June 2024 letter from Maangchi!

Make shredded cabbage pickles, steamed eggplant, and pickled garlic! Plus my interview with Riley, and comments and photos from you guys ͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­͏   ­ Forwarded this email? [Subscribe here]() for more [June 2024 letter from Maangchi!]( Make shredded cabbage pickles, steamed eggplant, and pickled garlic! Plus my interview with Riley, and comments and photos from you guys Jun 1   [READ IN APP](   Are you all enjoying the spring season? Whenever you have time, visit a park or the mountains to see and experience the blooming flowers and trees, breathe the refreshing air, and spend some time in nature. Here’s a photo I took recently in Central Park in New York, I love going there in every season! --------------------------------------------------------------- New recipe: [Shredded cabbage pickles]( When I visited Korea a few years ago I went to a restaurant that served traditional Korean food. Among the dozens of side dishes on the table, a hot pink dish stood out and complemented all the other dishes beautifully. It was a pickle made by adding beets to radish. When I got back to the USA [I developed my own recipe that uses cabbage instead of radish]( but it’s just as pretty and tasty. I hope you try making this for your Korean food party. It will not only brighten up the entire table visually, but it also tastes great and is healthy! [Check out the recipe here]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Juicy pinky pickled cabbage! [Wilma]( made this pickle right after I posted the recipe! It looks gorgeous! Bravo! --------------------------------------------------------------- Steamed eggplant is always tasty! This is a [one-minute video on making gaji-namul]( a simple, delicious, everyday Korean side dish made from eggplants. It’s so easy to make and tastes so good! You can easily modify it to be 100% vegetarian by replacing fish sauce with soy sauce. [The full video and recipe is on my website](. --------------------------------------------------------------- My interview with Riley, and her family’s cooking Steven Joinson, a radio producer for “[ICAN Become]( contacted me to request an interview with 10-year-old Riley in Oregon. The topic was my advice on how kids can become a chef. I met Riley over Zoom and she is very cute, calm, and smart! She wants to become a chef someday. During the interview, I learned that she’s been watching my videos with her mom for years! Riley said: "I’ve been watching your videos since I was young!" She’s only 10, so how much younger could she have been? Maybe 3 or 4? : ) How adorable! [You can hear the full interview here](. She, her mom, and her dad all love Korean cooking. After the interview aired, her mom, Jeana, emailed me the photos below. The label shows her maesilcheong (green plum extract) project, which started on May 14, 2024. In 100 days, she will strain and get the extract on August 22. Check out my [maesilcheong recipe]( on my website if you’re interested in learning how to do it yourself. You can find maesil (green plums) at large Korean grocery stores these days, and you can use the extract in all kinds of Korean dishes as a sweetener or just mix it with icy cold water for a refreshing drink. --------------------------------------------------------------- Fresh garlic season, let’s pickle them! : ) [A short video on how to pickle garlic the Korean way]( This is garlic season so it’s the perfect time to start! You can pickle them for months (at least 8 months) or even years, the taste keeps changing and getting deeper. The [full video and recipe is on my website]( you want to learn how to do it. --------------------------------------------------------------- Relig’s braised lotus root Oh, it’s so pretty! What is this, edible lace? : ) [Relig]( from Germany posted this photo on my website. It’s sliced lotus root braised in a sweet and salty soy sauce base, called yeon-geun-jorim in Korean. The crispy texture is quite unique, and it goes well with rice. I used to include this as one of the side dishes in my children’s dosirak (Korean lunchbox). Check out [the recipe here]( --------------------------------------------------------------- If you are vegan but you want to try out Korean BBQ, this may be helpful. Chanelle living in Vienna, Austria, posted [this photo online](. Vegan-style Korean BBQ! Fried tofu instead of pork belly or bulgogi. Take a piece of lettuce in one hand, use chopsticks with the other hand, and add tofu, pieces of cucumber, green chili pepper, and ssamjang (Korean seasoning paste), then wrap it all together with both hands and put it into your mouth! Ah~mm! : ) My [ssamjang recipe is here!]( --------------------------------------------------------------- Messages from readers & viewers You guys always make my day brighter and give me so much to think about! Here are a few of your messages that I've selected to share with you this month. [Grace Lee]( made [dak-kalguksu (Korean-style chicken noodle soup)]( with her children, aged 8 and 6. I can picture the happy scene of her and her children cooking together: making noodles, boiling chicken, and enjoying the food. The children will always remember these joyful moments and their mom’s delicious chicken noodle soup. Everyone loved it, from children, adult, to elderly Korean. Now I am famous to them lol. They asked me how did I do it, I’m not even Korean? 😊 🎉 😂 --------------------------------------------------------------- I’d like to share one of the most frequently asked questions about kimchi: How long does kimchi last in the fridge? My answer: Kimchi doesn’t go bad if you refrigerate it. It will continue to ferment in the refrigerator. As kimchi ferments, it becomes sour, so over time, the kimchi will get more sour and sometimes soggy. Occasionally press down the top of the kimchi with a spoon to ensure it stays submerged in the brine. --------------------------------------------------------------- Growing Kkaennip (perilla leaves) No need to plant seeds anymore—my perilla leaves are growing like crazy! The seeds that dropped to the ground last year survived the cold winter and are now coming alive again. I can see their strong will to live. However, I know I need to thin them out. I hope you enjoyed reading my letter. I will see you next month on July 1st! And remember that if you type any Korean dish into the search box [on my site]( you can find it (if I have a recipe for it). I use the search box all the time because that’s the fastest way to find a recipe among my hundreds of recipes. Keep being happy with your delicious Korean cooking! Love, Maangchi ❤️   [Like]( [Comment]( [Restack](   © 2024 Maangchi Manhattan, New York [Unsubscribe]() [Get the app]( writing]()