At my wonderful High School in Korea I teach some amazing girls. They are the elite students in their grade and they come to me to practice their english and learn about Western culture. I decided one day to turn the lesson around on them and have them teach me something. Our topic was food. I wanted them to teach me how to make some Korean dish and turn the whole experience into a bit of a cooking show.
We decided the name of the show was going to be “Call me Hungry” and the dish they would teach would be Jjimdak. One of the students got her great grandmothers Jjimdak recipe and they all compiled a script together which they would present and I would film. Here is the wonderful script they wrote about Jjimdak including the recipe.
“Hi and welcome to our show, Call me Hungry.
We are High School students at Seongju Girls High School in South Korea. We would like to take this opportunity to teach you a bit about our amazing country. We have started our own cooking show so that we can introduce our delicious food to foreigners and show them how to make it.
Today on our menu we are going to be making Jjimdak. Jjim in Korean means. Steamed or Braised and Dak means chicken. Jjimdak is a very popular dish which originated in the town of Andong in South Korea. Andong Jjimdak is made with chicken, various vegetables, noodles and a spicy soy based sauce.
Now we are going to introduce the ingredients and equipment needed for preparing this dish.
Firstly you’ll need.
1 whole fresh chicken cut into pieces.
3 Cups of Water
1 Small bag of Cellophane Noodles
2 Potatoes
1 Carrot
1 Onion
1 Green & 1 Red Pepper
And 1 Leek or Green Onion
To make the spicy sauce you’ll need
2 Tablespoons of Gochujang (which is a Korean Spicy Red Pepper Paste)
4 Tablespoons of Thick Soy Sauce
3 Tablespoons of Cooking Wine
3 Tablespoons of sugar
And 2 Tablespoons of Minced Garlic
The equipment you will need for this recipe is
A Stove
A Large pan
Plastic bowls
A large spoon
A knife
A cutting board
A cup
A teaspoon
And a tablespoon
Alright so now we have everything together. Let’s get cooking!!.
The first thing we will do is take the chicken pieces and put them in a pot filled with water. You will need to bring the water to the boil and boil the chicken for about 10 minutes. This helps remove some of the fat and other things from the chicken. After the 10 minutes drain the chicken and set aside.
Now we can take the cellophane noodles and place them in some hot water so they will be easier to use later.
Time to make the sauce. Take all the sauce ingredients and mix them together in a bowl.
Once the sauce is finished put the chicken back into the pan, add the cut up vegetables, cover it with the sauce as well as 3 cups of water and bring it to the boil.
Cook the chicken and vegetables for about 15 minutes then add the noodles. Once the noodles are cooked your Jjimdak is ready to be eaten. Decorate it with some more peppers and some sesame seeds.
Join us again next time for some more Korean cooking tips and ideas.
The END”
This experience was such fun and I really had a great time learning about Jjimdak and how to prepare it. Some of my teachers also recommended to me to put in some Soju or even Coke to tenderize the Chicken even more. I then made my own at home and it ended up being good but not that great. I think the enthusiasm and dedication from my girls made their Jjimdak stand out above all.
My AMAZING Girls
mybigbiteoflife 