I decided it was time to read another book for the Year of The Asian Reading Challenge. I have many books of my my bookshelf written by Asian authors, so I pulled one randomly off and decided it was the next reading choice. Rated a 3.81 on goodreads at the time of this post, I rated the book 3 stars. The reason I gave it the rating I did was because I found the beginning very slow. I almost put it down several times, but when I pushed myself through it further, it did get better and I began to care more about all the characters in this story.

Set in Korea during the early twentieth-century, this historical fiction book details the life of Najin, daughter of a renowned calligrapher. Najin was raised in a very privileged lifestyle, though political upheaval between Korea and Japan disturbed her once cushy life. The story very much describes the struggle between the traditional Korean cultures that her father wishes to maintain and the more modern way Najin wishes to live her life.

There were plenty of food references in this book:

• Fancy rice cakes
• Broth with peas
• Rice porridge drizzled with honey
• Taffy and kelp chips dusted with sugar
• Gimchi
• Rice balls rolled into crushed sesame or red bean powder
• Fiddlehead ferns in a tangy salad
• Breakfast of porridge and sauteed greens
• Dried fish
• Buns stuffed with sweet bean paste or dates, rice cakes that were rolled in green, red, or beige pulverized peas
• Yellow melon slices and sweet rice tea
• Warm sugary freshly baked goods
• Jajang sauce
• Pancakes made of eggs, meal, chopped scallions, and squash
• Rice, spring greens, winter radish, gimchi, mashed soybean flavored with pork belly, and egg pancakes with wild leeks
• Pear slices
• Sweet black bean sauce over a steaming bowl of noodles
• Southern strawberries and apricots
• Buckwheat noodles with garlic and hot pepper
• Spiced anchovies on young lettuce leaves sprinkled with steamed bean sprouts with vinegar and soy sauce
• Dried plums
• Steamed barley and broth with tender wild leeks and tofu
• Tiny dumplings, steamed balls of fish, rice rolled in seaweed, and a perfect persimmon
• Cold noodle soup with chopped vegetables
• Boiled eggs, steamed buns, and dried mackerel
• Punch and fancy sandwiches
• Clear soup, millet, gimchi, steamed bean sprouts, and dried fish in pepper sauce
• Seaweed soup
• Hot dogs, vegetables, pastries, beef and mashed potatoes with gravy
• Country ham or fried chicken
• Soybean soup
• Millet with cabbage leaves on top and a shank of salted fish
• Squash blossom soup
• Salads of cucumber gimchi and squash pickled in chilies
• Fish bone soup and millet

With the many mentions of gimchi, also known as kimchi, I decided that was where this book was taking me. The first time gimchi comes up in the book is when Najin realizes it’s gimchi-making season and she isn’t home to help. The last mention of it comes during a much harder time in Najin’s life – she thinks of the gimchi in a memory, of hunting for for fruit to use in salads and gimchi.

I didn’t know that kimchi considered really any Korean pickled vegetable. I have only ever had kimchi made with Napa cabbage. I thought that kimchi only referred to that. But I was wrong and learned that through this book and this cooking project. Kimchi, according to wikipedia, is any salted and Korean pickled vegetable. Since there was a specific mention to cucumber gimchi in this book, I decided that is what I would make.

It came out perfectly spicy, not too spicy for my mouth, but spicy enough to make my nose run.

Cucumber Kimchi

Ingredients

1 lb cucumber
1 tbsp salt
1 carrot
1 oz chives
2 tbsp chili flakes
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 tbsp grated red apple
1 tbsp honey
1 tsp fish sauce
1/2 tsp minced ginger

Directions

1. Divide each cucumber into three pieces. Then cut each third of the cucumber into four pieces. Cut lengthwise so that you have an approximately 2-inch long cucumber piece.
2. Sprinkle the salt over the cucumber and place in a large bowl. Mix together so the salt is covering all of the cucumber. Set aside for 20 minutes.
3. While the cucumber is sitting, julienne the carrot and chop the chives.
4. Mix together the chili flakes, garlic, red apple, honey, fish sauce, and ginger together in a small bowl.
5. Once 20 minutes has passed. wipe any remaining salt off of the cucumber. Transfer to a new clean bowl. Mix together with the sauce, carrots, and chives.
6. Transfer to a glass jar with a lid. Cover and place in the refrigerator for 12 hours before eating.

This recipe is being shared with Foodies Read and The Year of the Asian Reading Challenge.

 

I am still on track for the Philippine tarsier badge for #YARC2019.

(4/10)