The Challenge of Fusing Malay and Korean Foods

Things don’t always go as planned, and boy did Nady and I figure this out the hard way. For our last post, we wanted to go out with a bang - enrolling in a one-session Korean cooking class and dazzling everyone with our (subpar) skills. From our research we found out that there are many Korean cooking classes conducted in Singapore for those who want to learn a new hobby, are generally bored or want to have a team building sessions with colleagues. Classes are offered by culinary schools/centres, home-chefs and even neighbourhood community centres.

We were very excited at the prospect of learning Korean cooking in a ‘more professional’ setting...until we realised the price we had to pay for this happiness. Most classes have a starting fee that goes north of $120. Let’s be honest, for two very broke uni students this seems like the worst possible setback for us ($120 can give us 10 meals of Korean chicken!). Plan B it is. I reached out to a Korean friend of mine living in Singapore, to see if he had contacts working in the Korean culinary world. It turns out he had plenty of them who were willing to share with us (and the class)...it was just that language barrier was a problem and my friend couldn’t be our translator as he was relocating back to Korea in March.

Stalled but still determined, we went to Plan C. Coming up with our own ‘original’ fusion Korean food. We started researching on various different types of fusion food that has been done before and we stumbled upon the wondrous world of the Korean food online community, which Nady explains more about here. After stalking so many forums and interest groups, we decided on just trying to fuse the Korean foods we already tried making with foods we are familiar with in Singapore. We decided to make a fusion of Kimbap and Hotteok.

1. Chilli Crab Kimbap

We came up with this idea when thinking of Singaporean food - what better dish than the well known Chilli Crab. We cooked the chili crab sauce and marinated the crabmeat and added it into the kimbap with the same fillings like our previous attempt. Surprisingly, we liked it very much - especially Nady who has never eaten Chilli Crab before. The kick of the sauce was definitely what a sambal-lover like me needed. We shared the results to the Facebook group and we'll see if it takes off.

2. Sambal Ikan Bilis Hotteok

Since I liked hotteok so much (from last time) I insisted we try adding a more local filling instead. After wracking our brains, inspiration finally came from my family who were big fans of sambal. So we made hotteoks with sambal ikan bilis filling. After tasting them, it reminded us of the sambal ikan bilis buns you can find at malay food stalls. When my family tasted them, they shared the same sentiments but really liked the hotteoks.

Jumping into the Korean food online community

There are many online communities available for Korean interest groups. I'm sure many of us are familiar with the spread of the Korean wave via the internet, especially when it comes to K-dramas and K-pop. There are many websites dedicated to discussing K-dramas and K-pop such as allkpop, soompi and dramafever. Thus, I wondered about the variety of websites available that focuses on other forms of Korean culture. For our project, I decided to research on the different online communities available that focuses on Korean food. 

Facebook Interest Groups

There are many Facebook interest groups in relation to the Korean wave or culture, particularly for Korean food. Most of them were either inactive or are geared towards a specific group of people. Eventually, we decided to join the Korean, Asian and World Wide Food Facebook group, due to its active status and its inclusivity.

The Korean, Asian and Word Wide Food Facebook group has over 5 thousand members. In this page, members share the food they cooked, they share recipes, they share articles about food and they ask one another for advice or suggestions in relation to cooking. It is basically a community for food lovers and people who want to try their hands at cooking. As seen by the title of the group, it is a diverse group. It does not only focus on Korean food, but there are indeed more members sharing about Korean food.

I used the page to get ideas and inspiration from the other members. As mentioned, some members would share their own recipe and some would share articles. I read and followed through these posts. Natasha and I threw ideas back and forth on what we should cook as we scrolled through the group page. I also used the page to seek help and ask for suggestions from the community.

I also used the page as a platform to share what Natasha and I cooked. For example, I shared about cooking Kimbap and adding chilli crab sauce to the dish. I also shared about cooking Hotteok.

Maangchi Online Forum

Other than Facebook, I also decided to check out forums. There was one forum created by Maangchi that focused heavily on Korean food. Maangchi is originally a Youtube channel, by Julia Child, that posted cooking videos which taught viewers how to cook Korean food. It shared recipes of many Korean dishes. Usually, the youtube videos will link viewers to her blog where she gives a more detailed description of the recipe, as well as close up photos of the dish throughout the cooking process. Her Youtube channel and blog have been very useful throughout our journey in this Korean food immersion. Thus, when I realised that she also has a cooking forum, I joined it without hesitation.

As seen from the description, the purpose of Maangchi's forum is for readers, particularly Korean food lovers, to reach out to one another and help one another out as they try to cook Korean food. Readers are also encouraged to share their experience and photos of the Korean food they made. Julia encouraged users to introduce themselves, share about their interest and where they are from. There is a category just for self-introduction. It was interesting to scroll through and realise how big and driverse the community is.

Different categories available in the forum

                     

The "self-introduction" category

                                 

Another point to note is that Maangchi or Julia Child herself actively participates in this forum. There have been many instances where she will reply to a question or comment on someone's food creation.

Julia answering questions about
whether it is safe to use 5-month-old kimchi

Julia giving suggestions in regards to kimchi juice

I too decided to use the forum. Just like in the Facebook group, I created a topic in the forum to ask for suggestions and ideas on how I can fuse Korean and Malay food together. 

A welcoming community

I find the community to be very welcoming and helpful to new users like me. Even when they were unable to answer my question, they still replied and encouraged me to try it nonetheless (as seen by the following post) . The community is made of people of various ages and from different countries. It was refreshing to see such a welcoming group who are willing to share their recipes and to give suggestions. I did not feel intimidated by them in any way. Instead, they made me feel comfortable sharing photos of the Korean food I made with the group.