Korean-Italian Pesto - curiously tasty

Snuggled under the doona on the couch watching Nigella on a cold cold COLD Sunday afternoon, I found myself bemoaning the lack of fresh basil in Korea.  I have tried to grow it, with little to no success.  You can buy enough basil for sprinkling on a dish but Nigella was making pesto, so I wanted to make pesto, and that would take a "second mortgage" amount of basil.  So I thought why not use what I've got.  Let me introduce you to perilla leaves...

Perilla leaves, called ggaennip in Korean, are often referred to as sesame leaves.  The leaves have a minty-sesame-apple-coriander type flavour....so, in short, delicious.  Most commonly used to wrap up pieces of bbq pork, I decided I would use them to make a Korean-ish pesto.

Following Nigella's lead, I threw a bit of each of the following things into the food processor:
- garlic
- pine nuts
- cherry tomatoes
- anchovies (to add salt, rather than parmesan cheese)
- capers
- raisins
- olive oil
- a giant handful of perilla leaves.

Threw the result into a dish of cooked pasta and the result was pretty good actually.  It didn't taste like any pesto I'd ever eaten before, but it was really quite nice.  I had my doubts about the raisins, but Nigella added raisins and who was I to argue?!  I have since tried it without and turns out Nigella is right on this one (no surprise there), the pesto needs a little bit of sweet to counterbalance all the other flavours.

I wonder what else I can adapt to suit Korean ingredients?

From the Battle of Kapyong to Winter Sonata

Winter Sonata is a Korean drama series, first aired in 2002, which is credited with helping the spread of Korean culture around Asia, known as the Korean Wave (Hallyu).  Hallyu started in the late 1990s, was propelled by the success of Winter Sonata and has probably received another significant boost with Gangnam Style.

Winter Sonata was filmed on Namiseom, a small island in Chuncheon province (also famous for Dak Glabi - a delicious stir fried chicken dish, but more on that in another post). Winter Sonata is credited with improving the image of South Korea among its Japanese audience and setting fashion trends throughout East Asia.  All of this has also led to a jump in the number of tourists visiting Namiseom.  It is only about 90 mins drive from Seoul and well worth the trip, even for those who (like me) haven't seen Winter Sonata.

Happy New Year

For those in my home country sweltering through what must be an unbearably hot week, these shots from the Hangang early this morning may help cool you down.  We are apparently getting through our coldest winter in 50 years here in Seoul.  It was somewhere around -20 when I took these pictures on a very short walk before breakfast.

Happycall Fish Pan

I wonder what Happycall actually means?

If the Colonel falls asleep in the stroller while I am trundling around the supermarket, I sometimes try to kill a bit more time wandering the aisles to let her sleep.  It was on just such an occasion that I stumbled across a piece of kitchenware I have only ever encountered in Korea, the Happycall fish pan.

Keeping warm in Korea

Seoul is a populous city and it's really really cold (sure, there are colder places, but I'm Australian... -15 is ridiculous!) so there is a huge push to encourage people to turn down their heaters. If you're going to keep your ondol down low, then you need another way to keep warm on the cold, clear nights. 

제육볶음 (Korean Spicy Stir-fried Pork)

It would be a significant challenge for those required to eat halal or kosher in Korea.  Not impossible, but I suspect that there is actually a certain amount of pork particulate in the air due to the sheer abundance of pork being stir-fried, barbequed and generally loved by Koreans.  This dish is one of our favourites and I have been working on improvements with every attempt at cooking it.

So this is 제육볶음 (cheuk bok-um)...

Changdeokgung in Autumn

Changdeokgung (Prospering Virtue Palace) is one of the five grand palaces of Seoul build during the Josean Dynasty.  It is one of the smaller palaces, and only about a third of the structures still exist following the destruction of many of Korea's places of historical significance during the Japanese occupation.