Punched Potatoes

The husband got a chance to travel to South Korea in a business trip this past week and I was lucky enough to tag along.

We spent 6 days in Seoul and it was a wonderful experience. I loved their food and here are some photos I took.

Our first meal in Seoul was a great start. I can't remember the name of the restaurant though. We sat on the floor, shoes off and had an amazing Korean barbecue.

Incredibly well seasoned meat and good side dishes.

And Korean beer.

Our second meal was at a Bulgogi Brothers and it was just as good. It started with a sweet potato soup.

Everyone tried different dishes. I believe this was some sort of bulgogi.

And this was an octopus stew.

I had Bulgogi Bibimbap and it was absolutely delicious.

And we also tried Soju.

There are a ton of coffee shops and bakeries in Seoul. I didn't realize you were not allowed to take pictures until I left this particular Paris Baguette. Ups. Their pastries have a very unique texture and taste that I hope I can reproduce at home someday.

Egg custard?

You'll find street food everywhere, put I didn't get to try any. Next time maybe?

But we did try some fresh lemonade in Myeong-dong.

And we finished our trip with a delicious burger from Shake Shack in Dubai airport.

If you want to see more pictures of Seoul, you can check my flickr page:

I hope you're having a nice Easter. Last year I shared a recipe from "Pantagruel" for a traditional Portuguese Easter bread, but I completely failed its presentation. So this year I decided to try a new recipe and this time from "Cozinha Tradicional Portuguesa". And I'm glad I decided to give it a try because I actually prefer this version.

The egg in the middle is completely optional. I've never in my life ate the boiled egg. And there's something about the cross on top of Easter buns. I'm not sure what it represents, but I've seen it all over the internet this week and the Portuguese version is no exception.

Ingredients

500g (4 1/4 cups) flour
100g (1/2 cup) butter
15g (0.5oz) fresh yeast
3 tablespoons sugar
2 small eggs
2,5dl (1 cup and 1 tablespoon) milk (plus a little more to dissolve the yeast)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon fennel seeds chopped or powdered
2 boiled eggs (optional)

Instructions

Start by dissolving the yeast in a bit of warm milk. Add 100g (1 cup) of flour (out of the total weight) and 1 tablespoon of sugar (also out of the total amount of sugar). Leave the dough to rise covered for 20 minutes in a warm place.

In a big bowl, mix the flour, the eggs, the sugar and the milk. Work the dough for a few minutes.

Add the melted butter, the salt, the cinnamon, the fennel and the yeast dough. Mix well until the dough no longer sticks to your hands nor to the bowl.

Let it rise covered for 2-5hours depending on the place you leave it (my kitchen was warm and it took about 3h30). Once is has doubled in size, divide the dough in two parts. Leave a bit of dough from each part to later make the cross. Form round loaves and place them in a floured baking tray.

Flatten their surface a little and place the boiled eggs on top (optional). Form four strips with the remaining dough and place them on top of the eggs. Brush the loaves with a egg wash and bake in a preheated oven to 210ºC (410ºF) (fan off) until the loaves are golden (about 20 minutes). Let it cool down before serving.