Momofuku Roasted Rice Cakes (Noodles)

What?  Yeah, these are not rice cakes.  I could not find rice cakes.  I've looked all over Cardiff.  The closest I have been able to find so far is roasted rice noodles.  And they're pretty good.  Niall loved this one.  He kept talking about how it was sweet and savory and salty and so good.  And then wanted more.  It's that Korean Red Dragon Sauce! 

It was easy to make vegetarian.   Rather than using the meat ramen broth, I used a vegetarian one (from an instant ramen packet we got at one of the Asian grocery stores.)  Otherwise it was ready made for Niall!

Momofuku Korean Red Dragon Sauce

This sauce is good.  Good like the kind of sauce I like to eat on its own.  What makes it for me is the ssamjang (the a is supposed to have two dots over it but I'm rubbish at adding those things), the fermented bean and chile sauce.  At least that's what the guy at the Asian grocery store told me that's what this is.  I wish I would have bought another container!

Momofuku Pork Belly

The final product may not look pretty but I did try on this one.  I have no idea about pork belly, whether I got a good piece, how it was supposed to turn out, etc.  I was very surprised at how fatty the cut was.  Maybe that's the nature of the beast?  Also, I have never been good at carving meat.  And this was no exception.  But despite my lack of skills this was really tasty.

Here's the pork belly before I cut it.  The rub was salt and sugar and the result was savory, sweet and salty.  In an effort to make something for Niall to have on his "pork"  bun, we decided to use halloumi cheese.

Halloumi is so delicious and salty.  And when it's fried in a dry pan it crisps up nicely.  To give it a bit of sweet I added a little maple syrup to the cheese as it fried. 

Momofuku Steamed Buns

I've hardly had steamed buns, so it was really fun to make these because I wasn't sure how they were supposed to turn out!  Even when they had finished steaming I wasn't sure they were done.

The recipe made a dough that was very easy (not sticky) work with.  Dividing the dough into 50 different pieces was not hard because the dough was so easy to handle.  I used butter instead of rendered pork fat so Niall could eat as many as he liked.

And rolling out the buns wasn't too hard either.

I tried steaming them in a steamer and on the stove.  The stove steamer worked much better!  We ended up steaming, cooling and freezing most of the buns.

Momofuku Cherry Tomato Salad

The cherry tomato salad was another Momofuku recipe that comes vegetarian friendly.  The local vegetable stand had beautiful red tomatoes, but no other colors so it was straight red.  The cookbook talks about a version using deep-fried tofu, so we threw that in.

I loved how easily the tomatoes peeled after blanching for 10 seconds.  And the peeled tomatoes tasted delicious!  (And leaving a few tomatoes unpeeled was a nice contrast.)

Momofuku Slow-Poached Eggs

Eggs.  They fit Niall's diet, so they're one of the first things to cook.  It was kind of crazy to cook these eggs for 40 minutes, crack them, and have them slide out of the shell.  I'm not sure if they turned out like they were supposed to, but I liked them.  They're the first non-scrambled eggs I've had in about 20 years.  Mixed into ramen it didn't bother me (like most runny eggs do.)

I used our biggest pan and put the eggs on a steamer.  It took AGES to slowly heat the pot to 140 degrees F but because it took so long it wasn't hard to keep the temperature constant.  The candy thermometer was so helpful to monitor the heat.

Vegetarian Fish Sauce

A few of the recipes in the Momofuku cookbook call for fish sauce.  In the past we've substitute soy sauce but at Niall's suggestions I made this version of Veggie Fish Sauce,  found on Chowhound.  I am reposting the recipe that's found a few replies into the thread, with minor modifications.

Ingredients
2 sheets nori (dried seaweed)
4 cups water
3 cloves garlic (smashed but not minced)
1 1/2 Tablespoons Szechwan peppercorns
1/2  cup soy sauce
4 teaspoons lemon juice
2 Tablespoons rice wine vinegar
3 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground garlic
1/4 teaspoon chili powder

In a large bowl, add the nori and water

Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 20 minutes.  Add the other ingredients and stir.  Bring to a boil, turn heat down to medium and simmer for 30 minutes.   Adjust the salt level by adding water and allow to cool.  Strain (through cheesecloth and a strainer) and then put in a bottle.