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Seasoned Dried Filefish (Jwipo)

Seasoned Dried Filefish (Juipo)4

When I was a child I adored Jwipo (쥐포) so much. It was my favourite snack in the world.

Grilled Jwipo is sold on the street occasionally nowadays but it also used be sold at cinema snack bars as well. There was an episode when I went to see “Jurassic park” with my friend. I found that the snack bar was selling some grilled Jwipo, so I bought one just before the movie started. However as I finishing the one I had in my hand, I wanted to have some more. I ended up continually going backwards and forwards to get more Jwipo during the whole movie. I think I nearly ate about 10 or more of them (It was my second time watching the movie, for the record). It felt like I went to the cinema to eat those Jwipos instead of watching the movie, yet since then I don’t have any memories of eating Jwipo.

The other day, Zenkimchi wrote in his post that Jwipo is one of the strangest foods he had ever had, and that reminded of me how I fell in love with it at one time. So when I went grocery shopping the next day I instinctively grabbed Jwipo. The packet I bought only had 4 disks of Jwipo but it was extra big size for 3300 won (US $ 3.50)

Seasoned Dried Filefish (Juipo)2

I just baked them on a gas burner on medium heat. It was slightly salty and sweet, but fishy. It also was quite chewy. My jaw got sore a bit later. In general, it wasn’t as delicious as I remembered but it was a good snack.

Seasoned Dried Filefish (Juipo)3

Later I looked at the back of the packet and there were a couple of cooking methods recommended by the manufacturer. The first and second methods were for making spicy seasoned or soy sauce seasoned Jwipo as side dishes, which I will cover some other time. The third method was grilling Jwipo on a frying pan with some butter and the forth method was microwaving it slightly and using some Gochujang (Korean chili paste) or mayonnaise as a dipping sauce. The forth one is a common way to serve at a drink bar as well.

Seasoned Dried Filefish (Juipo)1

Jwipo is made out of filefish (dried, pressed, and seasoned). Once there was a rumor about filefishes that they are nearly extinct in Korea because of the massive consumption of Jwipo by Korean people. I have no idea if that is true or not.

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Korean Sweet Pancakes (Hoddeok) - Fully Home Made Version

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Korean Sweet Pancakes (Hoddeok) - Fully Home Made Version

Korean Sweet Pancakes (Hoddeok) - Fully Home Made Version 1

Hey, Check this out! Last week I made these sweet pancakes with premixed ingredients from the factory, and now I present you here sweet pancakes with fully homemade ingredients. To be correct, I don’t have a farm to grow wheat or sugar cane etc. The point is that I was able to make it from scratch. :) It has been only a week since I posted the premix version, but due to its popularity and unavailability of the premix in the United States, I rushed a bit to post this recipe. .. You’re welcome. :D

Compared to the premix version, it was super. First, I made it, so it should be better with my extra tender love and care. Second, it didn’t taste like anything artificial because I could manage the ingredients. Third, it was very cheap. I didn’t buy any extra ingredients, because I had all ingredients available in my kitchen.

The Baked Hoddeok smelt really nice. A well balanced smell of melted sugar and cinnamon. The cinnamon smell reminded me of easter hot cross buns. Though, while you are fermenting you need to endure the unpleasant smell from the yeast, I don’t really have much experience using yeast, does it always smell awful?

Ingredients for 6 pancakes

  • All purpose white flour - 1¼ cups
  • Salt - 1/4 tsp
  • Milk - 90 ml (6 tbsp)

Fermented yeast water (mix these well in bowl 1)

  • Warm water (40℃) - 45 ml (3 tbsp)
  • White sugar - 1/4 tsp
  • Dry yeast- 1/4 tsp

Stuffing (mix these well in bowl 2)

  • Cinnamon powder - 1/4 tsp
  • Crushed walnuts- 2 tbsp (you can use peanuts instead, but I prefer walnuts)
  • Dark brown sugar - 90 ml (6 tbsp)

Steps

1. Leave the mix of fermented yeast water in a warm place (30-40 ℃) for 10 minutes.

Korean Sweet Pancakes (Hoddeok) - Fully Home Made Version step1

2. After 10 minutes, sieve the flour then add the salt, milk, and yeast water.

Korean Sweet Pancakes (Hoddeok) - Fully Home Made Version step2

3. Mix them well and cover the bowl with wrap. Ferment it in a warm place for 3 hours.

Korean Sweet Pancakes (Hoddeok) - Fully Home Made Version step3

4. When the dough is ready, put some oil on your hands (anti stick purpose) and separate an adequate amount of the dough (to allow 6 to be made), then put it on your hand.

Korean Sweet Pancakes (Hoddeok) - Fully Home Made Version step4

5. Widen the dough with your hands and put a spoonful of stuffing on it. Seal the dough. Repeat it for the rest of the dough.

Korean Sweet Pancakes (Hoddeok) - Fully Home Made Version doughing

Korean Sweet Pancakes (Hoddeok) - Fully Home Made Version step5

6. Pre heat the frying pan for 20 seconds and add some oil.
7. Put 2-3 sealed dough balls onto the pan and turn them over when the bottom part is cooked. (Cook them on medium to low heat)

Korean Sweet Pancakes (Hoddeok) - Fully Home Made Version  cooking

8. Press the dough with a spatula and when both sides are golden brown you can serve them on a plate.

Sorry, while I was eating busily, I completely forgot to take picture of its front. It tastes best when it is still warm, you know. So here is a picture from last time, I made this with premixed ingredients, it should look the same. :)

Sweet Pancake Mix (Hoddeok)served

By the way, I had a bit of stuffing left and it was enough to make 2 extra pancakes. So if you follow my recipe, just keep that in mind.

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Sweet Pancakes (Hoddeok) - Pre Mix Version

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Sweet Pancakes (Hoddeok) - Pre Mix Version

Sweet Pancake Mix (Hoddeok) on the magazine

Have you seen these pancakes before? They are called Hoddeok, and you can easily spot them on the street, especially in winter in Korea. Hoddeok used to be my favourite street snack when I was a child, yeah I was that spoiled kid who cried for sweet snacks and embarrassed my mom. :)

The other day, my self proclaimed elves (my sisters) found a Hoddeok recipe and they were busy making them. They somehow miscalculated the amount of the ingredients, so it wasn’t quite as good as it could be, but it was still good for their first try.

So I thought I should compare our Hoddeok with something more professional before I present it to you, and since I haven’t found any Hoddeok carts on the street (I said this is quite a small city on other posts), I decided to compare with one from the factory.

This is the premix packet for Hoddeok and what is inside.

Sweet Pancake Mix (Hoddeok) package Sweet Pancake Mix (Hoddeok) package inside

  • Product name - Q1 stuffed pancake mix
  • Made by - Samyang
  • Purchase price - 2500 won (US $2.60) from Homeplus
  • Weight - 550g (supposedly able to make 10 pancakes)
  • Contents - Premix 396g (left), filling jam mix 150g (right), Dry yeast 4g (centre)

There are instructions on the side of the box in Korean and here are the steps from the box with additional opinions of mine. The extra ingredients you will need are: water 260ml and some vegetable oil.

Step 1. Sieve the premix (the yellowish packet), then add the dry yeast (silver packet) and water, knead it with a wooden spatula.

Sweet Pancake Mix (Hoddeok) prep1

Step 2. Cover the bowl with wrap, and ferment it for 2 hours at room temperature (20-25 ℃) The volume of the dough needs to increase by 2 times.

Sweet Pancake Mix (Hoddeok) step2

Step 3. When the dough is ready, put some oil on your hands (anti stick purpose) and separate an adequate amount of the dough(to allow ten to be made), then put it on your hand.

Sweet Pancake Mix (Hoddeok) step3

Step 4. Widen the dough with your hands and put a spoonful of jam mix (the green packet). Seal the dough. Repeat it for the rest of the dough. (You need to spread the dough more than in the picture. Otherwise it is hard to seal properly.)

Sweet Pancake Mix (Hoddeok) prep2

Step 5. Pre heat the frying pan for 20 seconds and add some oil.

Step 6. Put 2-3 sealed dough balls onto the pan and turn them over when the bottom part is cooked. (Cook them on medium to low heat)

Sweet Pancake Mix (Hoddeok) cooking

Step 7. Press the dough with a spatula and when the both sides are golden brown you can serve them on the plate.

Sweet Pancake Mix (Hoddeok)served

Sweet Pancake Mix (Hoddeok) in half

Recommendation from the packet : It is best if you consume all the fermented dough (dough without the jam mix) when you make it. However if you can’t finish it all, keep it in the fridge (if you are going to consume it within 24 hours), otherwise keep it in the freezer, and defrost it well before you use it.

Review of the product (5 is the highest)

  • Price compared to fully homemade version : 2/5 (I think it is expensive to buy this premix packet since I saw how easy it is to make the dough ourselves with easily available ingredients.
  • Convenience : 5/5 (Since it is made for convenience, it is a well made product)
  • Taste and Flavour : 3.5/5 (It was delicious though was too sweet for me. It has a vanila flavour and slight sense of cinnamon.)
  • Side affect - I got three pimples possibly more on my right cheek after having 3 Hoddeok yesterday. I think it is nothing to do with the product, I just had too much of it maybe (As you can guess, it is very sugary and oily). Also, importantly, people who have a peanut allergy shouldn’t have it. It contains powdered peanuts, though it didn’t say how much it has.

By the way, you will see a fully homemade version recipe very soon.

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