The History & Tribute to Cheke&Bake

It comes as a surprise to no one that I love to cook. I always have. There is just something about the whole experience. Taking a few ingredients and putting them together in one way to form something unique and then taking those exact same ingredients and making something completely different. That’s always been one thing I’ve loved about food. Even more so the experience of cooking the food itself is obviously the eating. Sitting down and watching people eat your food and looking at the expression on their face can be either daunting or fulfilling. No words need to be spoken. Just a simple grin with their eyes half closed and you know you have a winner dish right there.

After arriving in Korea the first thing I did was look for an oven so that I could continue making the food I enjoyed to eat and not just rice and kimchi everyday. It started becoming a tradition with some of my very good friends; Ana, Jemma & Mairead, to come to my tiny apartment on Sunday for a “Come Dine with Che” experience. Jemma’s first request was Shepherds Pie. Well I had never made it before and to be honest I didn’t reli have much of an opinion about it but I tried it out anyway. Finding Lamb was the hard part. It’s not a very popular meat here. After much exploring and food adventures I finally found the holy grail of Lamb. Right nearby my apartment. It ended up turning out great and I’d just discovered my favorite comfort food in Korea. Shepherds pie became probably the only thing I cooked at these Sunday lunches. It was a real hit. I even managed to get my vegetarian friend to finally try it and she ended up eating 2 bowls worth. Now if that isn’t a success I dunno what is.

The best purchase in Korea

After some time and through the encouragement of a good friend Lumantha. I decided to open up my own home cooking business supplying great homemade dishes that most expats cannot find in Korea. Living in Daegu was great because of the niche market that I could expose myself to. Seoul or even in Busan the streets and downtown areas are riddled with International restaurants and delis. Daegu was an untouched market at the time with only a few if not any of these kinds of places. And hell if I could convert a veggie, maybe I could convert the whole of Daegu.

I started in very humble beginnings. A kitchen the size of most peoples cupboards. Measuring about 2x2metres. I had no idea what the hell I had signed myself up for so I decided to just overplan it all. Story of my life lol. I got one of my amazing friends Loops to even design me a logo for the business. It was perfect. Exactly what I had pictured in my head.

The Cheke&Bake Logo designed by Loops

So Cheke&Bake started to come to life. I found the amazing Baking Shop near Daegu Station where I was planning on buying most of the packaging and materials I needed for my food. Now if you think I love cooking you must know how much I love buying everything for the cooking. I’m literally like a kid in a candy store. Grabbing big bottles of cinnamon, baking pans, cake boxes, chocolate chips. Basically everything and anything I could find that I “might” need. Once I’d paid and headed to find a taxi I looked down at the 2 massive bags I was carrying and it dawned on me. What have I done? Do I really need all this stuff? OMG How much money did I just spend? What if people don’t like what I have to sell? What if I actually can’t do it? What if I fail? It would have all been a complete waste of time and money.

The birthplace of Cheke&Bake

It was a lot to process in the first few weeks but I knew that if I persevered I could do it and I could do it right. The first few weeks were the hardest. Getting recommendations for recipes and ideas and relearning how to make certain things. Trying to figure out how the hell I was gonna cook in bulk in the tiniest kitchen in the world. How I was going to fit everything into the worlds tiniest fridge and how the hell I could run a functioning business while being employed full time and away for 12 hours a day. Compiling a menu that wouldn’t burn me out was the hardest. I just wanted to make everything and at the time I truly believed I could. I even got my good friend John to come and take some beautiful pictures of everything I had made. They turned out stunning and so the visual side of Cheke&Bake had finally been established. I needed my business to be well structured and advertised, but not THAT well advertised. Lol.

After the first few months of Cheke&Bake being opened I started realizing that hey this is actually working. Yes I’ve made a few stuff ups but for the most part it was a success. I had people in Gumi, Gyeongju, Pohang and Busan asking how they could get their hands on my food. I was overwhelmed. News spread and it spread fast. I was getting friend requests from complete strangers asking for massive orders of Shepherds Pies, Vetkoek, Hummus, Pita Bread and my Heart Attack Bread. It was great and then BOOM I hit a wall. I was tired, time was a killer and people started ordering more and more food that required  “Puff Pastry”. My arch enemy haha. Now puff pastry is not a very easy thing to come by in Korea. Especially in Daegu. If u do find it you’ll probably be paying out of your ears for it. So the only solution here was to make it myself from scratch.

Now I’m not a trained pastry chef but hey the people want the pastry so I gotta give them the pastry. I’m sure there are many people who enjoy making pastry so hats off to you. I wish I had your patience. If you have ever made puff pastry you’ll know it’s quite an arduous task. The folding of butter into freshly made pastry and then rolling and folding and rolling and folding, leaving in the fridge for a few hours and then folding and rolling and folding and rolling, going back in the fridge and folding and rolling and folding and rolling until you get to a point where you actually couldn’t be bothered anymore and end up calling your chicken pot pie a chicken pot. My weekends and weekdays were overloaded with everything Cheke&Bake. I was constantly planning my life around when I was going to go to the shops, printing out a schedule of what I needed to make and when I had to send it. I was burnt out. I just couldn’t anymore. Luckily at the time other things were going on in Korea and so Cheke&Bake closed her doors. I was really sad in a way to close that chapter of my life but it had, had a good run.

During the close I got a lot of people begging me to please still cook for them and so I did but very little and in moderation. I was sitting at 2 or 3 orders a week sometimes none at all. I started appreciating my cooking more. It became simplistic and in a way more sophisticated than before. I started trying different techniques and at the time I had also moved into a bigger apartment so I had more space to play. My head was cleared of the rush and panic around pleasing other people and I started to really enjoy cooking again. It was fantastic.

I realized at this point that after all the hard work and craziness that I put myself through I was more determined and focused as ever to make it work this time. And make it work right. So I opened up again. It was one of the best decisions I’d made in those last 2 months of 2012 because I finally got my fire back.

I also decided to attempt posting my orders. Madre was the first person I ever posted a delivery to and if it wasn’t for her asking me to please please send those Vetkoeke and Quiches I don’t know if I would have ever risked it. And so Cheke&Bake expanded. I was posting between 5-10 orders a week as well as keeping up with my Daegu orders. It was great. I was absolutely loving it. Cheke&Bake was back and baby she was back with a vengeance.

Then one beautiful day in June I saw a Facebook posting from a Café downtown talking about a Market Day. I was very intrigued. As some of you know I used to work at the Stellenbosch Organic Food Market in my final year at University and it was some of the best months of my life. The whole vibe that surrounds an outdoor market is difficult to describe in words it is something you need to experience. I was so excited so I immediately emailed the owner Sandy Lee and asked if I could have a table for the market day.

My first market day

Then my head started going crazy mad. Now I’ve signed myself up for more work? I thought I was trying to calm my life down. But hey I always seem to enjoy the pressure. I decided my menu would host the star of Cheke&Bake, The Shepherds Pie as well as a few quiches and some South African goodies. Well the first market day was an absolute success. Even friends from the outskirts of Daegu came to buy my food. I sold out by 2pm. I didn’t know what to feel. I felt numb from happiness. I had no idea it would go off so well. I knew at this point I had to cultivate this new market and keep the awesomeness coming.

Sold OUT!

Through suggestions from friends I decided to attempt making pies. No not Shepherds Pies. But good old fashioned pasty pies. In Korea pies are very hard to come by. And even if u can find a place that does pies; for example Jesters, they just are not up to scratch. They might fill you up and settle the savory dream you were having but they won’t ever truly hit the spot. This is where I decided to come in. Now pies require puff pastry. We all know how I feel about good old pastry but I was willing to just give it a try and see what the demand was like.

After missing the second bake sale due to traveling I knew I had to come back and be remembered. Luckily there were a few customers from Buy the Book who had. I decided to go all out. Guinness & Beef Steak Pie, Chicken & Mushroom Pie and my exciting new creation Kimchi Roast Chicken Pie. The dreaded puff pastry mission had started and I was popping the pies out that oven like nobodys business. The nights leading up to every bake sale were stressful and exciting. I might have been covered in flour all night everyday but I had one hell of a smile on my face. I could do it and I did.

All my love and hardwork

I was also lucky enough to try my hand at making Koeksisters (South African Donuts) as a request from a highly respected South African chef up in Seoul. It was another very exciting time learning new techniques and making dreaded dough but I had already pushed the band wagon so why not keep pushing on?

Koeksister production line. I once made 120 Koeksisters in this little Kitchen

As the successful market days kept rolling on I was asked by Sandy the owner of Buy the Book Cafe If I would like to be a feature chef and run my own menu through the restaurant for a weekend. I was beside myself! I would finally have an opportunity to run my very own restaurant with my very own menu! Absolute dream come true! I immediately started constructing a one of a kind menu and sourcing all my ingredients. Then the next step of figuring out how much of each thing I needed started.

My Menu for the Guest Chef Wknd

Then my brain exploded. How on earth do people run restaurants! It is such a time consuming, ever changing, unpredictable line of work to expose yourself to. Its people with that real passion for it, the real love for all the hardwork that make places like Buy The Book Cafe stay open month after month and year after year. Sandy taught me so much. So many big and small things and the support I was given was astounding. The customers really enjoyed the food and I loved making it. I could barely walk for the next week and my back was in such pain from the constant bending to get things out the oven, the fridge and making my plates look fantastic. I don’t remember a time before that where I’ve ever been so tired. But I was never happier. It was one of the best weekends of my entire life and it opened up my eyes to the kind of world I want to get into. I finally had a taste of what my future could be. Thank you again Sandy & Yatren for that amazing opportunity!

My Number 1 Seller – Shepherds Pie

Dark Choc Mousse with Persimmon

Earl Grey Creme Brulee

Cheke&Bake has been my baby for the last 2 years. It has brought me tears of both happiness and frustration. It’s brought me new friends and business partners. It’s brought me satisfaction and joy. It’s taught me that no matter how small your ideas may be if you try hard and work at them you can turn those ideas into something great, something successful and something meaningful.

It breaks my heart to tell you now that Cheke&Bakes time in Korea has come to an end 😦 My good friend David Mansell with his company Bouche Delivery will be continuing the awesome food dream that I had. So never fear, the pies will still be here 😀

It’s been an absolute honor cooking for you all. If it wasn’t for all of you amazing people my dream would have never taken flight. So thank you from my whole heart. I hope that one day you will come visit me in South Africa where I will have hopefully opened up my very own Café and we can reminisce over our awesome time together.

Keep Happy and Keep Hungry Cheke&Bakers, it’s been wild. Much Love ❤

My Korean Kitchen SPECIAL – Korean Chicken Cajun Quinoa

Being on a diet (story of my life) is never easy. Especially in Korea when bowls of rice are served at every meal and by every meal I mean EVERY meal, even breakfast. My poor blood sugar was in shock after the first few months here; I just couldn’t face eating my school lunch without it but I persevered. The death stares and questions I was asked when I had no scoop of rice on my tray caused an absolute riot in the cafeteria. Is Che sick? We should make her Kimbap (made with rice!!) Does Che not like the lunch? Let’s make her rice cake soup (moooorree rice). Eventually I made the rational decision to walk away from school lunches all together. This was a good thing (my health) and a bad thing. Going to lunch is the only time I ever really got a chance to spend with my other teachers and when I stopped going to the cafeteria they thought I had left the country!

So now that I had to start prepping my own lunches everyday I finally had a chance to hit the healthy train. I had heard about Quinoa many years ago but didn’t really know much about it. About 5 months ago I decided to look into it a bit more (after hours of Pinterest searching). Turns out Quinoa is not infact pronounced Kee-No-Wa (lol) and is as healthy as ever. It’s a healthy grain, high in protein and gluten free! Wahoo! I’m all about no gluten these days. I immediately tried to get my hands on the stuff but as is always with Korea, the ingredients we miss and crave are veeery hard to find. I resorted to buying myself a bag on iHerb. The greatest website ever for healthy supplements and foods. Finally I could start experimenting with it.

I’ve always been a sucker for a nice spicy yet creamy pasta and taking a hint from a fellow chef in Korea I decided to take a traditional Cajun Cream Chicken recipe and adjust it with a few delish Korean ingredients, make it as high protein as possible and rest it on a bed of delicious Quinoa.

I first made my own version of  Cajun spice from scratch. 2T Paprika, 2T Salt, 2T Garlic Powder, 2T Onion Powder, 3T Hot Pepper Flakes. I popped this into a nice big Ziploc bag.

I used a whole chicken diced up Korean style (hacked to bits! Gordon Ramsay would invent new swear words for this) and put this into the bag of spices and shook it up till all the pieces were coated.

I fried 1 chopped onion in some olive oil till translucent then added the chicken and fried till brown on all sides. I then added 1 yellow pepper, 4 green chilies (seeds omitted – tooooo spicy!!) and 1 large zucchini (baby marrow). Added 1 cup of water and 100ml  cream. This boiled away for about 20 mins.

At this stage the sauce was juuust about there but I had only added a small amount of cream and needed to thicken and creamify it more. Enter tofu. Yes that’s Tofu not more cream in the picture.

I’ve fallen in love with Soft Tofu since the first time I made a Korean Tofu Stew. It adds a wonderful texture and flavour to a dish. I let this cook through for another 10 mins.

Also because I’m Koreanising this recipe what goes in next? Yup good old Kimchi! YUM!! I put this in near the end of the cooking time because I still wanted the fresh crunch and because rice is my devil I had cooked a few cups of Quinoa a bit earlier and added my chicken to it. It smelt AMAZING!! It was spicy as all hell just how I like it and had this wonderful creamy sauce packed with delicious veg and chicken. So full of protein deliciousness for my lunches for the week. Dr Atkins eat your heart out 😀

My School Kitchen – 5 Minute Chocolate Mug Cake

At my High School I’m blessed enough to be able to teach a wonderful but small group of students who are so interested in learning anything and everything that sometimes it can make my job extremely hard but rewarding. I decided to mix it up a little and have some fun. It’s getting to that time of the year especially in my little town of Seongju where the big jackets start coming out and the ondol (Underfloor heating) gets turned on. So I decided to do something involving warmth and excitement as apposed to sitting in a freezing cold classroom with blank stares.

I’d been following a couple foodies on Pinterest and one recipe popped up. Cake in a Mug. I’ve seen it countless times with all sorts of variations of ingredients and techniques and decided it was now the time to try it out. I remember a couple years ago my sister and dad tried it out and much to their dismay it ended up being a gooey dense mess. It tasted great but I wanted to perfect it. Lucky for me someone already had! I found the recipe from the Instructables website and went ahead with planning my cooking day.

My girls would each bring a mug and an egg and wonderful Che teacher would bring the rest. Flour, Oil, Milk, Cocoa, Chocolate Chips and Sugar.

The day started out great going through the recipe and making sure they understood the process and then it was time to get stuck in and get messy!! The recipe is extremely easy to follow and exciting to put together. Here’s the Recipe for an average size mug.

Ingredients

• 4 tablespoons flour 
  
• 4 tablespoons sugar
• 2 tablespoon cocoa
• 1 egg
• 3 tablespoons milk
• 2 tablespoons oil
• 3 tablespoons chocolate chips

According to the website it suggests that 1 egg is too much, 1 egg white is too eggy, 1 yolk is too dense, but 2 tblsp is just right! Unfortunately my students didn’t really understand why they couldn’t use the whole egg so it all went in lol.

1. Mix the flour, sugar and cocoa in the mug

2. Add the egg and mix extremely well.

3. Add the milk and oil and mix.

4. Once the mixture resembles a glossy fudgey goop you can add chocolate chips. We also added some mini snickers bars to ours.

5. Once that has all come together blitz it in the microwave for 3 minutes and boom your cake is done.

I really wanted to add in some delicious ice cream or even just whipped cream to the cakes but they were gobbled up pretty quick. I will definitely be making this at home this winter when my sweet tooth starts a calling, you should try it too!

Sylvia enjoying her cake

My Korean Kitchen SPECIAL – Kimchi Roast Chicken

Yes you did read that right, Kimchi roasted in Chicken. It might seem like a rather odd combination but oh me oh my does it knock your socks off.

I got the idea one night while watching Masterchef Australia. Literally thee best show ever. They have this challenge called an Invention Challenge where a bunch of amateur cooks get given a box full of ingredients that they need to use to invent some new kind of dish. This particular episode was about Korean food. I was so excited. I recognized almost every ingredient and just pictured myself standing there rocking the hell outta that challenge and winning the Title! haha. Big dreams!  Most of the people in the challenge had no idea what anything was, unlucky for them the ingredients were in their original packaging covered in Korean writing so they couldn’t even read what it was. Which is funny because when I first went to a Korean store I was absolutely petrified to buy anything that didn’t have english writing on it. They just had to go by taste and smell. It was really amusing watching them dash around figuring out what to make with all this weird stuff. But then I stood back and thought to myself wow. It must be so tough to invent something with ingredients you can’t even pronounce.

I decided to take upon my own personal invention test with my delicious homemade Kimchi fermenting away in the fridge and a whole chicken in the freezer. This was either going to turn out to be the most disgusting thing I’ve ever eaten or one of the best.

Once the chicken was defrosted all the way through I trimmed away all the nasty extra bits of fat. I cut the chicken down the middle between the breast bones and split it open. I then flipped it breast side down and started to lift the skin up over the thighs and all the way down to the neck to make a little pocket that I could stuff my Kimchi into.

I took about 1 cup of Kimchi and chopped it up. I added 2Tbs of Fish Sauce and 1 Tbs of Kimchi juice from the container. I then took this mixture and started stuffing my chicken under its skin. I pushed the Kimchi in between the skin and meat of the thighs, legs, breast and even wings. It was completely stuffed lol. I then drizzled over some more kimchi juice as well as 1Tbs of Hot Pepper Flakes, covered it with foil and cooked at 200 degrees for 1 hour.

After the hour was up I removed the foil and cooked for a further 30 mins so the skin could crisp up and the juices intensify.

Well it turned out amazingly. It was such an interesting flavor, surprising yet delicious. After I carved the chicken I made a small gravy with it and served it up with some roasted veggies. For lunch that week I added the Kimchi Roast Chicken to a Caesar Salad and for my cooking business Cheke&Bake I even made a Kimchi Roast Chicken Pie. This style of chicken is great and so refreshing after eating a usual roast every week. You know what they say. A hundred ways with a dead chicken and I think I just discovered a really amazing one! So go ahead and give it a try!  Kimchi Roast on Sunday? Why not!

Cheke&Bake’s Kimchi Roast Chicken Pie

My School Kitchen – Jjimdak at School (찜닭)

At my wonderful High School in Korea I teach some amazing girls. They are the elite students in their grade and they come to me to practice their english and learn about Western culture. I decided one day to turn the lesson around on them and have them teach me something. Our topic was food. I wanted them to teach me how to make some Korean dish and turn the whole experience into a bit of a cooking show.

We decided the name of the show was going to be “Call me Hungry” and the dish they would teach would be Jjimdak. One of the students got her great grandmothers Jjimdak recipe and they all compiled a script together which they would present and I would film. Here is the wonderful script they wrote about Jjimdak including the recipe.

“Hi and welcome to our show, Call me Hungry.

We are High School students at Seongju Girls High School in South Korea. We would like to take this opportunity to teach you a bit about our amazing country. We have started our own cooking show so that we can introduce our delicious food to foreigners and show them how to make it.

Today on our menu we are going to be making Jjimdak. Jjim in Korean means. Steamed or Braised and Dak means chicken. Jjimdak is a very popular dish which originated in the town of Andong in South Korea. Andong Jjimdak is made with chicken, various vegetables, noodles and a spicy soy based sauce.

Now we are going to introduce the ingredients and equipment needed for preparing this dish.

Firstly you’ll need.

1 whole fresh chicken cut into pieces.

3 Cups of Water

1 Small bag of Cellophane Noodles

2 Potatoes

1 Carrot

1 Onion

1 Green & 1 Red Pepper

And 1 Leek or Green Onion

To make the spicy sauce you’ll need

2 Tablespoons of Gochujang (which is a Korean Spicy Red Pepper Paste)

4 Tablespoons of Thick Soy Sauce

3 Tablespoons of Cooking Wine

3 Tablespoons of sugar

And 2 Tablespoons of Minced Garlic

The equipment you will need for this recipe is

A Stove

A Large pan

Plastic bowls

A large spoon

A knife

A cutting board

A cup

A teaspoon

And a tablespoon

Alright so now we have everything together. Let’s get cooking!!.

The first thing we will do is take the chicken pieces and put them in a pot filled with water. You will need to bring the water to the boil and boil the chicken for about 10 minutes. This helps remove some of the fat and other things from the chicken. After the 10 minutes drain the chicken and set aside.

Now we can take the cellophane noodles and place them in some hot water so they will be easier to use later.

Time to make the sauce. Take all the sauce ingredients and mix them together in a bowl.

Once the sauce is finished put the chicken back into the pan, add the cut up vegetables, cover it with the sauce as well as 3 cups of water and bring it to the boil.

Cook the chicken and vegetables for about 15 minutes then add the noodles. Once the noodles are cooked your Jjimdak is ready to be eaten. Decorate it with some more peppers and some sesame seeds.

Join us again next time for some more Korean cooking tips and ideas.

The END”

This experience was such fun and I really had a great time learning about Jjimdak and how to prepare it. Some of my teachers also recommended to me to put in some Soju or even Coke to tenderize the Chicken even more. I then made my own at home and it ended up being good but not that great. I think the enthusiasm and dedication from my girls made their Jjimdak stand out above all.

My AMAZING Girls

My Korean Kitchen – Kimchi Jjigae – Kimchi Stew (김치 찌개)

Kimchi Jjigae was one of the first soups/stews I was ever introduced to. Even before I arrived in Korea. I organised two of my best friends to join me on a little Korean adventure to a Korean restaurant in Johannesburg to sample the cuisine. My friends were just as intrigued as I was so we ended up ordering some Bibimbap, Kimchi Jjigae and Chicken Fried Rice.

The Kimchi Jjigae arrived in this gorgeous bubbling black pot bursting with aroma. I could feel my nose hairs singe as the chilli wafted across the table. I didn’t expect it at all. My friend Nick did his best to finish it and he even likes spicy food. I took one spoonful and my head almost exploded. It was such an intense sour spicy fishy combination. I couldn’t handle it so I continued ravaging through my Bibimbap.

Nick and his Kimchi Jjigae

After I had arrived in Korea I was introduced once again to the spicy pot of hell. This time however I managed to handle the heat and after a few months my taste buds started changing and I could handle the spiciness like never before. Add more Hot pepper Flakes please!!

Once I started teaching myself how to make Korean food I just knew that this Jjigae had to be on the menu. So here it is. It was also made with my fresh homemade kimchi.

Ingredients

100g Sliced Pork (Pork Belly)

1 cup Homemade Kimchi

1/4 cup Kimchi juice (from same container)

2 Tbs Hot Pepper Flakes (depending on how spicy u want it)

1 Tbs Gochujang (Korea Red Pepper Paste)

1/2 Onion (chopped)

2 Spring Onions

1/2 Square of Tofu

1 Tbs Sesame Oil

2 Cups Water

1. Fry Kimchi, Onions and Pork in a pot with some oil. Add Kimchi Juice and cook for 2 minutes.

2. Add Hot Pepper Paste and Hot Pepper Flakes and mix together then add water.

3. Boil covered for 10 minutes and then turn down to a light simmer for 20 minutes.

4. Chop the Tofu into small squares, add to the soup and boil it for 5 minutes.

5. Add a drizzle of Sesame Oil and serve.

It’s traditional in Korea to have your Jjigae with a steaming bowl of rice and I definitely recommend it. It also helps cut through the sting of the chilli. You can also omit the pork for a vegetarian option and some people even add tuna.

Homemade Kimchi Jjigae with Homemade Kimchi

My Korean Kitchen – Kimchi Pancake (김치 천)

There is nothing better than having a good old swig of Makkeoli on a cold evening accompanied with Kimchi Jeon or a Kimchi Pancake. A Kimchi Pancake is exactly what it says it is. It’s a type of pancake batter mixed with cut up Kimchi fried and then sliced into pieces which are then dipped into Soy Sauce.

I used my fresh tasty amazing Kimchi alongside Maangchi’s Kimchi Jeon Recipe to develop this creation.

Ingredients

4 Tbs of cut up Kimchi

3 Tbs of Kimchi juice (from the same container)

1/2 minced Onion

1/2 Cup Flour

1/4 Cup Water

Oil for frying

1. Mix all the ingredients above together in a large bowl. I added a touch more Fish Sauce and another Tablespoon of Hot Pepper Flakes for a bit more of a kick.

2. Heat a pan with some oil and when ready add a 5mm layer of your batter and fry on both sides till its brown.

Be careful as the pancake can be very flimsy when u flip it over. Your layer of batter should be thick enough so that it won’t break and thin enough so it will cook through.

Kimchi Jeon made with my fresh homemade Kimchi