Japanese Hot Pot.

Its that time of year.  This is a great cold weather dish that should warm you up.
All Asian's have there own version of hot pot dish. 
I like this one for light and more delicate flavors of all the vegetables.

This is Kombu.  Dried seaweed.

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• Ingredients
• 8 pieces dried shiitake mushrooms soaked and sliced.
• 2 cloves of garlic chopped.
• 1/2 inch of ginger diced
• 1 shallot sliced.
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1/4cup mirin
• 2 TBSP of sugar.
• 2 (6-inch) pieces kombu
• 1 yellow squash sliced.
• 1/2 package of tofu diced.
• 3 stalks of green onions diced
• 1 cup of Asian chives diced.
• 4 ounces daikon, peeled, halved lengthwise, and cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices
• 1 medium carrot (about 4 ounces), peeled, halved lengthwise, and cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices
• 4 ounces napa cabbage, sliced
• 1 package of enoki mushrooms
• 1 pound (2 blocks) frozen, precooked udon noodles, or 8 ounces dried

Soak shiitake mushrooms in water for atleast 5 hours.  Save the water from soaking.  It will be used as a stock.
Place the kombu in the bottom of the pot, add the liquid from the shiitake mushroom.
Add all the ingredients in a pot except for the noodles.  Close the lid and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes.
Add the noodles close the lid and simmer for additional 10 minutes.

Ready to eat.  There is really nothing to serve with.  Everything is in the pot.

Quick and easy pizza.

Pocket less pita.  Extremely versatile bread.  I use it often as a pizza dough.  This is healthy and easy.  Make your own by adding any toppings of your choice.

This one is with frozen spinach, artichoke ,feta cheese, shaved parmesan cheese and olive oil.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
1 whole wheat pocket less pita bread.
1/2 cup fz. spinach thawed.  (Squeeze all the water out)
1/2 cup of artichoke thawed.
Enough feta cheese and Parmesan to cover the pizza.
Drizzle of olive oil.
Salt and pepper to taste.

Add all the ingredients and bake for 10 to 15 minutes.

Enjoy!

More tools for kitchen

Clothes pin.  Its a work of art.  Cheap, simple and reusable almost forever.

Chocoflan cake, the impossible cake!

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Often served as a birthday cake in Mexico.  Flan on top of chocolate cake with caramel sauce.
Baking this cake is easy with an impressive result.

Ingredients

Box of your favorite chocolate cake (I used Duncan Hines) or your own recipe.
1/4 cup cajeta or caramel sauce 

Flan

• 1 (12-ounce) can evaporated 
• 1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
• 4 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
• 3 eggs
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract 

For the flan: In a blender, combine the evaporated milk, condensed milk, cream cheese, eggs and vanilla. Blend on high for 30 seconds. 
Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Make the cake batter.
Coat a Bundt pan with a little butter or spray oil, then coat the bottom with 1/4 cup cajeta or caramel sauce.
Pour in the cake batter on top of the caramel sauce.
Pour flan mixture on top of the cake batter.

Cover the bundt pan with aluminum foil tightly.
Place the cake pan in the a large roasting pan with hot water.  About 1 inch deep.  This technique is called bain-marie
Place the cake in the middle rack and bake for 1-1/2 hour.  To check if the cake is done poke the cake
with a toothpick.  If it comes out clean the cake is done.
Cool the cake on a rack for atleast 1 hour.  Place in the refreferator for atleast 2 hours.  (This will set the flan).
Take it out of the refrigerator let stand for about 30 minutes.
Invert the cake on a platter.

Korean pork BBQ/Daeji Gui

 I am big fan of pork.  This is my favorite pork dish.  It's also delicious as a sandwich.

Ingredients.

1 Pound of Pork thinly sliced.  (I used pre sliced pork shoulder available at Korean Market)
* To thinly slice any meat, freeze the meat for 20 minutes or until firm and slightly hard. This should make it easy to slice

1/4 Cup of gochujang.  Use more if you like it spicy  (Korean red pepper paste)
1/4 Cup of soy sauce
1 1/2 Tbsp of rice wine vinegar
1 Tbsp of sesame oil
1/2 Inch of ginger grated
3 Garlic cloves finely chopped
2 Tbsp of sugar
1/4 Tsp of black pepper.
1/4 Cup of green onions for garnish.

Mix all the ingredients together well and marinate in the refrigerator for 1 to 2 hrs.
Grill on a med/hot charcoal grill for 2 to 3 minutes each side or until it cooks.
Serve with steamed rice, red leaf lettuce, and other popular Korean side dish of your choice.

* If you are wondering about my grill in the photo, it's a bakers rack for cooling cookies and cakes.
It works great for vegetables as well.  It keeps your food from falling into the charcoal between the wires.

Korean Cucumber side dish

This is a delicious and easy side dish.
You can skip the salting the cucumber part.  Reason for salting is to get all the liquid out of the cucumber.  That way the dish not too watery.

Ingredients

1 English cucumber sliced 1/4 inches thick.
1 Tbsp of salt
1 scallion chopped
1/2 Tbsp of grated ginger
1 clove of garlic chopped
1/2 Tsp of sesame oil
1 Tbsp of soy sauce
1/2 Tbsp of sugar
Pinch of red pepper flakes

Salt the sliced cucumber and let sit for 1/2 hour to an hour.  (This is optional)
Rinse well and pat cucumbers dry.
Add all ingredients and chill in refrigerator for 1 hour.

This dish is great for many cuisines.
Great on sandwiches, add to your favorite salad, Also great side dish for seafood.

Soybean Paste

Just in case anyone is wondering what soybean paste is, here is a photo
of the product. Available in most Asian Markets and your very friendly
Korean deli's all over NYC. I usually by one's without MSG. Keeping it
healthy. There are many to choose from but they are usually in a beige
plastic tub like above.