My Ravioli Recipe

I love the tupperware ravioli maker that I got from my friend Anne. Works great with my pasta machine, ha!

Making your own pasta is a lot easier than it sounds, although here are a few tips:

- pasta dough dries out pretty fast, so when you run it through the pasta machine or flatten it with a rolling pin--use up all the dough before it dries.

- put some flour in between your flattened sheets of pasta to keep from sticking

- be prepared for a mess if your kids help you

Basic pasta recipe:

3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3 large eggs
3 tablespoons olive oil

Make a little hole in the flour and put the eggs in it. Mix very, very thoroughly and slowly add the olive oil. Knead until smooth, this could take a while.
Let it sit in saran wrap for half an hour.


My ravioli fillings are as follows:

ricotta filling

1 cup ricotta
1 egg
salt
pepper
very finely chopped parsely (optional)

meat filling

1 cup of minced meat, I blend this one more time to make it very fine
1/4 onion, minced finely
salt
allspice



My tomato sugo:

1 can of whole, peeled tomatoes. (Or 4-6 fresh, peeled tomatoes)
2 cloves garlic, minced
olive oil
salt
sugar

Put a small saucepan on medium heat and add some olive oil when it's hot.
Add tomatoes and fry them just for a little.
Add water, until the tomatoes are covered. Add the garlic, equal amounts of salt and sugar. Some people also like a dash of balsamico.
Simmer and let the water almost evaporate, add more water and let it simmer again. Now you can either use a mixer to puree the tomatoes, or a potato masher if you want it more chunky.
Optional: add a handful of chopped basil and/or parsely

Boil the filled ravioli for about 3-5 minutes depending. Toss in either tomato or cream sauce and serve immediately.

Unfortunately for my blog viewers, we ate our delicious ravioli before I could take any pictures! :-)

Our favourite Ban Chan Recipes

Besides kimchi there are 2 side dishes which we particularly like

Seaweed salad:

First I make a salad dressing with rice vinegar, sesame oil, 1 clove garlic, salt, sugar, soy sauce, sesame seeds and some finely diced white onion.

Soak the seaweed as directed on the package, lucky is the one who can buy fresh seaweed. Mix with the dressing and let sit for a while before serving.
Very good and very healthy!



Steamed eggplant with dressing:

Wash your eggplant and cut into half down the middle, then cut into quarters.
Steam for about 10-12 minutes, don't let it get too mushy. Tear the eggplant into strips so that they soak the dressing better.
Make the same dresing as for the seaweed salad but wih more garlic and toss the steamed eggplant strips.
Very good, even for those who don't like eggplant such as myself. This works with zucchini too, not traditional but delicious the same.

Bulgogi

I loved this stuff when I first tried it, and if I had my way I would eat it every single weekend!

Bulgogi:

The whole idea is simple, marinate your meat the evening before.
I buy tenderloin or sirloin for my beef and ask them to slice it really thin. At home I cut it in about finger-long strips and marinate.

Marinade:
3/4 cup soy sauce
3/4 cup broth
5-6 garlic cloves
1/8th cup of sliced ginger
1/3 cup of brown sugar
1 shotglas of sake
3 green onions, sliced thinly lengthwise
3-4 tablespoons of sesame oil

optional: julienned strips of carrot

For variety I marinade pork and turkey meat as well, although I substitute brown sugar for white sugar and use less ginger on the pork.
Tastes best if you marinate overnight but 3-6 hours can also do the trick.

We like to eat the Sangjju Ssam bulgogi where you put the rice, meat and ssam jang sauce into a lettuce leaf.
The ssam jang sauce we had at the restaurant was pretty sweet and not spicy at all, I did find a few spicy recipes as well though:

4 Tbs of soybean paste (Korean-doenjang/Japanese-Miso)
4 Tbs medium ground red chili powder (or less depending on how spicy you like it)
1 tsp sugar
2 green/spring onion
4 cloves garlic
1 Tbs of sesame seeds
1/2 Tbs of sesame oil
1 Tbs rice wine
1 Tbs soy sauce

water

Our Kimchi recipes

So there must be like a million kimchi recipes out there, I don't think any is "the right one" but we found out how we like it best.
Normally Tom makes our napa kimchi and I make the daikon or cucumber kimchi, so I will post what I remember from T's recipe.

First you need to brine the cabbage. Some people use the whole cabbage leaves, some cut them up. We found out that if you cut them up, it soaks up more of the sauce and starts fermenting a little faster.
You also need a large jar that you can seal airtight.

This recipe is for one medium-sized chinese cabbage.

Brine the cabbage by soaking for at least one hour in water so salty that it "tastes like sea water". Now thoroughly rinse the cabbage and let all the water drain.
Meanwhile, we make our paste:

1/2 cup of coarse ground chili powder or flakes (the redder the better)
6-8 cloves of garlic
5-6 tablespoons of finely grated ginger
oyster sauce or fish sauce, a dash (this is optional, but gives an authentic flavour)
sugar, about a teaspoon
salt, about a teaspoon

optional:
spring onions/red onions/white (sweet) onions
sesame seeds

Mix the paste ingredients in a blender, adding a little water if needed.
Best to use your hands to spread the paste all over the cabbage, then put it in an airtight container. If you want to make kimchi on whole cabbage leaves, you will have to spread the paste in between the leaves and rub it in a little.
Don't seal the container yet, but leave it out, unrefridgerated for about an hour to jumpstart the fermentation process. Afterwards, you can close it and put it in the fridge.
Do not open for at least 3 days except for letting out a tiny little bit of air to avoid pressure buiding up! The longer it ferments, the better. Keep away from sunlight and warmth!

Daikon kimchi(Ggaktugi):

This is for a relatively large daikon, about the size of my lower arm. (Sorry, couldn't think of another comparison!)
Cut up the daikon into cubes and salt vigorously. Put aside for about 30 minutes and then rinse in plenty of running water and drain.

Our paste consists of:
3-4 tablespoons of chili powder
4-6 cloves of garlic
1/2 sweet onion (white)
4-6 tablespoons of finely grated ginger
2 tablespoons of shrimp paste (optional: fish sauce)
sugar
salt

optional:
spring onions
chives

Again, mix all ingredients in blender, adding water when necessary.
Mix onto the drained daikon cubes and refridgerate, you can eat it a few hours later already. You can keep this for 2-3 weeks and it will still be good although the taste will intensify.

Stuffed Cucumber Kimchi (Oikimchi):

6 small cucumbers

spring onions
1 small daikon
4 cloves of garlic
1/2 white onion
4 tablespoons coarsely ground chili powder
2 tablespoons freshly grated ginger
shrimp paste
1 teaspoon sugar

Blend the garlic, onion, chili powder, sugar and shrimp paste adding water if necessary. Grate the ginger and daikon and mix it with the chili blend. Let that sit for about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, cut cucumbers in half across the middle.
Slice the cucumber sections in half lengthwise, leaving the last 1/4 inch uncut.
Turn the cucumber section half way and repeat.
Lightly salt the inside surfaces and let stand for at least twenty minutes. Rinse, drain, and place in a large mixing bowl.
Now stuff the cucumbers with the daikon-chili filling and pour the remaining juices over the cucumbers. Seal tightly.
This can be eaten after about 2 hours and will stay good for about 3 days.

For my cucumber kimchi, I cut a medium sized cucumber in half across the middle and then slice horizontally almost all the way to the end. Now slice. Now prepare the same way as the daikon kimchi and let sit for about an hour before eating. These are better eaten fresh because the cucumbers get soggy after a while.