February 2023 Newsletter

Spicy beef bulgogi, pine nut porridge, plus cooking photos and stories from you guys

Cooking with local ingredients in Italy!

Here’s a short, 1 minute video from my trip to Italy late last year. I went to the Campagna Amica Market in Rome and tasted their local food for lunch. Then I bought some of their fresh local ingredients and brought them home to my hotel kitchen. I used them to make a Korean grilled beef meal for dinner that night! All of this is in this 1 minute video. : )

I love to shop in local markets and cook with local ingredients whenever I travel, it’s how I enjoy myself and really experience the country I’m visiting. And Italy has some wonderful local, seasonal ingredients to cook with. They take their food very seriously!

New recipe: Spicy beef bulgogi

In this video I’m showing you how to make spicy beef bulgogi and how to set a Korean table for eating and grilling. And then we eventually finish the meal by making spicy kimchi bokkeumbap (stir-fried rice) with what’s left over from the BBQ. Add some rice and chopped kimchi to the red stuff left on the pan and stir! It tastes amazing. I actually prefer the bokkeumbap to the main bulgogi dish. : )
The recipe is here.

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New recipe: Pine nut porridge (Jatjuk)

Beautifully white, creamy, nutty aftertaste with a subtle pine tree flavor, jatjuk (pronounced jaht-jook) is very tasty and nutritious. I always have pine nuts in my freezer, so whenever I feel like jatjuk, I make this for breakfast, lunch, or sometimes even for dinner if I’m trying to keep it light.

The recipe is very simple, made with just rice and pine nuts! One of my readers made this porridge right after I posted this recipe and said "This has definitely become my favorite porridge. I have made it three times already.” I was very happy to hear that!

By the way, the garnish floating on the jatjuk is made with red jujube and a few pine nuts. You will see how to make it in the video.

Check out the video and the written recipe here!

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Impressed by Richard’s soy butter chicken!

Richard Hernandez posted this photo! Some of you may want to pick up a piece and taste it just like me! The photo makes my mouth water, which for me means it’s an excellent photo.

Check out my recipe for soy butter pan-grilled chicken and try it yourself!

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Mix, Mix! Chiabelss’ first vegetarian kimchi!

Chiabelss, living in Ontario, Canada is mixing kimchi vigorously enough to incorporate it evenly, and softly enough so as not to break or bruise the cabbage strips. I can see her confidence in making her own kimchi through this one photo! Firm grip, but not too firm, you need to mix well but be gentle with it so you don’t damage it.

This is what she said: “I never thought that it would be easy to make. I love the vegetarian version. Now I can make big batches of Kimchi, and I can trust more the ingredients that I use." I’m very excited to see what she is going to make with her homemade kimchi from today!

My vegetarian kimchi recipe is here!

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Rice cake soup made by MaangchiLove!

MaangchiLove’s tteokguk (rice cake soup) looks stunning! Doesn’t it? It’s not easy to take a great photo of rice cake soup like this, so I was surprised to see her effort to make this dish so beautifully and deliciously. The garnishes of egg yolk and egg white strips, green onion threads, crushed toasted seaweed, plus the sprinkled toasted sesame seeds look so colorful and gorgeous!

She said: “Maangchi, this time I followed your recipe exactly. Can’t believe some good beef and garlic makes such a good soup base. It’s my second year making this rice cake soup. I’ve never liked the rice cake soup more! Always thank you :)”

We Koreans always make this dish on New Year’s Day, which was January 22nd this year. Check out my rice cake soup recipe here!

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Steamed and seasoned eggplant!

Jang-geum living in Charlotte, NC loves gaji-namul (steamed and seasoned eggplant). I love the way her well-steamed eggplant strips that look so soft, and the beautiful purple skin! She said: “Loved gaji-namul a lot. I will buy more Korean eggplants to make this again Yummy!”

My gaji-namul recipe is here, if you want to make it yourself. It’s a super-popular recipe on my website.

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Messages from my readers & viewers

Every day my readers and viewers make me smile, inspire me, amaze me, and make me think. Here are some of their messages that I chose to share with you!

Sending a recipe to your loved one is such a considerate thing to do, it means you’re thinking of the person and you want them to be happy, content, healthy and full. I was touched when I read Antonio’s comment. He’s such a great son!

My mom has been having some esophageal problems for a while (which is sad since she loves food). A couple of months ago, I mentioned gyerranjim to her and sent your recipe, and she just told me that she’s been making it every day for a month, because it goes down easy and is delicious! :)

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Sometimes I feel so close to you guys, especially when we have a bit of a conversation in YouTube comments, on my website, or in social media. On YouTube Karina asked what can she use to replace dried anchovies to make bok choy doenjang soup. I gave her a simple answer: “Use beef or chicken broth instead of water!” 1 hour later she left a message that made my day!

Thank you! That worked wonderfully. It was so delicious and it really hit the spot for my daughter who is battling a chest cold! So comforting and yummy! Will definitely be a repeat meal in my house.

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What’s your favorite recipe that you make on a regular basis? In Carla’s case it’s Korean style mapa-tofu (mapa-dubu)!

Maangchi, since I made this for the first time two years ago, we eat mapadubu at least once a month. Thank you so much!

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Sarah Lynch wrote a nice message on my kimchi-guk (kimchi soup) recipe that made me feel emotional!

8 years ago I began discovering my Korean heritage. This was my first recipe I fell in love with. 8 years later I’m currently cooking it for my children. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for sharing your cooking with us.

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Pamela Floyd’s spicy rice cake (tteokbokki) on top of rice! I have never seen tteokbokki on rice before, but why not? It looks so tasty and filling, and if Pamela likes it, that’s the important thing.

I really love to see the dishes you guys make from my recipes, and I love to hear that you are enjoying them with your friends and family. Remember that you can type any Korean dish into the search box on my site and you can find the recipe easily if I have it. I’m constantly improving and updating my website and recipes to make them more useful for you guys, and to make them more easy to use and find.

I hope you all are well and I will see you next month on March 1st! Keep being happy with your delicious Korean cooking!

Love,

Maangchi ❤️