GAMJA JORIM (맞핞혾잊 • Braised Potatoes) from The Korean Vegan Cookbook
I read a lot of cookbooks. A lot. And The Korean Vegan is one of the best I’ve read in a very long time. The recipes are one thing (there is an entire chapter on BBang/breads!), but the stories that accompany them are so beautiful.
I was allowed to choose any recipe from the book to share, which was really hard! I decided to choose this potato dish, because 1) potatoes are my all-time favorite food and 2) author Joanne Lee Molinaro writes, “This is hands down one of my favorite recipes on the planet. I never met a potato I didn’t want to marry, and this particular recipe includes all the flavors I grew up loving.”
Lately, I’ve been struggling with major cooking fatigue. Not just the act of the cooking, but I’m tired of all my go-to dishes, too. But reading this book has actually gotten me excited to cook again. I’ve marked at least 15 recipes (I want to try this potato dish is first), and I cannot wait to shake things up in my kitchen.
You can find more about Joanne and The Korean Vegan Cookbook here.
{ GAMJA JORIM (맞핞혾잊• Braised Potatoes) }
Serves 4
4 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, cut into bitesize chunks
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
½ cup chopped red onion
3 cloves garlic, minced
¼ cup chopped red bell pepper
2 to 3 Korean green chilies or jalapeños, chopped
2 tablespoons brown sugar or maple syrup
1 tablespoon brown rice syrup or maple syrup
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 cup vegetable broth or water
½ tablespoon sesame oil
½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds
1. Submerge the potatoes in cold water for 10 to 15 minutes to remove excess starch. Pat dry.
2. In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over high heat. When the oil is hot, add the potatoes and cook for 4 to 5 minutes, until the potatoes begin to brown.
3. Add the onion, garlic, bell pepper, and chilies and sauté all the vegetables for another 2 minutes. Add the brown sugar and brown rice syrup and toss the vegetables to make sure they are all evenly coated.
4. Deglaze the pan with the soy sauce. Add the vegetable broth and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat, cover, and cook the potatoes until almost fork-tender, another 15 minutes, while intermittently lifting the lid off the pan to spoon some of the braising liquid over the tops of the potatoes. If the braising liquid disappears before the potatoes are fully cooked, simply add 2 to 3 tablespoons of additional broth.
5. When the potatoes are nearly fork-tender, take the lid off the pan. At this point, the braising liquid should be reduced to an almost glaze-like consistency. Continue to cook the potatoes for an additional 2 minutes, until fully fork- tender.
6. Do not stir the potatoes too much once they are cooked. Add the sesame oil, black pepper, and sesame seeds before serving.
Kitchen note from Joanne: The trick with this dish is all about timing. If you cook the potatoes too long, they will become mushy. If you don’t cook the potatoes long enough, they will be too hard. I will say, one of the things to avoid is using russet or Idaho potatoes - those turn to mush no matter how attentive you are! Stick to the waxier varieties and that’ll give you a leg up.
New Episode! Should I Be In Food Media?
This week on Should I Be?, I’m talking to Joseph Hernandez. Joseph is an an award-winning wine and food writer and editor. He’s currently the deputy food editor of the Philadelphia Inquirer. And before that, he served as research director at Bon Appétit.
Joseph and I talk about all the ins and outs of working in food media. He talks about what makes a good pitch to an editor, how working for exposure is a scam, freelancing vs. salary positions, why fact checking is a great entry into food journalism, finding opportunities locally, and he also shares every single salary he’s ever had working in food media (including Bon App!).
Listen on iTunes, Spotify, on my site, or all the other places you listen to podcasts.
**As a bonus, Joseph wanted to share a freelancing guide that he’s been compiling for a few years. This is such an incredible resource! It covers how to get paid, how to pitch, mental health tips, podcasts to up your game, and so much more. It’s not a course or an affiliate link, just an amazing Google doc from an amazing human who wants to help others. Find it here.
Things That Freaked My Week
A bunch of things I want to eat, have watched/read, and am currently loving…
• The Great Pottery Throw Down! This show is all I want to watch. It has all the same The Great British Bake Off vibes - the kind and warm contestants and feel good spirit BUT it also has something Bake Off doesn’t have: Keith Brymer. Instead of Paul Hollywood’s semi-dickish ways, Keith is a sensitive soul who cries often during judging. He is just that moved by the contestants trying their best, and the beauty of what they’ve made. Highly recommend watching this compilation of him crying happy tears as a primer. There are four seasons on HBO Max, and I suggest starting with season 3 and then going back to 1 and 2 and then 4. Just trust me on this one.
• The Daily. I’m a super-skeptic supplement buyer. The market is full of ones that don’t work or make promises they can’t keep. However, Semaine is one that I 100% trust. Why? They work. They believe in science. And the women who created them are some of the thoughtful and genuine people I have ever met. This week they launched their second product, The Daily. It’s a hormone balancer, which is exactly what my hormones need right now. Can’t wait to get mine! You can order them here.
• These 50+ vegan holiday recipes from The First Mess! Really nothing else to say, except you need no other guide except this one. So many things I want to make.
• Pandiculation movements. This is a completely new concept to me, and I have no idea how I’ve missed it (especially with all the research on movement I did for Know Your Endo). Pandiculation is essentially the type of yawning and stretching we do when we wake up (you see dogs and cats doing it a lot). It’s great for fascia and just calming the body down. I recently heard about pandiculation on a podcast – the woman who spoke was in recovery from an addiction and said it really changed her life. I did a quick search and reading about it made a lot of sense for my body. So I tried it. And I love it! There are a lot of videos out there on how to do it, but this one - is a good primer and the one I started with.
P.S. My friend Molly Fienning (founder of Babiators and Red Clay Hot Sauce) launched a video series where she answers the 10 most frequently asked questions about taking outside capital (in the form of debt or equity) to grow your business. She gave me a code (CHS25) for our newsletter family to get 25% off the course. Not an affiliate thing, just a friend of a friend discount.
Review Life
Reviews on Amazon really do matter when it comes to people discovering books (especially good reviews)! So if you loved Know Your Endo or it helped someone you know, please leave a review! You can do it here (and you can still leave one on Amazon, even if you bought it someplace else). Thank you so much!
And if you haven’t bought Know Your Endo and are interested, you can learn more about it here!
