18 WEDNESDAY

APRIL 2, 2008 COMMUNITY

No jalapenos? Try ‘Gochu poppers’

Out of all the adapted recipes
I’ve written about in this col-
umn, this has to be the tastiest
by far. I was surprised that it
turned out so well — it’s so sim-
ple, yet so addictive.
A staple American bar snack
is jalapeno poppers. They’re not
the same wherever you go.
There are slight regional differ-
Expat living is a page dedicated ences that determine what gets
stuffed into the jalapenos and
to the issues that affect expats'
what breading is used. Some ar-
daily lives. It is your page,
eas of the country use mostly
where you can share stories about cheddar cheese, while others
your life in Korea. Send story use cream cheese. Some are
ideas to Matthew Lamers even stuffed with bacon and
at mattlamers@heraldm.com some are stuffed with lump crab
meat. The breading can consist
of breadcrumbs, cracker meal
and cornmeal.
Joe McPherson
on Dining
Let’s try a Korean take on
them, and call them “Gochu
Poppers,” using Korean peppers
instead of jalapenos. The name
also works well with the pruri-
ent quality of many bar food and
cocktail titles . You can find the
ingredients at any big box su-
permarket, maybe even the lo-
cal grocer. The hardest to find
and most expensive item on the
list is cream cheese.
Impossible to find a few years
ago, cream cheese is steadily
growing in popularity. As of now,
they mostly come in small tubs
and it’s exactly the amount you
need for a batch of poppers.
You also need a standard bag
of Korean peppers. Try to get
one with some fat ones in there
so they are easier to stuff. Make
sure they are fresh and not soft
or wrinkly. You want fat, round,
stiff peppers.
The most controversial ingre-
dient on the list is imitation
crab meat. It’s controversial be-
cause there are purists who
refuse to eat any crab except the
real stuff. All I have to say to
that is: imitation crab meat is,
in fact, real seafood. It’s from
whitefish. It also originated in
this part of the world, and
Korea and Japan have come a
long way in imitation crab meat
technology. When shopping for
fake crab, the best are the ones
that look like king crab legs,
where producers try to mimic
the texture of a real crab.
Enough shopping. Here’s the
recipe: Dump the cream cheese
into a bowl and let it sit at
room temperature for a while.
Finely, chop a clove of garlic
and two fake crab sticks. Mix
them with the cream cheese.
You can add more ingredients
and seasonings if you want to,
but I feel that these simple
three ingredients are a perfect
match.
Split the peppers in half and
remove the insides. I recom-
mend wearing plastic gloves for
this part, especially for those of
us who wear contact lenses.
Stuff the cream cheese mixture
into each half and lay them out
on a plate. Put the plate in the
fridge or freezer for a while so
the cream cheese hardens.
Heat some oil for deep frying.
Make a tempura batter using a
cup of flour, one cold egg and a
cup of ice water. Carbonated
water works even better. Dip
the stuffed peppers in the bat-
ter and fry them until they’re
golden brown. Serve with
whatever sauce strikes your
fancy.
Joe can be reached through
his website, the ZenKimchi
Korean Food Journal, zenkim-
chi.com — Ed.

Wines that expand

your horizons
Dan Ellis
on Wine
You could be forgiven for thinking there are very
few grape varieties out there for making wine.
There are a few varietals that dominate the wine
market’s limelight so comprehensively that shelf
space for some of the world’s more interesting
grapes is limited.
In Korea, this effect is doubled. There is, as in
many of the developing Asian wine markets, a de-
sire to buy only the best — and, for many, this
means Bordeaux, Burgundy and the big reds of
Italy.
There is a tendency to see red wine as serious
and masculine, and that only mature, tannic and,
most importantly, expensive wines are worthy of
consideration.
This week I want to highlight some of the more
obscure wines that are available that offer drinkers
a chance to expand their repertoires, and hopeful- PHOTO CHALLENGE — At the Lotus
ly open up some new drinking pleasures. Festival Parade Rehearsal, a woman
First up is one of my absolute favorite grape va- holds up a lotus flower.The lotus flower
rieties — Gewurztraminer. It’s a killer to spell but grows from the depths of muddy water
a knock-out to smell. to rise above the surface and bloom
If you like aromatic wines, then this is the king with remarkable beauty. The lotus sym-
of the aromatics. A white wine with probably the bolizes purity of heart and mind.
most distinctive nose in the wine world. Lychees, Laura L. Hall (flickr.com/photos/torchcrooner)
rose, passion fruit and florals — it is like the
most decadent bubble bath you can imagine.
All these flavors follow through to the palate,
and, be it dry or off dry, it is as exotic a
wine as you could want.
If you like Turkish Delight, you will
like this. New World examples tend
to be dry and good value and unfor-
tunately have not yet made an im-
pact in Korea. Alsace is Gewurz’s
home in France, and in Shindong
Wine and Les Vins Maeils, you
will find Hugels on offer.
Aromatic and slightly oily, it
comes in at a pocket picking
30,000 won ($30.50) but if you
are feeling adventurous, it is
well worth a punt.
If I described Pinot Grigio as
an adventurous varietal in
In focus — Bokeh
England I would be laughed out By David Smeaton to create beautiful photos with they are trying to achieve a pho- Finally, while shallow depth minimum focal distance).
of the room. Pinot Grigio is soft backgrounds. to with good bokeh. of field produces great bokeh, be 5. Try to stay far away from
about as safe a white wine as I’ve just learned about Bokeh is achieved by using a To make bokeh look pleasing, careful that you don’t make your background. The further
can be bought. It is clean, crisp “bokeh.” It’s such a cool tech- shallow depth of field. You con- set your aperture as wide as your depth of field too shallow. the better!
and is generally produced from nique. How do I learn more trol the depth of field with your possible. Some lenses go as low When shooting people, the nose 6. Natural light through trees
slightly unripe fruit, leading to about it? Ji-young, Seoul. camera’s aperture settings. A as f1.4, but f2 or f2.8 is good as can be in focus, and their eyes makes for a great background
a very simple wine. It is diffi- big aperture is where your lens well. Photograph a subject with may be out of focus. In that case, and awesome bokeh.
cult to get hold of at all in “Bokeh” is one of the most iris is wide open. This is repre- an interesting background and your depth of field is too shallow 7. Shooting in macro (bugs
Korea, and the ones available popular, and talked-about, tech- sented by an f-stop, such as f1.4, the blurriness will enhance the for your shot. Make sure that and flowers) makes it easy to
are, to my mind, overpriced. niques in photography. The f2, f2.8, and so on. A big aper- appeal of the photo. you find a compromise to keep get great bokeh.
Pinot Gris and Pinot Grigio word bokeh is Japanese and it ture has the shallowest depth of Photographers often talk your subject sharp and your Happy shooting.
are the same thing but the use refers to the quality of any out- field. So, by shooting at f2, a about which lenses get better background soft.
of a different name actually of-focus areas in a photograph. large portion of the shot will be bokeh results. There’s no doubt Here are some useful tips:
leads to a totally different wine. Photos naturally have vary- out of focus. This is bokeh. that prime lenses (lenses that 1. Keep your aperture as wide Send David a message at
Pieroth has a great example of ing depths of field. Some parts Lowering your aperture to f16 don’t zoom) produce much bet- as it goes. davidsmeaton@gmail.com or vis-
New Zealand Pinot Gris. of a photo will be in focus; some or lower, will give a greater ter bokeh. Zoom lenses, due to 2. Use a prime lens; you’ll al- it his website at www.david-
It is wonderfully soft with will be out of focus. depth of field and show more of their construction, don’t have ways get better results. smeaton.com. If you want to be a
good stoned fruit characteris- Obviously, out-of-focus areas the shot in focus. This is handy as pleasing bokeh, but these 3. When using a telephoto part of the weekly Photo
tics — think apricot — and a are blurry. The art of bokeh is when shooting landscapes, but days, the quality of zoom lenses lens, zoom out as far as possible. Challenge, join the “Seoul Photo
brisk citrus acidity that leads turning the out-of-focus area is the exact opposite of what a is so good that many do a won- 4. Stand as close to your sub- Club” group at flickr (flickr.com/-
to something of a guzzler. At to your advantage and using it photographer wants to do when derful job. ject as you can (allowing for groups/seoulphotoclub). — Ed.
the time of writing, it is
available by the glass at
Kabinett in Itaewon at a hap-
py-hour price of less than
5,000 won. You cannot argue
with that.
Sileni’s Semillon, for 28,000
Sunday football back in action
won from Shindong Wine, is a By Eoghan Ryan “Seoul United Football Club (is) get- chance at having a realistic shot at the
honey lemon delight and is the ting back on track to where it belongs.” title now, but we will still be a
only New World Semillon I Korea’s busiest expat football league He accepted that, with two losses, it handful for the two teams in
have seen here. By supporting is in its fourth week of games following will be difficult to win the title, but the race.”
these more unusual wines, we an off season dominated by player they are confident of contesting for a Suwon, having been com-
are encouraging more experi- transfers, team withdrawals and even top-three position. petitive in its away loss to
mentation. South African some additions. The Daejeon situation is further evi- the Jokers the week be-
Chenin Blancs please! As expected, the early pace-setters in dence that the biggest challenge which fore, conceded seven
Unusual reds are less likely Division One have been the Seoul Celtic faces the league is consistency from one to a rampant Celtic
to be found but we do get and the Seoul British Jokers. Both season to the next. Despite winning the at home in a game
Chilean Carmenere, which of- teams strengthened their squads in the championship last year, Daejeon was that turned on the
fers a soft, cherry fruit wine off season and have already secured forced to withdraw from the league due horrific injury sus-
with a distinctive chocolate as- maximum points. to squad depletion. tained by Sean
pect. These can be found in The elevation of the Celtic and Jokers Two teams have been added to Blakeley in the
your local convenience store at to the roles of favorites has been at the Divison Two. Dave Kim of the Incheon Suwon midfield. Blake-
a convenient price. expense of last year’s champions Red Dogs welcomed the addition of ley broke his leg in three
You are in Korea; you are an Daejeon De La Cuba, and perennial Bundang F.C. and Persian Storm F.C. places, and captain
adventurous type. Be adven- contenders, Seoul United. as being an important step in “main- Phil Ringrose felt that
turous in your wine choices Keeping key players fit could be the taining a two division league.” the 15 minutes fol-
and you are sure to be reward- difference between the Celtic winning Last Season’s Division Two champi- lowing the incident,
ed. their first title or the Jokers notching ons, Inter Suwon, edged rivals Anyang when his “shell-
Go to www.pierothwines.co.kr up a sixth crown. by a single goal in one of the games of shocked” team
for more information on Pieroth Seoul United have consolidated the season so far. Both teams have now conceded
Wines. their two teams, and have changed lost two games and, while perhaps out t h r e e
management and moved grounds. of the running for the title, will have times,
Despite losing some influential play- something to say about who wins it. were piv-
Dan can be reached through his ers, manager Cisse Youssouf feels that Anyang assistant manager Aaron otal.
website at wine-in-korea.blog- the club is now stronger than ever. He Jolly said after their loss to Seoul Photo by Edgar Hodge
spot.com — Ed. said that the win over Anyang shows United, “We’ve probably missed our