by Jordan Bourke   –   theguardian

A few cupboard ingredients can be conjured into a simple Korean feast of chicken noodles, fish fritters, onion salad and pickled radish – greater than the sum of its parts and guaranteed to bring some color to a rainy day.

Touching down at a grey, sodden Heathrow airport on a Sunday morning after a sunshine-filled holiday inevitably awakens that “back-to-school” feeling. Luckily, my clever wife makes sure we have the essentials for a restorative and comforting feast as soon as we get home. Being Korean, and knowing how obsessed I am with the vibrant and addictive flavours of her homeland, she opts for traditional Korean fare.

The great thing about Korean cooking is most of the flavouring ingredients have a long shelf life, so they will happily sit in your store cupboard until needed. For example, gochujang – the spicy fermented soybean paste used here in the chicken hotpot – lasts for months on end and can transform a dish in minutes to something deeply flavourful and utterly delicious.

This selection of dishes will make a generous feast packed with different flavours and textures. One of my favourite aspects of the Korean meal is how it is a communal celebration of food. It isn’t split into courses; instead you are presented with a big table of small dishes, each one complementing the other. Here, the chicken, vegetable and noodle hotpot is delicious on its own, but the additional dishes elevate the meal to something greater than the sum of its parts.

Chicken, vegetable and noodle hotpot

The noodles in this dish are made from sweet potato starch and have an unusual consistency, so for this reason, we would encourage you to seek them out in your local Asian store, or buy them online from websites such as Sous Chef. If you can’t find them, use regular glass noodles. Traditionally this dish is made withoutgochujang, the ubiquitous Korean chilli paste made from fermented soy beans. However, we love the smoky heat it imparts, so we usually add a teaspoon or two to the sauce. If you have an aversion to heat, feel free to leave it out.

Serves 4–6
120g Korean sweet potato glass noodles (dang myeon)
2 tbsp vegetable oil
800g chicken (cut of your choice)
2 sweet potatoes, diced
1 large carrot, diced
1 large onion, diced
2 whole dried chillies (optional)
6 garlic cloves, crushed
4cm piece of ginger, very finely grated
½ red chilli, deseeded and finely sliced
½ green chilli, deseeded and finely sliced

For the sauce
5 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp mirin
1 tbsp honey
1½ tbsp roasted sesame seed oil
1-2 tsp gochujang or doenjang (optional)
½ tsp black pepper
700ml chicken stock or water

1 Put the noodles into a bowl, cover with water and leave to soak.

2 Heat the oil in a large, heavy-based pan with a lid over a high heat. Add the chicken and fry for 3–4 minutes on all sides, or until golden brown.

Advertisement

3 Remove from the pan, then add the potatoes, carrot, onion and dried chillies if using. Cook for 4 minutes, stirring occasionally.

4 Add the garlic and ginger and fry for 1 minute. Return the chicken to the pan together with all the sauce ingredients. Cover and bring to a boil, then simmer for 15 minutes.

5 Drain the noodles and add them to the pan with the chicken. Put the lid on and simmer for another 5 minutes until the chicken, vegetables and noodles are cooked through.

6 Serve in bowls with the sliced chillies scattered over.

Cod and courgette fritters
This is a very simple dish, best eaten straight off the pan – make sure the fish and courgette are sliced up and ready to go, so they can be fried at the last moment when all the other dishes are on the table.

For the fritters
300g firm white fish fillets (cod, snapper, sole), skinned and deboned
300g courgettes, cut into thick rounds
200g plain or white spelt flour
3 eggs, lightly beaten
Vegetable oil, to fry
Sea salt and ground white pepper

For the dipping sauce
2 tbsp soy sauce
1½ tsp rice wine vinegar
½ tsp toasted sesame seeds

1 Slice the fish into ½cm-thick slices, about 6cm long. Spread them out on a plate and season. On a separate plate, do the same with the sliced courgette.

2 Put the flour and beaten egg into two separate bowls and position beside your stovetop.

3 Add 1 tbsp vegetable oil to a large pan set over a medium heat. In batches, coat the fish and courgette slices in flour, then dip into the egg mixture, and transfer to the hot pan. Fry for 2 minutes on each side until golden, remove to a heatproof dish and keep warm while you fry the rest. Add more oil as you go, if needed. (Keep the heat at medium: if it is too high it will burn the outside before the inside is cooked; if the heat is too low you will end up with soggy fritters.)

4 In a bowl, combine the ingredients for the dipping sauce and serve immediately with the fish and courgette fritters.

Spring onion salad

10 spring onions, halved lengthways
3 tsp roasted sesame seed oil
2½ tsp gochugaru (Korean chilli powder), or chilli flakes
Sea salt
½ tsp black sesame seeds

1 Slice the halved spring onions into very thin 5cm lengths and submerge in a bowl of ice-cold water. Cover and refrigerate until they have curled up.

2 When ready to serve, remove from the fridge, drain thoroughly and pat dry with kitchen paper.

3 Put the spring onions in a bowl and gently combine with the oil and gochugaru or chilli flakes. Season to taste and serve immediately with the sesame seeds scattered over.

Quick pickled radish

200g daikon radish, peeled and cut into thin julienne strips
1 tsp fine sea salt
1 spring onion, very finely chopped
1 garlic clove, very finely chopped
1½ tsp gochugaru (Korean chilli powder), or chilli flakes
1½ tsp rice wine vinegar
1½ tsp honey
½ tsp sesame seeds

1 Combine the radish and salt in a bowl and leave to one side for 10 minutes. Put into a sieve and gently squeeze out any excess liquid. Do not rinse.

2 Return the radish to a dry bowl and combine with the remaining ingredients. Taste and adjust the seasoning with a little more salt or chilli powder/flakes if needed. This dish can be made in advance, refrigerated in an airtight container, and will last for up to 3 days.

by Kelsey Johnson   –  The Western Producer

I finally had my extended family over for Easter dinner last weekend.

Actually, by the end of the weekend I’d thrown two Easter dinners — the latter being a more im-promptu affair with friends to deal with the 10 pound ham that had taken over my precious fridge space. But that’s another story.

On Sunday night, as my family sat down to eat, the dinner conversation suddenly shifted to pickling, or rather my one young cousin’s utter love of pickles, much to her mother’s horror.

Which is when my smart and highly accomplished 16-year-old cousin discovered pickles are actually made from cucumbers.

Her mind was blown.

Seeing it as a teaching moment, the next 15 to 20 minutes passed with the adults at the table sharing stories about spending time in the kitchen with our mothers canning all kinds of delicious goodies: pickles, pickled eggs, carrots, beets, beans, jams, chutney and salsa.

It was then when we suddenly realized — despite the treasured memories, none of us sitting at the table had a clue how to make those goodies on our own.

Turns out we’re not alone.

As politicians grapple with a burgeoning obesity crisis, nutritionists and researchers are finding that more and more Canadians are lacking basic kitchen skills.

While the 2015 consumer trend report on Canadians’ eating habits found that the number of meals eaten at home had remained consistent, more Canadians were opting for pre-made or frozen meals. Seventy-five percent of the meals, the report found, were prepared in less than 15 minutes.

The Health and Stroke Foundation has repeatedly found that Canadians say today’s hectic lifestyle doesn’t leave time for cooking healthy meals. At the same time, home economics and cooking classes in Canadian schools are harder to come by, despite schools repeatedly being seen as a key to encouraging healthy living.

School breakfast and lunch programs, nutrition and cooking classes and placing greater value on physical education were just some of the suggestions for teaching our children the importance of eating properly and remaining physically active, the Senate health committee noted in its recent report on Canadian obesity.

The report also called for a review and overhaul of Canada’s beleaguered Food Guide, which is something that critics say needs to happen immediately.

Teaching Canadian children how to cook is not a new idea.

In 2014, the Ontario Federation of Agriculture launched its 6 x 16 challenge aimed at encouraging parents to teach their children basic cooking skills.

The idea is that by the time they’re 16, children would be able to cook and plan six healthy, wholesome meals from scratch.

The initiative was later adopted as part of the Canadian Federation of Agriculture’s food strategy and included as part of the NDP’s food policy.

With the Liberals committed to developing a Canadian food strategy of their own, it’s likely that improving basic cooking skills will be put back on the table.

If adopted, these initiatives must be flexible and take into account Canada’s busy schedules, cultural preferences and on-the-go lifestyles. Tips to meet challenges such as cooking for one, a lack of freezer space and fixed incomes should also be included.

As food prices continue to rise, teaching Canadians of all ages how to budget, plan and cook meals could help ease the current grocery budget pinch, as well as slim down waistlines.

Political negotiations are set to begin shortly with the provinces and territories about the next federal Health Accord and the next Agricultural Funding Framework.

Perhaps it’s time officials took steps to bridge the ever present gap between the farm, the kitchen and people’s plates.

Canadians may just end up healthier if they do.

Kelsey Johnson is a reporter with iPolitics, www.ipolitics.ca.