strawberry jam (sauce)

Howdy readeroonies! My friend Rosemary and I slaved away a few weeks ago to make some strawberry jam which actually was only sauce in the end, but no matter, still delicious and blog worthy! I will show you what I did, and where we went wrong, and what you should do if you want jam and not sauce.

First, git yerself some strawbs up in the hizzle. We used double of what you see here. Roughly one pint of berries will make you 500ml of jam/sauce.

Wash and cut. Chit and chat.

Simmer berries over medium heat and add your sweetener. We made 3 batches:

-lime strawberry with maple syrup

-vanilla lemon with maple syrup and port

-classic strawberry with cinnamon and ginger

The juice of 4 limes is about sufficient for 8 cups of berries. Don't be shy to do multiple tastings. It's part of fun, and hot berry sauce is just about the funnest thing to taste and tweak. Sugar rush!

Boil away, my darlings! Alright people, at this point, when your fruit is nice and mushy and lots of liquid has exuded from the berries, you need to add thickener: pectin, kudzu, agar...something to make it gel. This, we did not do. Well, our piddly tablespoon of agar flakes did not cut it. Surf around the internet for proportions and recipes to suit your needs. 

Still, it was rewarding to see the delicious fruit mush go into sterilized jars and get sealed up in a nice bath of boiling hot water.

Next time, I will use pectin to make regular jam, and agar to make freezer sauce. Honestly, you can go through eating the stuff so quickly that boiling jars to seal them is not worth the time. Freezer jam is the way to go if you hoover through it like I do.

Cute labels! The vanilla strawberry jam tasted incredible on french toast this weekend.

jiimdak--korean chicken stew

I have to come clean...I don't have a TV and most of the viewing I do consists of watching food programs or recipe videos online. It's a great way of making me uselessly hungry at like a quarter to eleven at night. I was on an Asian recipe watching kick and this stew looked really easy and delicious, and now that I have a resident carnivore living with me, he was in charge of cutting up the disgusting looking yet delicious meat for the recipe. Try making this braised chicken stew with noodles the next time you want something hearty with zippy asian flavours!

Ingredients: 

dried whole chili peppers, oil, soy sauce, oyster sauce, sweetener, garlic, ginger, chicken, green onion, white onion, carrots, potatoes, sesame oil, mushrooms, mung bean noodles

You will need for the sauce:

1/4 C soy sauce

1/4 C oyster sauce

1/4 C sweetener (agave or honey)

1 T rice vinegar

Prepare the chicken:

2 1/2 pounds of chicken ( I used skinless boneless thighs), cut into 2 inch cubes. Cut the chicken and then rinse it well, and drain.

Prepare the vegetables:

1-2 carrots cut into medallions (cut on the bias to look fancy--see below)

1 onion cut into strips

2-3 potatoes cut into 1 1/2  inch cubes

1 cup of mushrooms ( I used portobello)

5-7 green onion cut into 1 inch pieces

1/4 C. minced garlic (about 6 cloves)

2 T. minced ginger

For the noodles:

Use half a package (2-3 big handfuls or 100g) of mung bean noodles or potato starch noodles. Follow the cooking instructions--that is, soak them in cold water to soften.

To make the stew:

Heat up the wok and add 3-4 dried chilies cut up into 2-3 centimeter thick pieces. Now you are making plain vegetable oil super pimped up with chili flavours. Fry the chilis in oil until they become darker, but before they begin to burn, on medium heat, about 45 seconds. Go!  

Remove the chilis and now you have an amazing fragrant chili oil in which to fry the chicken (or tofu, i am sure this would be equally delicious).

Fry the chicken in a wok or large frying pan until it begins to brown, about 5 minutes. Add the potatoes and keep frying for a couple of minutes. Now add the minced garlic, ginger  and sauce and give it all a stir. Add 3 cups of water and let cook for 10 minutes.

Now it's time to start adding veggies. Add the carrots and onions and stir.

When the carrots and onions are nearly cooked to your liking, add the shrooms and stir well.

Now it's time to add the noodles that have been soaking away. Drain them and stir them into the stew. The starch from the noodles will start to create a beautifully clingy and thick gravy sauce, bathing all those yummy ingredients in delicious flavoursome liquid. Let the noodles soften in the stew over medium heat for a few minutes.

When you're ready to serve, get your plate and spoon the jiimdak, making sure to get some noodles in your bowl, and some gravy. Add a drizzle of toasted sesame oil and some chopped green onion, like so. Sprinkle some sesame seeds for garnish and serve with kimchi, for that extra korean flair.

This dish is perfect for the cold weather that's certainly on its way. Double carb action with the potatoes and noodles just feels extra filling and decadent. I really loved this stew, and hope you do to!