Month: April 2014

Sweet Potatoes, With Furikake

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I’ve been thinking about a banchan that’s not uncommon to get in Korean restaurants, boiled skinned potatoes glazed with a lightly sweetened soy and served chilled. They’re a perfect counterpoint to crunchy, pungent kimchee and spicy everything else, a great humble dish. I’ve also been studying a cookbook by Harumi Kurihara (Japan’s Martha Stewart/Donna Hay/Nigella Lawson!) I got a few years ago at Kinokuniya, and have been trying to bring some of her clean, pared down flavors to my cooking.

This dish doesn’t come close to either of its inspirations. But! I’d make it again and even serve it to loved ones, and it was easy enough to make in a few minutes as a small lunch. Its closer cousin is this Furikake Chex Mix–which is the reason I have corn syrup in my pantry to begin with. (This dish does in fact beg to be named “soy-glazed” something other other, but such a move would P.F. Chang-ify this dish in a way I cannot bear! So:)

Sweet Potatoes, With Furikake

Ingredients:
1 sweet potato
1 tbsp butter
1.5 tsp soy sauce
1 tbsp light corn syrup
aji nori furikake 
1) Wash and dry sweet potato and stab small holes in it with the tines of a fork or a paring knife.
2) Wrap sweet potato in a damp paper towel and microwave on high for five minutes, then flip over and microwave for another five minutes. Remove from the microwave, peel off the skin and chop into medium bites.
3) In a medium skillet, melt butter, then stir in soy sauce and corn syrup on low heat. Toss in sweet potato cubes and mix until sweet potatoes are glazed and slightly caramelized, 3-5 minutes.
4) Serve in a bowl and top with furikake.

Chinese Oatmeal-Jook

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Call it desperation or a flash of inspiration, but the other day, with a real hankering for a filling breakfast that wasn’t eggs, I took out my steel cut oats and tried my darndest to turn them into jook.

I cooked the oats according to the instructions, boiling two cups of water and stirring in half a cup of McCann’s until smooth before bringing down the heat and cooking on low for half an hour. Except before turning it down to simmer I added a little splash of soy sauce, sesame oil and minced garlic. I sauteed mushrooms, chopped up some green onions, and threw them on top of the oatmeal when it was done, along with some ichimi togarashi and furikake. That was it.

Friends, it was fine. It was not going to taste bad–though oatmeal, and especially steel cut does have a particular flavor that might have interfered with the soy sauce and sesame oil. I might try something with less body like Quaker’s. It was not revelatory. And it was sure quicker than making a pot of jook.

But on my last few bites it hit me. What I really wanted was some Chinese porridge.