Happy Friday everyone,

I hope that you guys have had a great week. I know that we have done all we can do for the week, so I think that makes me happy. We are definitely growing, but, as always, my brain wants to grow faster than I can.

We are ending March by talking about some amazing women in food history and for this post we are talking a little bit about the Korean women who shaped both the written language of Korea and shaped food forever.

They are definitely the unsung heroes.

But story goes; women in Korean realized that they needed time where the community was together, they also realized that the weather patterns were unsustainable for many months in the year.

Korean women would get together and make food as a community as a way to make sure that the people that they cared for and their villages would survive whatever would come at them.

They began writing down their recipes and passed them down from generation to generation, so not only were they passing on their foods and their culture, but they were basically making sure that Hangul would be a language that was also passed down over several generations. (I do not think that they get enough credit for either of these things.)

While some women were royal cooks, the idea that men were the professional cooks still very much surfaced. One could say that this is an international phenomenon.

We owe Korean women so much for letting us enjoy their foods!

A few ways to make this a lot easier is getting a tempura powder, it really helps to cut down the amount of time that you’re making the batter. I recommend this one, which I usually get from my local Asian market, but you can get online if you need to.

I also say eat this with rice, but if rice isn’t your thing, there are definitely other starches that it can be enjoyed with it. I highly recommend braised potatoes if you have the time.

Also if cutting vegetables isn’t your thing or it is something that is hard for you to do, you can definitely buy pre-diced items to help make it easier for you!

Kkangpung Saeu

Items needed

Medium sized sauce pan
Metal sieve or tongs
Off set spatula
Chef’s knife
Frying pan
2 Mixing Bowls
Measuring spoons and cups
Spoons

Ingredients needed

4 cups oil for frying
24 large shrimp
2 cups tempura batter (follow instructions on how much water to use)
2 tbs gochugaru (Korean Chili Flakes)
1 tbs garlic powder
2 tbs butter
1 zucchini; diced
1 yellow pepper; diced
6 red jalapenos; deseeded and diced
½ yellow onion; diced
4 garlic cloves; minced
3 tbs soy sauce
2 tbs oyster sauce
1 ½ tbs dark brown sugar
2 tbs rice wine vinegar
1 tbs sesame seed oil

Recipe

Put your oil in a sauce pan over medium high heat until it reaches about 300ºF
In a mixing bowl mix your tempura batter, water, gochugar, and garlic powder
Dip your shrimp in the tempura powder
Fry each shrimp for about 3 minutes on each side
Take the shrimp and put them to the side
In your frying pan put it on a medium low heat and add butter
Add your onions, garlic, zucchini, yellow pepper, and jalapenos; saute for about 5 minutes
Add the shrimp to you vegetables
Mix your soy sauce, oyster sauce, sugar, rice wine vinegar, and sesame oil
Add your mixture to your shrimp and vegetables and bring to simmer
Let simmer for about 6 minutes or until thickened
Serve over rice!