Becca's Bistro

Sushi - California Rolls

I made sushi this weekend for the first time in several years.  It is actually very easy if you have access to the right ingredients, and I should do it more often.  For the filling, I stuck to something I could get easily in my local supermarket but there are many other possibilities such as minced crab sticks and avocado, strips of omlette and pickled radish.  I made the traditional rolls as pictured above, and the inside out rolls as pictured below:

You will need a bamboo rolling mat which can be bought at Asian stores and larger supermarkets.

 

Ingredients for simple California rolls - makes three rolls

1 large mug of white rice
water
1 dessertspoonful of rice vinegar or rice wine
half a teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar 
3 sheets of roasted seaweed lava
160g can tuna
a good dollop of mayonnaise
half a cucumber peeled and cut into 9 strips
Toasted sesame seeds to sprinkle 

Cook the rice by the absorbtion method, either follow the instructions on the pack or cover the rice with your thumb's depth of water and cook over a low heat until tender and all water is absorbed.  Leave to cool.

Mix the vinegar, salt and sugar until all dissolved then drizzle over the cooled rice and fork through.  This will make the rice sticky and glossy.

Drain the tuna and mash up with some mayonnaise.

Lay a sheet of seaweed on a bamboo rolling mat, lengthwise and rough side up.  Spread some rice over the the sheet but leave a 1.5cm strip across the top.  Don't spread the rice too thickly.  Spoon a stripe of tuna horizontally about 2 cm from the bottom from end to end.  Then above the tuna, lay 3 strips of cucumber end to end.

Start rolling the mat from the bottom.  Do one roll over the filling and squeeze firmly.  Then lift the edge of the mat slightly and continue rolling.  Wet your finger and wet the top edge of the seaweed before the final roll.  This will seal it.

Use a sharp knife to slice the roll, you may need to wet or oil it between slices to stop the rice sticking.

For inside out rolls:  Spread the rice over the seaweed but do not leave a gap at the top.  Flip over so the rice is now on the bamboo mat and the shiny side of the seaweed is facing upwards.  Place the filling on the roll as normal and then roll up.  Sprinkle sesame seeds on the rice.

Twice Fried Korean Chicken

When I lived in Korea, there was a shop next to where I worked, that sold fried chicken.  In fried chicken shops you have a choice of two flavours, spicy or soy.  I liked both but preferred the spicy one.  

A few months ago I began to miss Korean food, so on a visit back home to the UK, I visited an Asian shop and picked up some gochujang, the spicy paste that flavours many Korean dishes.  I then began to trawl the internet in search of things to do with the gochujang and on Youtube came across some videos of Korean women making their own versions of fried chicken.  After some experimentation, I have hit upon a formula I like.  I make the batter according to one cook who posts under the name of Maangchi, and I use an approximation of the sauce recipe from Aeriskitchen.

Koreans fry the chicken twice to make it crisper.  Having said that, once it is tossed in the sauce, it loses some crispiness anyway so if you are pushed for time, once may be okay.

I eat this with rice as a main course, but in Korea it would probably be served as a snack with alcoholic drinks.

Ingredients for Korean fried chicken - serves 2-3

1 large chicken breast per person
1tsp salt
large pinch black pepper

half a cup of plain flour
half a cup of corn starch
2 small eggs, beaten

2 tbsp tomato ketchup
2 tbsp honey
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp finely chopped onion
2 cloves garlic
half tbsp olive oil
1tsp gochujang
1 tsp mayonnaise
half tsp sesame oil 
1 tsp sesame seeds

vegetable oil for deep frying

Chop the chicken breasts into bite-sized pieces and put in a bowl.  Add salt and pepper and mix with hands.  Then add the flours and coat well.  Finally add the egg and mix with your fingers until pieces are coated with a batter.

Heat oil for frying.

In the meantime put the sauce ingredients together in a small frying pan and heat until combined and sugar dissolved.

Start putting the chicken pieces in the oil and fry til just golden.  Drain then fry for a second time until golden-brown and crisp. Drain and mix into the sauce, stirring well until completely coated.

 

Squid with Chickpeas and Soçuk

I like the strong flavours of Spanish cooking and this is based on a dish which combines squid with chorizo.  Being in Turkey, I cannot find chorizo so have used our own cured sausage instead which is called soçuk.  I am sure any spicy cured sausage will work well.  Squid is not that easy to find here, but I tracked some down in the fish market today.  This is probably my favourite way of cooking and eating squid (especially since my failed attempt at calamari last summer).

Ingredients for Squid with Chickpeas and Soçuk (serves 2 greedy adults)

half a kilo of cleaned squid, cut into rings
a 3cm section of cured sausage cut into thin slices
one large skinned tomato, chopped
1 large clove garlic, crushed
a quarter of a large can of chickpeas, drained
2 tbsp tomato puree
salt to taste
1 tsp paprika
olive oil
half a lemon
parsley to garnish

Heat the olive oil in a frying pan and fry the onion until transparent.  Add garlic and stir for another 2 or 3 minutes. Put the sliced sausage into the pan and stir, making sure it does not burn.  Add the tomato and stir well, then add chickpeas and tomato puree.  Season with salt and paprika and cook for 10 minutes on a low heat.

Add the squid rings and stir well.  Cook for about 7 minutes, not too long or the squid will be tough.  Squeeze the lemon juice over the squid and then garnish with chopped parsley.

 

Nasi Goreng

I used to eat this in The Netherlands years ago.  It is an Indonesian classic and a great tasty way of using up leftover rice.  It is very versatile because you can add whatever you like.

Here is a list of ingredients I have used in nasi goreng (but not all at once)

Finely sliced white cabbage
Cooked garden peas
Chopped mushrooms
Chopped green chilli pepper
Chopped red chilli pepper
Carrot cut into julienne strips
Bean sprouts
Chopped garlic
Sliced, cooked chicken

You could also add beef, pork or shrimps

Essential ingredients:

Boiled rice (preferrably one day old but at least completely cold)
Oil
Chopped shallots
half a teaspoon Thai shrimp paste OR 1 tsp Thai fish sauce
1 dessertspoon tomato ketchup
1 dessertspoon soy sauce/ketjap manis
chilli flakes to taste or 1 tsp of sambal oelek
1 egg

First assemble your ingredients to hand.  If you boil your rice the same day (tip: use a short grain not basmati)  spread it out on some non stick paper or a silicone pad to dry out and cool.  Otherwise, it will just clump up when you try to fry it.

Take the egg and beat it thoroughly cook it in a small omelette pan with very little oil.  When it is set roll it up and leave to cool.

Heat some oil in the wok and start frying the shallots, stirring all the time.  Add the shrimp paste or oil and stir.  If using meat, add at this stage whether cooked or uncooked. Start to add the other vegetables starting with the hardest, for example carrot and ending with the softest, such as peppers.  Stir in soy sauce, tomato ketchup and sambal oelek.  Stir all the time to cook evenly and prevent sticking.  Add the rice and stir fry until thoroughly heated through.  Cut the omelette roll into rings and scatter on the top.  Taste and adjust seasonings if required.

Spicy Skewered Kebabs

I have been making variations of these for many years. They are a quick and tasty way of using minced beef.  To be honest, I have found the cheaper the mince (i.e. more fatty and squishy) the better the kebabs!  You can choose your own combination and strength of spices so the recipe below is just a suggestion.  You can also make them with minced lamb if you prefer.

I am not really sure what to call these kebabs.  Some recipe books would call them kofte kebabs.  Here in Turkey, köfte is a type of meat ball, usually with bread crumbs added, so it doesn't feel quite right to me anymore to call them köfte.  In Turkey, there are other minced meat kebabs, named after their cities of origin, such as Adnana kebabs or Urfa kebabs which are usually spiced in a certain way.  They are long kebabs formed around metal skewers.

Once a Palestinian student of mine saw me making these and he, non-cook though he was, pushed me aside and rolled them adroitly with one hand to form much nicer more regular shapes than I had.

I usually cook them on the kitchen grill.  I advise not placing them too near to the source of heat, and put them on open bars with a foil covered tray below, to allow the fat to drip through.  Watch carefully, I caught mine on fire a couple of weeks ago!  They are also great for barbecues.

Serve with plain rice and a mixed salad.

Ingredients for Spicy Skewered Kebabs (makes about 8 kebabs)

half a kilo of minced beef or lamb
1 teaspoon salt
a large pinch black pepper
1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley
1 tablespoon chopped mint leaves if making lamb kebabs
1 large clove garlic
1 small onion
1 teaspoon mild chilli powder or a quarter teaspoon hot chilli flakes
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1 teaspoon allspice (if you are in Turkey you can use kofte spice)

You can either combine the ingredients by hand or use a food processor.

By hand:

Grate the onion and mince or finely chop the garlic.

Place in bowl with seasonings, herbs and meat.  Knead together until minced meat is soft and all ingredients well incorporated.

Food processor:

Place roughly chopped onion and garlic clove in processor, with meat and seasonings.  Process until all incorporated.

Roll mixture into roughly shaped sausages.  If meat is too moist, refrigerate until firm enough to mould.  Put wooden skewers into the meat and press around with your fingers.  Grill, turning a couple of times during cooking.  Under a moderate grill they should take around 20 minutes to cook through.  A moderate grill is best as they cook in the centre without getting too charred on the outside.

Daktoritang (Korean chicken stew)

A few years ago, some Korean students kindly came to my house and cooked up a Korean feast for me.  One of the dishes was this chicken stew cooked by Lee Moon Gil.  Despite having really enjoyed this meal and since lived in Korea, until recently I had never attempted Korean cooking myself.

When I lived in Korea, I had no need to cook and little equipment to do so.  My employers provided me with dinner on weekdays and at weekends it was cheaper to eat out than buy groceries.  My meals at work were usually the cheapest available, comprising little meat and veg and lots of noodles.  When I left Korea I had rather tired of the cuisine.

Recently though, I came to crave it again.  It is not as well-known as Chinese or even Japanese food, but for people who like their food spicy, it is very palatable.  It has influences from other Asian nations but is not usually cooked in a wok.  One of the most important ingredients is a red spicy paste called gochujang.  On a recent visit to England I bought some, luckily I have a Korean store in walking distance of my home there.

I feel slightly apologetic about posting yet another chicken recipe, but as I have said before it is about all I can afford to buy here! My husband said he could eat this every night, so I felt it was worth posting.  Thanks to Moon Gil who e-mailed me the recipe.  I had to modify the recipe slightly to what was available and I admit I reduced the spices.  Here is how I made daktoritang.

Ingredients for daktoritang

sufficient chicken per person (I used one chicken quarter per person)
1 medium onion
1 large carrot/ 2 small carrots
2 medium potatoes
1 chilli pepper sliced
salt
large pinch black pepper
1 large clove garlic, crushed
1 tablepoon soy sauce
2 tablespoons gochujang (4 tablespoons for Koreans)
1 tsp chilli powder (or 2 tablespoons if you are Korean)
3 spring onions, chopped
sufficient water to cover the chicken

Wash and dry the chicken pieces.  If you wish you can marinade in Japanese cooking wine, but I omitted this.

Place in stock pot and cover with water.  Put on the lid and bring to the boil.  Add salt, pepper, soy sauce, garlic, gochujang and chilli.  Simmer for about 40 minutes with lid on.  Add potatoes, carrots and onions and chilli pepper, cover and cook for another 20 mins to half an hour.  About ten minutes before the end of cooking add the spring onions.

Serve with plain boiled rice.

Abdul's Baked Trout

This is another Saudi inspired dish.  A few years ago, some foreign student friends got together for an international party.  This fish dish was contributed by a Saudi student called Abdul.  It was really delicious so I asked him for the recipe.  It is very simple, as the best fish dishes tend to be.

I don't like the texture of onion very much, although I like the flavour, so once the fish is on my plate, I tend to take out the filling and leave it to one side.  The flesh of the fish is already infused with the flavours.

Ingredients for Abdul's Baked Trout

1 trout per person, filleted
some slices of onion per person
a bunch of dill per person
salt
Fish seasoning (I used Rajah fish seasoning produced by West Mill Foods)
A little lemon juice
a little olive oil.

Heat the oven to 180 C/Gas 4/350F

Wash and dry the trout.  With a sharp knife, make 3 slashed in the skin down each side.

Rub a light coating of fish seasoning over the flesh, inside the trout.  Insert some onion slices and a bunch of dill.  Rub another light coating of seasoning over the outside and a little salt.

Place in an oven dish.  Drizzle with lemon and olive oil.

Cover with foil and bake for about half an hour.

Kabsah

I really like most food from the Middle East.  Mezze dishes from the eastern Mediterranean are always great for fresh flavours and variety.  Food in the Gulf States also has an Indian influence.  Biryani is very popular there as is kabsah, another fragrant and spicy rice and meat dish.

The first time I ate kabsah, it was cooked by an officer in the Saudi airforce.  If I remember correctly, he cooked it with lamb, and added carrots, courgettes and potatoes.  The second time I had it, it was cooked by an Emirati student and he made it with chicken.  A Saudi lady gave me a recipe for it but I confess I never attempted it and lost her recipe.

Suddenly, I had the urge to make it and had to look online for a recipe that looked appealing.  I found a great video on YouTube posted by ASANGCUPAN.  There are many different ways of cooking kabsah apparently but I liked the look of this method.  It involves boiling the chicken first.  Most Middle Eastern people boil meat before frying, rather than sealing meat first in oil as we often do.  They think to do otherwise is unhygenic and I suppose, coming from very hot countries that until recently had no refrigeration facilities, this was the wisest method.  You will see from the picture that the chicken looks a bit grey as a result but rest assured it just melts in the mouth.  I adapted the recipe slightly to what I had available.

Ingredients for Kabsah (serves 3)

1 litre water
2 chicken thighs per person (preferably attached to the bone)
300g rice (basmati is best)
1 dried lime (from Asian shops or larger supermarkets)
a couple of bay leaves
3 pieces cinnamon bark
pinch of cloves
3 cardamom pods
a little black pepper
a teaspoon salt
a teaspoon stock powder (I used bouillon)
vegetable oil for frying
1 tablespoon tomato puree
1 tsp garam masala (or make your own mix of spice powders, e.g cumin, coriander, turmeric, red pepper)
half a tsp chilli flakes, or to taste
1 small piece chopped ginger.
1 medium onion (finely chopped)
1 large carrot (cut into strips)
1 small courgette (cut into strips)
half a tin of chopped tomatoes (blended if wished)

If using basmati rice, put in a bowl of water to soak.

First bring the litre of water to the boil in a large pan.  When boiling add chicken, salt, pepper, stock powder, lime, bay leaves, cinammon bark, cloves and cardamom.  Put on lid and boil until chicken is nearly done.

Take out the chicken and put aside.  Strain the stock and put aside.  In the same pot add some oil and fry the onion, ginger and powdered spices.  Add the vegetables and tomato puree.  Cook for a couple of minutes.  Strain the rice if soaking and stir in the rice, coating the grains with the spices.  Add chopped or pureed tomato.  Add the reserved stock until it covers the rice by the thickness of your thumb. Arrange the chicken pieces on top and replace the lid.  Cook gently for about 30 minutes or until all the rice is tender.

It is best if using a gas hob, to put on your largest gas ring so the heat is more evenly distributed.  The trickiest thing about this recipe is getting the rice in a large pot cooked around the edges while not burning the rice in the middle.

Ricotta and Spinach Gnocchi with Tomato Sauce

This is a tasty vegetarian meal and apparently much easier to make than potato gnocchi which I have yet to try.  Fortunately ricotta cheese is getting much easier to find in Istanbul these days and my local supermarket is currently offering 150g of Turkish made ricotta for 1 lira (less than 50p).  I basically used the recipe on Simply Recipes.com but instead of Parmesan cheese that costs an arm and a leg here, I just used local yellow cheese grated on the fine side of the grater.

Ingredients for Gnocchi

300 g ricotta cheese
1/2 cup/80g grated parmesan or hard cheese
about 10 medium size spinach leaves
1 cup/125g all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 beaten egg

If the ricotta has any liquid, drain. Wilt the spinach for about a minute in boiling water, the drain and squeeze ALL the water out.  Chop. Add spinach to ricotta, parmesan, egg, salt and mix thoroughly, gradually add the flour, you may not need it all.  When you have a dough that you can handle, stop mixing in flour.

Put the dough on a floured surface and cut into four, roll each portion out into a long sausage using the flat of your hands. Cut into 2cm lengths on an angle.  Place in the refrigerator until firmed up. I left mine for a couple of hours but half an hour is probably enough.

Boil a large pot of salted water, when gnocchi is chilled roll each one in a little flour then put in the pot.  After a couple of minutes they should rise to the surface, drain and serve with tomato sauce.

Ingredients for tomato sauce

1 tin of tomatoes
1 large garlic clove
a little oil
salt
pepper
thyme or oregano

This sauce is blissfully easy.  Chop the garlic.  Heat the oil and fry the garlic slightly.  Puree the tomatoes either in a food processor or through a sieve.  Add to the garlic.  Add salt and pepper and herbs.  Stir until bubbling and a little reduced.

Stuffed Artichokes

For the last few weeks there have been artichokes for sale everywhere in Istanbul.  In the supermarkets and also from street stalls.  I decided to make stuffed artichokes as I had about 100g minced beef to use and some left over cooked rice.  I looked for ideas online and stuffing suggestions vary from bread crumbs to millet but I decided to use what I had to hand which is roughly what Turkish cooks use to fill other vegetables.  The ingredient quantities depend on the size and quantity of your artichokes.

Ingredients for Stuffed Artichokes

1 artichoke per person
Enough cooked rice to fill the artichokes when hollowed out (for 2 I used about a cupful)
minced beef (optional)
a little tomato puree
a quarter tsp hot chilli flakes
half a teaspoon allspice
salt to taste
black pepper to taste
a little vegetable or olive oil
about 1 tbsp chopped parsley
grated cheese
a lemon
a clove of crushed garlic
approx 3 cups water.

Heat the oil in a pan and brown the mince meat if using.  Add the tomato puree and the rice, stir and mix until thoroughly heated through.  Add seasonings, parsley and cheese.

Prepare the artichokes (beware they can discolour your fingers and nails).  Cut off the stems.  Snip the points of the leaves, removing the toughest outer leaves.  Using a sharp knife or a melon baller, cut out the fibrous centre. You will find it by reaching into the middle of the artichoke and pulling apart the purple leaves.  Be careful as they can be quite sharp if they enter under a finger nail!  Make sure all the fibrous stuff is taken out, you can scoop out any stubborn bits with your fingers.

Fill the chokes with the rice mixture and place a thick slice of lemon on the top.  Stand them in a saucepan, tightly packed so they don't fall over during cooking.  Pour the water around them until the water comes about halfway up the sides of the artichokes.  Squeeze lemon juice into the water, add a little oil and salt and the crushed garlic.  Place a tight-fitting lid on the pan and simmer for about 50 minutes or until base of the chokes are tender.

When eating, you will probably find the leaves rather tough and stringy and you can discard them as you go.