The World of Food: A Gastronomic Journey

In this article, we will embark on a culinary journey through various international cuisines, exploring the flavors and textures that make each dish unique.

Chicken Cheesetamales: A Delightful Treat

One of our first stops is Mexico, where we discover the delightful chicken cheesetamales. These tamale-like treats are made with tender chicken, melted cheese, and a flavorful masa dough. The combination is absolute perfection, with the chicken being shredded and perfectly mixed with the masa. This dish is not spicy at all, making it accessible to even the most sensitive palates. Our host also mentions that their children enjoy this dish, which speaks to its universal appeal.

Tteok Bok Ki: A Korean-Inspired Snack

Next, we head to Korea, where we find ourselves face-to-face with Trader Joe's Tteok Bok Ki. This Korean-style stir-fried rice cake is a relatively new addition to the Trader Joe's family of frozen foods. Our host has tried a similar version from H Mart and was impressed, so they were eager to try this new take on the dish. The air fryer method used by Trader Joe's results in a crispy exterior and a chewy interior, similar to mochi. The sauce is sweet and spicy, with a nice balance of flavors that will satisfy even the most discerning palate.

Mini Vegetable Samosas: A Crunchy Delight

Last but not least, we have the mini vegetable samosas from Trader Joe's. These bite-sized treats are filled with a mix of vegetables and spices, making for a crunchy and satisfying snack. Our host decided to try them after hearing great things about the store-bought version, and they were impressed by the flavors and textures on offer.

Conclusion

As we conclude our culinary journey through the world of food, it becomes clear that each dish has its own unique characteristics and appeal. From the delicious chicken cheesetamales to the Korean-inspired Tteok Bok Ki and crunchy mini vegetable samosas, there's something for everyone in this article. Whether you're a seasoned foodie or just looking for new ideas to try at home, these dishes are sure to satisfy your cravings and leave you wanting more.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en- Greetings, my beautiful lovelies.It's Emmy.How are you?It's great to see you and welcome back.Today's video is sponsored by Helix Sleep,the makers of bedding and mattressesthat are customized to fit your needsand conveniently deliveredright to your doorstep.We've had our Helix Sleep mattressfor over a year now, andour backs feel supportedand we're getting terrific sleep.So everybody is differentand I took the Helix Sleep quizto enter my sleep preferencesand my needs, along with my husband's,and the Helix Sleep quizmatched us with the Helix Sleep Dusk Luxe.It's so great to have amattress that fits our needs.For instance, I happento be a side sleeper.I prefer a firmer style mattressand I share my bed with my husband.My husband also entered in hissleep preferences and needsand we're getting great sleep.We've had it for over a year nowand I'm one of those peoplethat sleep is super important.I really need a fullnight's rest to give methe energy that Irequire for the next day,and I find that I'm pretty energeticso I need a full night's sleepand my Helix Sleep mattress gives me that.And if you compare it to our old mattresswhich we inherited, andwhile it served us wellit really was time for it to be replaced.Besides getting great sleep,another thing I really likeabout our Helix Sleep mattressis that it arrived convenientlypackaged, rolled upin a cardboard box, which madeit really easy to maneuverespecially up a narrow flight of stairsand I was able to installthe mattress myself.Helix Sleep offers a 100 night sleep trialand a 10 year warrantyand there are financingoptions and payment plans.Another great thing is ifyou live in the United StatesHelix Sleep will deliver your mattressright to your doorstep for free.So if you like to startgetting great sleepclick the link down belowor head over to helixsleep.com/emmymadeto receive 20% off yourmattress and two free pillows.Big thanks to Helix Sleepfor sponsoring this videoand for allowing me to makebetter videos for all of you.So today we are going tobe tasting a selectionof frozen foods from Trader Joe's.Now, if you're notfamiliar with Trader Joe'sTrader Joe's is a chaingrocery store that offerskind of an eclectic selection of items,including fresh itemsbut lots of prepared things,lots of snacks, lots of nutsand lots of frozen foods.They're known for their good qualityand reasonable pricing, andagain, eclectic selection.So I've been going to TraderJoe's for a very long time.I felt like even before itbecame incredibly popularand all the employeeswore their Hawaiian shirtsthey would ring the bell.And the decor in the one that we went towas kind of seafaringto go along with the Hawaiian shirt theme.So relatively recently,a branch of Trader Joe'shas opened up in Providence,and I was very excited about this becauseI love to get mostly nutsand things from Trader Joe's.If you wanna see me do a Trader Joe's shoplet me know in the comments.Let me know what you wanna seeif you're interested in thissubject of Trader Joe's.I go there pretty regularly.I get things like rice milk, lots of nuts.I make granola, so I like all those nutsand shredded, unsweetened,shredded coconut.Mhm.And yeah, there aresome other things that Ilike to get there especially.And one of those items includes this.These are the chicken and cheese tamales.I've been buying thesesince my children werefirst starting to eat food.They love them.I love them.They're super convenient, they're tasty.I buy several of these andkeep 'em in the fridge.My kids can eat one eachI microwave them andthey like it with rice.So I chose some other frozen foodsthat I've read are quitedelicious, tasty, and popular.So we'll be tastingthose for the first time.But these, I've hadmany, many, many times.So I guess since I have this,I should try this first,the chicken tamales, althoughthis is less exciting for me.Well, I have it here.So this is how I preparethese for my kids.Pretty simple.Let me show you how I do this.Couldn't be any easier.Open the package.Chicken and cheese tamales.Two of them inside. Here is the tamale.It's wrapped in a corn husk.You can see the masa andthe chicken peeking out.They also have a beef and a chili...green chili and cheese one.I prefer the chicken.That one's our favorite.We've had the others.So we take a damp papertowel and we wrap it up.So all microwaves are gonnabe a little bit different, buttypically I place this inthe microwave for two minutesthen I flip it over andgive it one more minute.So my microwave oven is 1100 wattsso you can adjust yourheating times accordingly.Let's just place this in the microwave.(Beeping)Alrighty, we are backwith our chicken tamale.So we are going to takethe blanket off of it.Look how steamy hot it is.So hot.And then it's wrapped in its corn husk.And I've made homemade tamalesbefore and making theseis such a labor of love.So much work to make.Alrighty, so here it is, steamin' hotalthough you can't see it, but here we go.I'm gonna cut it right inthe middle so you can see.It looks like, oh, look at that bite.Beautiful!Fluffy masa, there's a piece of corn,shredded chicken.So I should have mentioned this earlierbut before I even tasteanything, I should saythat I am not here to bethe arbiter of authenticity.I'm simply going to give you my opinionof whether I think it's tasty or not.I can't tell you if it tastesexactly like it should or notor so on and so forthbecause I didn't grow up eating tamales.I just know that these ones are deliciousbefore I even taste it, becauseI've eaten so many of these.But the other items Ihave not tried before.So they'll be my first taste test.So I will give you myopinion on what I thinkhow they taste and describeto you as best I can,what they taste like.Yeah, all I can tell you iswhether or not I likeit and why I like it.And with that, let's seeif these taste as good as I remember.Chicken Tamale.Here we go.Itadakimasu. (Japanese)Scrumptious.It's actually a littlebit saltier than I recallbecause typically in myfamily, we eat this with rice.We would like to kindof mush it all together.Now, don't come after me.Perhaps that's not typicalor the way you're supposed to eat itbut that's how my family enjoys it.And that way I find they'renot overly salty at all.Um, but having said that,it's absolutely delicious.The chicken is tender.Mm, and shredded, and mixeswith the masa so nicely.It's not separated at all.It's really well incorporated,homogenous, flavorful.My children eat this, soit's not that spicy at all.There are bits of corn inthere for some texture.The masa is fluffy,well-seasoned, not dry at all.There's a little bit ofkind of a chili pepperflavor, just so good.I need to stop because I'mtempted to eat this whole thingbut I've got lots of food to taste.But the chicken cheesetamales are delicious.Love them.Okay, one more bite. It's so good.So very good.Alrighty.Next, let's try...Ooh.This is one I really wanna try, this!And this, I really wanna try.I believe it's relatively new.It's Trader Joe's Tteok Bok Kiand they're Korean spicystir fried rice cake.Now, I've tried a versionof these from H Mart.It was pretty good.If you haven't seen my H MartKorean frozen food video,I'll put the link to that down below.But we're gonna try the Trader Joe versionand see how it is.So...the directions saythat you can air fry themwhich I appreciate because that meansthe rice cakes are gonnaget a little bit crispyand we're gonna set it to 400.And I'm gonna do it fora total of six minutes.Okay, so I'm gonna start that.Okay, so my air fryer requiresa little bit of preheating.Yours may not.We're gonna do a total ofsix minutes in the air fryer.So here's the package of the Tteok Bok KiNice. Super simple.Sauce, rice cakes.So while that's going, alsogonna need to heat up the sauce.So here's the sauce,and I'm just gonnasqueeze it out into hereand we'll warm that up.Heat that up, that won'ttake any time at all.OkaySo this is heated up.I'm gonna spray the bottomof my fryer with some oil.We can add the rice cakesand then spray the tops.Okay, now back in the airfryer for three minutes.We're gonna turn them aroundshake and shake 'em three more minutes.Okay.Alrighty, lovelies. We are back.Air fryer has just beeped.And look at my little rice cakes.Okay, my sauce is bubbling away.And here are my ricecakes out of the fryer.Can you see how they've puffed upand crisped up a bit on the edges?Look at that. Now we're gonna dump those.Yeah...Don't do that.Don't dump parts of theair fryer into your food.Okay, now I'm gonna stir thesearound to coat in the sauce.And that's it.Oh my.That is looking luscious.Look, that looks great.Isn't that?It's so fast.It's like seven minutes altogether.Woo Woohoohoo.Look at that.Mm. Okay, now I'm gonna grab a little bowland have some of this.Smells great.Looks fantastic.Nice and coated.Alrighty, Trader Joe's Tteok Bok Ki.Here we go.Itadakimasu. (Japanese)Hmm.Scrumptious.I think I like this version betterthan the one I tried in myH Mart frozen food video.First of all, the texture ofthe rice cakes is really great.Because we crisp them up in the air fryerthere's a little bit of a kindof resilience on the outside.It's no longer crispy becausewe put the sauce all over thembut mhm, actually there'sa little bit of crispinessbut they're wonderfully chewy.The texture is similar to mochi.If you've had Japanese mochi --rice cakes -- before,kind of similar to that.But even more of a firmer bouncemore of a boing boing kind of bouncerather than a stretchykind of elastic chew.And the sauce is lovely.I love it.In terms of how spicyif you've ever had Shin Ramyun beforethe Shin brand of Korean instant noodles,it's about that spicy. So pleasantly spicybut not enough to make yourexperience uncomfortable.But the balance ofsweet/savory/spice in hereis really great.And texture: really great bouncytexture of the rice cakes.Love it.Mm.Next, let's try these.And these are Trader Joe'smini vegetable samosas.So again, eh, I'm gonna try eight minutes.Oops.Here are the samosas.And there looks likethere's twelve of them.I'm gonna make three.Okay -- \"on.\"I don't like that you haveto wait for this to preheat.It's kind of a bother.So I'm gonna set this aside.Aha, veggie samosas into the air fryer.So I'm gonna put those in forsix minutes, and then halfwayI'm gonna give 'em a turn.And while that's going,I'm going to taste this.And this is Trader Joe'svegetable pad thai.Look at that.Doesn't that look delicious?And this has vegetables,rice, noodles, and tofuand a savory sweet and spicy sauce.So there it is.So we're gonna open the corner,heat this for two minutesand then pull back thefilm, stir, replace,and then cook it for another two minutes.Couldn't it be easier.All right, let's do that.Two minutes.(Beeping)Beeping of the dueling appliances.Alrighty.So pad thai is done.And I have to sayI was impressed when Ihad to stir this midwaywith the beans sproutsthat I found at the bottom.Yes! I love the bean sprouts in pad thai.Yes! That combination of thatcrisp, cool vegetable crunchwith the chewy, stretchy,warm rice noodles.And they're here.That looks pretty goodfor a microwave dinner.There's the bite.Let's give it a taste.Here we go.Itadakimasu. (Japanese)Mhm.Did you hear the crunchwith the beans sprouts?Yes. It's still crunchy, delicious,and very garlicky as well.The beans sprouts are crunchyvery garlicky in flavor, not too sweet.Sometimes I find pad thai made too sweet.But there is some sweetness,but not too sweet.Mhm. And very flavorful, mhm, delicious.I think what I'm most happyabout is the bean sprouts.I'm really happy to see them thereand that they have a great crunch to them.Hmm, I would buy this one again.So I forgot to mention in the beginninghow much these items cost.So I'll be sure to include an overlayso you get an idea of the cost of these.And in my opinionthey're pretty economicaland so far super tasty.I would buy all theseso far again, I would.Yum.Okay, now, yes, I'm coming.Air fryers reminded methat my samosas are ready.Check 'em out.Samosas.Ooh, hot.Ooh hot.Look at those.Aren't they cute?Little triangles of yumminess.So these are called mini samosasbecause they are smaller.Typical ones might be threetimes the size, all combined.But look at that.Look, it makes a beautiful hexagon.My kids, especially, love samosas.Alrighty, here we go.Itadakimasu. (Japanese)So hot.Couldn't even get a bite.All right, let's try again.So hot.Pretty good.Oh, so the exterior of the samosa is madewith a wrapper that'ssimilar to spring rollsthe deep fried spring rollwrappers that are quite thinand parchment like.They have a nice thin crispness to them.There are several layers.It's not like a dough that'sbeen formed and then fried.So it's like a light crispness.These are called vegetablessamosas but I almost thinkthey're more like pea samosas I would say.The majority of thevegetables, pea and carrot.Wow, nicely seasoned.Good amount of salt.I definitely recommend cooking theseeither in the oven or in anair fryer, because for mea lot of the samosa experiencesthat really crispy cruston the outside.Hot. So hot.Oh my gosh.Alrighty. The last item I'mgoing to be tasting is this.And this is pajeonotherwise known asKorean-style scallion pancakes.They look fantasticand I've heard wonderfulthings about these.So, gettin' my trusty air fryer out.And preheated up.There we are, pajeon.Oh, nice. There are four of them inside.Ooh, they have kingoyster mushrooms in them.Yes! All right.So here's -- oh my gosh. Look at that.That looks beautiful.You can see all thescallions in the batterFront and the back.I don't know which side is thefront and the back actuallySo it doesn't actually giveair fryer instructions.I'm gonna air fry thesefor about six minutesand see how they look.If they look nice and crispy,we'll go ahead and give them a taste.I'm also cooking at 400 degrees.Alrighty, we'll be backonce this is cooked.Alrighty.My pajeon is ready.Gosh, this air fry does abeautiful job crisping things up.Look at that.Whoop whoop whoop whoop!That looks lovely.Yep, yep, yep, yep, yep yep.That's, that's frozen.Ooh, I can feel its crispness.Alrighty, here we go.Itadakimasu. (Japanese)Mm. Hot.Did you hear that crispiness on the edges?Really good.I did six minutes in the air fryerI think you could go to seven or eight.The middle part isn'tas crispy as the edgesso I think that could be developedif you just give it alittle bit more time.Having said that, it's still delicious.Very, very tasty in terms ofthere's a lot of greenonions in there, scallions.So it's a nice oniony flavor,but it's still subtle.It's not like overpowering.When I make these at home,I like putting a littlebit of gochujang on top,a little bit of like chili paste on top.So I'm really craving thatfor a little bit of spice.But these are nicelyseasoned, not too salty.It's not quite enough forme as a meal, perhaps witha bowl of rice and a cupof soup, then definitelybut just as is, not quite enoughbut pretty stinking greatfor just having to pull theseout of the freezer and air fry them.Way better than fish sticks.Even though I do have asoft spot for fish sticks.Ate them as a kid on occasion.I remember putting 'em in the toaster ovenand kind ofnot liking the smell thatcame out of the toaster ovenbut really enjoying the fish sticks.You know what I mean?You're kind of conflicted.You've got those littlefeelings of ambivalence.All right, I don't feel that about this.These are delicious.Where does my mind go? I don't know.Alrighty my lovelies. There you have it.Five things from the frozenfood aisle at Trader Joe's.I would definitely buy all of these again.Let me know in the commentsif there are things thatyou'd like me to try.What are your favorites?I wanna know your secrets.Tell them to me, and thanks so muchto Helix Sleep for sponsoring this video.Click the link down belowor head over to helixsleep.com/emmymadeto receive 20% off amattress of your choiceand two free pillows.Thanks so much for watching.I hope you enjoyed that one.I hope you learned something.Please share this video with your friends.Follow me on social media,like this video, subscribe.And I shall see you in the next video.Toodeloo!Take care. Bye!Oh, what a mix of flavorsfor my lunch today, wow.All of them are so good though.Crispy, crispy.(Crispy chewing)Thumbs up.\n"