slice a medium-sized onion in half. add it to a pot with a kelp leaf about the size of your palm and some dried shiitake mushrooms in 2 cups water. bring to a boil. once it’s cooled down, strain the liquid into a container. you can throw away the onion and kelp, but definitely save the reconstituted mushrooms for another dish. add soy sauce to the liquid until it tastes as salty as fish sauce (meaning REALLY salty). if you don’t want the sauce to discolour your dish, use sea salt instead of soy sauce.

@jhd: i’ll have to try mixing it into some korean dishes! i enjoy cardamom, along with the rest of scandinavia. ^^

@bo: i like acorn jelly because tastes a bit, well, nuttier. but that’s just like my opinion, man.

thanks for your comments and thanks to maangchi for giving me my 15 minutes of fame. ^^

Have you experimented with cardamom spice. The Danish seem to be unique in Europe in liking, although it may appear in some liquors elsewhere in Scandanavia, but not in sweet and savory dishes like in Denmark. It’s distantly related to the ginger family (but you use only the seeds and seed pods rather than the root) so it might have some cross-over appeal for a new Korean-Danish fusion cuisine. Something to experiment with.

Your food looks great.

I’ve made it with mung bean powder and just recently bought the acorn powder. Do you notice a difference?

Your family is beautiful!