Maangchi's letter to you

Seafood pancakes 🐙, spicy asparagus 🌶, and stir-fried curry rice 🍚! [Maangchi's letter] Yup yup! Today’s my monthly letter day! I’m so excited to report to you what happened in April and let you know where I am now! I was fully vaccinated and finally got a chance to (carefully) travel again to my favorite Montauk, Long Island NY beach. I’m inhaling so much ocean breeze packed full of oxygen! I haven’t done this for more than one and a half years! Let’s breathe in this fresh air together, but only virtually! : ) Haha! I spend my time mostly cooking, eating, looking out at the ocean, listening to the sound of the waves, and working, plus reading! Of course I filmed a video for you (coming soon). But I’m still wearing a mask all the time in public places such as a grocery store. I hope all of you are doing well and staying safe! New recipe: Haemul-Pajeon! The pan-fried green onion in this [haemul-pajeon pancake]( tastes sweet and a little crispy, and with all this savory seafood! That’s why it’s one of the most popular dishes at Korean restaurants. Making it at home is much more delicious though! New recipe: Asparagus-muchim Asparagus is not a traditional ingredient in Korea, and my late grandmother would never have made asparagus dishes because when she was alive asparagus was very rare. Ever since I started living in the USA, I’ve been cooking this vegetable in a Korean way. I thought asparagus looked very similar to the Korean mountain vegetable dureup (fatsia sprout), so I blanched it and mixed it with Korean seasonings and prepared it just as I used to make dureup muchim in Korea. It tastes sweet, sour, spicy with crispy texture. I love it! [Here’s the recipe](. Stinky pee? If you are worried about it, check out my viewer’s advice! I’ve grown Asparagus for 30 years. If you have thick Asparagus, peel the ends down to the white, the green is the only woody part. And your pee won’t stink. New recipe: Korean style curry fried rice I posted this only a few days ago. It’s a one-bowl meal: [stir-fried rice with chicken, seasoned with Korean curry powder](. This is a dish I used to make for my children’s lunchboxes all the time and they loved it. It’s perfect for lunchboxes because it still tastes good 5 to 6 hours after it’s made! My daughter sent me this photo! My daughter sent me this photo a while ago and said, “Mom, I made this following your directions tightly. Your flipping timeline 6, 3, 1 minute method turned out perfect! This is the best haemul-pajeon that I have ever had!” Yay! I was so happy to hear it for these 3 reasons: First, it’s a perfect-looking haemul-pajeon so I was very proud of her. Second, she really watches my videos and makes food from my recipes, which makes me very happy. Thirdly, she allows me to share this photo with you! My family are camera shy, so I need to ask them if I can share some information relating to them in public. You know what I’m saying? : ) My reader's asparagus-muchim! My reader “[MaangchiLove](” posted this photo on my website! You might recognize her username, I’ve posted her photos here before. Her asparagus side dish looks great! I feel like using my chopsticks to pick up the one on top with all the toasted sesame seeds and tasting it! Sharknado's vegetarian kimchi Thank you so much for saying that [my vegetarian kimchi recipe]( is the best one for you! I see the smiley-face scale, the kimchi seasoning mixture just before being mixed, and your hand with a rubber glove! It shows me you are such a passionate cook! The first time using Zoom in my life! Many people have asked me to do a talk over zoom, or suggested to do some cooking through zoom, but I was too shy, plus uncomfortable, so I always refused their offers. But there was an exception this month. I had to do it to help support my friend Michelle Zauner’s new book “[Crying in H Mart](.” We made [apple ssamjang]( from my first cookbook, and one of my favorite summertime recipes. It was a lot of fun! You can watch a [recorded video of the event on her publisher’s YouTube channel](. Amazing messages from my readers! I love to read your comments on social media, my website, and YouTube. I’m inspired, educated, and entertained by you every day. Since I posted my recipe for “[pandemic bread](” so many people have told me they made it and loved it. It’s rewarding because I developed and refined the recipe for over 1 year! I am still making this bread every other week. No more buying a loaf of bread in my life! : ) [One viewer on YouTube]( let me know why she thinks the recipe works so well: I honestly tried a dozen of bread recipes out there, but yours’ had done absolute magic. I was mainly thrilled with the “300” kneading challenge. I think this number is the secret ingredient of this recipe. [I got another comment]( from a young wife who has been making dishes for her Korean husband. I know that being a young wife is difficult, so I was so happy to hear my recipes were useful. I’m just married with a Korean man and moved to Seoul. I’m in Seoul for 1 month now. My husband amazed I can cook Korean dishes well. He didn’t know that I’ve got a very great teacher here. Thanks Maangchi for being such a great cooking teacher for me 🤗😘 Do you know [I started Tiktok](? It’s just less than 1 minute video, so it’s very easy for me to join it. I’m reporting to you now that [my 1 minute kimchi making video]( was viewed over 7 million times on Tiktok so far and more than 600K times on YouTube shorts! Incredible! One of my viewers [Celtic Las left a comment]( and said he taught how to make kimchi to his friend through ZOOM! Maangchi introduced me to traditional Korean kimchi, which I discovered I LOVE. A few weeks ago, a friend of mine messaged me, asking if I’d be willing to teach her. So I sent her your “Traditional kimchi recipe” video, and once she had the ingredients, I walked her through it via Zoom. Last week she told me she already needed to make the full batch LOL. I think she may like it. ;) There are similar foods across cultures and here is one example I learned about from one of my viewers. On my video for [cheongguk-jang (extra-strong fermented soybean paste)](, Rupam Rongson from India told me of a similar food in his own country: This is also a Sumi naga Cuisine from Nagaland but it’s also famous among the tribes in Northeast India it’s too stinky and has a pungent smell but it’s addicting and it’s called akhuni or axoni which means fermented or strong smell. Sam's kwabaeggi [David Pace]( was so proud of his son Sam for making these [kkwabaegi (twisted dougnuts)]( all by himself. I know the feeling! Thank you for posting the photo on your Twitter. I feel so connected! Hello Sam, I love your hairstyle that reminds me of a [perilla leaf](! : ) [David Pace]( [David Pace]( [@realDavidPace]( 100% Sam-made Kkwabaegi via Maangchi (Korean twist doughnuts) [( [1:15 AM - 18 Apr 2021]( That’s all for now! I hope you enjoyed reading this letter. I will see you again soon, so be sure to stay safe and happy cooking! Love you! — Maangchi Montauk, May 1st 2021 Did you enjoy this issue? [Yes]( [No]( [Maangchi]( Maangchi [@maangchi]( My monthly letter to my readers is sent on the first day of every month at 3pm EST! It includes all the recipes from that month, stories & photos from me, funny & touching stories from my readers, & news about upcoming events! If you don't want these updates anymore, please unsubscribe [here](. If you were forwarded this newsletter and you like it, you can subscribe [here](. Created with [Revue by Twitter]( Made in Manhattan, USA