Recipe Decoder

Key to Times Style

Unless otherwise indicated, make the following assumptions in Times recipes.

Butter: unsalted (sweet).

Eggs: large.

Flour: all-purpose.

Fruit and vegetable sizes: Onions and other items are assumed to be medium.

Milk: whole.

Oil: vegetable oil (canola, peanut, safflower, etc.).

Sugar: granulated.

Glossary

Cellophane noodles: Translucent noodles made from mung bean flour. Available at Asian markets.

Dried red dates (daichu): Korean “dates” are the barely sweet Asian fruit otherwise known as the jujube; they are considered to have medicinal powers. Available at Korean markets.

Kimchi: Pickled cabbage or other vegetables fermented with garlic, anchovy sauce and ground red pepper. Available at Korean markets.

Mung beans: A small, quick-cooking legume best known in this country as the source of Chinese restaurant bean sprouts. In Korean cooking, it’s used in soup or as in a sweet filling for rice cakes. Unpeeled mung beans are green, and hulled ones are yellow. Available at health food stores and Asian markets.

Potsticker wrappers: Pasta circles made from wheat or glutinous rice flour. Wonton wrappers may be used, but your dumplings will be triangular instead of crescent-shaped.

Rice Cakes (ttok): Steamed cakes made of rice flour. They come in many shapes and varieties, filled or plain, sometimes sweetened. Available at Korean markets and Korean bakeries.

Rice flour: Ground rice used for making rice cakes or thickening dishes such as bindaetuck. Available at Asian markets.

Rice Wine: An alcoholic drink made from rice.

Sikae: Sweet rice drink. Available at Korean bakeries.

Silgochu: A shredded dried red chile that looks like long threads of saffron. It’s used to garnish and to flavor meat, fish and vegetable dishes. Available at Korean markets.