by jessica yoon
A traditional Korean meal has a lot of side dishes. Some appear at the table all year round like kimchee, spicy fermented cabbage, while others are more seasonal. I love the site of a Korean dinner table because it is always crowded with so many plates of food. It looks like a mini food festival.
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Everyday around 4 pm my stomach starts to grumble a little bit. No matter how filling and satisfying lunch was, at 4 pm food begins to enter my thoughts. It’s been engrained into my body to want an afternoon snack ever since I was a little. When I got home from school my mom always had a little something prepared for me to eat. I remember mango slices, dumplings, mini hamburgers, and strawberry yogurt. My favorite, however, were Korean zucchini pancakes. They are slightly doughy with a soft crunch. The subtle sweetness of the zucchini paired with the salty tang of soy sauce and vinegar is perfection.
On Sunday, as I was slowly coming out of my food coma from brunch, I started to think of these savory pancakes. I had a couple of zucchini in my fridge, flour, eggs, milk, and sugar, the ingredients typically included in a pancake batter. All I needed now was the exact recipe. I called the ultimate source, my mom, and was surprised to hear that you only need two main ingredients, zucchini and flour. How simple! The recipe is so easy and fast that you’ll be amazed at how delicious they are.
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In general, I don’t cook Korean very often. I have a tendency to be drawn towards rustic Italian dishes or interesting ingredients like quinoa and wheat berry. These foods feel more exotic to me so many times I skip the Korean and cook up something I’ve never eaten before. I don’t think that’s a bad thing, but I do think it’s a bit sad that I barely know how to cook what I call my comfort food.
To redeem myself a little bit, there is one Korean dish I know well and have almost mastered. It is a browned tofu in a spicy soy sauce. In Korean it’s called tubu chorim, 두부조림, which roughly translates to tofu boiled in sauce. It’s very easy and fast. It does require a couple of Asian condiments like soy sauce and sesame oil, but if you don’t have those in your pantry I highly encourage you to get them. Soy sauce is well known, but sesame oil may not be. It is a vegetable oil made from sesame seeds that is intensely fragrant and used in many Asian dishes.
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