by jessica yoon
When my family took a trip to London many years ago, my mom fell in love with English scones. I was at most six years old when we went and so I only vaguely remember trying Great Britain’s amazing scones. I just remember them being very dry, but in a good way. My mom mentions these scones once in awhile when we see one at a bakery. However, she’s never been able to buy one that is even close to the taste she remembers.
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Mushrooms are one of my favorite ingredients. They’re easy to work with and perfectly accompany almost any savory dish out there. They’re amazing on pizza, in pasta, soup, stews, pies, casseroles, you name it! It enhances a dish by supporting and deepening the main flavors. Mushrooms, however, are always given that role, the sidekick. They rarely take center stage and shine on their own. That’s why I love this recipe because it’s all about the mushrooms.
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My brother is a picky eater. He knows what he likes and everything else he dislikes. When he and my mom visited me while I was studying abroad in Spain, we spent a lot of time looking for restaurants with dishes we thought he would like. In the end, he ended up eating a lot of hot dogs while we enjoyed amazing tapas with Spanish beer and wine. One of the most hilarious moments during the trip happened when the señora I was living with cooked an elaborate meal for us. He couldn’t get himself to eat all the Spanish dishes she had made, but he couldn’t bear hurting her feelings by not touching any of the food. So he secretly passed morsels of food under the table to my mom, who in turn had to eat two portions of everything. Even thinking about it now makes me laugh out loud. My poor mom left a fabulous meal with indigestion.
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Yesterday, I shared with you a great way to use leftover, stale rice. Today, I will tell you about the side dish I ate it with: soy braised burdock! Burdock is a root most commonly used in Japan where it’s called gobo. In Korea it’s called woo-ung, 우엉, and it’s mainly used in kimbap, 김밥, a dish similar to the Japanese sushi roll. Burdock has a sort of sweet, earthy taste that disappears when cooked. After it’s cooked, the texture is similar to the potatoes in this dish.
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Have you ever cooked too much rice or left it out until it became stale? Well don’t throw it out! Instead make nurungji, 누룽지, and save it for a rainy day. Nurungji is cooked rice that is dried out. The steps are simple and it keeps for months. Rice porridge is usually made with the dried rice, however, you can always make some sweet munchies by frying them slightly in vegetable oil and sprinkling with sugar. My mom used to make that for my sister and me when we were little. They’re absolutely great for sharing in front of the TV, or maybe even speckled on top of ice cream…I’ll have to go try that and report back to you.
Nurungji porridge is perfect for cold and dreary winter days or even better for those sick days spent in bed. You can leave it on the stove and come back to it an hour or so later. Just make sure you keep the burner on low.
There are no exact measurements to making nurungji. Just spread a thin layer of rice in a stainless steel pan and cook it over low heat. Over time, the rice will brown and start pulling away from the edges. You can leave it until all the rice has turned brown, or until the bottom and sides are brown. I left mine for about 45 minutes.
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