Doughnuts, Kaas and Kimchi

Unusual food combinations. Now the above would really be quite something. I haven't tried it all together. The reason I mention them together is because I thought it would be a good idea to seperate my recipes to a different blog. I called it Kaas and Kimchi, because I want to write a cookbook with that name, because that would sum up my background. I was born and raised Korean, so that explains the kimchi. I grew up in the Netherlands so that would be cheese, which in Dutch is kaas. I still want to write that book and writing them in blog form is helping me to create the that book. However the idea to do it in a seperate blog was getting too much. So I'm back here with my recipes. This time it's doughnuts. Ah, now the title is fully explained. I've had doughnuts on my list of wanting to make recipes for quite a while. I don't buy them often for obvious reasons, but my kids love them. I too remember doughnuts fondly. I remember that my mum would buy them whenever we had been to Amstelveen for shopping. We used to live in a small village close to it. How I wish I could have a look at that packaging again. It was somewhat pink/orangy and those doughnuts were such a treat. Anyway lately I seemed to have been bumping into other people making doughnuts or enjoying doughnuts. So I thought it was time for me to make my own. The reason is that I've started to finish anything I have in my freezer or stock cupboard. As I had friends coming over for dinner I thought making some springrolls would be good. This also meant I could deep fry the unfried prawn cracker I so abundantly have in stock and it meant I could have a go at my doughnuts. I don't like using my deep fry oil more than once, at the absolute most twice, so when I do deep fry I try to make the most of it. As always I wish I had taken a bit more time to make lush photos like that of my doughnuts experiment. But when I have friends coming over, I'm always so hurried I don't have time to shoot leisurely. Another time for the doughnuts for sure, as my kids went wildly mad for them (as did our friends). Nonetheless I managed a picture before and after the frying.





Recipe Adapted from The King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion

Ingredients:
For Dough
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 cup sugar
2 1/4 tsp instant yeast
3 cups flour
1 large egg whisked
1 cup milk
2 tbsp butter melted
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

For nuts (kidding, for the glaze)
400gr icing sugar
100gr milk

Method:
Put dry ingredients together and mix. In another bowl put egg, milk meldted butter and vanilla. Stir into flour mixture, mixing until well combined. Let the dough rest for 5 minutes, then knead for 6-8 minutes by hand or mixer until you have a smooth soft dough. Place the dough in a buttered bowl, turn it over to grease the top and let it rise, covered in a warm place for 1,5-2 hours, until doubled in size.

Flour your hands and deflate the dough. Take a piece of dough, approximately the size of a golfball. Pierce a hole in the middle and softly widen the center, trying to keep the dough the same thickness al around. Don't worry too much if it is not exactly the same size. Place it on a floured baking tin or use a non stick baking sheet. Personally I use this one. Continue till you've used all the dough. I made 18 and this meant I could fit 9 on one baking sheet. Cover with a clean cloth, let it rise for another hour until doubled again.

Prepare the glaze by mixing the milk with the icing sugar.

Heat oil in deep fryer till 190C. I like timing my doughnuts into different stages. It turned out it took me 45seconds on one side before I had to turn it over to the other side. Also my deep fryer fitted 3 doughnuts. So what I do is to start by putting in just one. After 15sec put in the next and another 15sec put in the third, wait another 15sec turn over the first. With another 15 seconds turn over 2nd, another 15sec turn over third. Another 15 sec, while you take out the first, put in another doughnut, Hold the first doughnut a bit above the fryer to let the oil drip after that it goes straight into the glaze. Turn it over, so it gest coverd completely and then take it out of the glaze and let it drip on a rack. In same manner continue with the rest. So this way each doughnut gets the correct time in the batter, instead of having to take out 3 at the same time.

I hope you'll Enjoy

Rain

Saturday there was a lot of rain. I was having an outing with my photography class. I could have cancelled, but I quite liked the prospect of taking pictures in the rain. In Italy there is usually not so much wind, so even when it rains heavily, it is not that bad as long as you have an umbrella. But of course Saturday was the exception and not only did it pour down really heavily, there was also quite a strong wind. I think my students were all quite miserable. I hope they got some nice pictures though. Back home, because temperature had dropped down, not to freezing, but close to it, the fireplace had been burning all day. I was actually quite happy for this, as last week it seemed Spring had really come to stay. However we still have some firewood lying around, which we won't take when we move, so this was the best oppertunity to burn it up. Our two nutcrackers are always permanently guarding our fireplace. My husband thinks they should only be there around Christmas time. I like having them around all year round. What would you do?

Far from Far

I'm already looking forward to all the fun stores you can find in The Netherlands. This one I saw when I was there during the Easter break. Even on a cold an dull day which we had that day, the colour jumps out and makes me happy to just drop into a store like this. Verre van Verre, which literally translates as Far from Far. Lots of fun things which are from far away places if you're in the Netherlands. Of course for me it was close to home to find (see fourth picture) things from Korea :)

Salone di Mobile

Every year around this time of year Milan has the Salone di Mobile, which is a huge event throughout town with things design related. Last year we happened to bump into a small venue in China Town, where I had gone with some friends for grocery shopping and lunch. This year we went especially for the event and we visited the Triennale. It was great fun walking around and of course the Korean stand had my biggest attention as seen in picture ten and eleven. I just love that patchwork. The chair in the first picture is made out of cardboard. I think we might be doing something like that after we have lots of boxes left after our move ;)
In the third picture they were frantically draping their mannequin as the exhibition hall had opened, but I think some boxes arrived late. And I fell in love with the sofa in picture nine. We were just in time for little snacks around lunchtime in picture twelve. If you ever plan to visit Milan, this design week is the best time to visit!

Amsterdam

I always love walking through Amsterdam. It's a big town for Dutch standards, a small town compared to other cities. We even bumped into my husband's cousin walking around. We went to the Scheepvaart Museum. Because we will return to the Netherlands, we decided to take a Museum jaarkaart. This is a card which entitles you to visit many museums in the Netherlands for free. On average with approximatly 4 visits to a participating museum, it will be worthwhile to get this card. The kids loved walking around. They've set it up story-wise. So what would the life of a cabin boy have been like or the life of a cook. It's a square building with an open area in the middle with a beautiful ceiling. The whole first week we were in the Netherlands there was a bitterly cold North/Eastern wind blowing. That day was beautifully sunny and being sheltered perhaps made it even more beautiful.