Moussaka, Korean Style... (Tuesday 7th Oct 2014)

Dear Sal,

September went by in a blur too quickly. I didn't get half the things done I had planned. This term I have been given higher level classes and some more challenging students. You could argue that's a good sign, that they think I'm a good teacher or that they just hate me. Either way, I am having to put in more time to preparing my lessons and understanding what the hell I'm teaching them. I have learned so many new jargon words and finally understand the difference between irony and sarcasm.

However, the month hasn't been a complete waste of my time. I joined the gym, and have been experimenting with cooking at home a lot more. After my disastrous first attempt I have finally became an old pro and I'm regularly making food for dinners, lunches and to share with friends and work colleges. This week I made a moussaka, or should I say, my own version of a Korean moussaka. I have spend a very long time, hunting around Daegu over the last few months, sniffing out all the herbs and spices that are essential to my kitchen cupboard. For my simple Korean moussaka, I only used, black pepper, salt, cumin, cinnanmon, oregano. 

Here is my recipe... 

Tip number one: Lamb is almost impossible to find out here in Korea and if you do it's ridiculously expensive. So I went for the next best thing, beef.

Tip number two: Beef is ridiculously expensive here in Korea and you should probable go for the third best thing, pork. I didn't notice this until I got home and looked at my recipe. I had spend twenty five thousand Won on two packs of beef. That's about fifteen pounds to you, a rip off.

Ingredients: Lamb, Beef, Pork. Garlic, one onions, two aubergine, a few new potatoes and a tin of chopped tomatoes. Olive oil, black pepper, salt, cumin, cinnamon and oregano. Flour, butter and milk. And of course, cheese! 

Step One: Cut the aubergine, I refuse to call it an eggplant even when surrounded my Americans, into slices about one cm thick, cover them in a little olive oil, salt and pepper. You then need to place them under the grill for about ten mins to dry them out a bit, you don't want a wet moussaka.

Step Two: Peal and cut the potatoes, to about the same thickness as the eggplant, I mean aubergine damn it, boil them for about ten minutes, drain them and put them to the side.

Step Three: Chop and fry one onion with a load of garlic, I love lots of garlic and put about nine cloves in. Depending on your own taste you may want less, or more if you smoke so much you can't taste anything. Add the overly priced beef and slowly brown the mince meat, adding all the herbs and spices you want, I like a lot of oregano, you you may not, I don't really care. Just don't put the bloody nutmeg in, that's for the white sauce. After the meat is cooked add chopped tomatoes and leave to simmer until the sauce is thick and any excess liquid has boiled off. 

Step Four: In England, when it came to making white sauce, I have a fail safe technique, buy a jar. However in Korea, I can't find them anywhere(I need to look harder). But making white sauce isn't as bad as I thought it would be. The trick is to not stop stirring, ever. Melt some butter in a pan, add flower. Then slowly add milk and seasoning and keep stirring, not matter how tired your arm gets. 

Step Five: Layer your moussaka, starting with potatoes, then aubergine, a thick layer of the meat sauce, followed by the white sauce and a sprinkle of cheese on top. Keep it simple, because this dish has already been enough work. 

Step Six: Cook for about an hour or so, or until the cheese has melted and gone golden brown. And there you have it. Korean moussaka. Enjoy.

Right, I'm off to eat. Next time I might try cooking something that is actually Korean. But until then...

Love, Hugs and bon appetit

Samuel James