PANDEMIC
NOODLES
Tim Solanki
Hometown: Tallahassee, Florida
Linguistics Major
Tim Solanki is a rising junior at Emory University. He attended the Hill School Boarding School in Pottstown PA. He is from Tallahassee, Florida and is majoring in linguistics. He was born in Pittsburgh, PA and is currently 19 years old.
Reflection on Making
Jjamppong 짬뽕
The dish I chose for the midterm assignment is called 짬뽕 (Jjamppong). Jjamppong is a spicy seafood noodle soup that commonly includes onions, garlic, Korean squash, carrots, cabbages, squid, mussels, and pork. The dish is derived from Shandong-style chǎomǎmiàn (炒码面) and the dish name is derived from chanpon, a Japanese-Chinese dish derived from Fujian-style mènmiàn (焖面). During the Japanese occupation in Korea, this dish was spotted at a Chinese restaurant. There, because the soup seemed similar to that of chanpon, aJ apanese noodle dish, the name was adapted to jjamppong in Korean1. There are also many varieties of this dish, which include different types of seafood and broths.
The reason I chose this dish is fairly simple. I truly enjoy eating it. I had this dish first when I went to Korea in 2018. These days, because of quarantine, I have been learning how to cook. I wanted to learn this dish anyways so I’m glad I could also learn it for this class. This dish, along with 짜장면(Jjajangmyeon) are two of the most popular delivery foods in Korea. In addition to jjajangmyeon, this dish can also be turned into a rice dish, which just substitutes the noodles for rice. These dishes are called 짜장 밥 (jjajangbap) and 짬뽕 밥 (jjamppongbap). These two dishes, when bought for delivery, are also commonly combined into one dish called 짬짜면 (jjamjjamyeon).
When making this dish, I did come across quite a lot of hardships. First and most importantly was the broth. This soup is very famous because of its delicious broth and to make it, you need dried anchovies and kelp. Luckily, at Korean markets such as Hmart, they sell stock tea bags called 멸치 육수 티백 (myeolchiyuksoo teabag). These tea bags come in packages of multiple, and they are easy to find at Korean marts. This tea bag contains mushroom, kelp, dried anchovies, and shrimp and you just let it boil in water.
When making this dish, I accidentally added too much water for the tea bags. As a result, when I was putting my ingredients into the broth, I needed to simmer down the broth more and add chicken stock to help substitute for what flavoring the broth was lacking. Although the recipe allows for the use of chicken stock, I wanted to create it the most authentic way and use the anchovy broth. In order to solve this problem, I should have added less water for the two tea bags I put in. In addition to seafood, this dish also suggests inserting beef. Unfortunately, I did not have beef with me, so I just used pork, which is also works.
This dish is a very hearty meal and when bought through delivery can be particularly oily and unhealthy. However, when it’s homemade, I found it to be a lot lighter and less greasy. This dish includes a variety of hearty vegetables. The only thing that is considered unhealthy is a fairly large amount of salt in this dish. Another thing to be weary of as well is spice. I personally like my food to be very spicy; however, I know that not many people can handle spice, so it is also up to the cook to make their own decision. Overall, I think that this dish was a success.
"Not Your Average Curry"
By: Tim Solanki
As I sit down to write this essay, I am sort of at a loss for words. I feel like I’ve learned so much about food in this class, but I don’t know what cooking specifically is. Is it “Preparing food for consumption by the application of heat” as defined by Wikipedia and Merriam Webster? Or is it something else? What this other definition could be, I do not know. I feel like the definitions I was given were so stale – like a bag of chips that was left open or bread that’s sat out for too long. To me, cooking is a more vibrant action. It involves a harmony between the chef and the ingredients, and a passion to please an audience.
I have always been fascinated by “cooking”. How does one gather seemingly random ingredients and make something delicious? My mother and grandmother always made it seem so easy – something that was so natural and almost subconscious. I wanted to be like that. I wanted to learn how to “cook”.
Fifteen years ago, my grandmother made a recipe book for our family comprised of all of the recipes she has ever made. For most people, when they think of Indian “cooking”, their immediate thoughts are “spice” and “curry”. This always bothered me because Indian cooking actually isn’t like that at all. I don’t think any type of cuisine or “cooking” can be defined in two distinct words. When I think of Indian “cooking”, the word “curry” doesn’t even show up in my dictionary. It is not in my vernacular. Not just on a vocabulary basis do I not think Indian cooking can be defined by these two words but also on a personal basis. However, I know that these types of things cannot be personal for everyone, and if I’m speaking honestly, if this was the case, food and culture would not be anything like it is today.
Growing up with the cooking in my family, most of the meals that we ate were actually vegetarian and “dry” – meaning that there was little to no leftover water residue in the dish. My family comes from the Northwestern region of Indian from the state of Gujrat whereas most of the dishes served at restaurants in America come from more southern regions because their cuisine caters more to westerners who prefer meat. I’ve actually always disliked that this is what Indian “cooking” was being boiled down to – different types of curry.
I think that this idea can be resonated with many people in who are of Asian descent like I am. In our extremely large countries, our food and culture get boiled down to only what is served in restaurants or what is mainstreamed. This, however, is not how “cooking” should be. I think “cooking” is a more all-inclusive word – a word that helps define culture; not just food or people. To me, “cooking” is lively and lovely, harsh yet beautiful, tiring but rewarding. Most importantly, I think “cooking” is an act of care.