Makgeolli making

I've always liked making thing by my hands. It doesn't matter it is foods or things that I might use it for my life. Back in the day, when I didn't have internet, not sure how I made things. I vaguely remembered it was mostly from my life experiences. But I am living in the world of information now. 

I am a big fan of Maangchi who is a cook on YouTube. She is a Korean who is living in NYC and I am one of her fan that follows her recipes and making foods at home time to time. She let me try many things that I've never made before. And her simple recipes and fun stories are borderless for many people in the world. 

Her recipes are very much straight forward. It encourages people to make foods at home. But then there are some long term projects. I was blown away when she made soy sauce and Korean soy bean paste called Dwaen-jang. It took a year to complete and she made a 15 minutes long video. If there's some kind of awards then the video is deserving one or two. 

One of her recipe caught my eyes and that is Korean Alcohol Mak-Geol-Li. It takes only 9 days to make and I was curious if I can do it. But the issue is not many place sells a crucial ingredient outside of Korea. But luckily my London shop has it. That is called "Nu-rook" which is starter culture. I grabbed one bag and some rice. Another issue for me to make this is I don't have food dehydrator. So I used oven. On her video, the machine was on 71'C to dry cooked rice. I tried to mimic the oven same way. But the issue is if the oven is not hot enough, then the fan is not going to be on. So that it is just a warm and humid oven. So I turned up the temperature to 150'C. And every 15 minutes I check the rice if it is well dried or burned. The key thing is not to be burned.

Everything went well. It is second day. The content is alive and keep making bubbles. The smell is sour. It is exactly Makgeolli taste but no alcohol in it yet. Hope it goes well and I can enjoy this with my friends.

Oven dried rice. 

Starter culture with dry yeast.

Crushed and water is added.

I made sure it is not sealed tightly. The most important thing is the air should be able to travel through. So I folded kitchen towel and placed it on top of the jar. Then placed the lid on it without tightening it. If I have an Onggi(earthenware pot or Kimchi pot), it has millions of micro pores so that it can breathe through. But I don't have one. Glass jar would do the job.

4 hours later.

Through overnight.

It's alive. Bubbles are popping up.

Invitation

   Having a small party with friends is such a joy. I get excited when I prepare those parties. Through living in my 8 years of abroad life, I became quite a cook. I only used to cook Korean dishes. But now my cooking spectum is expended to other cuisines. Anyone would know the feeling as same as I do when guests are having a great time with your foods and hosting. And that is all about the small parties.

   I thought I am well prepared by now. I've thrown many dinner parties and afternoon tea parties. I was so happy finally got friendly with oven to bake sweets. So I was so ready that my stuff came to India and settle down in my own apartment. Cause I can do those parties again. So far it had been great. Good people and good times with them. But some way I have yet to learn more how to throw a party.

   I have some Indian friends before I came to India. I met them in Shanghai and we are still keeping in touch each others. I thought I knew how to serve dinner for them. But real India, the India that I am living is a lot more diverse than my thought. My excited hands were chopping onions and hot chillies. And making pancakes on two stoves. Then I start to grill 'Sam-gyob-sal' (means Pork belly) on a grill pan. As the guests came to my home, everyone was happy and excited about the house and the smell of home cooking.

   How stupid I am. I didn't realized that there are vegetarians and India is a sort of headquarter of vegetarians. Of course there are vegetable dishes I made. But the appetizer soup was Kimchi Pork soup. I spent almost half of day to make the broth to be rich and the meat and Kimchi to be softened. So two of the guests could not eat the soup. One was a vegetarian and the other doesn't eat pork. Big sweat on my forehead invisibly. I just assumed that no beef is the safe choice for Indians. Luckily there were some vegetable dishes on the table and we had a great time, honestly.

   So I thought once was a small mistake by my ignorance and it would not happen again for next time. My mistake starts from I assume I got this one. I made a perfect one this time. I've seen her eating meat. So I'm fine today. But unfortunately she only eats chicken. No pork, no beef or fish. Here I am. I blew it again.

   Then last weekend, I invited some friends(different small group). I've had them before and I thought I am 100% sure I am safe on this time. They are all Indian Americans and They were here before. I made Korean rice cake soup. This is a tradition for Korean people eat on a New Year day morning. I made vegetarian broth and separated toppings like chopped scallions, thin strips of pan fried eggs, chopped Kimchi and soy sauce based grilled beef. and 2/3 of pancakes were vegetarian as well. Now I got this for sure. I was convinced that I made it perfect this time. I asked lightly to one girl that had pork at my table last time. "You are okay with beef, right?" Of course she doesn't eat beef. So none of them eat beef. I blew it again. Well the main course was easily vegetarian so everyone had their gigantic dishes. But I'm not yet there to be a perfect host.

   It's always good to check check the preferences. What they don't eat from allergies to customs and traditions. If I ever only lived in Korea, I'd never learn these stuff. Yet there are too many things to learn. All of a sudden I thought of a small story from Aesop's fables. A fox and a crane invites each others and they quite didn't get the concept of welcoming their guest to a dinner table. How did I miss that. I guess I am learning these little by little by my own mistakes.

   I think I'm ready now. Simple rule! Ask them first. And jump in to cooking. Who knows I prepared vegetarian meals and someone might say I don't eat mushrooms and I put mushrooms in every dishes. Knock on wood. I'll do my best.

Mom's dish

   "Why don't you do the dishes?", " Pack your lunch yourself. Foods are in the kitchen.", "Could you prepare dinner for me?" These were my not favorite moments when I was a child. I totally didn't wanna reveal myself in our kitchen and doing the dishes to my friends. But who would've thought that my mom's favors became my initial manure for my late twenties as a single man's life in a tiny studio apartment. It had been my grudge for her. But now it is my appreciation. Whenever I miss Korean food, I can at least mimic her taste. I know it is not the same. but I can fumble for the memories with full of thankfulness.

   A sizzling ​chicken dish for tonight is a catalyzer for mixing my thoughts. My cooking isn't so bad. All of my friends have tolerance that they eat as much as they can when I cook for them. I cook for myself tonight. But I should invite them soon and throw dinner for them. It's not as good as my mom's. For my friends, for myself and for the appreciation to my mom

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The red chicken dish I made

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Midnight craving

   I can survive without Korean food for quite a while. But sometimes my Korean food craving hits me all of a sudden. I was hungry late last night and thinking what would be the best to fix for hunger. So I decided to make simple Kimbab(Korean seaweed roll). It's a Korean dish that you can easily find on a street vendor or a small restaurants in Korea and it's simple and easy finger food. It's a lot different than Japanese one. No vinegar in the rice(Korean one use salt and sesame oil for the rice seasoning) and no raw fishes. It's filled with marinated meat, pan fried eggs, radish pickle, spinach(I used cucumber instead) and some other vegetables to make the color to be stand out.

   Steamed rice is already in my rice cooker. So I add salt and sesame oil in the rice and mixed very well. And I only had sausages and the reddish pickles. That was simple and quick and also very delicious. So the next morning I decided to make a better one with more stuff inside. But it wasn't as good as last night. I guess I was hungry and craving that time so badly. So that made me feel the simpler one was better taste. I don't know when I will make this one again. Maybe another three months later? Let's see.