Taking their act to the kitchen
Stars of Kim’s Convenience share two of their recipes for easy Korean dishes,
Not even a minute into a cooking demo with the stars of CBC sitcom “Kim’s Convenience” I learn there is more than one kind of bean sprout.
“These are mung bean sprouts. We use soybean sprouts for kongnamul muchim,” says Jean Yoon, better known as Umma, the matriarch of the Korean immigrant family that runs a downtown Toronto convenience store (the fourth season premiered last month).
Kongnamul is in fact the Korean word for soybean sprout. Unlike mung bean sprouts, which are common in Chinese chop suey or Vietnamese pho, these sprouts are more opaque, with a brighter white sprout and a larger yellow bean. Soybean sprouts take longer to cook and yield a nuttier flavour and a bigger crunch.
This attention to food differences is vital to a show about a Korean-Canadian family, Yoon says. This is especially true since her character is a proud home cook who makes everything from gimbap to keep her son (soon-to-be Marvel superhero Simu Liu) coming home to galbi jjim (braised short ribs) to outshine her rival at the local church.
While the actors don’t make the food on the show, Yoon and co-star Paul SunHyung Lee, who plays the Kim family patriarch, are avid home cooks. They are here in the Star’s test kitchen to share some easy favourite Korean dishes.
While a photographer steps out to the nearby T&T to pick up the right sprouts, Lee and Yoon compare notes on how they learned to cook Korean dishes, and other Korean-American food combinations they swear by.
“My mom never formally learned to cook because she had servants in Korea. It was my dad who taught her how to make kimchi,” says Yoon, breaking into an impression of her mom giving cooking tips in an accent not unlike her character Umma’s. Her mom would give her vague instructions like knowing when something is done by the smell, or adding amounts measured by dinner spoons. Yoon turned to cookbooks and family and friends from Korea to fill in the gaps.
“What is important is recognizing the principle ingredients like sesame oil, garlic, green onions, soy sauce, gochujang, doenjang (Korean soybean paste), vinegar. Once you understand how those ingredients react with each other, everything after that is easy,” Yoon says.
Lee turned to the internet for help 10 years ago when he was starting to miss the flavours he cherished as a kid. “My mom wouldn’t teach me because she said my wife would cook for me when I get married,” says Lee, who now does most of the cooking for his wife and two sons at their home in Toronto’s east end. “It was hard to find good Korean cookbooks back then. I first learned how to make soups, and if you know how to make a good stock, you’re bulletproof.”
But there is a category of Korean cooking that defies the principles of old-world cooking. The bokkeumbap (kimchi fried rice) recipe Lee found online a decade ago calls for shredded cheese, something he’s not a fan of and leaves out.
The cheese is a relatively new addition to Korean cooking. It’s the result of the Korean War when locals got a taste for the foods brought over by U.S. troops such as mayonnaise, ketchup, Spam, processed cheese and hot dogs.
Soldier Stew is a common dish of simmering broth containing everything including ramen, Spam, hot dogs, gochujang and vegetables, Lee says.
“My aunt would serve all these vegetables with mayonnaise and ketchup but somehow it tasted Korean to me,” Yoon adds. “My cousin loves mayonnaise and would eat it with rice.”
“Yeah, rice is really good with butter and soy sauce, and then you put a raw egg in,” Lee injects. “My mom would do raw egg, a bit of peanut butter, sesame oil and kkakdugi, this kind of kimchi radish that’s cut into cubes,” Yoon says. “She said she started doing that during the war because there were all these weird American products and people had to figure out what to do with them.”
The show itself is a bit like a mash-up as it explores what happens in a city like Toronto when differing cultures and generations come together, albeit in a lighthearted tone where the viewer can expect a happy ending just around the corner. But it’s this type of lowstakes escapism and ability to reflect a multicultural city that makes the show easy to binge and resonate with a wide audience. It also helps that like its fellow CBC show, “Schitt’s Creek,” “Kim’s Convenience” is on Netflix, with a reach beyond Canadian viewers.
“It’s catching lightning in a bottle with the right combination of writers, producers and crew, and the audience’s expectations now being higher and expecting something different,” Lee says. “We set ourselves up to be in a position to succeed.” With that, the soybean sprouts arrive. And Yoon and Lee start cooking.
Bokkeumbap (Kimchi Fried-Rice)
Star Tested
This is one of Paul Sun-Hyung Lee’s go-to weeknight meals when cooking for the family (his wife takes over the duties when the show is filming). When learning how to cook Korean food a decade ago, Lee looked to Korean food YouTube star and cookbook author Maangchi and used her bokkeumbap recipe as a starting point. With time, as he became comfortable, he made his own variations, sometimes using frozen vegetables to save time and Spam or pork belly as the protein. Refrigerated dayold rice works best. Because it has dried out, it does a better job of soaking up the gochujang, which Lee adds for extra spice. 3 2 tbsp (45 ml) vegetable oil minced garlic cloves
1/4 cup (60 ml) chopped yellow onion
6 oz flank steak, cut into small pieces (or any other protein)
1/3 cup (80 ml) chopped kimchi
3 cups (750 ml) chopped assorted vegetables and mushrooms
1 finely chopped green Korean chili pepper or jalapeno (optional)
3 cups (750 ml) cooked white rice
1-2 tbsp (15-30 ml) gochujang
2 tsp (10 ml) sesame oil
2 tbsp (30 ml) oyster sauce
1/4 tsp (1 ml) black pepper
2 finely chopped green onion stalks
2 large eggs
In a large skillet over mediumhigh heat, add 2 tablespoons oil. Heat until it shimmers. Add garlic and onion. Sauté until they begin to brown, 2 minutes. Add steak. Sauté until no longer pink, 3 minutes. Add chopped kimchi. Stir for 2 minutes. Add vegetables and chili, if using. Sauté until they begin to soften, 4 minutes. Add rice. Stir for 3 minutes. Add 1 tablespoon gochujang, the sesame oil, oyster sauce and black pepper. Stir until everything is evenly coated. Taste. Add second tablespoon of gochujang if necessary. Stir in chopped green onion.
Transfer fried rice to serving plates. Wipe down skillet. Add remaining 1 tablespoon oil to pan over medium-high heat. When oil is shimmering, add eggs. Cook until whites are set but yolk is still runny. Top fried rice with eggs. Serve immediately. Makes 2 generous servings.
Kongnamul Muchim (Seasoned Soybean Sprouts)
Star Tested
Kongnamul muchim is an essential side dish in Korean cooking, and you’ve most certainly had it at a Korean restaurant. “Kongnamul” is soybean sprout in Korean while “muchim” means dressed or seasoned. It’s a recipe Jean Yoon describes as “incredibly easy” and adjustable to different tastes (she likes her sprouts extra garlicky). Soybeans sprouts can be identified by an intact yellow bean. They are carried at
East Asian grocers such as Galleria, T&T and PAT Supermarket. Home cooks usually mix everything by hand rather than using tongs or a spoon to really get the flavours into the sprouts. 1 lb soybean sprouts
Salt, for boiling water and seasoning kongnamul
1 tbsp (15 ml) soy sauce
2 tsp (10 ml) sesame oil
1/2 tsp (2 ml) granulated sugar
2 finely chopped green onions
2-3 finely minced garlic cloves
2 tsp (10 ml) white sesame seeds
Rinse sprouts thoroughly with cold running water, removing any black and brown bits. Set aside. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over mediumhigh heat. Add sprouts. Cover. Boil for 7 minutes. Drain and rinse sprouts thoroughly under cold running water to stop cooking process. Transfer to a large bowl.
Using hands, mix in soy sauce, sesame oil, sugar, onions, garlic and sesame seeds until evenly mixed. Season with salt to taste.
Serve immediately or refrigerate in an airtight container and serve the next day.
Makes 4-6 servings.