Jenny from Singapore emailed me a while ago. On a recent  trip to her hometown in Indonesia, she prepared a big Korean meal for 30 extended family members!  I can picture her busy cooking: some villagers, laughing children, happy smiles, sizzling food, and delicious smell! She made everybody happy by cooking Korean food! She reminded me of my favorite movie Babette’s Feast. Yes, she is the Singapore version of Babette.

This is what she said before she went to her family gathering in Indonesia. My remarks are also below.

“I will bring my 2 kg of fermented squid back to Indonesia, North Sumatra during December school holiday. All my family now is waiting for my homemade ojingeojeot. All of them also are Korean food fans. They usually ask me to cook Korean food for them. I remember last year we had Samgyeopsal gui (grilled pork) with lots of perilla leaves, but this year they already gave me the Korean menu list… ^ _ ^”

2 kilograms of squid! My recipe was made with 750 grams of fresh squid. Jenny  tripled the recipe!

Here’s what she wrote after she came back from the feast trip:

“I’m just back from Medan. We had lots of fun there especially with my mom and papa. They were so happy to see my kids! We had small gathering. All prepared by me. I prepared mak kimchi, radish kimchi, ojingeojeot, bibimbap, seasoned dried shredded squid, skewered pancake with vegetables and beef, soft tofu stew (soondubu jjigae) and  grilled pork belly (samgyeopsal gui) which is the most favorite dish among the children. My mom brought 5 kg of pork belly + 1 kg of lettuces.”

I’m very proud of you Jenny! You prepared all the food! 5 kilograms of pork belly is a lot! Yes, samgyeosal gui is delicious and it’s a good dish to prepare if you have to feed a lot of people.

Samgyeopsal gui (grilled pork belly). Take a look at the cute legs of little children!


Oisobagi (spicy stuffed cucumber kimchi )

Ojingeochae muchim (seasoned dried squid)

“For soondubu jjigae (spicy soft tofu stew) I used beef stock . I just boiled 4 kg of beef with onion, garlic, radish for 3 hours and then sliced the beef thinly.”

Ow ow, 4 kilos beef for stock!

“For skewered beef, I used a pressure cooker to cook it after mixing it with seasonings for 5 mins to save time. Wowwwwwww, all my family and relatives loved it. It was so fun and happy to see them grabbing the foods that I cooked.”

Using a pressure cooker is a great idea! One of my other readers, Kerri from Minnesota, made pasanjeok for her family gathering, too. One of her guests saw pasanjeok for the first time in her life and said “it looks like vegetables and beef strung like laundry.” : ) LOL!

Pasanjeok (skewered beef, green onions, and vegetables)

“About ojingeojeot.The seasoning is very yummyyyyy. The squids smells nice too…not fishy at all.”

Maangchi: yep. you made really nice ojingeojeot!

ojingeojeot (fermented squid)

“We also visit our famous lake Toba, 3 hours from Medan city. Another 1 hour journey where we can swim in the lake. Hope you can go there some day.The views s so wowwwww….”

I’ve been there Lake Toba. It is a beautiful place with a really distinct culture.




These are some photos that I took when I traveled to the Lake Toba more than 10 years ago! Good memories! :  )
This is the market near the ferry entrance to go to Lake Toba

3 Comments:

  1. Amber727 New Jersey joined 7/09 & has 36 comments

    You are so lucky to cook for so many people! I say this because almost nobody I know likes Korean food! lol It looks like everything was so tasty

  2. LuccaQ Buffalo,NY joined 6/10 & has 30 comments

    Amazing Jenny! Everything looks so delicious. The pictures are beautiful and inspiring. They make me want to cook a Korean feast. Indonesia looks like a wonderful place to live or visit. It is on my long list of places to travel to. You brought all of that ojingeojeot from Singapore to Indonesia? That must have been difficult. Thank you for sharing your experience!

  3. bo Hawaii joined 7/10 & has 49 comments

    The foods are mouth watering!
    You cook the meat and vegetables together in the pressure cooker?

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