Not-so-hot pork and cabbage stir-fry :(

So I challenged myself to another dish tonight. It's a simple pork-and-cabbage Japanese dish that I first had the priveledge of eating when I ate dinner at Hiro-kun's house. I got the recipe from his dad. It's very simple. Miso + mirin + sugar. I didn't get the exact measurements, but I adjusted it according my taste, and it turned out delicious the first time I tried it, albeit a bit soggy. So I decided to do round 2 this time.

I wanted to get it right this time, with crunchy cabbage and sticky sauce. The last time I made it, the stir-fried meat looked more like boiled meat, so I made sure the meat was dry and that the pan was hot. The first few strips seemed to cook and brown nicely, but after I put in all 270 grams of pork slivers, the pan was very crowded and probably due to the drop in temperature, the pork started to boil, not fry! :( Maybe it's really impossible to put in so much meat at the same time? Do I need to study the art of stir-frying after all? (Probably, yes.) I put in a dash of pepper on the meat, since it's the kind of thing I would do.

The next major problem was the vegetables. I was afraid the meat might overcook so I removed them from the pan while I sauteed the onions and red peppers (just to add color). Then the cabbage came. I wanted to cook the cabbages only lightly, but it was very difficult to work with them as my pan was too small and there was simply too much cabbage, even after I threw away lots (I was using a medium-sized cabbage). Arggh. Next I put in half the miso-mirin-sugar sauce, and tried to mix everything in before I added the meat. Here is where I did my greatest blunder. Thinking that the sauce was too dry, I added in more mirin. Big mistake. While it cooked, the water level seemed to rise higher and higher (seeping from either from the miso itself or the vegetables?) My stir-fry ended up looking more like soup :( It was even soggier than my first try. I have only my impatience to blame.

Still, the great thing about this dish is that it still tastes relatively nice soggy vegetables and all. But I'm very unhappy about it, especially since I probably have to eat the leftovers for about a week D:

The next time I cook this dish, I plan to keep Kentaro Kobayashi's (Bento Love cookbook) advice to heart: Don't overcook the cabbage and keep the sauce under control.

And I had this book all along. Drat.

Ginisang Pechay and Corned Beef a la Tintin

Dinner today was a simple affair. I just heated up the Ginisang Pechay I cooked up last night and sauteed the premium version of Argentina corned beef sitting in my cupboard. It cooked up fast, and was totally fuss-free unlike my other fancy recipes. And to my surprise, it made for a very satisfying meal. It's not perfect (I have never made something I was totally satisfied with - yet), but I'm proud that I can finally cook up a decent meal, even though sauteed corned beef doesn't really count as cooking since it's from the can. But corned beef isn't such a simple affair, as I learned the last time I cooked some and ended up with undercooked potatoes and a taste I wasn't happy with, at all. I wanted corned beef that tasted the way Mommy cooks it.

Here's my recipe:

1 can (210 g) of Gold Label Argentina corned beef
1 medium sized red onion, chopped (or half - I like lots of onions, so 1 onion is OK for me)
1 biggish potato, diced
1 tablespoon patis (fish sauce), to taste (I'm planning on cutting down to 1/2 or 3/4 next time)
1 tablespoon cooking oil

Fry the potatoes (diced small) on hot cooking oil and saute them for a while on medium heat (on my electric stove) until all the oil has passed through them and they turn a darker shade of yellow. Move them to the edge of the frying pan and put in some more oil (I used the oil sitting on top of the corned beef) then toss in the onions. When they're half-cooked, fold in the potatoes at the edge and saute the potatoes and onions until onions become translucent. Next, put in the can of corned beef and mix well. Cover for 5-7 minutes, until potatoes are of the desired tenderness and meat looks cooked. Add patis to taste. Done!

I was very happy that this time, the potatoes were nice and soft (but not overdone). And thank goodness I overcame the compulsion to add black pepper! (I am a black pepper addict and put several dashes of the stuff in everything). It does taste like Mommy's, maybe even (slightly) better. It seemed there was a bit more potato and onion in it than meat, though, but I don't mind that so much. Good extenders! Anyway, Yosuke did say he likes potatoes in corned beef. I'm trying to eat less meat. The one biggish potato left in my vegetable bowl sufficed, and I realize now that I always put in too many potatoes, ingredients, and spices in my cooking. Really, moderation is the key. Next time I will also cut back a bit on the patis since I can tolerate less salty foods.

Now for the Ginisang Pechay. This was the biggest breakthrough for me in a while. I like pechay (I love my greens), but there's something about the 'acidic' taste in pechay that I don't find appealing. The funny thing is, I've been eating pechay all my life and it was only recently that I noticed the 'acidic' taste (My tastebuds are getting more sensitive, especially after I left Japan and now that I'm starting to cook). I believe the acidic taste is what separates pechay from my favorite dark green vegetable and Popeye's food, spinach. For some reason, spinach is just divine.

So I was cooking the ginisang pechay late last night and wondering what spice or flavor I could use to give it a twist, especially since the water and pechay had started boiling and I could smell the acidic smell - quite unappetizing. I had very few spices on hand, so I decided to take the plunge and put in a few dashes of dried McCormick oregano, which I love so much in tomato dishes. The wonderful oregano smell quickly overpowered the acid, but I had yet to know how the taste would be. I cooked the pechay quickly so it won't be overcooked (to my standards. Then I added in a couple of dashes of my ever-favorite black pepper.

I had to admit I put in a bit too much oregano since the opening from the spice bottle is big and oregano, I think, is best placed on a spoon to prevent accidents while using, since it's such a strong herb. Still, it didn't affect the taste, and I had a fragrant ginisang pechay with no acidic taste. Hurray! :D

Bulgogi

My first time to try a recipe from the Good Housekeeping cookbook vol. 6. I've amasses a pile of local culinary magazines the last few days and so far, it's the first two I got - the Good Housekeeping tomes, I see as being the most practical. My first try is the Beef Bulgogi, a simple Korean recipe with 2 steps and all the necessary ingredients in my pantry. I remember how much I savored the Bulgogi made by Harry's wife and replicating it seemed like a wonderful idea. The recipe didn't call for any onions, but that's how I remembered the good Bulgogi to be so I added in a nice big yellow onion and about 1.5 additional teaspoon of the liquid seasoning. The recipe was to be fried or grilled, and the photo certainly looked like dry bulgogi, but my attempt produced a watery version - not really bad, because my favorite bulgogi was watery too. Still, I wonder if I should've gone the dry route and added in the beef into the pan very slowly to sear the meat. I put everything in and the pan temperature certainly dropped. Maybe I should put more attention to that pan temperature thing always touted in cookbooks. Anyway, the beef was boiled more than fried.

The result? The dish did look good, and I think the beef was cooked just right. Cooking time was short due to the thin cuts. The taste? It's...good, but unfortunately after eating such spectacular bulgogi in the past, my personal attempt seems quite dim. I followed the recipe (almost) to the letter, but I think there's something missing from it. I was itching to add in some cracked peppercorns while I was eating, much like how I do my standard donburi. Did the good bulgogi have pepper in it too? I don't remember.

The sweetness was light, to my surprise (I was expecting it to be quite sweet due to the sugar). It did smell like bulgogi at close sniff, but somehow even the smell seemed several levels dimmer than Harry's wife's version. It suddenly made me think about "umami" and left me wondering if adding a dash of aji-no-moto would solve the problem. (Not that I would put any of that MSG stuff in my food!)

Would I make this again? Yes, but not without some variation. Maybe I should've added some more sesame oil? Threw in peppercorns? I really don't know. I may look at online bulgogi recipes and see what others do. But maybe the best bet is to ask Harry's wife after all.

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Edit: After looking through online recipes, I came across some interesting points:
1) They all had ground black pepper
2) some call for white cooking wine (sake or mirin)
3) some also call for pear juice
4) some recommend toasting the sesame seeds
5) the marinade is not included when searing the beef
6) a lot of recipes call for grilling, but using a skillet is OK too.
7) It's probably best to use good quality soy sauce, not the Philippine kind.

Hmmm...I'm disappointed that Good Housekeeping has a recipe that leaves out the black pepper! Apparently it leaves something to be desired. Now I'm a bit hesitant of the other recipes in the book...

Roll Cabbages

←　The plain steamed version of the cabbage rolls.

I finally made the roll cabbage recipe I've been meaning to try cooking for 5 years now. Is it edible? Yes. Is it delicious? ..Yes. Am I satisfied? No.

I had a bunch of blunders which made the food less than satisfactory, though thankfully not enough to ruin it. The list of improvements I'm planning to do next time are:

1. Pay more attention to the cabbages while preparing them to be soft enough for rolling. I think I slightly overcooked them.
2. I think I can use slightly less ground meat and it'll still taste great (hooray for a healthier recipe!)
3. Use only a pinch of salt in the mix. I overdid it this time. I didn't mind lots of black pepper powder, though.
4. The leftover cabbage from the hard stalks chopped up and mixed make a good and healthy filling.
5. Cook the butter on low heat! (of course, the dang electric stove is partly to blame for this) I also don't need much butter. The 15 grams called for was more than enough.
6. Immediately turn off the heat when fine bubbles form on the butter-and-flour mix.
7. Use only half the Knorr broth cube. That and the salted butter + too much salt in my meat mix was the downfall of my recipe. Too salty for my taste, though thankfully still edible.
8. Use the biggest cabbage leaves from the biggest cabbage I can find. They're easier to roll and look better.

I seriously think I have some issues with either too much sodium or MSG. Maybe it's the sodium, or both. I get the same slight headache when I eat instant noodles, even though it's my favorite Lucky Me. So, it's best to cut down, I guess.

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I steamed the leftover rolls for dinner tonight. So now I can directly compare them with the buttered versions.

1. The taste is just right, maybe just a little too salty for my taste which means that I definitely overdid it with the salt. Now that I think of it, the bacon was probably already salty too.
2. No significant loss in taste, just less "savory" and strong.

I think I'll stick to steaming next time. Less calories and no MSG. I'm thinking of incorporating some butter into the meat mix, though. And no Knorr.