Pronounced as tteokbokki, this dish is supposed to be one of the favourite dishes of the Koreans, especially as a street snack on a hungry after-work day. I remember first eating this food for lunch at a ski resort in Korea back in 2005. It was freezing cold; we were both tired from a day of non-stop skiing. In such a situation, the tteokbokki tasted especially lip-smacking and memorable.
This lasagna uses mainly ricotta cheese and chicken mushroom stuffing in place of the typical minced-beef-in-bolognese-sauce, which makes non-beef eaters like me very happy. It also comes with an additional topping of salami slices – flown all the way from Germany – to make for a perfect Christmas celebration.
Just because December and the Christmas season are fast approaching, November seems to have a rather hushed and suppressed characteristic to it. I need it to be more fulfilling and exciting than it is now.
Back in Durham, there was an attempt to make steamed buns. The result – though edible – was not fantastic, what with a strange, off-white coloured dough. A later attempt, however, produced an unexpected surprise, when the buns were baked instead of steamed, delivering small little brown parcels of delight (refer to Chinese Baked Pork Buns).
Thai fish cakes are popular not just in their homeland, but also in Singapore, where spices and fresh herbs are appreciated ingredients in many of our beloved local delicacies. Apart from the Thai red curry and the chilli that produce the apparent orangey tinge, the other key ingredient in this dish is the Kaffir lime leaves – a herb that gives out a particularly unique taste which further distinguishes it from all other types of fish cake.
