Asian- Week 9

We had a ton of recipes to cook this week, but I ended up having a ton of fun. I really enjoyed the exercise of creating our own “fusion” dishes. I made Twigum Mandu into meatballs and served them with the Mung Bean Noodles and Crispy Seaweed. I thought the meatballs came out with a delicious flavor! I would POSSIBLY add a little more rice or some breadcrumbs as an additional binder because they were hard to keep together in the pan when I was sautéing them, but I’m not sure, because I liked the lightness that they had. I would have to try it and see which way I liked better.



I liked the flavor and texture of the Mung Bean Noodle dish, too. I thought it was a little sweet, but that seemed to be the trend in much of the Korean dishes. I hadn’t had the Mung Bean Noodles before, and I enjoyed the slight texture difference from regular noodles. I would add more veggies if I was making this at home, but other than that, I was happy with it!

The Crispy Seaweed, however, was a different story. It never toasted up enough, which is probably because of my lackadaisical application of the sesame oil…and my fear of the fire. I just hate getting near fire. I just do!!! I don’t know what to do about it, and I think I’ve come a long way, but I’m just not fully over it yet. I think I COULD like this if it was done right, but I obviously am not the person to do it right. Yet.

I liked the way I plated all my items together and I think the flavors complimented each other nicely. The actual cooking was interesting because of all the blanching and steaming that went on. I tried to compile a list of what I needed to do in my dishes so I could get all the blanching done in one swoop and save some time. There just was such a huge rush over to the stoves at one point that there wasn’t really enough room for everyone and all their pots and dishes. It was extremely frustrating.

I also made the Yak Sik and shaped it into balls to plate. The flavor was ok with this, but the texture wasn’t very appealing to me. The glutinous rice was just kind of gummy. It was ok when it was first done but as it cooled, it kind of gelled up a little and I didn’t find that appealing. I also didn’t care much for the dates. I think it was the date flavor that was throwing me off. Maybe it was the seasonings that were folded in. Either way, this was not a winning dish, in my opinion.


Overall, I really liked Korea! I enjoyed learning more about the people and the country during class from someone who had actually lived there for awhile. Once all these classes are over, I would like to leisurely study some of these cultures again.