Korean BBQ Hoki Poki [tm]

NAME: _Korean BBQ Hoki Poki

I invented it so I get to name it and this sounds so 'shonky-Aussie pretending to know Korean' that I knew I had to almost trademark the name... 😁 It was just a recipe that I pulled out of my hat at the last moment and it came out glorious. Do you hate recipe blogs that go into five pages of some ripping yarn before the recipe? So do I - so here's the recipe already. (Oh and a pic... )

Forgot to take a pic before we devoured it...

  

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INGREDIENTS/UTENSILS:

500 g Hoki fillets (see Notes) 

150 - 200 ml Korean BBQ Sauce

Medium/large brown onion

pinch of powdered ginger

4-5 cloves garlic

3-4 tbsp peanut oil (see Notes)
Salt as per Method

Juice of around 1/2 a lemon

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METHOD:

Cut the fillets crosswise into slices about 4-5cm wide and place in a bowl. (I buy frozen fillets and only partially thaw them for this as it gives firmer chunks. Fresh Hoki would also be firm enough for the recipe.) Drizzle the BBQ sauce over and stir pieces about to coat evenly. Return to this periodically as you prepare the rest of the recipe.

Peel and cut the onion into fairly chunky pieces, close to 1cm is good. Peel the garlic cloves and make chunky cubes around 4-5mm by slicing lengthways to that dimension, then cut the slices lengthways and then cut the sticks into cubes. Gently fry the onions until glassy, add the garlic and keep frying until some browning takes place then lift it out and set aside. 

Lift the fish pieces out of the sauce and allow to partially drip off then fry until the sweet BBQ sauce starts to develop light brown spots then add back the onions and garlic, sprinkle the powdered ginger over. Reduce heat, cover with a lid and let cook very gently for ten minutes or just turn off heat and stand for about 20 before serving.
 

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SERVING:

We served it with a fried rice with fresh garden veg, instant winner dinner for three people. 
 

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NOTES:

I use ALDI frozen Hoki skinless Hoki fillets, and about half a pack feeds three people with rice additional. I also only half thaw before proceeding as per method as it results in much finer portions, see Method.

Peanut oil is good but vegetable oil will do. Peanut has a better smoking point and I find it releases out of foods better than most other oils and fries cleaner.
 

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ENJOY!

Garden Stuff Quiche

NAME: _Spinach'n'Stuff Quiche

A quickie quiche

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INGREDIENTS/UTENSILS:

Spinach

garlic chives

silverbeet

rocket

a carrot 

(I don't grow those, had to use a supermarket one, and everything below this is store-bought as well.)

sheet of puff pastry

a tomato (optional)

eggs

cream cheese

cream

grated cheese

salt and pepper to taste
(See Notes: for why this is so open ended.)   

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METHOD:

Cut the stems out of the spinach, silverbeet, and rocket leaves. Wash everything and shake dry. Chop all the stems into 1cm slices and throw in a frying pan (I had the wok out and used that, it's hardly critical) with about a tablespoon of olive oil, start on low heat. 

Meanwhile, chop all the leaves up and get them ready to go, grate the carrot into longish shreds. About now I generally sprinkle a bit of water over the stuff in the pan and let it evaporate, then add the leaves and carrot, toss everything until it starts to wilt, sprinkle a bit more water. When the desired wiltedness is reached (hint: I prefer a bit of body left in the veges, you may, too. Keep an eye on it.) turn off the heat and move the pan to the side, put a lid over and let it cool down./

If you want to save time, then while the above is happening, use your second pair of hands to line a pie dish with baking paper and then the puff pastry, and then put it in the oven at about 190C long enough to part bake the pastry. Take it out at that stage but leave the oven on. 

In a bowl mix about four eggs, two spoonfuls of cream cheese, and a spoon of thickened cream.  Mix well or even use a mixer. Salt and pepper to taste can be added at this stage, also your grated cheese. Adjust the cheese mix to taste (I generally use a few spoons of tasty cheddar and about half as much parmesan) and mix that into the egg with a spoon, then still with a spoon mix in the wilted vegetables and fill the pastry with the mixture.

If you're wanting to make a nice appearance, slice the tomato into 2mm thick slices and dot them around on top of the filling, and then, also optional but highly recommended, a light sprinkling of some more of whatever cheeses you used. 

Put back in the oven and give it 25 - 35 minutes until it gets browned on top, leave to cool and set for 10 - 15 minutes before cutting and serving. 

 

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SERVING:

A few extra leaves of rocket on each plate make a nice touch.

 

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NOTES:

I found that for two of us, the vegies I collected were under a kilo, and what I had was just what I picked before cooking. One pack of frozen spinach would do much the same thing and not need pre-preparation. But not taste half as nice... 

I had a dozen leaves and stems of an Asian spinach of some sort with leaves + stems being some 15cm in total, some young leaves of silverbeet about the same size, a few of rocket, and a single bunch (one plant) of garlic chives.

The pie filling mixture generally doesn't need much seasoning, but you may want to try different cheeses depending on the green ingredients. I had garlic chives to impart a strong flavour. 
 

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Today, I'm going to ask you to please visit one of my other blogs and have a read:

PTEC3D Blogger is about 3D printing and recycling 

TEdADYNE Systems read about EVs and AIs and techie stuffs

TEdALOG Lite II a general sort of blog 

The Body Friendly Zen CookBook more focused on sustainable and renewable

O Hai Corona WP health and freaking out about the 'rona

Grumpy Old Guy Substack pretty much what you may think it is . . .

or subscribe to a newsletter at

Ted's News Stand 

I wouldn't normally ask but I'm hoping that by getting a bit more of a readership I can afford to cover the server fees and materials costs for the recycling project and traffic will help. Also you can directly donate or do a monthly donation at HTTP://ko-fi.com/ptec3d 

And as always,

ENJOY!

Sourwhat? And is it an animal?

I'm going to make a few people who've perfected their sourdough skills over the last two years, angry. Probably. But I have a bread maker machine, it's 15 years old or more, and it still hasn't taught me any of the breadmaking skills i acquired myself - but is used quite regularly in our house. And we buy bags of premixed bread mix for it. There. I've 'fessed up. 

And fair enough - I can bake bread in the oven using more traditional techniques, and the only problem with my sourdough is that I always kill it because I'm scatterbrained and forget it. I could put it in a more prominent position but then I'd lose some of my valuable kitchen real estate for other cooking & processing projects. 

I'm going out on a limb here but: the bread machine's electric, I don't need to run my gas oven for an hour to make a loaf. We'd pay between $3 and $8 for a loaf of bread depending how 'artisanal' the originating company imagines itself to be, and the bread mix works out at $1 a loaf. The loaves keep much better than store bought if wrapped in a clean tea towel and then sat in a bread bin, it's a far better size than commercially-baked loaves for two of us, and it works out that we get between six and eight weeks' worth of bread on demand out of each bag.

The procedure for handmade bread, on the other hand, uses the gas oven as previously mentioned, a stand mixer that I have to find room for and then wash and put away plus a bowl and a proving basket, it's dependent on the vagaries of the weather and temperature, and therefore I don't do it as much and then without the good old Breville we'd end up buying commercially baked bread.

Okay - enough of that. I've said my piece, and with all sorts of  stuff getting expensive due to climate and pandemic it's a viable option for saving a few bucks that I thought I should point out.

Now on to another thing that worries me - the way we've become and are becoming disconnected from our food sources and food knowledge. I present just one story from News Of The Weird:

Can't Possibly Be True

In a study published in the December issue of the Journal of Environmental Psychology, researchers from Furman University asked children ages 4 to 7 to identify whether certain foods come from plants or animals, and which things were OK to eat. The results were shocking, as Oddee.com reported: About a third of the kids thought eggs came from plants. Forty percent thought hot dogs and bacon were vegetables. Almost half thought french fries were animal-based. More than a third thought chicken nuggets were plant-based, even though the word "chicken" is right there in the name. Another third said fish were not OK to eat. Seventy-six percent said cows were not OK to eat. We have some work to do, folks. [Oddee.com, 11/10/2021]

-- https://www.uexpress.com/oddities/news-of-the-weird/2021/11/12#:~:text=Can%27t%20Possibly%20Be,OK%20to%20eat. 

By the way, NotW is a great source of off-the-wall and offbeat news, almost as good as going to my News Stand and subscribing to a newsletter there so you can keep up with ALL my blogs and posts. 

ENJOY!

Ted's Secret Shish Recipe

NAME: _Ted's Secret Shish Recipe

I grew up for four or five lovely years on Bahrain island and enjoyed the food - a lot. We left when I was almost nine but the flavours stayed with me. Then a few weeks ago we were walking through our local Coles supermarket and saw these electric shishkebab makers and spouse asked me "Would you use one of these?" She's really lovely like that - because she knows anything cooking-related she presents me with ends up making our dinners deliciouser and deliciouserer, to paraphrase Alice.

I checked it out and liked it. But. Price. Ack! Not what I'd spend on a whim, so I said something like yes I would but I was expecting something half the price mumble mutter mumble greedy bas....ds. . 

The following week I went solo shopping and there was the rotisserie - AT HALF PRICE! 

So you bet I grabbed one and brought it home cos - sign from the Gastronomy Gods, people! I was meant to have this thing!

Then I got busy and this is the result - these yummy shish, and this recipe.

(Also, we went back the following week and they were back to their old price... I think maybe someone at the shop overheard me and decided to give me a chance... Curioser and curioser...)

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INGREDIENTS/UTENSILS:

Starter:

1 level tsp cooking salt 

2 tsp sugar (raw if you have it, or use honey even) 

1/2 tsp ground coriander 

1/2 tsp ground cumin 

1/2 tsp mustard powder 

Take about 4 large cloves or 6-8 small ones, mash really fine, needs to make about 1 level tbsp and a bit more, two normal spoons(ish)

(optional) 1 tsp powdered dried mint

Add:

1/2 cup - 1 cup water

1/4 cup white wine vinegar (or malt, or brown, just not that white distilled rubbish)

about a tbsp of lemon juice.

Last Add:

1 cup olive oil.

 

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METHOD:

In a suitable sized bowl put the salt, sweetener, coriander, cumin, mustard powder, and garlic (and mint if using) and fork mix together until well combined, add the water and vinegar, stir again until well combined. Add a cup of olive oil and mix well again. 

Best for chicken or other poultry but I suppose you could also marinate beef, veal, pork, or what have you.

Marinate your shish-sized chunks in this for from one to 24 hours. Refrigerate if doing anything longer than about two hours, it'll quite happily keep in the bowl, just cover it to prevent the fridge smells getting in.

 

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SERVING:

See the photo above, I like the thin slices of corn, red pepper / capsicum, and red (or white) onion squares. Put an onion square near the top and the flavour will run down. Marinate the vegetable ingredients if you like but only long enough to coat them - ideally do that right as you're ready to thread the skewers. Really get some caramelisation on the pieces, it's delicious! Serve over rice with a small salad with a nice vinegary dressing. 
 

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NOTES:

Makes enough for a kilo or two of chicken thigh cubes.

 

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ENJOY!

Just a quick update:

TEdAMENU Tuckertime is going to get some regular updates again as I find more time to record and post recipes. 

I haven't stopped cooking, just run out of time to do the actual recipe blogs. Also, there are a dozen other web properties I'm operating and I have to divide my time among them, and then there are RL things like plastic recycling, making machines for that, 3D printing, electrnoics projects, etc. 

I'm just sorting out my workflows now (after 25 years you'd reckon I would have had this sussed, but no...) and some semblance of regularity should return to the diet...