Maangchi's letter for you
Toronto trip!
Last week, I came back from a 5 day trip to Toronto, Canada. I have a house in Toronto, so it was a kind of a business trip. I wished I had time to do a meetup with my Toronto readers, but maybe next time!
When I wasn't working I visited as many of my favorite delicious places as I could, the places I used to go when I lived in Toronto. This restaurant, House of Gourmet, is in Chinatown. The servers have a poker face (no smile at all for their customers) but their food is still terrific! I love that they haven't changed at all. I ordered lemon chicken, abalone porridge, and this tofu dish in the photo. Wherever we go, whatever we do, we should eat well, yeah?
New recipe: Buchujeon (Chive pancake)
I make this all the time because it's not only delicious but also I can make it in 10 minutes, including the preparation time. The simplest way to enjoy beautiful green chives is to make a Korean-style savory pancake like I’m showing you in this recipe. It tastes a little salty with a chive aroma, so it goes well with rice!
New recipe: Mandu (dumplings) 3 ways!
I posted this classic mandu recipe just last night! I showed how to make Korean dumplings from scratch and then 3 easy ways to prepare and serve them!
These days, so many of us are suffering from increasing inflation, and I was thinking what kind of recipe I could share that would help us all keep our families well-fed deliciously in an economical way. Mandu is the perfect choice because you can make a lot of mandu at once, freeze them, and then use them later in your meals.
New recipe: Egg rice
I filmed this video on my trip to California! It’s gyeranbap, or egg rice, a healthy and flavorful light meal you can make in no time at all. I used to eat this for breakfast when I attended middle school and high school in Korea. I re-invented the recipe to be a bit more fancy, basically a toasted ball of rice with 1 slightly cooked egg on top. The egg yolk should be runny so that you can mix it with the rice, soy sauce, sesame oil plus sesame seeds. Good, good!
Buchujeon made her Korean husband impressed!
Jshower1 saw buchu (Asian chives) growing in her garden. Recently she decided to make a pancake with it. Voila! Her Korean husband kept saying how good it was. She was very happy and thanked me for the recipe. I see her love over her husband through this photo and in reading her story. It made my day!
This pancake looks perfectly made and evenly crunchy outside. I don't have to talk about the taste because I'm sure it's so flavorful with buchu aroma! The recipe is here!
Michael's tasty Korean wrap meal for summer!
Michael's lettuce wrap ("ssam" in Korean) composed of multi-grain rice, a spicy tuna stew (made with canned tuna), and apple ssamjang. Oh, be sure not to forget the cold beer. What a delightful summer meal it is! I'd like to strongly recommend you try this meal just like Michael. Follow Michael's way to set the table and have fun!
Korean chicken noodle soup made in Sydney!
My website reader, KoreanGF, living in Sydney Australia has been cooking Korean food for a long time. She made chicken noodle soup ("dak-kalguksu" in Korean) and served it with her homemade kimchi! The torn chicken on top of the noodle soup and the bright red kimchi look mouthwatering! By the way, it's winter in Sydney now. She said, "This recipe best suits winter months!"
Sweet crunchy chicken on Father's Day!
I think many of you seeing this photo can easily guess what this chicken tastes like. It looks sweet, spicy, crunchy outside and juicy inside! (I should make this chicken for July 4th.) This crispy crunchy Korean fried chicken is called "dak-gang-jeong" in Korean.
There is a cute story behind this photo. My reader Bunsen received a deep fryer from his lovely wife as a Father's Day gift. He made this chicken right away! His cooking skill is amazing.
Jamie's cooking under a flashlight!
What are you doing in the darkness, Jamie? : )
What would you do if a blackout happens while you're cooking something? Jamie used a flashlight to finish cooking his doenjang jjigae (Korean fermented soybean paste stew). Actually, I would do the same thing. I would even cook by candlelight! We are all passionate cooks. : )
He said, "Made doenjjang jigae in the middle of a power outage, guided only by weak flashlights and the spirit of Maangchi!"
Yup, I'd be sending you a strong cooking spirit if I could! Love your passion for cooking, Jamie!
Messages from my readers & viewers
My readers and viewers always make me smile, inspire me, amaze me, and make me think. Here are some of their messages that I chose to share with you!
One of my readers sells dumplings and asked me why store-bought dumpling skins are so easy to crack. You may have the same question, so I'm sharing my answer here.
It sounds like they are old and dried out. Be sure to check out the expiration date before buying them. If you want to try to revive them, take them out of the package and put them into a plastic bag, then spray some cold water on them, then seal the bag and let them sit for 30 minutes to 1 hour. I think it should work.
Cecilia shared a good tip for my deep fried kkwabaegi (twisted doughnuts) recipe. She baked it instead of frying them. Here you go:
I baked them for 20 minutes at 180C (350F). It is absolutely beautiful and will definitely make them again.
What are you doing with your leftover tofu? I keep my leftover tofu in the original tofu container and fill it up with cold water. Then I refrigerate it for up to 3 to 4 days. I showed how to do this in one of my videos and someone left a comment, which is interesting! I never know who learns what from my videos.
Man, how come I never thought about refilling a tofu box with tap water!
How many of you toast your own sesame seeds? Krish Loku asked the following question:
Can I know how do you make all the seeds the same color? As some of the seeds get more browned, some are not browned that much. So I am not sure whether all the seeds are roasted?
My simple answer is:
It happens when the heat is too high. Lower the heat to medium heat and keep stirring the seeds with a wooden spoon until they are evenly toasted.
I'm always happy to hear that you make delicious kimchi following my recipes. And these days many of you have let me know you started your own kimchi businesses! Here you go!
I tried your kimchi recipe lately now I'm doing it for a business!
Tracie's 9 year old son loves to watch my videos and made his mom watch my cream-ppang (Korean custard bread) video! I think her son is so cute! "Watch Maangchi and make the bread for me tomorrow!" : )
Putting my son to sleep, he has made me watch your custard bread recipe...and it's promised for tomorrow's after school snack 😋 Thank you. You make it feel so easy and my son's (9yrs) loves watching you too!
We all know it was your kimchi day!
Maria fulfilled her mission with her friend! She says: "Mission homemade Kimchi completed!!!" Yay!
See you next time!
I will see you next month on August 1st! Keep being happy with your delicious Korean cooking!
And remember that if you type any Korean dish into the search box on my website, you can find it (if I have a recipe for it). I use the search box all the time because that’s the fastest way to find the recipe among my hundreds of recipes.