Korean or Chinese?

Jajangmyun!

In China, there are two main branches of Jajangmyun. The southern Jajjangmyun which is common in Hong Kong consists of stripes of pork cooked in an orange sauce which is slightly spicy spreaded on top of egg noodle (thin, chewy, yellowish that is used for Wonton noodle soup). In the north, it's wheat noodle covered by black bean sauce. Usually, you see northern jajangmyun eaters having cucumber in one hand and chopstick in the other.

In Korea, you eat jajangmyun at Chinese restaurant. It's a variation from the Northern jajangmyun by immigrants and Chosun people (i.e.Koreans living in Northeast China, just North of the North Korea border). Jajangmyun is such a simple and yet fulfilling dish that it became one of the most popular dishes in Korea. When you see a delivery man carrying a rectangular metal box, chances are you will find jajangmyun, jjamppong and mandoo in plastic bowl with an industrial strength clingwrap mounted on top to avoid spilling.

The Korean jajangmyun is a tad sweeter than it's Chinese cousin. I like all kinds of Jajangmyun and over the years, I developed my version which I think is better than the ones you get at restaurants in Seoul. The big difference is I don't use potato or the water that cooked the noodle to thicken the sauce. I use sesame oil to keep the sauce not as thick and to add fragrance.

Generous amount of onion cut into small pieces.
Two to three gloves of garlic, minced
Zucchini, carrot, and a small quantity of potato - all diced
Diced pork should be marinated with light soy, dark soy, a little bit of sugar, sesame oil, white pepper and starch for at least 30 minutes before cooking

When the wok is red hot, add oil and onion. Stir fry the onion till it's soft and starting the caramerlize. Do not be cheap on time and cheat. It has to start caramelize! Add pork and stir fry till the sides are brown. Add the other vegetables and two tablespoons of jajang. Add some water and mix the sauce well. Cover the wok and let the sauce simmer. When done, add a generous dash of sesame oil (pure sesame oil, never use blended ones)

For the noodle, I like using sootamyun (hand made noodle). Take the noodle out of the boiling water when it's a little undercook. Rinse the noodle in another pot of hot water. The purpose is to wash out the extra starch.

Put the noodle in a bowl. Here's another thing. Don't just dump the noodle in as that will make mixing with the sauce difficult. Organize the noodle neatly. Add sauce on top and eat with raw onion and uncooked jajang sauce and yellow picked radish.

That's what I call a good dinner!

Bibimbap. Plain, not dolsot

Before we got married, we visited Hyuk's parents in LA. It was stressful. Marriage was on our agenda but it would not be possible without Halaboji and Halmoni's blessing. We behaved like grade school children that week. Hands on the lap, no public display of affection, no giggling.

In the Korean culture, at least the version I got, young people (even married) aren't supposed to be intimate in front of elderly. In fact, wives are supposed to keep a safe distance behind the husband when they are outside. I also got the lesson on wife of the eldest son should be head of housewives at home. All sound like evidence to support the impressions of Koreans that most people have. I found it strange and difficult to accept. My family was a lot easier on me. I was allowed to date and the guys I took home for dinner didn't have to be potential husband. The housewife part struck me hard. I was young and felt like I had a career in front of me (and these days, I'll tell you it's a way to pay the mortgage). It took me years to understand what housewife really means. A housewife has the responsibility to look after the well being of the entire family and also to manage the finance. It's a huge job. The comparison to the crporate world would be housewife is the CFO and COO.

Years later, I also found out the whole no PDA concept is very seventies. That brings to another observation, immigrants (Chinese and Korean alike) break the arms of the clock and are very good at living in a time capsule. Perhaps that's a way to have something that they are familiar with and know that they can rely on when they are away from the clan.

Anyway, I had to learn about Korean food that week and I don't mean learning the cut of beef. It's full blown how to prepare Korean food at home. My initiation was bibimbap. Some people said you will end up mixing the toppings with the rice with a big dollop of hot chili pepper paste anyway, what is there to cook?

- The colour of the toppings and the arrangement provides the aesthetic element of the dish
- If carefully chosen, the different vegetables gives complimentary taste and texture to the dish
- People these days are also talking about vegetables of different colours (at least 5 a day!) provide a good range of nutrients

There's no straight rules as to what you can use as toppings. The use of sesame oil and hot chili pepper paste (in some cases, a dash of soy sauce on top) is usually generous.

I like the version with mook (acorn jelly) and kim (seasoned seaweed). BTW, dolsot means in the stone pot. At home, we eat bibimbap in a bowl.

Rice left in the bowl and you get a pocky-face spouse

My mother passed away when I was five and my grandmother moved in with us to look after me as my father had to work shifts. Whilst my sister and my brother were very good to me, no one could expect two teenages attending high school to act as part time parents for their youngest sibling.

I spent lots of time with my grandmother, a lovely and smart house maker, during the day. My grandma always had my lunch ready when I returned home from school. It was the best time of the day because I knew I could monopolise my grandma and her delicious food.

One thing that my grandma kept telling me was if I didn't finish all the rice in my bowl, I would marry someone with a pocky face. Marriage and a five year old don't naturally link up but my grandma's threat really got me going. I would shuffle every single grain of rice into my mouth and to make sure I didn't miss anything, I would ran my fingers around the bowl after my meal. I did so well that I could almost see the reflection of my face in the bowl!

I suppose the lesson that my grandma wanted to give me was not to waste any food. When she was a young mother during the Japanese war, she had to find wild vegetables and at times came up with creative way to prepare some edible dishes using bark of trees. Protein was difficult to come by.

And the person I eventually married? Not Mr Pocky but not Mr Perfect Skin either. I wonder if I can ever use the same line on Changunnie to make her finish all her food.

==Food==

The tricks that I learned from my grandma to make the perfect steamed egg custard... the one that doesn't have a pocky face -

(1) the water/stock that we use should be boiled and when added to the egg, at room temperature. The boiling drives the oxygen out and the room temperature prevents cooking the egg before steaming
(2) could not lift the lid of the wok up till the steamed egg was done.