If you have watched K dramas over years, for that long time and for that many episodes, you will realize that food, cooking, and eating are staple in K drama. There are so many dramas about K food, cooking and eating. There're so many scenes about eating, family eating, couple eating, friends eating, coworker eating, or even eating alone scenes. Eating scenes can represent everything, family dynamic, couple relationship, office hierarchy, condition of a friendship, or a character inner thought and feeling, you name it. Even food-porn makes its way to be a drama genre.
I can't say my new hobbies are eating (Because it is like saying my hobby is breathing?? 😂) or cooking. Relaxing time means eating alone in my room with good food and watching dramas. I mean why eating while watching people eating (cue mukbang!)?? I'm eating like a proper K drama addict! Ha, ha, ha. And I also prefer eating slowly, taking my time, with delicious food once a day than eating three times a day, but in a rush, and with any food I can find. I don't want to waste my time to think about what to eat 3 times day (Time is too precious! No I just don't have that privilege 😏). And I don't want to make cooking as an obligation (Cooking 3 times a day, 7 days a week: Night mare), rather than it is an adventure for me (Cook when I want to cook!). So...
It started with Corona pandemic. It becomes advisable to cook you own food and I thought how to spend my quarantine time? Why not to learn something new? If you don't know yet, basically I am kind of a minimalist so these new things must be functional, practical, advantageous and sustainable. I don't have to invest such as buying more things or even installing new apps. LOL I ended up learning how to cook.
Why K food? Of course I am K drama addict, what else?!? I take my hobbies seriously 😛 Uh, oh. Well, I like something that simple and practical to cook. I love like vegetables. There're many Korean foods that so easy to make, healthy and with a lot of veggies. And the ingredients, more or so, easy to find in Indonesian market. If I can't find one (or too expensive for my pocket 😁 broke-assed post graduated student NotWithStanding!), I can easily replace them with their Indonesian counterpart. There're a lot K foods that also required skill, practice, and most of all: Time (what 1 whole month to make Danmuji?? Wew). I'll just choose recipes that suit my concept. LOL. Why bother making food that makes you miserable? Why I have to clutter my already small room with more and more stuff? I adjust the recipes not me adjusted to the recipes. Ha ha, ha.
To record the silliness of me cooking and what I have learn this far, I'll write posts on this topic, so I can go paperless for noting down the recipes?? Wk, wk, wk. My cooking is not always end up with delicious food. I got diarrhea and I couldn't finish it after several bite. But remember: Practice makes perfect! Less burned food occurrences. Now, I feel like I've been spoiled my taste bud. Ha, ha, ha. Last but not least, my cooking guru, Maangchi and her Youtube channel. Well, everybody loves her, including me. She makes cooking easy. Yay! Thank you!
I didn't and still don't, have much kitchen utensils to begin with. My small and single room doesn't have a lot of room to spare. Lol. But somehow it is okay, and still working. Simple things make you more creative. Ha, ha, ha. These are all that what I've got.
I only 10 table spoons (I don't like to wash my spoons over and over again during the day), one tea spoon, two pairs of chopsticks and 4 forks. I have 5 cups (again I don't like to wash my cup over and over again and sometimes, though rarely guests), and two small glasses (I mostly use these for measurement glass). A strainer, one of must haves for all those noodles. Two rice scoops for mixing things. You do that a lot in Korean cuisine, believe me.
I have two measurement cup, bonus from rice cooker. I use these for measuring rice. One cheese grater. One wood spatula. One set measurement spoon ( I don't use them often, I use my table spoon and tea spoon more). Two pans one made of stainless steel, without lid, the other is coated pan, with lid. These pans also are essential. I use these pans to fry, to boil, to toast you name it. 😂 I have 4 bottles for water (for cold water, room temperature water, and for when I go out running) and cooking oil. And I have one tumbler for my coffee.
I have portable stove. I like this for it is easy to clean and I have no space to keep bigger ones. 😆 One cutting board, you must have this too. One knife (it is not even cooking knife) that I use it from cutting to peeling. I mean who needs peeler when you have knife?? Don't understand unless you running a restaurant or something. One kitchen tongs for pasta and noodle.
I have one small blender, I just bought it recently. I am not smoothies girl, I like my fruits in their original texture. I use it mostly for blending the ingredient. Kimchi pasta and naengmyeon sauce need this. And my bowls, and plates. You will see their appearance over and over again. Because I only have two of them! LOL. And K food needs a lot of containers. Those many side dishes and various type of kimchis need home to come back in their homey refrigerator. If you have money to spend, spend it wisely to buy good containers. 😀
One refrigerator for the veggies, side dishes, kimchi, and cold noodles. A ice tray, fast track for cold noodles. LOL. But I usually freeze my noodle broth from day before. A electric kettle. And also a rice cooker. I use this also for various tasks like cooking rice, beans, eggs; boiling broth; steaming, and also....warming my left over food. Since I don't have microwave and not planning to buy one too. 😁
The last two additional items, not essential, are cheese cloth for making soy milk and squeezing your grated pears, and plastic rice bowl that I use it as strainer and...... try to sprout my soy beans. LOL. Not succeed yet. Ha, ha, ha. But if you never try, you'll never know! I'll try not to adding more items if I can. Not envy those pretty kitchen utensils from those life style vlogs! 🙈🙉
And the important part in starting to learn K food and cooking is to know its essential ingredients. Those many blogs and vlogs about K food and cooking usually have this introduction in them too. Wk, wk, wk. Well, because it is 'essential', you can't go without. As Indonesian who used to eat food with various spices, first time I tasted K food, I thought why their taste are similar one to another? It was baffled me. LOL. Oh well I just didn't know yet. But I guess it thanks to their 'essential' ingredients. You have the basic, and you can make everything. Ha, ha, ha. Now what baffled me how many dishes I can make from those several ingredients.
The key ingredients are: Gochugaru (Korean red chili peppers), you think it is similar with Bon Cabe in Indonesia?? LOL. No, it is not, there's a little bit bitter taste in it and less salty. Gochujang (Korean red chili paste), it is tasted more to salty side mixed with a little bit spicy (you can't compare to Indonesia spicy that it is sooo HOT and spicy), and sweet. Doenjang (Korea soybean paste a.k.a Korean taucho), it is tasted salty and sour from the fermentation. Sesame oil and roasted sesame seed, they are every where in K dishes. I come to love them from Korean food. I used to wonder what makes that K food's distinct taste, oh yes open the sesame! Soy sauce or kecap asin. Ha, ha, ha. Fish sauce, it makes you wonder how different Kimchi's taste with one and without one. Ha, ha, ha. Vinegar for fast kimchi taste like wannabe. Black pepper, I like white pepper more because it is, what else, hotter and spicier! But when you want to add that sweet spicy flavor in your food better to choose the black one. Anchovy or ikan teri, essential for make broth. Dashima/dried kelp/kombu for making your broth like it comes straight from the sea without being fishy 😄 And of course, the regular sugar and salt cause: What cooking without ones.
These are all I buy every month to keep in refrigerator: Radish or Daikon: I love daikon, a.k.a lobak in Indonesia. Cabbage or Sawi putih: Not kol or kubis in Indonesia. Cucumber and its looks alike from English cucumber, Rujak ketimun till Zucchini, the Japanese one: It seems like all dishes with noodles need it. Onion or bawang bombay: You can replace it with red ones or bawang merah if you run out of it, I guess. But it will not taste the same 😕 Green onion/Scallion: You will notice it is the only vegetable that the male lead and female lead buy in your favorite K drama ever. LOL. Garlic or bawang putih: What K food without garlic? It is what makes them healthy! Ginger or Jahe, for making Kimchi. Soy beans sprout is basically different from taoge which sprout from green bean or mung bean. Rarely it is found in Indonesian grocery, so I usually replace it with mung bean sprout a.k.a the taoge. Tofu, or soft tofu for the jiggae. Potatoes. Rice: What can you do without rice in Asia?? Its sweet and soft taste is so familiar, it is felt like coming home. LOL I forget to add noodles. There're various type of Korean noodles, but I usually replace it with thin pasta for cost sand practical reason! 😁
And there're usually beef/pork/chicken/fish. I'm not vegetarian but I don't eat pork and I don't like meat that much (Vegetable FTW!). Can you imagine how much energy is needed to make a piece of meat, from whatever it comes from, on your plate ready to be eaten? It is not my Style. LOL. I replace it with mushroom and adding chicken stock or beef stock for the taste only. Or if I'm too lazy making Anchovy-Kelp stock, I use those stocks as quickies. LOL. MSG is not going to lie. 😄 And that's all. Off to the recipes!
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