Cooking in Korea

For me, eating out at a restaurant is a treat.  The last six months, spent living in Montreal, I can still tell you every single occasion that I ate at a restaurant, or ordered take-out, that’s how infrequent those occurrences were.  Being in Korea however, that’s a whole different ball game.  Unfortunately, baking and cooking here is a little harder.  The kitchens in a typical Korean house are that of a range; two elements, that’s it.

I am not one to fry food.  Not only does it just not taste that fantastic to me, it upsets my stomach, so I try to avoid it at all cost.  Unfortunately, since there isn’t an oven, it’s been impossible to actually bake things, so frying is what’s been on the menu.  However, even the occasions where food is actually made in Jordan’s apartment are rare.  In Korea, buying food at the grocery store is to say the least very expensive.  However, since being here, eating out all the time, and the fact that the majority of the Korean dishes contain a lot of spice I have been having a hard time adapting to their foods.

This weekend I made a vow to myself that I was going to go buy groceries, and make due with the kitchen resources granted to me, and make food at the apartment.  It’s a lot harder to make meals that I’m used to, since even the ingredients that I was able to pick up that are consumed by me on a regular basis are very limited.

I’ve made a few quick stir-fries here and there, but this time I wanted to incorporate ingredients that I use back home, as to try and decrease the chances as much as possible from not feeling the greatest.

The first meal I made here, that has actually been good enough to blog about is a simple fall inspired meal.  I have been feeling very out of touch from the blogging community since coming to Korea, I am not on a great internet connection, and the time’s I actually go out to an internet café are few.  The chances I do get on the internet, I have been looking at the typical blogging boards I usually look at, and have been feeling the need to make something with a little orange, since both Thanksgiving and Hallowe’en are around the corner and I will not be home in time to celebrate Thanksgiving.  Since not being home I haven’t been able to experiment with the fall flavours that tickle my fancy so much, so I thought I would try something in Korea to fill some of that void.

Squash and Broccoli Medley

Ingredients:

• 1 acorn squash, deseeded and cubed
• 1 broccoli floret, cut into chunks
• 1/4 cup raisins
• 1/2 cup coconut meat
• 1 large apple, cubed
• Handful of almonds, cut into tiny pieces
• Pineapple mustard – to taste

Directions:

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil.  Once the water has started to boil, toss in your squash, boil for seven minutes.  At the seven minute mark, add your broccoli.  Cook for three minutes, with your squash.  Once the ten minute mark comes, drain, and let cool to room temperature.

In a bowl, or the pot in which the vegetables were cooked in, toss your coconut meat, raisins, apple, and almonds.  Stir together.  Add your dressing, and eat.

This is a super simple dish to make, that can be eaten warm or cold, since we don’t have a microwave, cold is how it was eaten.  It was super delicious, filling, had some crunch, was sweet, a little tart, packed with vitamins, all around wonderful.

Unfortunately I will not be posting many recipes until October 19^th, as that will be when I will be arriving back home.  However, seeing as I’ve been feeling very distant from the blogging community, and also feeling like I need to cook I am going to try and post a few more things before I leave.

The next thing I will be posting is a recipe for a no-bake cookie I came up with, since of course we have no oven.

Hope you have all been doing well :)