Gouda Grilled Kim-Cheese Sandwich with Avo and Prosciutto

I'm stuck in the SICU again for 5 weeks, where our hours are 24hrs on/24hrs off. The hours blows, but I do get a day of sunlight and time to do normal human things like making doctor's appointments and going to the bank. The weather has been a snowy this week and luckily I went grocery shopping, because I am definitely not walking out in the mush!

Here's a sandwich I made on my off day! Lots of gouda cheese, prosciutto and avocado. The sautéed kimchi brings the acidity to help cut the greasiness. So good :)

Gouda Grilled Kim-Cheese Sandwich with Avo and Prosciutto

makes 1 sandwich

2 slices sourdough bread
1 clove garlic
1 pat of butter
3 slices of gouda cheese
1/4 cup kimchi, coarsely chopped
1 slice prosciutto
1/2 avocado, sliced lengthwise

1. Rub garlic onto bread, or you can mince it and spread it on. Spread butter and toast to your liking
2. Heat small pan with 1/2 tbsp sesame oil. Saute kimchi until slightly soft for 2-3 mins 
3. Add on gouda to a slice of bread and allow to toast lightly as well to make it nice and soft
4. Place on a plate to assemble sandwich. Add the warm kimchi on top of gouda, which will also help melt it
5. Tear prosciutto to lay over kimchi and place avocado and bread on top. 

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Lotus Seed and Salted egg yolk cookie sandwich

Happy Mid Autumn Festival! This is the time to light up lanterns and stuff your face with mooncakes. When I was young, my dad used to buy me all kinds of pretty lanterns that we would light up and hike up a hill to see the full moon. He also bought me ones that sang, but I bet he regretted that because I would play it all night until the song started to get out of tune and was really painful to the ears :D

My sister and I were also pyromaniacs back in the days and would line up waxy red candles on a mooncake tin lid and make a bonfire. Things were so simple back then haha. What I really miss the most is eating mooncakes though. Friends and relatives would gift traditional mooncakes and I loved opening them up to see the intricate design on top and then to cut it open to reveal the golden yolk in the center. I could eat a whole one and it would sit like a brick in my stomach all day (you should weigh one of these, they are so heavy!)

Anyway, I decided to create something mooncake-like and made some mooncake cookie sandwiches. It took me a month to make these, because I made my own salted eggs which took about a month of endless waiting (recipe below). The cookies are studded with salted yolks throughout and are so buttery and crumbly. They are sooo good on their own, that my bf kept eating them and I didn't have many left to sandwich >:( . I'm excited to eat these and watch the full moon today!

Lotus Seed and Salted Egg Yolk Cookie Sandwich
makes 15-20 cookie sandwiches

2 cups flour
4 tsps cornstarch
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp dried milk powder
3/4 cup salted butter, room temp
1/3 cup white sugar
2-3 tbsps maple syrup
3 salted egg yolks, cooked* (how I made the salted eggs below)

egg wash
black and white sesame seeds (optional)
sweetened lotus seed paste

1. Place salted eggs in pot and cover with water and put on high heat. When it starts boiling, start the timer to let it boil for 4.5 minutes. Once time is up, take it off the heat and dunk in ice cold water.
2. Sift flour, cornstarch, baking powder and soda and milk powder in a large bowl and set aside. Beat softened butter with sugar until light, stir in maple syrup. Stir dry mix to wet ingredients gently, until it comes together into one lump of dough. (if the dough doesn't come together, add a little bit of vegetable oil)
3. Spoon out cooked egg yolks (some white is fine), and crumble coarsely with a fork. Fold into cookie dough. Make sure you have some chunks scattered throughout, because it is absolutely divine to taste the salted yolk here and there in the buttery cookie.
4. I used mooncake molds to get the cool flower pattern on top. But if you don't have one, then roll out dough to 1/4" thick. Cut out to any shape you want. Place on lined baking trays and chill them for 30minutes.
5. Preheat oven to 350F. Beat 1 egg to make the egg wash. Brush liberally on top of cookie cut outs. Sprinkle on black and white sesame seeds if desired.
6. Bake for 18-22mins or until nicely golden on top. Let it cool at least 10 minutes on the tray before moving because they are pretty fragile out of the oven.
7. You can definitely make your own lotus seed paste or buy a can of it in your local Chinese supermarket. Pipe some onto the cooled cookies and sandwich them. 

*I actually made my own salted eggs using extra-large chicken eggs, instead of the traditional duck egg. You just need a ratio of 1:4 salt to water ratio (so 1 cup salt for 4 cups of water), and place your eggs into the mix. I also placed a ziploc filled with water on the top, so the eggs wouldn't float in the salty water. I then put a lid on it and stored it in on top of my fridge for a month. The yolks when cooked came out really nicely bright orange/red and salty :D

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Bulgogi Kimchi-jeon Waffle Sandwich - 불고기 김치전 와플 샌드위치

While growing up, my mum, being the ultimate Korean tiger mum, tells me before any exam that that exam was going to be the most important exam of my life. In primary school, my mum said my 6th grade scholastic exam was probably going to be life-defining. Then, I hit secondary school and she said my GCSEs (some British exam) were going to be life-changing. And before I went off to college, she said my IB diploma exam was going to be a matter of life and death...  Now, I'm in med school and in the midst of studying for what is probably the most important exam of my life. Haha lol, I think I'm turning into mum.

Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that my upcoming exam is going to suck up a lot of time, so I will be taking blogging hiatus. I guess I could have started with that, so you didn't have to read all the junk above. #Sorrynotsorry, also #notsorryforthehastag!  I will be keeping my instagram alive though, because I am severely insta-obsessed. Only some mind-blowing, turn-water-into-wine miracle of an exam can stop me from instagramming.  Come find me there! (Did I put enough links? :P)

But for now, I leave you with this behemoth of a sandwich... until next time!

Bulgogi Kimchi-jeon Waffle Sandwich - 불고기 김치전 와플 샌드위치 

makes 2 waffle sandwiches

1.5 cup Korean pancake/jeon flour mix

3/4 cup water

1/2 cup kimchi, chopped into bits

3 tbsp kimchi juice
1/4 cup green onion, chopped

2-3 tbsp vegetable oil

Your favorite bulgogi recipe - click for details

1 lb rib eye, sliced thinly
1 asian pear
1/2 onion
3-4 cloves garlic
5 tbsp soysauce
3 tbsp mirin or cooking wine
1 tbsp sugar
1/2 tbsp sesame oil
1 tsp pepper

2 fried eggs

handful of baby kale and chard

1. In a large bowl, mix together Korean pancake flour and water. Add and mix in chopped kimchi, green onions, kimchi juice and oil
2. Preheat your waffle iron, grease with a little veg oil and make waffles like you would normally do. Cook your bulgogi and fry your eggs in the meantime.
3. To assemble: place 1 waffle down on a plate. Stack bulgogi, kale and a fried egg. Top with another kimchi waffle and eat it while it's hot

Note: If preparing a batch, you can easily double the waffle batter. ****Cool on wired racks because condensation at the bottom will make the waffle go soggy!!

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Thanksgiving Leftover Sandwich

I can already hear Christmas music! So excited to go home, see family and do outdoorsy things! Seriously, my roommate and I stayed at home from Thursday night until Monday morning. Didn't even get past the front door. That's bad :/

But, we had a fully stocked fridge and some leftover thanksgiving goodies. And so this sandwich was born!

Roasted Yam, Cranberry Sauce and Feta Sandwich

Makes 2 sandwiches

Ingredients
1 sweet potato, peeled and cut into 1/4" rounds
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1/2 tsp paprika
thyme (optional)
salt and pepper

4 slices of bread, toasted
4-5 tbsps cranberry sauce
handful of spinach or arugula

1. Preheat oven to 400F. Lay sweet potato rounds in a single layer on a baking tray. Drizzle some olive oil and season with garlic salt, paprika, fresh thyme and pepper. Roast for 5-10mins
2. Assemble sandwich: place spinach  on a slice of toasted bread and layer with the roasted potatoes, 2 tbsps of cranberry sauce and chunks of feta. Add your other slice of toasted bread and you are ready to noms!

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