My favorite way to make rice

Yesterday I promised I would share with you how I like to make rice.  I realize that, as in so many things, there must be dozens of ways to make really good rice.  Whether you prefer a rice cooker, or you cook it on a pan, or if you just open a bag of Uncle Ben’s, this just happens to be my favorite, because to me, this just tastes best.  I learned this way of making rice from Great Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim.  At first, it seemed impossibly difficult to me.  But now that I have the technique down, it’s easy, fairly quick, and very good.  As in all things in this life, once you know how to do them, they are easy, as Great Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim points out.

You will need one of these:

This is a traditional Korean stone pot.  If you live in an area where there are Korean grocery stores, you’ll be able to get one.  But I am sure there are other stores that have them.  Pretty much any stone, or earthen ware small pot that can withstand direct heat will do.

Next, put in some rice, about this much:

This works best with short grain, white rice.  (Yes, I hear you.  Doesn’t Great Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim teach us that we should use whole, unprocessed foods whenever we can?  Absolutely!  But just wait a minute!)

I always mix either millet, or black sesame seeds, or both, with the white rice.  I also add some vegetables, (those that can withstand the long cooking process) such as potatoes, sweet potatoes, radishes, mushrooms, even chestnuts, cut in big chunks.  Here you see Oriental mushrooms in the rice pot:

Rinse the rice well and fill the stone pot with water, about 2/3 full.  It will look like there is way too much water.  Add in vegetables, if any, cut in chunks.  Put the stone pot on the stove – I have a gas stove and it works really well.  Bring it to a rolling boil, then cover it with it’s lid:

Great Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim has also shown me how to do this for brown rice and rice mixed with beans:  You’ll need to soak those for several hours and preferably pre-cook them a little.  A lot of effort?  Perhaps, but well worth it.  As we hear at Jung Suwon a lot, some things in life you can’t just get from a convenience store – you have to work for it!

Turn the heat down to the very lowest setting, and wrap a towel around it, being careful not to let it touch the flame or the burner, and put something heavy onto the towel to keep it in place.  If you don’t do the “towel thing,” then you’ll end up flooding your stove, as the steam will come out the sides.  This is what it looks like:

Then it’s time to practice the Jung Suwon code of ethics, last one:  PATIENCE!  For the next 20 – 30 minutes, don’t peek!  Resist the temptation!  Go practice your Jung Suwon forms in another part of the house, or read one of Great Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim’s books!

After 30 minutes, you can open the pot and check – doesn’t it smell wonderful?

Check and make sure the rice is done.  If it’s done but looks too wet, leave off the lid and let it sit on the stove on very low for 5 minutes or so and it will be fine.  If its not done yet and the water is gone, add some water and cover back up.

Now, enjoy!

And tomorrow, you will learn from Great Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim, her favorite sauce to eat with this!

HE CAN DO, SHE CAN DO, WHY NOT ME!

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What the heck is Tofu???

Ah yes, tofu!!!

Just gotta love that stuff!  Think about it:  I was raised on good old staunch Austrian food and although we weren’t rich, we were never starving.  Even if all we had for dinner was bread and margerine – starve we did not! 

So, after being anorexic and only having memories of stick to your ribs food, Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim suggested I eat tofu. 

Well, at the time, I had no idea what it even was, so I went to the nearest grocery store and got a generic package of tofu.  I went home, opened it and try to eat it, as it was.   YUCK!!!!!!

I went back to Grandmaster Kim and told her I simply didn’t like tofu and couldn’t eat it.  She asked me to describe how I prepared it.  Prepare??  I was glad I made Grandmaster laugh!  After composing herself again, she gently taught me one very simply way to actually enjoy tofu, not just choke it down.

Here is a very basic “recipe” on how to enjoy your tofu, or, “tofu for beginners”:

Ingredients:

• Firm tofu (best from an oriental grocery store)
• about a handful chopped green onions
• about a tablespoon chopped garlic
• about a tablespoon red pepper flakes
• a little fresh lemon juice (optional)
• a dab of honey (optional)
• about a tablespoon ground sesame seeds
• Naturally fermented soy sauce

Start by cutting up the tofu into bite sized pieces (Koreans tend to make small rectangles that arent too thick)

in a seperate bowl, put the chopped green onions and the rest of the solid ingredients.  Add enough soy sauce to make it into a thick sauce, and spoon over the drained and cut up tofu.

Enjoy!!!

PS:  I know there are probably thousands of different variations on this, and I am not claiming any originality, in fact, I didn’t come up with this!  This is the first recipe I ever received from Grandmaster Kim, so it holds a place very dear in my heart.

PPS:  If you really want to do it up, blot dry the tofu, coat it with a mixed up egg, and fry.  Then use as above.

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Anorexia on a food blog? What on earth??

One more thing before I am going to blog my heart out:  I used to be anorexic from age 14 on ….until about age 28 or somewhere there.

Because most of the very popular girls in school were either very thin, or trying to be thin, and since I wasn’t popular at all – it figures that I wanted to be like them to fit in more.  Not that I was fat – I was quite normal for my age.  But I did’t see it that way.  I thought I was sooo fat, and started to eat less and less, and when I did eat, I started taking overdoses of laxatives – and I mean just that.  We are talking serious overdoses here. 

That’s also something I saw the popular girls do, or talk about, and I so desperately wanted to fit in, even I didn’t want to admit it. 

But, this is a blog about food, and not about ways to avoid it.  This is about enjoying the food you purchase, prepare, and eat, without any regrets. 

So, how did I get from anorexic to food blogger? 

After I started training in the Martial Arts, at Jung SuWon to be exact.  My teacher, Grandmaster Tae Yun Kim, of course noticed that I was way thin, and also way weak.  She kindly explained that I was destroying not only my body, but also my mind, and that she would help me get back on track to a more normal eating pattern.

She walked her talk.  Within a couple of months I was able to actually enjoy food again.  I wasn’t indulging or anything….but no more laxatives, and long term not eating.  Little by little I was able to realize that food is not the enemy!

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