Ginger Beef

So I accidentally spent $30 on beef the other day. I thought the butcher and I agreed on three pieces of the meat, but apparently we decided on three times ten thousand won worth of meat. It's okay though, I hear if you buy the cow you get the milk for free, right? Something like that.

My recipe for ginger beef can be found here, but I've made a few modifications. Some are good, some are bad, I'll share them all.

1. Instead of breading the meat I tried to do something more like a tempura batter and it was pretty much a fail. The batter just slid off of the meat and cooked in a partially attached puddle in the pan. I'm assuming there was just something off with the batter, but I think I'll stick with the tried and true method in the future.

2. After sauteing the onions and carrots, push them to the edges of the pan and then pour the sauce ingredients in the middle. This saves the veggies from getting soggy in the sauce while it's simmering (on the sea shore).

3. Some tips on ginger. First, Chef at Home and in my Dreams Michael Smith suggests keeping your ginger in the freezer. It turns into a powder with less stringy bits when you grate it. Second, instead of futzing around with a peeler you can simply scrape the peel off with a spoon. Finally, if texture isn't crucial Nigella Lawson, babe extraordinaire, suggests just leaving the damn peel on; it's just roughage after all. If it keeps Nigella regular then it's good enough for me.

4. Blanche - not just a Golden Girl. Blanching is great if your burners are full becuase you can do it without a stove. Just boil some water in the kettle and pour over a colainder of veggies, in this case I used baby bok choy. I put a second bowl under the colainder so they could have a set in the water for a couple minutes. When they soften up a bit just pull them out and shake them off.

I also tried my hand at green onion cakes. I am without a doubt certain that the best green onion cakes can be found in Edmonton, Alberta. I'm going to sound older than I'd like, but I have such fond memories of eating green onion cakes on the street at the fringe festival, trying to balance the puddles of soy sauce and hot sauce, running from show to show, buying strange jewlery from the vendors. Sigh...okay, trip down memory lane is over. These cakes were pretty darn close to the ones back home. Here's how you can have a taste of Edmonton:

- mix 1 1/2 cups flour with 3/4 cups hot water. Work into a dough, adding flour until it's not too sticky.

- divide into four pieces, roll each out and spread a little oil over the surface. Sprinkly with salt and green onions and roll it up like a log then roll it up like a snail. Log then snail, great analogies Brittney.



- Roll it out again into a circle(ish) and the onions should be distributed evenly throughout. Fry on each side in a little oil, dunk it in some soy sauce and go take a dip in the fountain at Churchill square.