Meal 75. Slovakian bryndzové halušky (potato dumplings with cheese and bacon)

Blending the potatoes

Oliver, my host for this meal, has apparently forgiven me for saying 'Slovenian' instead of 'Slovakian' on more than one occasion. At this point, it has become embarrassing enough that I always take a millisecond to reflect before saying the word. Though I know they are two different countries, and I have very good memories of the Slovenian meal for this blog, somehow my brain does not always co-operate. To confuse matters further, I saw a cousin's post about a holiday in Slovakia which describes a visit to 'Slovenský Raj', a national park. This translates as 'Slovak paradise'...(if it had been Slovenian, it would have been Slovinský Raj). It does seem I am not the only one to make this mistake, and by now I am aware enough to avoid making it, unless I do it specifically to tease Oliver.

He is actually Slovak with Hungarian roots on his father's side, who is an 'ethnic Hungarian' from the southern part of Slovakia, near Hungary, where the majority speaks Hungarian. The border was to some extent fluid over the last century, with language and citizenship now still somewhat contentious topics. 

The famous protected geographical indication Bryndza sheep's cheese

I have been more of a witness to the preparation for this meal than normal, with a special trip to a shop in the Hague that sells Slovak products, including the Bryndza, a fresh sheep's cheese, and two local soft drinks, Kofola and Vinea. The taste profile of Kofola lies somewhere between cola and a malt drink, and is apparently served on tap in bars as an alternative to beer. Vinea is like a non-alcoholic sweet champagne, fizzy grape juice basically. Oliver jokes they are used to train children to drink beer and wine! Both are immediately pleasing for the unaccustomed palate. One Dutch exchange student was so enamored by Kofola, Oliver recalls fondly, that he bought six 2L bottles of the drink to take back with him to Holland.

Mixing potatoes with flour

For the preparation of the main dish, Oliver is channeling his grandmother's talents. A kilo of potatoes are peeled and boiled, then mixed with salt, flour and egg (optional). The halušky are then formed by spreading this thick batter onto a cutting board, and cutting strips off which drop directly into boiling water. Alternatively, the dumplings can be formed with a special perforated cooking strainer (haluškár) where the batter is pushed through smallish holes in the haluškár. To me, with a limited reference frame, this is reminiscent of both gnocchi (made with potato dough) and Swiss knöpfli/German spätzle, made with a flour dough but a similar preparation (cutting board or perforated tool). The Austrian meal for this blog featured a vaguely similar (though sweet) dish with potato dough dumplings (Mohnnudeln) too. The ingredient that elevates tonight's potato dumplings to a Slovak national dish is the Bryndza sheep's cheese, which is now an EU 'protected geographical indication' product (like feta cheese, or more famously: champagne). The cheese and smoky bacon bits (specially imported bacon, from special pigs!) add a savoury depth to the hearty dish, which is very moreish. Oliver describes it as the perfect food after a day of heavy physical work on the farm. Similar to other dumplings, it is more filling than you would think based on eyeballing the amount of food on your plate!

 As we digest the food, we discuss Slovakia's past. Oliver, having lived and studied in Prague, feels the separation from the Czech republic (the so-called Velvet Divorce in 1993), was "a bit of a shame," and mainly motivated on a parliamentary level. Only a minority of both Czechs and Slovaks was actually in favour of the split! 

We also touch on how things were under Communism. Oliver belongs to a younger generation that has not experienced this era first-hand. But tales of the many idiosyncrasies of the former regime are well-known to everyone from the region. For example, even though ownership of foreign currency was tightly regulated, there was a flourishing illegal money-exchange market – and Oliver’s great-grandfather was lucky enough to have old friends in Austria who would send schillings by post, camouflaged in 'origami cards' to avoid detection.

The boiled and drained halušky before the cheese and bacon is added

Some fled the country to pursue a better life, most commonly in Austra, Switzerland or Canada. As it was easier to get permission to leave on a holiday to another communist country, some planned a 'visit to Cuba,' only to disembark during the refuelling stop in Canada. Oliver's mother had a dentist who followed exactly this pattern, telling his patients he would be off on a holiday, never to return! 

Once the heavy meal has had a chance to settle a bit, we munch on a light dessert of thin Kolonáda wafers with a hazelnut filling (actually officially Czech). These were apparently traditionally served at spa resorts like Karlsbad as only "light desserts" were permitted, and the packaging reflects this history. Can definitely recommend...this in contrast to another sweet from the Slovak shop, the Margot bar which is supposed to taste of coconut and rum, but left me personally with a distinct impression of nail polish remover!

The final result, the halušky with the bryndza cheese and bacon bits added

Meal 74. Korean tteokbokki and fritters

Checking the tteokbokki

 When I first met Su (short for Sujin) I got quite excited, as I had just spent many hours watching a YouTube channel mainly about Korean food and culture. She knows exactly who I am referring to, the "Korean Englishman," who is by now a bit of a celebrity in Korea. There are some very enjoyable videos of British schoolboys trying Korean food for the first time, but Su and I both agree it is somewhat odd to have a whole channel about Korean culture hosted by an Englishman. Both part of the appeal, and a bit problematic! Luckily, Su herself likes the idea of this blog, and is willing to be the 'actual Korean' introducing me to Korean food in real life. Somehow, I have managed to never have a proper Korean meal...only some fastfood 'angry chicken' in Berlin, and dinner at a 'Korean barbecue' restaurant in Sierra Leone, which turned out to be run by a Chinese lady.

The ricecakes for the tteokbokki soaking in warm water

Tonight I am getting the chance to try tteokbokki, a kind of rice cakes which are soaked in water before preparation, which gives them a chewy, glutinous texture. While the cakes soak, Su prepares the vegetables for a kind of patties made with grated vegetables in a crunchy batter. Somewhat reminiscent of Japanese tempura batter, the 'Korean crispy frying mix' had sparkling water added to it to make it extra crispy.

Su preparing the vegetables for the fritters

 Su grates up a storm, adding carrot, sweet potato, zucchini and eggplant. It seems to be much more than we can finish with the three of us, as Su's friend and flatmate is joining us. They normally chat in German, as Su has been in the country long enough, for five years already, and is used to speaking German with her colleagues as well. She works at the opera, in the backstage area ("event technology") which is mainly dominated by older German males. As a young Korean woman, she is definitely an outlier! 

The fishcakes on top of the ricecakes with gochujang spicy sauce

We chat a bit about the cultural 'moment' Korea is having in the West, with movies winning Oscars (Parasite and Minari), tv-series in the top 10 most watched on Netflix, K-Pop bands like BTS and BlackPink incredibly popular. Even K-Beauty is part of this 'Korean Wave', with lots of American and European fans of Korean skincare brands now. I eye Su's beautiful clear complexion, and compliment her, asking if she also has an elaborate morning routine. "Nope, just the drugstore's own brand facecream!" (dm, for the German readers).

Placing the grated vegetables with crispy frying mix in the hot oil

I also admire her tattoos, which he had done in Berlin, by a Korean friend who studies fine art. They are still a bit taboo in Korea, and officially tattoo artists need a medical license, though by now they are quite common amongst the younger generation. After a long (corona related) absence, Su returned back home and her mother quickly remarked:"Oh, a tattoo!" Su managed to deflect the attention by mentioning that she got it from her friend for a remarkably low price, and surprisingly her mother just reacted with, "Oh...that's cool!" It sounds like she has very open minded and supportive parents, who were also quick to accept her changing from theatre studies (just before finishing) to studying at the opera in Germany).

Vegetable fritter - golden crisy perfection

Once the vegetable fritters are done, they have to be eaten quite quickly to appreciate the super crispy consistency. I am quite a fan of deep fried food, and these are exquisite. The tteokbokki aftewards has a completely different texture, very chewy and a bit slippery, a challenge for me to handle with chopsticks! They are served with boiled eggs, and a gochujang sauce made with fishcakes, spicy, but still quite accessible to me as a Korean food novice. I ask Su what she missed most when she could not go back for almost two years, and she mentions she ended up dreaming about cheese balls. She would literally be asleep, dreaming that she was in Korea and ready to order them, but would then somehow encounter problems during the ordering process, and then wake up disappointed, without cheese balls. A very Korean ex-pat nightmare...You can imagine what Su's priority when she finally did get back this summer!

Tteokbokki - chewy ricebakes with spicy gochujang sauce including fishcakes and boiled egg