Chapter 3
APRIL 22, 2016 KOBATOCHANDAISUKI 8 COMMENTS
“……That’s right.”
Jo Ara just nodded without thinking it twice. Jo Minjoon couldn’t help but finding it amusing. To think that their mother’s cooking was rated so low by her children.
However even if you took it for granted that Lee Hye Seon cooked well, Jo Minjoon was confident in surpassing her. Jo Minjoon was almost at the top of the amateurs. His cooking skills weren’t ones to be inferior to an ordinary housewife.
“Ara. What do you want to eat ? Choose something.”
“I need to have options to choose something.”
“Why, you know. You can choose from western cooking, or any soup types, if not you can also choose noodles.
“ Hmm…..”
Jo Ara rolled her head. From usually seeing the oppa that only stared at the ceiling to suddenly start acting like a chef. That was really amusing. So she thought of something that seemed the hardest to prepare. Suddenly a thought came to her head. That chinese food was really hard to make. Jo Ara let a malicious grin and said:
“Champong!” (Korean spicy seafood noodle soup)
Jo Ara raised her voice and yelled, but Lee Hye Seon replied as if it was annoying. Even if he was good at it how good could he be? Jo Ara was frustrated, but she didn’t keep bothering Lee Hye Seon. Anyways the slicing was nearly over.
Jo Minjoon spread the cooking oil on the wok. And when it was sufficiently hot he put in the garlic and the green onions. When the wet vegetables met the fire it made frying noises. The sound made him happier. Sometimes some of the oil got to him, but that was unavoidable.
Besides the wok he started to boil some water. Instead of pouring cold water on the already stir-fried ingredients it was better to pour already hot water.
The korean aroma the green onions and the garlic gave, tickled his nose. When the garlic started to turn brownish, Jo Minjoon put the chuch beef over it. The pork oil and the cooking oil mixed and got sucked with the ventilator. The chuch beef got roasted and turned yellowish.
And that was the moment to put some pepper powder. Jo Minjoon didn’t waste a single minute and put on the pepper powder and the oyster sauce. It was the next moment after that. Jo Minjoon grabbed a handful of dried cabbage leaves. Jo Ara that was observing next to him said with a freaked expression.
“Everything’s okay, but is it alright to put that dried cabbage leaves? It isn’t even potato soup.”
“I think it should be okay.”
“What’s with that answer.”
He couldn’t answer that it was going to be okay. It was something he hadn’t tried yet. However he thought that the aroma of the dried cabbage leaves was going to mix in well with the Champong. It gave the feeling he was going to present a kind of korean Champong. He thought of putting in some coriander, but Jo Ara didn’t like coriander much. And if by chance he did put some coriander it was going to get closer to thailandese cooking.
“Oppa, give me that portion of meat please.”
“……Anyways.”
Jo Minjoon smiled and gave Jo Ara a spoonful of chuch beef. Jo Ara after tasting a bit laughed.
“I love meat.”
“Oppa too.”
Jo Minjoon nodded and also heated a portion of chuch beef. Mmm. You cook for tasting things like this.
“Instead of making Champong i think it’s gonna be okay to eat it fried?”
“It’s because you ate only a bite. If you keep eating it’s salty.”
“Mm. If you say it like that. Maybe you are right.”
Even if you put in soup it is salty, how salty would it be if you ate it alone. Jo Minjoon checked the pot that was boiling water. The water was boiling. Jo Minjoon lifted the pot and slowly poured the soup to the wok. It made a ‘chaa’ sound similar to the one when you put off fire. Soon the aroma of the green onion and the pepper powder spread.
“…..Unexpectedly i think it is going to be delicious.”
“Later don’t ask me to make you some.”
Jo Minjoon put the boiling wok behind, took the onion and went to the cutting board. He sliced the tap, and sliced horizontally following the texture. Slicing one onion seemed to take at least 10 seconds. Jo Ara couldn’t help but feel confused and feel admiration.
“Oppa is it not that you study english on university but instead go to cooking school?”
“It’s a compliment right?”
“No….. It’s too sudden. That you cook well? My oppa? Like this?”
The confused feelings were transmitted by her voice. Jo Minjoon didn’t respond and smiled. Saying the truth he thought it to be pointless to answer. Did he practice alone? What time would he have on a house that he lived with everyone. He could only change subjects.
“Enough. Bring me some cabbage.”
Jo Ara still confused didn’t reply but still obeyed. Jo Minjoon followed the texture and sliced it perpendicularly. If it was too big not only didn’t go in in the mouth but it also took a while to chew all the food. First he put the cabbage from one to two minutes. After that he also put the rice noodles.
If you boiled the noodles with the soup, the noodles would lose oxygen and get harder but that could also help on strengthening the flavor. Personally Jo Minjoon preferred pouring the soup on the already cooked noodles. Because he liked simple flavors. But there was a reason he didn’t do that right now.
‘Bothersome.’
To put the soup and the noodles took two or three times the effort. And it was not that the difference in flavors was that different. It was only a matter of preferences. If that was the case he didn’t have any reason to trouble himself. Also, aside of it being too bothersome, rice noodles didn’t mix well with soup. So he expected that boiling them at the same time would give it more flavor.
Jo Minjoon silently prevented the noodles from getting sticky and continued to boil. While he was doing that, before Jo Minjoon appeared an alarm that wasn’t as surprising as before.
[Chuch beef Champong]
Freshness: 94%
Origin: Too many ingredients to find out
Quality: High
Cooking points: 5/10