How to fry frozen pizza

I told my mom that I’m going to fry my frozen pizza tonight. She was like what!?

And then I figured this warranted a post.

Because, guys, the pizza box is lying to you.

Yes, you can put it in the oven but microwave? A pizza? You might as well just eat it frozen.

Microwave = soggy food = yuck.

So what do you do when you don’t have an oven? you fry it, of course!

How to fry a frozen pizza

1. Let the pizza defrost thoroughly. This is important.

2. Heat up the frying pan on maximum. How do you know the frying pan is hot? Sprinkle some water on it and if it evaporates quickly, your frying pan is hot.

3. Pour a tablespoon of oil on to the pan. As it starts to crackle and pop, pick up the pan and start swishing around the oil. Place back on stove. Do this until the crackling and popping of the oil starts again.

4. Ensure your oil is heated and coating the entire pan. This is important to ensure the pizza cooks evenly.

5. Place defrosted pizza on pan and turn the heat to lowest possible setting. When all the cheese has melted, your pizza is ready to eat!

I personally prefer this to baking it in the oven. The pizza is crispier and the crust tastes more fresh because of the oil.

Happy frying!

Fried Banana Crumble with Peanut Butter Sauce

You’ll need:

-Bananas
-Milk
-Flour
-Butter
-Animal crackers
-Peanut butter

1. Cut bananas into slices or longer pieces. Slices end up softer and more gooey vs longer pieces when fried.

2. Dunk banana in milk and then in flour.

3. Heat up pan. Mix 2 parts butter to 1 part oil. Fry until golden brown.

4. Set aside to cool.

5. Put animal crackers in a ziploc bag.

6. Squish together until you’re satisfied with the size of the crumbs.

7. Heat up peanut butter in a double boiler. If you don’t have a double boiler, make your own. Like this:

TA DA

How to make Caramel Apple Fritters

You’ll need:

-an apple
-flour
-milk
-sugar
-butter

1. Core, peel and slice the apple.

2. Dunk each apple slice in milk and then flour.

3. Fry on medium heat until golden brown.

4. To make the caramel, heat sugar on high heat until brown and then add butter.

5. Drizzle the caramel over the fried apple slices.

A made up gourmet sounding dish

They say that art imitates life and life imitates art. In this case, the art being cooking and life being a conversation on iMessage. Ok, so that made a lot more sense in my head… moving right along.

The inspiration for this dish came from a conversation about my previous dish- kimchi pancake. Namely, this conversation:

I’m all about turning my short comings into new ventures.

Shortcoming = no flipping skills.
New venture = scrambled kimchi pancake fried rice.

I have no pictures to show you that… kimchi pancake is not the same as egg. See, egg… it separates and joins. With no problems. Kimchi pancakes. Do not.

But I wasn’t about to give up. So I tried raw kimchi instead. REDO.

Fry onions + garlic.

Add sliced mushrooms + chopped kimchi.

Add cooked rice.

Aside: I cooked rice for the first time… in the cutest pot! It came in a box that said “passionate about food” I may not be a lot of things but I most certainly am passionate about food!

Mix rice with kimchi/mushrooms/onions/garlic and set aside.

Make pancake in small pink frying pan.

Small kimchi pancake.

My dad asked me if I named the dish and then made it or if I made the dish and then named it.

He knows me all too well.

So what was supposed to be scrambled-kimchi-pancake-fried-rice… turned out to be this:

Spicy kimchi-mushroom fried rice in a crispy kimchi pancake crust with green salad and strawberry sauce.

Sounds fancy shmancy, no?

TA DA

Presentation: I totally made this dish up because I like kimchi. And because fried rice and kimchi pancakes are really the only things I know how to make right now. So this dish can be served the way it’s pictured above- rice dome lined with kimchi pancake crusts. Or separately. Or with a whole pancake on top of the dome. Or a whole pancake underneath the dome. Or the pancake cut up into long strips so it looks like fries… you get the idea. Let your imagination run wild!

Side story: if y’all were wondering why I stayed away from cooking all these years, here’s why: one day 12 years ago, my bro and I were hungry. Neither of us were old enough to drive (well, that never stopped me but my bro usually did)

Anyway, moms and pops were both out and there was nothing in the fridge so I decided to make roti. I called up one of my aunts for the recipe. Made a few rotis and satisfied our hunger.

When my dad came home, there was one roti left. Naturally, my dad got all excited (it was the first time I’d made anything) so he sat down to eat his daughter’s very first attempt at roti.

I left the kitchen and came back a couple minutes later to finish cleaning up. Not only had he finished eating, the plate was in the sink and he was reading a newspaper.

“Father, you finished it that quickly!?”

“Oh yes, it was delicious! Thank you.”

I washed up the dishes and reached for a paper towel to dry my hands. And then. I lifted the garbage lid to throw in the paper towel.

I don’t have to tell you what I found in there.

Friends & family of young amateur cooks: if you’re going to throw something out, at least do a proper job concealing it! Don’t shatter young dreams.

Housewife-in-training: Kimchi Pancake

Of all the Korean dishes I’ve tried, kimchijeon (kimchi pancake) has definitely been one of my favs. So I was craving some the other day and asked one of my co-teachers if she knew of a place nearby where I could get some. And she was all “it’s SO easy to make- make it at home!” (I don’t think she realized that I owned no pots/pans/cooking utensils OR that I’d never turned on my stove at that point)

From the day I moved to Korea until today, I’ve eaten out every day, all day.

I’d like to think there are a few things I’m good at. Cooking… isn’t one of them.

Fast forward to today. I went shopping… Pink stuff motivates me. How cute are those measuring cups!

 

 

This is me being all “LOOK AT ME. I could do the food network thing if I wanted to!”

 

 

And this is what the batter looks like.

 

 

Take 1. So today I learned that I cannot do the flip thing. And I probably shouldn’t try. Because this is what happened when I tried. I ate bits of the edges and threw the rest in the garbage because it wasn’t thoroughly cooked. (Aside: the edges tasted amazing… it’s what had me going.)

 

 

Take 2. I decided to be less ambitious and make smaller pancakes but had poured too much oil in the pan. To get rid of the excess oil, I decided to drain it in the sink. Only problem being the pancake… ended up in the sink too.

 

 

Take 3. They say 3’s a charm. Nailed it.

 

 

TA DA:

 

 

It was sooooooo good. I didn’t know I was capable of making something this delicious. Granted, kimchi pancakes are pretty hard to screw up.

P.S. All you need is kimchi, flour and water. I used grapeseed oil so it’d make the pancake crispier. And green onion for garnishing- optional. For the first batch, I tried equal parts everything which made a pretty thick batter. The second time I kinda just threw stuff in and it came out a thinner consistency. I liked the second batch better because it was crispier but I think it’s all up to personal preference.