Sunday, March 23, 2008

Sunday lunch, family style

This was my Sunday lunch; rice with sweet peas, Doenjang ghuk, and a mackerel with pumpkin kimchi: a fish, kimchi, rice and ghuk which is very basic meal in my family. My family came from coastal area of Korea. Fish is preferred than meat or poultry.




Mackerel and Pacific saury (kongchi, in Korean) was cheap every day fish. People say that the fried skin of Mackerel is very addictive, which I do agree; the salty, greasy and some what fish taste may not for every body, but certainly for me.


I found this fish at the market in Boston. The joy of finding was indescribable. This blue-backed fish is very popular. It can be grilled and stewed in various seasonings. Most popular form is simply grilling it with salt which I did.



Pumpkin Kimchi is something not so well known, since it is dish from North Korea. I found it had very pleasant and clean taste. Usually pumpkin kimchi is eaten after cooking. Every time I made this dish, I felt strangely sad. I went Senegal and Bangladesh. I lived in Italy and am studying in U.S. Even though it would take less than three hour drive to North Korea from Seoul, that is the land which I can not go freely.



3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I found your blog while googling for Kimchi. OMG I feel my empty stomach being scorched with gastric juice just by looking at the photos here! I never knew that a pumpkin can turn out to be a delish looking kimchi. What do you call that Pumpkin Kimchi in Korean? Can I buy that at a Korean market? Hope to see more of your cookings soon!

KJ said...

Hello, ahna

Welcom to my blog! :)
Pumpkin kimchi is called "Hobak Kimchi". Hobak means pumpkin, and you should not call a little girl as hopak. Unlike in English, it means you are not so good looking in Korea. :)

I am not sure if you can find pumpkin kimchi in Korean market since it is not so well known even in South Korea. It is local specialty. If you can find very fresh batch of basic Napa cabbage kimchi, you can add sliced and cured pumpkin and let it sit for a week in the refrigerator. I will post the recipe soon. :)

Anonymous said...

Oh I should not call a cute little girl a hobak then! In my guess it sounds like it's not so much challenging to add some cured slices of pumpkin into the already made napa cabbage kimchi but I'll still wait for the recipe for a better success. Thanks a lot, kj!