South Korea for March

Food and Literature

Food & Lit March 🇰🇷 South Korea

South Korea, an East Asian nation on the southern half of the Korean Peninsula, shares one of the world’s most heavily militarized borders with North Korea. It’s equally known for its green, hilly countryside dotted with cherry trees and centuries-old Buddhist temples, plus its coastal fishing villages, sub-tropical islands and high-tech cities such as Seoul, the capital.

☕️Dalgona Coffee is a cold latte drink that comes with a velvety smooth and sweet coffee foam on top. 

👩🏻‍🍳Bulgogi is a popular Korean BBQ dish (literally translating to “fire meat”) made of thinly sliced marinated beef ribeye or sirloin. The beef is marinated in a blend of soy sauce, sesame oil, onion, garlic, ginger, sugar, asian pear, and black pepper. It’s marinated for several hours which flavors and tenderizes the meat.

In the news: 

South Korea has the lowest birth rate in the world, and it continues to plummet, beating its own staggeringly low record year after year. Korean women are the most highly educated of those in OECD countries, and yet the country has the worst gender pay gap and a higher-than-average proportion of women out of work compared to men. Researchers say this proves they are being presented with a trade-off – have a career or have a family. Increasingly, they are choosing a career. 

South Korea deploys military and other doctors to strike-hit hospitals
More than 150 military surgeons and public health physicians will step in to help care for patients affected by the walkout of nearly 12,000 trainee doctors over planned medical reforms.South Korea’s government has launched an investigation into the death of a woman in her 80s after her ambulance was denied entry to several hospitals due to the ongoing doctors strike. The patient died in the ambulance after suffering cardiac arrest.

I would have never, without this challenge, be reading about or actively paying attention to South Korea- forever student expanding my knowledge. 

Library books to read pictured above.

FOOD

Dalgona Coffee

Equipment

• mixing bowl
• whisk

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp instant coffee
• 2 Tbsp white granulated sugar
• 2 Tbsp water (hot)
• 1/2 cup milk (low fat, regular, almond, soy, goat’s milk)

Instructions

• In a large mixing bowl, add coffee, sugar and HOT water in 1:1:1 ratio.
• Whisking by hand – using a whisk, first mix the coffee, sugar and water until everything is melted. Then start whisking!!! It should form a hard peak in about 2 minute and 30-40 seconds OR do the challenge and whisk about 400 times.
• IMPORTANT – use large mixing bowl (having enough space for your whisk to whip air in) and round whisk (fork or spoon will be too hard). Tilt at an angle. Watch video.
• Whisking using a hand mixer or stand mixer – first mix at lowest speed until all the coffee and sugar are dissolved. Then turn the speed to highest setting and mix for 1 min 30 seconds or until hard peaks form. I have a Kitchenaid stand mixer and on it, it takes about 1 min and 30 seconds on highest speed. Handmixer probably is going to be a little longer since it’s not as powerful but should work fine. Set aside.
• OPTIONAL – make some Dalgona (Korean sponge candy) by following my recipe HERE. This adds a great crunchy and sweet topping to the foam.
• Fill 2/3rd of a cup with cold milk (about 1/2 cup) and add some ice.
• Spoon the foam and add it to the top of the cup. Top it with Dalgona pieces or try sprinkle the top with some hot cocoa powder or cinnamon. Mix it with a spoon to enjoy it as a latte or just as it is as you get a little bit of milk and foam in one sip. ENJOY!!!

What is bulgogi?

Bulgogi (불고기), also known as Korean BBQ beef, is marinated thinly sliced beef, typically cooked over an open flame. “Bul” means fire in Korean, and “gogi” is a general term for meat. While there are other variations such as chicken and pork, the term generally refers to beef bulgogi. 

Recipe : https://www.koreanbapsang.com/wprm_print/6503

My take: I would have never looked up South Korea on my own to the extent I did this month. I learned so very much and was quite sad that my library did not offer all that much on this country. I very much enjoyed learning about this place.