It's Cooking Time!
One aspect that I am slowly learning this year is creating more boundaries between my personal life and my professional one. As I mentioned in a few of my posts, it can be challenging to distinguish these especially if you are self-employed. In 2023, I want to make sure that I have a good distinction between hobby and work life as I realize the importance of winding down properly and not mixing them two. Last Saturday was the perfect start when I made sure that I got the rest that I needed including doing my hobby. The thing is, in the past, I always mixed the two and I realized how inefficient my life was and my hobby skills were not progressing at all. I also tend to mix between the two that makes it harder for me to focus on work as I don’t have allocated time for my hobby. Now, Saturday and Sunday have become the days when I dedicate it to spending on my hobby that includes a variety of activities including cooking. That is why, last Saturday and Sunday I dedicated my time to improve and explore new cuisine. Perhaps next week I’ll do another activity but now, it’s cooking and yummy time!
Dakbal and Jumeok-bap
The dish that I tried this time is from Korea. I love Korean food and have made a few of them. But now, there’s a new dish that I will be trying called Dakbal and Jumeok-bap. If you're curious, Dakbal is basically spiced chicken feet and often served spicy, meanwhile jumeok-bap is rice in round shape that you can either give fillings or a simple sesame seeds with seaweed. Dakbal may seem yucky but it’s actually pretty yummy when you know how to cook it. In some countries, they are either served grilled and even in Indonesia it is served grilled and spicy except that in Korean cuisine they use ingredients called gochujang and doenjang a lot. I can also confidently say that both are one of the keys to making Korean cuisine.
How to make Dakbal (Spicy Chicken Feet)
To make Dakbal, you have to make sure that the nails of the chicken feet are clipped. I think in the Philippines, they are called adidas? But correct me if I am wrong. Then, the boiling part is also important.
For me, I like to boil it with ginger and a generous amount of salt for 20-30 minutes. Another important part would be deboning the chicken feet but it’s optional. I actually see in some K-dramas they don’t debone the chicken feet. In fact, when I tried deboning the chicken feet, I ended up losing more meat than when I don’t try to do that.
When it comes to seasoning, there are many ways to do that and generally Dakbal is a spicy one but this time, I am making it less spicy than its original recipe.
In my seasoning, I only add bigger chili and chili powder instead of adding more chili into the mixture that I will make a spicy paste. I also add soy sauce and sweet soy sauce into the mixture to add more sweetness to it. Do not forget to add gochujang to the spicy paste. To make it into a wholesome dish, you have to mix chicken feet and the spicy paste till it boils. After that, serve it with a sprinkle of sesame seeds and chopped spring onion.
While waiting for Dakbal to cool down, you can make Jumeok-bap. This time, I am making a simple jumeok-bap with only rice, mayo, sesame seed oil, seaweed and a bit of soy sauce. Adding salt would be optional but since I generally try to lessen my salt intake, I didn’t add any salt into the mixture. Once you’re done mixing them up, you can make round balls with the mixture and serve it alongside Dakbal and best, a lager beer. I don’t really recommend stouts as this kind of food is best paired with either lager or maybe pilsner. Since I didn't have lager or pilsner at the time, I only used stout and though it wasn’t perfect, it sort of did to me.
I honestly think that Dakbal has many versions throughout Asia but I certainly prefer the Korean style as they have more complex and healthy spices. I don’t have to add MSG and all I added even include ginger which across Asia is known to be used in folk medicines. At the same time, the Indonesian version I know uses too much spiciness that sometimes it’s not edible to me. I can’t eat spicy food and there’s certainly a different level of spiciness as usually in Indonesia, especially in my region, they tend to like extra spicy food. That’s why where I am from, there’s something called Ceker Setan, Ceker gila which is basically just extra spicy chicken feet which has a lot of heat and heaps of any-kind-of chili you name it.
While cooking, I realized that hobby is fun as long as it’s not work. I find that any hobby of mine that turned into some form of job that generates some money isn’t going to be fun anymore. I began to resent what I do and don't find any enjoyment in it anymore. Perhaps, those that make me money, can’t be called a hobby anymore. It’s now work and it’s not a hobby. I swear, after knowing how fun taking a break on Friday Night to even Sunday I decided that I'd be changing my routine catering to that. We’re not meant to always work, rest is necessary for extra sanity and even boosting productivity on the weekdays.
 | 𝘔𝘢𝘤 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧-𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘺𝘦𝘥 𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘫𝘢 & 𝘤𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘶𝘳 . 𝘈 𝘵𝘺𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦, 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴, 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘺. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘨, 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘭𝘦𝘥𝘨𝘦. 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴, 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸𝘴, 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴, 𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘩𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵. 𝘖𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘣𝘭𝘶𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘰𝘯, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘪𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘪𝘯 𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺. 𝘚𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘰𝘤𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘪𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘴. 𝘍𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘫𝘰𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯! 𝘋𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘶𝘱𝘷𝘰𝘵𝘦, 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬. 𝘈 𝘳𝘦-𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘨 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰𝘰. |