOT make this ahead of time. Have all the vegetables chopped and ready but mix together all the ingredients right before you open your sandwich bar.

Jalapeno Pickles
8 jalapenos, thinly sliced
1 cup of rice vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt

Mix all ingredients together. Cover and refrigerate, at least 3 hours.

To serve - set out all the components - grouping them together by category - mayonnaises and onion jams together. All the pickles together. Meat and chicken together. Have a stack of breads and allow your guests to construct their sandwich.

Building the sandwich

The blank canvas

Layer of basil mayonnaise and chicken on top

Carrot kimchee, cilantro cucumbers on top of that

Onion jam on the other piece of bread.

Stacked and ready to be eaten

Printable recipe

Can you resist this?

The Japanese Mandoline I own.

Blog Giveway: Celebrating 100,000 Visitors!

For CY who always wants to show my food off.

THANK YOU EVERYONE!

There is a keen satisfaction from knowing that your work is read and appreciated. I've been lucky to have had great friends and family to keep me encouraged; they spread the word of my blog, tell people to read my blog, cook from my blog and then give credit to my blog. I even have people asking me to try making things that I've never tried before, all in the name of improving my blog. I'm extremely lucky to have such a wonderful support network and to have so many people promote me.

I have a simple story to demonstrate this. My good friend CY decided that she was going to cook for her church small group. She asked me what one of my more economical favorite recipes was, and asked if I would help her prepare it. She said, "If it is a hit, you know that people will be talking a LOT about it." I laughed at her confidence and offered to help her, simply because I wanted her small group to eat a nice meal. (feeding people is the greatest motivation for me...fame is not.) We worked hard together, prepared all the components of Kimchee Burgers and she went and executed them for her small group. She said she was AMAZED at how much food impacted the mood of the evening. People were excited, jubilant, eating voraciously and just enjoying themselves. There wasn't anything left at the end of the night and people continued raving about it at church the following Sunday. It was great publicity for me as CY continued to say, "It's all on the Week of Menus website" and she just kept on promoting me. But more of my personal satisfaction came from the fact that people ENJOYED my food, got excited about what they ate and were satisfied. That is my thanks.

To thank my readers and my friends, I'm celebrating my latest milestone - 100,000 hits (WOW!), a number I'd never imagine I would reach. I'm buying the contest winner a beautiful set of MIU measuring spoons. These are not the measuring spoons I currently have, but these are the NEXT set I'd like to own - because the shape is narrow (my spoons keep getting caught in the narrow spice jars), they are stainless steel with beautiful long handles and a great hefty weight. They will be essential during this coming holiday season.

I hope that the winner uses the spoons in good health to cook and prepare wonderful foods for family and friends. I continue to ask people to try and cook for the loved ones around you, because food can change people.

To enter, simply enter a comment below which includes the following two things:
1. What have you cooked most often from this blog?
2. Why do you cook it so often? (FYI - if the answer is - I've only cooked one thing and that's it, your answer has as much equal merit as the person who has cooked many things. No worries.)

I am stickler for following directions, probably due to my former career as a high school teacher. If you fail to answer one of these two questions, your entry will be disqualified.

A single winner will be chosen at random one week from today. ONLY ONE ENTRY PER PERSON. (But each spouse can enter once.) Please make sure you leave at least an email so that I can contact you and get your mailing address so that you can receive your prize. (US addresses only please.)

Hot Artichoke Dip: Holiday Recipe #8

For MR who taught me (in vague quantities) how to make it.

Okay. I have to admit it. This is not an easy recipe for me to share. I actually don't want to share it. I love having this as my secret. I don't want this recipe scattered all over, gracing tables across the world. But that is what is going to happen to this recipe because it is easy, full proof, and simple. But because it is all of those things, I knew that this year I had to share it for all to eat during the holidays, even if it meant I would potentially be eating it everywhere I am invited this holiday season.

Warning - this dip is highly addictive, so be careful when you start eating it. You'll find yourself eating way more than you had imagined.

Hot Artichoke Dip
Serves 8

8 oz of mozzarella cheese, grated (or you can buy one of those pre shredded packs which is what I often do)
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1 cup of mayonnaise
10 cloves of garlic, finely chopped or put through a garlic press
1 14 0z can of artichoke hearts, drained and roughly chopped

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix. (can be made one day ahead) Refrigerate until needed.

You can do a LARGE 8X8 baking dish of this dip, OR you can do smaller ramekins (which is what I like to do) and keep the dip piping hot, and just keep on replenishing ramekins. I find that the dip is NOT yummy when it is cold and it is spectacular when it is just out of the oven.

Preheat oven to 375. Spoon dip into your desired baking dish. Bake until it is all golden and bubbly on top. (small ramekins is about 12-15 minutes, larger dish could be 20 minutes or more.)

Serve with crackers or crusty bread.

Printable recipe

Pumpkin Cupcakes and Vanilla Bean Cream Cheese Frosting: Holiday Recipe #7

For the " A" twins

I've said this on more than one occasion, but I do find it an honor to be asked by someone to bake specifically for an occasion. Therefore, when friend YK asked me to bake for her twins' birthday party, I was very touched and flattered, mostly because she has such high standards, and asking me told me that she thought my cupcakes were pretty good.

But the flip side of that is extreme nervousness and panic because I am slightly a perfectionist (if one can be slightly) and I don't like having my food eaten by people I don't know. My friends can comment, can give critiques and I accept them freely, but strangers, people I don't know - I always cringe inwardly wondering what they are thinking about my food. I have panicky thoughts as they may be commenting silently in their head about how it doesn't taste good, and I'll never know it since they probably won't tell me.

But the day arrived for baking and my friend YK had asked for pumpkin cupcake with cream cheese frosting, since the party was on October 31. Her choice made me even a bit more nervous, because pumpkin cupcakes are not first on any child's list of favorite cupcakes to eat. (Daughters #1 and #2 prefer chocolate for example.) I think my nervousness got the better of me, because one batch of cakes I COMPLETELY left out all leavening (no baking soda or baking powder) and had the cupcakes in the oven for 10 minutes before realizing it. I grabbed them out of the oven and had to scrape and dump all the batter and add the leavening without knowing if the end result was even going to be edible. Fortunately for me, they were fine and I breathed a sigh of relief. I made another batch with no mishaps, and had before me 48 cupcakes.

The original recipe for the cupcakes come from Martha Stewart. I actually use the same ingredients, but don't follow the instructions she gives on making it. (She has you melting butter and then whisking all ingredients.) I'm a cream the butter with sugar for the best texture of cupcakes kind of girl, so I did that with these. These cupcakes are lightly spiced, very delicious and pair really well with the vanilla bean cream cheese frosting, which is my favorite frosting of all time. I made these the night before they were needed and they were delicious and moist the day of. These hold up well, and are just a great addition to your holiday table. (an unexpected one but a very welcome one)

As a final note, YK's twins are one girl and one boy, and I decorated with Hello Kitty rings on the girls' cakes, and Cars (the movie) on other cakes. When I pulled the cupcakes out of the box to display them on the cupcake stand, kids got very excited about the rings, but I don't know if they had any idea about the kind of cake it was.

Pumpkin Cupcakes and Vanilla Bean Cream Cheese Frosting (adapted from Martha Stewart)

Makes 24.

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 can (15 ounces) pumpkin puree

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cupcake pans with paper liners; set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and allspice; set aside.

In a mixing bowl, on medium speed, cream softened butter with both brown and white sugars until light and fluffy, scraping down sides to make sure all is well incorporated. Add eggs one at a time and mix. Finally add pumpkin. Mix.

Add flour mixture and mix until just combined.

Divide batter evenly among liners, filling each about halfway. Bake until tops spring back when touched, and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes, rotating pans once if needed. Transfer to a wire rack; let cool completely. Frost with Vanilla Bean Cream Cheese Frosting.

Vanilla Bean Cream Cheese Frosting
More than enough for 30 cupcakes
1 cup of unsalted butter, softened
2 8oz pack of cream cheese, softened
1 whole vanilla bean, split open with a knife and vanilla beans scraped out (Amazon.com has 16 beans for $15)
4-5 cups confectioner sugar (I try and use as little as I can, but making sure it's pipeable)

Cream butter and cream cheese together on medium speed until texture is uniform. Add 2 cups of confectioners sugar and beat on low speed until sugar is all incorporated. Add 2 more cups and again mix on low speed until sugar is all incorporated. Add scraped vanilla beans (get every last bit) and mix on medium speed for 8 minutes, occasionally scraping down sides. The key to really creamy frosting is to NOT beat too much air into the frosting but rather, on a medium speed, beat it until it is creamy.

Printable recipe

Boy version of cupcake

How to scoop relatively even cupcake portions.

This is where I buy my vanilla beans.