I love Kimbap and Kimchi!

I am a Docent at the Fine Art Museum in Budapest.  A few times each month I lead a tour of Baroque Art to visitors of the museum . These are mostly tourists but there are still many Hungarians who have some time and join the tour. The tours are approximately 1 hour in length though sometimes I do longer , it all depends on the group.
Through the  Museum program I have met many wonderful women and men who share my love of Art. In a few weeks we start a new "session" that being lectures on Gothic Art. The lectures are extremely interesting and are based on the  Art we have in the museum so that if you would like to become certified to lead a tour  in Gothic art ( as an example)  you know where the paintings are, who the artists were and why they painted in this style, the political situation and of course the religion at the time. Every session is a different period in Art History and ends in an exam. To become Certified you must of course pass an exam on your knowledge of the art period being studied. BUT the important thing is that you can come just for the lectures to increase your knowledge no exam !
Anyway the today I was invited to a Docent's home, along with another Docent for a luncheon. The interesting part is that the Hostess Docent was Korean and she would be showing us how to make KIMBAP.
The other Docent was from the United Kingdom and would show and bake Scottish shortbread cookies and then there was me , Hungarian via Canada and I would be making Korozott (recipe in a previous blog).

Of course I did not know what Kimbap was, had never heard of it .Just to make sure I knew what was being served I Googled  it ...no surprises then ! Ok so  Kimbap was the joining of two word, Kim which is a type of Korean  seaweed sheets and Bap which is rice. Since this is mostly Kim and Bap it was called Kimbap! Inside you usually find vegetables and some slivers of meat. it is rolled and then cut into mouth sized servings. It is a very traditional Korean 'fast food'...but healthy , eaten with chopsticks.  You do not need soy sauce, wasabi or pickled ginger with it . Sounds amazing! Will this take over sushi? Of  the many people polled actually they preferred this!

So lets see how it is made....

First you need the sticky rice.
It consists of cooked rice, sesame oil, salt, and sesame seeds, to which small amounts of vinegar and sugar are often added as seasonings.

shredded carrots with sesame seeds and oil ,

Surimi made from Pollack fish.

Plus...( from right to left) .marinated radish, squeezed cucumber, flattened fried eggs plain, fried egg with some pulverized fish  and for the meat julienned ham. We have our meal .

We start by placing the riced on the seaweed wrap which is on top of a bamboo mat.
Next,

we start the adding of the ingredients,

we keep adding the ingredients on top of each other.
Once everything has been added we start to roll.

and roll...

and roll ...

Once the rolling is done we squeeze and squeeze HARD. Without the squeeze the roll will fall apart when we cut !
So we have one KIMBAP ready , we have a few more to do .

Next comes the cutting , you need a very sharp knife. There are pieces sticking out on the ends but that is a TREAT for the younger children.

The inside of a KIMBAP looks amazing , the amount and type of each ingredient gives a different color and it is almost like a Kaleidoscope.

So cool!

I have to show you an end piece.... this was my 'treat' ...seems almost like a piece of art!

While we were having fun rolling  the kimbap, the dumplings were frying .

I stuffed the Korozott ( previous blog ) into cherry tomatoes and celery sticks . A salad was prepared , dumpling sauce was made and we set the table.

There was something extra on the table , our hostess added Kimchi.

Kimchi ( /ˈkɪmtʃi/; Korean: 김치 [kimtɕʰi]), also spelled gimchi, kimchee, or kim chee, is a traditional fermented Korean dish made of vegetables with varied seasonings.^[1][2][3] There are hundreds of varieties of kimchi made with a main vegetable ingredient such as napa cabbage, radish, green onions or cucumber.^[4] It is the most common banchan, or side dish, in Korean cuisine.
Our hostess used the cabbage. I loved this dish but it is not something you can just decide to make for a weekend dinner party, many months of fermenting goes into this dish. This dish was HOT , HOT, HOT and that is why I loved it, it was so perfect for our afternoon luncheon!

 So after we finished of our meal  the buzzer rang ....our shortbread cookies were ready!
Thank heavens for buzzers we would have just talked while the cookies would have burned.


Scottish shortbread cookies. This I Googled just for fun. Everyone knows what shortbreads are but as always you can learn a little more.
Shortbread is a type of unleavened biscuit (cookie) which is traditionally made from one part white sugar, two parts butter, and three parts oatmeal flour.
Despite the fact that shortbread was prepared during much of the 12th century, the refinement of shortbread was actually accredited to Mary, Queen of Scots in the 16th century. The name of one of the most famous and most traditional forms of shortbread, petticoat tails, were named by Queen Mary. This type of shortbread was baked, cut into triangular wedges, and flavored with caraway seeds.Shortbread is so named because of its crumbly texture (from an old meaning of the word short). The cause of this texture is its high fat content, provided by the butter. The short or crumbly texture is a result of the fact that the fat inhibits the formation of long protein (gluten) strands. The related word "shortening" refers to any fat that may be added to produce a short (crumbly) texture ( wikipedia)

 Ingredients:
6 oz of flour
4 oz of butter
2 oz of sugar

 

 Oven set at 300F ( 150C). The oven is set at a very low temperature as these cookies must be baked slowly.

Beat the butter, add the sugar and then sift  and add the flour! Roll this out on a board dusted with sugar, cut the cookie shapes  and the bake for 30 minutes, let cool and you are done . How easy was this!

So after our lunch we had  fresh baked cookies and fresh blueberries which are in season. Such an easy relaxing lunch.  Again as the day was hot the stove was set very low so the rooms were not heated up.

The cookies decided to come out a bit flat, not something that usually happens, it was the heat we decided.
Cookie dough should always be cold before it is placed in the oven especially dough with so much butter. However, the taste is the same. Unbelievably delicious and all this great taste coming only from sugar, butter and flour!  I wondered why do we go to such great lengths to get  a great cookie recipe adding all kinds of ingredients when all you need are sugar, butter and flour.

 So it was a wonderful afternoon with great food and great company. 

Hello are you coming or going, it doesn't matter in HUngarian!

I am sitting here on the balcony looking over the 'blue' Danube. The river which separates Buda  from Pest is calm and it is relaxing to watch the sun slowly set . I am very happy to live here.

 When I first came to Budapest I was fascinated by all things foreign. I would spend hours every day walking around and listening to the language, going into little stores, looking at the merchandise but always with one of those free little maps you can get at the hotels. During these walks a least 5 people would stop me and ask in very broken English if I needed help. I would, in the early days, clutch my purse tighter and say 'nem koszonom' and quickly move on . Then as I realized they were not going to rob me but were really offering help, they had seen the map in my hand , I relaxed.  I would answer these kind people in Hungarian and thank them . They then asked where I was from and we had a little conversation .  They were as interested in me as I in them . But it was not too long that I realized that they were interested but that they were also practicing their English on me. OK my Hungarian was not the best but in all cases it was better than their English. Even today 8 years of being here and speaking Hungarian fluently  the minute I open my mouth if a Hungarian person knows one word in English they will speak English OR if they think I am German they try out their German on me. Of course my husband thinks this is hilarious.

One year we went down to Hevis , the largest middle European mineral hot water lake, it is about 2 hours from Budapest at the end of the Balaton.  A beautiful place with wonderful mud for arthritis and rheumatism and a large warm water lake that is swim-able all year round . Worth while checking out .Anyway  we were checking into the hotel and  I was speaking to the receptionist in Hungarian when she asked me where I was from . I naturally said "Budapest" . My husband burst out laughing he knew what she meant. I should have answered Toronto. That is how strongly I feel about being a Hungarian , I have all but forgotten Canada.

The one thing in the language  I can not understand, try as I might, is the word "Hello".
This is NOT a Hungarian word but the Hungarians have taken this word and used it for a word when you  leave the person ! This is forever confusing to me . How many times have I just stood there and stared when I say "Szia- bye" and the person leaving  says Hello! Or on the phone I say 'jo napot, hello' ( I say this in both languages in case the caller is not English)  and there is silence on the other end, to them I have ended the conversation!   The first lesson I give my English students is the correct interpretation of the word Hello.

Today I decided to make breaded chicken for my husband and with it he will get a sour cream Waldorf salad.  This is a salad that is eaten with fried food here in Hungary and is one of my husbands favorite foods.
I will make a bbqued chicken breast for myself, marinating the breast in bbq sauce and lemon and then grilling it to perfection . Much lower in calories then fried chicken. But just about the only way I can get my husband to eat chicken is by frying it .

 Ingredients: for 2 persons

2 potatoes
1 carrot
1/2 cup frozen peas
1 peeled apple cut into cubes.
1 tbs sour cream
1 tbs mayonnaise with 1 squirt of lemon
1 very small onion halved
sugar
lemon


The whole potatoes should be boiled , peeled and cooled. Cut the carrots up and boil them . Place the frozen peas in a dish and without water let them thaw out .

When the potatoes are cool cut them up unto little cubes and add them to the cooled carrots. The peas should be thawed out and added to this . Never use canned peas as they really become mush when you stir with all the other items . Frozen uncooked peas are perfect when they thaw out .

They taste as a pea should.

Add the apples and onions and mix this together. Now add 1tbs of sour cream , 1tbs of mayonnaise and lemon and 1 teaspoon of sugar , mix well and place in the fridge for a bit for the flavors to mix.. You can also substitute yogurt for part of this .

This is a type of Waldorf salad. Actually you can add almost anything to this and is very easy to put together.
The original Waldorf salad originated  at the Waldorf Hotel in New York City in 1890. That salad had apples  and celery and mayonnaise.
In Hungary this salad usually contains carrots , peas and potatoes in combination with apples. And this being Hungary you use sour cream also. I also add a tiny bit of onion just to give it a bit of bite otherwise I find it bland. I will say I have never seen this salad with corn , thank heavens!

 I made a bbq chicken breast for myself.

This salad is good with any type of meat and can also be eaten alone . It can be quickly made and is vegetarian, it is the perfect side dish on a hot day.

When I was growing as a good Hungarian girl in Toronto we never ate corn as my parents said that corn was only feed to the animals in Hungary and was not for humans to eat. There is some truth to that as our digestive system can not digest corn . Initially when we were vegetable eaters our digestive track was longer and out teeth different but we evolved as we became meat eats and so corn is something that goes tru us and is not digested.
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Why_can_humans_not_digest_co
this is an interesting article about this for those who are interested.

ok back to the salad....I often get sidetracked.
The salad has to be in the fridge for a bit to allow the flavors to mix.  Once everything has cooled down we can set the table and enjoy this cold meal.
Cold fried and bbq'd chicken and special home made Waldorf salad. Perhaps a spritzer would go well with this .
And for dessert wonderful home made chocolate chip cookies. I will be making them again the end of this week and post them . These cookies are amazingly good and as you can not find homemade cookies here I get a lot of praise for my cookies. The recipe comes from the New York Times and comes out perfectly every time I make it . So stay tuned and you too can wow your friends.

The fruit for the dessert will be strawberries and grapes in a salad. These two are in season now and are great with the cookies.

I am setting the table and I realize that there is a full moon tonight.

 I would love to get a close up of the moon but my camera can not , however it is great to see the moon as the night is so clear.
 So we sit outside and watch the moon and the lights come on and we are thankful for  another warm evening . I do not know how many more we will have. But the bees have left.....do they know something we don't? 

If that is corn and ketchup on my pizza I must be in Budapest!

The first time I had a slice of pizza I was 19. We never had pizza in the house so I had no idea what it was.  My girlfriend and I went to the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto and as walking around in the food area we spotted a pizza hut, I mentioned that I had never had a pizza and she mentioned I had to try it as everyone ate pizza. Well the pizza itself did not look too appetizing there was a lot of fat floating on the top and some sausages.  This was way before designer pizza.  I took a bite of this ugly thing and fell in love. Even in this ugly state this pizza with the strange spices of oregano and basil ( not used in Hungarian cooking at all), the combination of cheese and tomatoes and sausage , this pizza started my love affair with pizzas forever. The only time I could not stomach the smell, sight or taste of pizza was during the 9 months when I was pregnant. Even driving by a pizza restaurant turned my stomach . The day I craved a pizza was the day I knew my pregnancy was over and sure enough that evening my daughter was born.

When we came here to Budapest I saw some of the pizza places and was shocked. In North America by this time the pizza had evolved into something healthy . In Budapest 8 years ago the pizza looked the same as my very first pizza....greasy , dried out , ketchup was the tomato sauce used as the base and most were given a sprinkle of corn! Yes corn as a topping. Taking the corn off and tasting this it was disgusting. I even tried to add mustard and hot sauce to give it some flavor but in the end  I saved eating pizza for when I was back in Toronto.

One summer we drove down to Croatia. They had pizza ovens and so once again I tried the pizza. Well I died and went to heaven ! The pizza here by the sea was amazing. The sauce was not acidic but obviously made from fresh ripe tomatoes, the cheese was the local cheese and the dough was not a thin piece of prefabricated cardboard made to look like a pizza bottom, but was actually real hand made dough and everything was fired in a pizza oven at the right temperature and for the right amount of time. That was all I ate the whole week .

Over the past few years some places have tried to make a real pizza  but I think also from what I have heard , the sea water in the dough, the home made cheese and the ripe sweet tomatoes still make the Croatian pizza the best.
Today thinking of this I have decided to make a pizza for dinner.  My husband is not a fan of pizza's unless I make it from scratch  .
So lets get started!

Ingredients:
11/2 cup warm water ( not hot)
3+ cups flour
1 package of dried yeast
1 tbs sugar
1 tbs olive oil

Tomato sauce base
3 tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped
1 small onion
1 glove of garlic pushed thru a garlic press
1/2 teaspoon oregano, basil, pinch of salt.

Toppings
sliced tomatoes
anchovy paste or filets
cheeses
artichokes
olives
Basil leaves
The list can go on and on . The toppings are really what the individual wants to have. There is no set rule. In Croatia you order the plain pizza and then you add whatever you fancy from tuna to chicken. There are different types of cheese that go on the pizza but Naples is famous for using only Buffalo mozzarella . Why am I talking about Naples aren't we in Budapest? Facts, always facts to make things interesting.

A little fact about Buffalo mozzarella......
Apart from Italy, its birthplace, buffalo mozzarella is manufactured in many locations around the world. The Consorzio per la Tutela also refers to fossil evidence (the prehistoric European Water Buffalo, Bubalus murrensis) suggesting that water buffalo may have originated in Italy but there are a few more theories but nothing proven . Water buffalos are not the same as the Buffalo found in North America. References to cheese products made from water buffalo milk appeared for the first time at the beginning of the twelfth century. Buffalo mozzarella became widespread throughout the south of Italy from the second half of the eighteenth century, before which it had been produced only in small quantities. . In Italy the buffalo mozzarella is a 300 million euro a year industry! The above are statistics taken from Wikipedia.

OK we must start on the dough or we will never have a meal today.
The first thing to do is to add the yeast and sugar to the warm water , stir and let sit about 15 minutes until it gets foamy.

During this time sieve 3 cups of flour into a bowl.

When the yeast is ready add it and the tbs of olive oil to the flour and with a spatula mix this.

When the spatula can no longer move the dough use your hands to mix the dough  in the bowl and form a rough ball.
Place this on a floured work surface and start kneading the dough until you get a nice elastic feel to it .
Now this goes into a bowl which is coated with a little oil , covered and left to rise until it is double it's size.

  I make a cross and brush with a little olive oil so that the ball will not crack while rising.  Around 2 hours.  Make sure your bowl is big enough for the dough to double in size as it will ! Place this is a warm place and leave it alone .

During this time we will make the tomato sauce base. This is tomato season so do not dare to use canned tomatoes when you can make the best sauce in a few simple steps.
 
Boil some water and when boiled, turn off the stove , place the tomatoes into this and prick the skins. You are not going to cook the tomatoes.
Take the tomatoes out carefully as they are hot and slip the skins off. Let cool until you can touch them .
Quarter them and take out the seeds and the hard inside core and discard. Chop up the cleaned tomato into little pieces.
Take the pan add, olive oil, add the chopped onions, the pressed garlic and fry until the onions are glassy then add the tomatoes and herbs, put on low and simmer for 15 minutes.

Once everything is soft take a wooden spoon and squish the bigger pieces until you have a smooth sauce. You can also use a blender.

So the sauce is done and tasting this you realize it tastes MUCH better than using canned sauce. The fresh tomatoes are not acidic and need no added sugar . This sauce doubled in quantity is also great on pasta or meat.

Now we are just waiting on the dough to rise.  I have made my  latte and pitzi my cat joins me on the couch.
I decided to tell Pitzi  the Story of Pizza as she always wants to know what I am doing , why and the idea behind the recipes. Cats are so curious.

 She is not happy her picture is being taken and placed on this blog. She actually is a very private cat but I snaped this before she turned her head.
Anyway on with the story.

There are a lot of different pizzas around the Mediterranean but the pizza we build our pizzas on today comes from Naples around 1700 when the tomato was introduced.
As early as 1000 Naples was making 'picea' , flat breads with garlic and oil or small fish , anchovies and cheese, these were baked on an open fire. In Naples the first 'pizzeria' was opened around 1700 using a wood burning oven made from the lava stones of Mount Vesuvius.
The chefs in the 18th century did not want to make the pizzas as they felt this was a poor mans food but the Royals  loved them and  pizza was soon incorporated into their menu. Pizza was so popular that it was sold everywhere even in the streets.
One day towards the end of the 19th century the The  Queen consort of Italy,  Marguerite who was also the first Queen of the Kingdom of Italy came for a visit and wanted to try the Pizza. the Royal cook made three types... garlic , oil and tomatoes , cheese and basil and the third mozzarella, basil and tomato. She loved the last one as it had the colors of the Italian flag, green , white and red and so that was named after her ..... Pizza Marguerite . This was the way the Pizza from Naples was introduced to the rest of the country .
When the many Italian Immigrants came to North America they opened up their pizzerias and introduced a whole other group of people to the Pizza. But apparently today still the best Pizza is served in Naples.

I have not been in Naples so I can not compare but as many Italians go to Croatia I am sure a chef from Naples introduced the pizza to the Croatians. It is a shame he did not travel further north and settle in Budapest.

Ok so Pitzi enjoyed that, especially the part of the tiny fish and anchovies that were first used on the 'piceas'.  She was licking her lips when I mentioned 'tiny fish' . I have promised to give her a little piece as a treat . Her cat size portion will have on it just a tiny piece of the trout we will have for dinner tomorrow night as too much of that and she will not want to eat anything except trout.  Her purrs are very loud now and she mentioned how very important  fish is in the diet of a cat.

The dough has risen and now I pound it down to take out the air bubbles.
Using a rolling pin or an empty wine bottle roll out the pizza and place it on a pizza pan or a cookie sheet. If you place parchment paper underneath, you can slide this then onto the pan your are using,  it it will not stick and be very easy to slice and serve. I like to make it rustic, meaning the edges are not even .It is not necessary to make a round pizza and I find making it on the upside cookie tin is perfect for me . If you have the time let the rolled out pizza rest for a bit before placing it in the hot oven .

I like to bake this for about 4 minutes before adding the ingredients , this makes sure that the middle will also be done and not soggy . Also should any bubbles happen you can pierce them to flatten .

Brush some olive oil on the pizza and add your tomato sauce, then your cheese and then whatever else you want in any order.

  I topped with , sheep cheese,  mozzarella cheese, olives, artichokes, sliced red peppers and tomatoes, I also added some anchovies as both my husband and I love them . On top of this a sprinkled some oregano and basil.
 Place this on the  next to the bottom shelf in the oven heated to 260C for about 20 minutes, until everything is bubbling.

Let this rest before slicing.
While this rests I will make a Caesar salad and our cocktails.

Pizza can be a snack or a meal depending on what you have added.  I love pizza with minimum toppings as then you can taste each ingredient separately. A friend of mine always makes Four Season Pizza. This is pizza that is divided into 4 section and each section has different toppings, it works perfectly for her family.

Pitzi is rubbing around my ankles ....I know what she wants, she has not forgotten my promise.   I have put a little trout on her plate beside her raw chicken .  She is so thrilled, such a treat! Her purring can be heard across the room. I know she will be thanking me for days.

Meanwhile John and I will sit drinking our cocktails on the balcony  while the sun sets. The lights of Budapest  are slowly come on as we watch the cruise ships gliding down the Danube.  Such a perfect day it was and so perfect for a simple meal . These are the autumn  days you can cherish before the cold north winds comes and being outside is only a memory . Let's enjoy and drink to our health!

When in Romai part......

I was born in England and brought up in Canada by Hungarian parents. I spoke a bit of kitchen Hungarian but in school I was only allowed to speak English so that is the language I feel most comfortable with .
I was raised in a Hungarian home with salami, peppers , lots of sour cream and only food that you would find in Hungary.  I was the one who had the weird sandwiches at the lunch table. No tuna salad for me nor white bread. My parents shopped at the market that catered to eastern Europeans so we always had rye bread and strange cold cuts.
I was 14 when I went over to a friends house after school and was given a peanut butter and banana sandwich!
I remember looking at this cut up white bread with no crusts and wondering how I can politely say I was not hungry. I had no idea what they were giving me . I had never heard of peanut butter in my life and then to put a banana in the bread. My friend Elizabeth made the sandwich  and I did not want to hurt her feelings so I took a very very small bite.  Then I took another larger bite , this was such a new taste for me. I was sold. This was amazing , a sandwich that had no paprika spiced meat, or peppers and that still had an amazing taste. But this created a HUGE problem, I loved peanut butter but my parents did not know what I was talking about and had no idea where they could even buy this and they did not want to buy it as it was foreign to them. It was only when I moved out and had my own place that I had always a jar of peanut butter in my kitchen .

My husband has another story of peanut butter. When he came from Budapest to live in Canada he went shopping to get some good dark European mustard. He went to the large North American  supermarkets to look for it and bought a jar of what looked like dark mustard. Once home he opened it and ....it was peanut butter, he has hated peanut butter ever since.

Now I have found my beloved peanut butter here in 2 stores and my husband can get all the dark mustard he wants and be confident it is mustard!

It was a beautiful day and so a girlfriend and I decided to go to the Romai part or Roman bank.  It is like a boardwalk without the boardwalk. It is an area in district 3 Budapest by Obuda that is easy to get to and yet is a different world than the rest of Budapest. Romai part lies of course along the Danube river , it is a calm relaxing place during the weekdays but becomes a lively place on the weekends. You can rent a canoe or kayak, you can just stroll , you can sit in one of the many outdoor restaurants and bars and watch the people go by , the one thing you can do is swim in the Danube . In the 1800-1900's the Danube was swimable and so this was a great getaway from the heat for the people living in Budapest.  If you could not afford to go to the Balaton then you went to Romai part.

I love this area as I love anything that has to do with water. We started walking the slightly dusty path along the river, it was a weekday so the place was almost empty.  The stretch is divided onto ,one part having the restaurants and the other part just the path , both equally enjoyable.

There are bright colorful places offering the latest cocktails .

and then there are the more dignified places , with landscaped areas  and set back from the river. During the weekend all the places are packed and many have  bands with loud music competing with each other .

As we were strolling along the cooking shacks had started deep frying their menus. I think that is the biggest problem for me , most of what is served here is deep fried. The heck fish is what just about everyone orders.  They take this fish whole and score it , cover with flour , sprinkle paprika on it and deep fry it . We found a place that also served sausages and chicken , of course all of this was fatty but well when in Romai part .......

The thing is you do not come here for good food, you come here to get a way from the noise and movement of the city .

So this was what we decided on . They actually take each item and weigh it and then you pay for the weight.

The chicken was tender, the colesalw great without any majo, and the potatoes well you can never make a bad

potato, everything was fresh and hot. Many people from the neighboring businesses come here to eat .

 Along the river are the areas you can sit at with your food. We took our trays and sat down under a large tree by the river and watched the boats go by. Such peace.

Of course not all is peacefull here. This area gets flooded on a yearly basis and not just a few inches, many feet of water wash over this area. There is now talk of putting up walls to contain the flooding . What will this do to these wonderful little cooking shacks ?

We finished our meal and decided to take in a bit more of the danube before heading home. So we started walking the other way, away from the smell of the deep frying  . There in front of us was a very large ship anchored to the river edge. We decided to investigate as the gate was opened.

 To our surprise this was a floating 40 room hotel.

 This ship was reconstructed from a Russian paddle-wheeled steamboat built in the beginnings of the 1900's .
Inside everything looked new and very clean and like any large hotel in the city .

This is the view from the lower deck , a wonderful view looking north on the Danube with the hills in the background. The view shows a very peaceful river.

 This is what the boat looks like with the lights.






The great thing about the Romai part is that you can take a boat from the dock and get to the center of the city easily from May to Sept.and cost around 3 euros!

Well time to get back to reality . Some times you just need that escape and in Budapest I think I am lucky to have the Romai part to go to when things get hectic.