Didactic

Yeonsu

Life Cooking Show, 2020

Video 00:16:45

When housewives prepare meals, they not only cook but they also say a prayer of love and devotion. I wanted to express this.

Audio Description

Transcript

I’m Yeonsu Kim.

I’m in my 50s and I’m an ordinary housewife living in South Korea.

I live with my husband, who is two years older than I, my son, who is old enough to get married, and my daughter, whom I love so much.

All my family members are at home because it is a weekend.

And there are some leftovers. So I turned on the camera.

I thought about how to eat all of them together.

And I decided to prepare japchae (noodle dish) and kimchi jjigae (spicy stew).

And shall we start?

I’ll first chop the bell peppers.

I first cut out the round part at the end.

Then I remove the seeds. And it looks like this.

After that, I turn it over and cut it through its texture.

My daughter doesn’t like the white part so I also remove it.

(cutting sound)

Once the bell peppers are ready, you can cut them into thin strips.

(sound of the knife on the cutting board)

I’m making use of the leftovers at home.

So you could add a little bit of the food that is left at home.

Then boil and stir-fry the noodles. That’s it for japchae.

I’ll stir-fry it.

First, you heat the frying pan.

And add a little bit of oil, just like drawing a circle.

Like this.

I’ll put the bell peppers into the frying pan and stir-fry them.

(frying sound)

I usually add some salt and pepper. I like pepper!

I heard that stir-frying bell peppers in oil makes it more nutritious, even though I don’t know the details.

Once the water boils, add a little bit of oil and soy sauce.

I add soy sauce because the noodles are too white.

So the sauce adds a color to the dish.

And oil keeps the noodles elastic.

When the noodles get soft enough in water, you boil them.

(The directions say “6 minutes.”)

But the time could depend on the quantity of the noodles.

So let us watch.

After boiling the noodles, put them into cold water.

And then stir-fry them in the pan.

Usually, I don’t mix the noodles with sauce.

Instead, I put some sauce into a separate bowl to share it with others.

The noodles themselves don’t have any taste.

So add some oil, soy sauce and a teaspoonful of garlic.

Then stir-fry the noodles.

And the brown color of the soy sauce makes the noodles look more delicious.

Stir-fry the noodles over high heat.

Add some pepper and sesame.

That way, the sauce seeps in better.

And the dish is ready to be served.

I’ll put the stir-fried noodles on the big plate in the middle.

And I’ll also place some side dishes around it.

People have different tastes.

My family is not an exception at all.

They are straightforward about things they like or not.

So I try to give them their favorite dishes.

The same would be true for your social life.

In society, there are different people.

So I hope that my children respect everyone’s individuality to live happily in this world, harmonizing with others.

Let me taste it.

I added mushrooms that I like, bell peppers and a little bit of spinach.

That way, you can eat more vegetables than carbohydrate.

So I sometimes cook japchae for my family.

For me, this is good.

So for my daughter who doesn’t like vegetables, I made japchae.

Now, I’ll make kimchi jjigae.

Let me show you the soup base.

You can make the soup base with the head and skin of a dried pollack, three shiitake mushrooms and the fish similar to anchovies… dipori! Yes, you also add dipori.  

You also add some green onion and Cheongyang chili peppers…

The kids hate the smell of the anchovy sauce.

I’ll put just three spoonfuls of anchovy sauce and simmer it long enough.

So add three spoonfuls of anchovy sauce and simmer it together long enough.

Here, I also added minced garlic and ginger juice.

This is the soup base.

So that’s it for the soup base.

Last night, I prepared seasoned pork for the kids and there is some leftover meat.

So I’ll stir-fry the pork with kimchi.

And I’ll add Cheongyang chili peppers, green onion, ginger juice and minced garlic. And also a little bit of kimchi liquid, red pepper powder and kimchi.

Now, I’ll stir-fry the pork.

Before getting married, I wasn’t really a meat lover.

I rather preferred eating rice wrapped with vegetables.

But before my daughter was born, my taste got totally different.

I’m getting old so I’m losing my muscular strength.

And I feel the need to eat meat.

So these days, when I cook meat for my daughter, I also eat some.

I’ll stir-fry just this.

It’s about 400 grams.

I also have the seasoning I used for the pork yesterday.

Today, I’ll make a stew so I added a little bit of ginger and garlic to hide the smell of the pork.

If the meat seems to be burning, you can add a spoonful of the soup base.

In the meantime, I’ll be cutting the kimchi.

This year, my family made this kimchi together.

In the past, I didn’t eat these green leaves.

But as I got older, I came to like this part because it is more earthy-tasting and delicious.

So I make kimchi and use it when cooking.

I’ll chop the kimchi into 1.5 centimeter-thick pieces.

I’ll turn the meat over once.

(frying sound)

Over medium heat, put a little bit of the soup base, drawing a circle.

And cook the meat.

I’ll also add the chopped kimchi.

And I’ll stir-fry it with the meat.

While it is boiling, I’ll add the soup base and boil everything together.  

The Ahns are soup lovers.

Every time they eat the stew, the soup is gone and only the kimchi is left.

So kimchi is always for me.

Once the kimchi starts boiling, I’ll add green onion and Cheongyang chili peppers and boil them altogether again. 

In the stew, different ingredients mix toegether to make a great taste.

In the same way, I hope that my children, who have strong individuality, live in this society without insisting too much on their own characteristics, in order not to collide with others.

Instead, I hope that they harmonize well with them. 

The Ahns are really obstinate.

And I tell them this all the time, joking.

I tell them, “Do you know why there are so many Ahns among Korean patriots? That is because they are so obstinate that they just run headlong!”

When I tell this to my husband, he says, “Hey, don’t say that! They are pariots just because they love their country!”

In this stew, red pepper powder and all the other spices mix together to become thick.

I hope that my family members change a little bit, so they could harmonize with others.

(eating sound)

Umm… I had made the seasoning of the pork a little salty.

So the stew is also a little salty.

I think I’ll drink lots of water tonight. 

That’s it for the meal I prepared for my family.

This is how I prepared it.

The most precious gifts I got after my birth and marriage are my son and my daughter.

We all live from day to day.

Life seems to be art.

And in my life, I live with my husband and kids.

My beloved son and daughter complete my life!

The kids are works of art that make me happy.

So I prepared a meal for them with great care.

I hope that we have a great evening, eating together and talking about what happened today.

Thank you!