Weekend Cooking/Cook the Books Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner

 

When this book was chosen as the current selection for Cook the Books I was curious but wasn't sure what to expect. After all, I had no idea who Michelle Zauner is, let alone what a H Mart is! So first things first, Michelle Zauner is an indie musician who is part of a band called Japanese Breakfast. She originally published an essay called Crying in H Mart. That essay in effect became the first chapter of this book, which is an examination of grief following the loss of her Korean mother. Other topics covered include her search for her own Korean identity given that her mother is Korean and her father is white American.

As for a H Mart, that is a Korean supermarket, usually located on the outskirts of towns, where there  are often restaurants. The supermarkets are filled with the ingredients that remind immigrants of home.

Michelle had a very interesting relationship with her mother. Whilst she hated that her mother had very definite ideas of how she should behave and dress, what she should do with her life, and she rebelled against it, she also looked for validation from her. They were sufficiently close that when her mother became ill Michelle dropped everything to go and look after her. The devastation that the aggressive cancer diagnosis for Michelle's mother, and Michelle watching the decline of her mother was very clear.  I wouldn't be able to do this with my mother, both because of our distant relationship (physical and emotional) and not being able to deal with the physical aspects of such a diagnosis and treatment.

When she was younger, Michelle and her mother used to travel to Korea on holidays, and part of the question for Michelle is how does she maintain those relationships. I have gotten this far in my review and realised that I have not once referred to Michelle's mother by her name, Chongmi, which seems a bit of an oversight. And to be honest, it feels a lot like this in the book too. There were times when I was emotionally affected by the book but there were other times when I found Michelle to be a bit juvenile.

I did find the search for a sense of identity quite interesting, especially given that my own son's heritage is part Afro-Caribbean and part Australian. As far as I know he isn't particularly interested in that side of his identity, but I am also aware that could change at some point.

I was also saddened by the strained relationship with her father. Even watching her mother die did not bring them closer together. Given that I was in Perth just last week spreading my father's ashes after her passed away last year, I did feel that. Then again, I am always emotionally affected by father daughter stories because of the relationship that we had.

One of the things that I enjoyed was when Michelle Zauner started trying to learn to cook more Korean food by watching Youtube videos from a person called Maangchi. I have now gone down a bit of a rabbit hole watching Maangchi's videos. We are heading to Japan and Korea next year on a cruise and I am enjoying seeing some of the foods that we might be able to explore while we are there.  Between the Youtube channel and all the food references in the book, there is plenty for us to explore.

When it came to choosing a recipe, I have a Korean cookbook called Rice Table: Korean Recipes and Stories to Feed the Soul which I bought last year. Interestingly this book is the author trying to find her Korean identity through the exploration of Korean food after living in the UK away from her family for 20 years. She then becomes the mother of a Korean/British child and is trying to share her heritage, so there are definitely some differences but yet some similarities between the themes of the two books.

We have tried a couple of recipes from this book, including a delicious roasted baby potato with soy sauce and cheese recipe. I really need to make those again. 

However, this time I chose to take inspiration from a very popular Korean dish, Kimchi, to make a version of fried rice. This does feel as though it could be a great recipe to adapt, either by adding tuna as suggested, or adding in some chicken or some other protein.

I did have a Korean workmate who suggested that this recipe was overly complicating things and all you really needed was some rice, some kimchi and some tuna and you had a delicious lunch, but we definitely enjoyed this when we made it, and it is an easy mid-week meal. I could have been a bit braver when it comes to creating the crust, but I am also aware that our non stick frying pan is not as non stick as it used to be and I need to be a bit careful with it

I didn't have any Gochujang so I subbed in a small amount of Sriracha. We have also run out of nduja paste. I only know of one place where we can get it so next time I am in the area I will drop in and get more.

Midnight Kimchi Fried Rice 

Serves 2

1½ tbsp vegetable oil
200g (7oz) kimchi, roughly chopped
1 tsp golden granulated sugar
70g (2½oz) ’nduja (cured pork spread)
1 tbsp mirin
300g (10½oz/2½ cups) cooked white short-grain rice
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp gochujang (Korean red chilli paste)
1 tsp oyster sauce
¼ tsp freshly cracked black pepper

To finish

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 eggs
2 tbsp gim jaban (crumbled toasted seasoned seaweed)
2 tsp toasted sesame oil



Heat the vegetable oil in a frying pan (skillet) over a medium heat. Add the kimchi and sugar and sauté for 3 minutes to soften the kimchi. Stir in the ’nduja and mirin and cook for 1 minute to incorporate. Stir in the rice followed by the soy sauce, gochujang, oyster sauce and black pepper. Continue frying for 3–5 minutes.

Reduce the heat and, using the back of a spatula or a large wooden spoon, spread the rice thinly and evenly around the pan, while pressing down quite firmly. Let it sit over a low heat for 3 minutes without disturbing the pan to form a light crust. Remove the pan from the heat after 3 minutes. Let it sit for a couple of minutes.

Meanwhile, to fry the eggs, heat the olive oil in a frying panfor a couple of minutes over a medium heat. You want the oil to get nice and hot but not smoking, so that when you crack the eggs in they sizzle. Crack the eggs in, ensuring they are not too close together. Let them fry for 2 minutes without touching. After 2 minutes, tilt the pan slightly away from you to pool the oil and carefully baste around any whites that still appear raw. Keep the yolk nice and runny. You should have perfectly fried eggs with a crispy edge. Remove from the heat.

Serve the rice immediately, topped with the eggs and crumbled seaweed and drizzled with the sesame oil. Eat straight from the pan to scrape off the caramelized rice at the bottom.

I am also counting this book for Non Fiction November, and will be sharing the link with Foodies Read hosted at Based on a True Story.  This book also fits the theme for my read on a theme book club. This time the theme is food/cooking 

The next selection for Cook the Books will be Land of Milk and Honey by C Pam Zhang. This sounds like it is going to be another book where I am going to be a bit outside my comfort zone, but that's okay. Hopefully I will get that review up a bit before the last possible day! Today is the last day for the contributions for this selection!

Weekly meals

Saturday - Away
Sunday - Away
Monday - Pork chops, mash, broccoli and gravy
Tuesday - Beef and beans stir fry
Wednesday - Kimchi Fried Rice
Thursday -
Friday -

Weekend Cooking is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book reviews (novel, nonfiction), cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, quotations, photographs, restaurant reviews, travel information, or fun food facts. If your post is even vaguely foodie, feel free to grab the button and link up anytime over the weekend. You do not have to post on the weekend. Please link to your specific post, not your blog's home page