[English] Soomi’s Side Dishes Ep. 19 Guest: Kim Ji Young

Please watch videos for the exact amount of ingredients. Teacher Soomi sometimes uses her hand for measurement, so it’s hard to put the exact amount in words.
(I don’t really mind since I cook like her most of the time. lol)

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Today’s snack: Hot chestnut
Dongmin *brings a tray of chestnut*: Isn’t it pretty?
Soomi: Not pretty but scary
Somi: Ya~ Back then, I feed my kids with this after drinking milk. *feeds Dongmin*
Dongmin: Whoa~ It’s sweet! Taste so good!
Soomi: Back then, my house had brazier. I used to cut into the chestnut before roasting it or else it would explode.
Soomi *in the tones of mother-in-law*: Dongmin ah, my throat is dry after having some chestnut!
Dongmin: Ah ah~ water right? Let’s get you a cup of water!
Soomi: I was actually a Chestnut Princess (Princess who eats chestnuts).
Dongmin: It’s my first time hearing raw chestnuts have lots of vitamin C.
Soomi: I don’t drink cider.
Dongmin *jokes*: You don’t drink cider right? That’s why I prepare this for you.
Dongmin: I’ll bring you an ice coffee later.

Soomi: Bokkilie, come in!
Dongmin: Seriously? your granddaughter (from drama)?
Jiyoung*hugs Soomi*: Grandma~
Soomi: She grew up~
Dongmin: She really grew bigger~
Soomi: Reminds me back then
Jiyoung: Me too~
Dongmin: How long ago were you two shooting the drama together?
Soomi: Under 10 years with her
Jiyoung: I played the role about 7 or 8 years.
Soomi: That was when I cook rice and
Dongmin: You packed food for her?
Soomi: Uhm!
Jiyoung: She packed 3 big containers of kimchi for me.
Soomi: But then her manager had something at home and didn’t see them.
Senior Choi Bulam is another guest of Soomi’s food.
Dongmin: That was why he was on Taste of Korea (a show).
Soomi: She was a newbie. I told her to join us to eat, but she didn’t come.
Jiyoung: I was in mid 20s. But there were many elders. I couldn’t hold my chopstick at that environment.
Dongmin: (You didn’t join because) it doesn’t match your taste right?
Jiyoung: Just smelling the food made me crazy. But one day, when I was passed by, Soomi teacher grabbed me and fed me a spoonful of young radish bibimbap.
Soomi: Jiyoung ah, I will make you thistle rice, perfect for the fall.
Jiyoung: Thistle rice is very hard to make.
Dongmin: This is what we have today. It’s a lot.
Dongmin: It’s food for the fall. (includes thistle, freshwater snail, root of mountain herb, mung bean)
Soomi: This is thistle leaves that I will boil later. I will make freshwater snail jigae.
Dongmin: Back then, I picked freshwater snails and clean them for my parents.
Jiyoung: You did it yourself?
Dongmin: Yes
Jiyoung: You’re filial son.
Soomi: If he didn’t do it, his mom probably would had beaten him.
Dongmin: If I didn’t listen, she would hang me up next to laundry.

 

Recipe: Freshwater Snail Dwenjang Jigae (Freshwater Snail Soybean Paste Stew)

Soomi: Before we start, freshwater snails have fishy smell. They live in rice paddy, so they smell like mud. Soak them in salt water for a while.
Jiyoung: How much salt do you put in?
Soomi: Just.. Just… not too salty! Just to disinfect them
Soomi: Stir anchovies and large-eyed herrings together to get rid of fishy smell.
Pour in 1L of rice water.
Soomi: Put in 2 spoonful of soybean paste (her homemade paste).
Cut zucchini in chunks.
Cut tofu around the same size as zucchini.
Take out anchovies and large-eyed herrings.
Put zucchini chunks into the pot.
Add a tablespoon of garlic, 2 teaspoons of red pepper flakes.
Dongmin: Now, rinse out salt water from the freshwater snail.
Soomi: Wow~ taste is good!
Dongmin: We haven’t put anything else except soybean paste.
Chef Hyunseok: This tastes good already!
Chef Yeo: Because of soybean paste, the flavor is already good!
Soomi: Is it good? This is perfect with rice!
Dongmin: Thistle and freshwater snails will out of stock soon. Should I buy them earlier?
Jiyoung: You should have them in advance~
Put tofu in when zucchini is cooked.
Put freshwater snails in.
Chef Mikael: When you order this at the restaurant, they serve you only a few snails. But here, it’s a lot.
Chef Hyunseok: Here is Soomi’s Side Dishes! Soomi’s magic
Soomi: When my stomach doesn’t feel good, I feel much better after eating dwenjang jigae.
Put in big green onion and peppers.

 

Recipe: Grilled Root of Mountain Herbs

Cut the ends of the roots and cut the root in thick sizes.
Chef Hyunseok *complains*: My roots are thin.
Soomi and Mikael give Chef Hyunseok their roots.
Soomi: This is gonna be loud.
Pound the roots lightly (they will break if too strong).
Don’t grill the roots with the red pepper sauce for a long time because it will burn.
Put a little bit of sesame oil in your hands and massage these roots.
Put these roots on a clean fry pan under low heat and start making the sauce.
The sauce has 2 big spoons of red pepper paste, 1/2 spoon of garlic, 10 g of green onion, a small spoon of black sesame seed, a small spoon of white sesame seed, 1/2 big spoon of brewed soy sauce, 1 big spoon of water, 2 small spoons of sugar, 1 small spoon of sesame oil, and a bit of honey.
Tip: Putting too much honey will burn the roots, so pay attention.
Take roots out when they are golden.
It is easier to apply the sauce when roots are hot.
Tip: Put the marinated root over the un-marinated one.
Turn heat on low, put the marinated roots back on the pan.
Soomi: The rice is so well cooked. I kept thinking about it earlier.
Chef Yeo: I even thought of the burnt rice.
Dongmin: The smell is wonderful here.
Take out the roots after a few flips.

 

Recipe: Mung Bean Pancake

Soomi: We’re using pork, so we need to grate ginger.
Squeeze out ginger juice and put in a mixing bowl.
Sprinkle lots of black pepper, 1/5 small spoon of salt.
Add minced pork to the bowl and mix everything together.
Wash seasoning out of ripened kimchi.
Cut the washed kimchi length-wise and mince them.
Chop big green onion into smaller pieces.
Dongmin: Not mung beans but big green onion is next.
To the mixing bowl, add in a big hand of garlic.
Soak mung beans in 3 hours, then take them out to the blender.
Pour water to cover mung beans and blend them.
Pause the blender and add glutinous rice flour in as much as the amount of mung beans.
Add water to compensate the flour and blend away.
Pour the mixture out to a bowl and add washed kimchi, chopped green onion, and pork.
Mix everything together and add a bit of rice flour (non-glutinous).
With just mung beans, the pancake will separate, so adding rice flour will help the batter to stick together.
Add a pinch of salt to the the batter.
Chef Mikael: We didn’t use a lot of seasoning, would it be bland?
Soomi: No, we will dip it in soy sauce afterwards.
Put perilla oil on a heated pan and make the pancake.

 

Recipe: Squid Stir Fry

Chef Choi demonstrates how to skin squid.
Chef Choi: Put your thumb under the skin, turn the squid around and pull its skin away from the body.
Cut squid’s head into long pieces and squid’s body into rings.
Making the sauce: 3 big spoons of soy sauce, 2 big spoons of red pepper paste, 2 small spoons of red pepper flakes, 3 small spoons of sugar, 2 pinches of black pepper and 1 very big spoon of garlic.
Soomi: We don’t cook squid for long, so slide onion thinly.
Carrots and enoki mushrooms are optional.
Cut 1 red pepper and 1 green pepper.
Slice shitake mushrooms thinly.
Need a lot of big green onion.
Add a bit of the sauce to the squid and mix them.
Add vegetables, except enoki mushrooms, to the rest of the sauce and mix them.
Put some red pepper flakes based on your preference.
Mix squid with vegetables.
Pour the mixture on a heated pan.
Add some water to clean the sauce from the bowl, then pour into the pan.
They jokingly asks Dongmin to cook next time.
Dongmin: I can’t take your jobs away.
Don’t cook squid for a long time.
Add perilla oil to get rid of fishy smell.
Sprinkle white sesame seeds and it’s done.

The squid needs to be chewy.
Soomi: When I taste your squid, it has to be like this or today is your last day.
Soomi *tastes food from chef Mikael*: Sorry Mikael, it’s under cooked. Just cook for 1 more minute. The season is right. It’s good.
Soomi *tastes from chef Yeo*: It needs a bit more sweet. *adds 2 teaspoons of sugar and 2 teaspoons of red pepper flakes*
Soomi *tastes from chef Choi*: Why are you doing so well these days? This is the right taste.
Chef Choi: People call me Kim Soomi’s copy machine these days.
Jiyoung: Are you a missy?
Soomi: Let’s mix noodle to the stir fry squid.
Dongmin: I’m drooling.
Jiyoung: Can I have it first? Thank you very much.
Dongmin: That looks really good.
Caption under Dongmin: Teacher didn’t forget your right-hand helper right?
Dongmin: I wanna eat a lot too.
Everyone: Thanks for the food.
It becomes an ASMR show.
Jiyoung: I must make it this weekend.
Soomi: We have just enough squid for everyone.
Chef Mikael: It’s easy to eat since we took its skin out.
Dongmin: Though it takes more time, clean out the skin is really worth it.
Chef Yeo: Kimchi matches well with squid.
Soomi: You can also mix plain rice with this.
Jiyoung: Making it half and half, half noodle and half rice.

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This is just translations from Youtube videos. I have been watching this show for awhile and would love to make some of Teacher Soomi’s recipes one day. Her cooking show is relaxing and simple, but there’s some humor to it.

Disclaimer: I’m not Korean or fluent at the language; I can only translate the parts that I understand. There are probably many mistranslations here, but the idea is roughly the same.