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The vegan community has been buzzing about Joanne Lee Molinaro’s cookbook The Korean Vegan: Reflections and Recipes from Omma’s Kitchen. I finally ordered it, and I’m so glad I did!
First, it is gorgeous. So gorgeous that I’m already ruing the drips and spatters that will end up on it as we cook.
Second, I was not expecting a cookbook to be an interesting read. But she dives into her family’s history to better inform us about why she wrote the book and how her family history impacts her recipes.
This quote from chef and activist Julia Turshen describes it well.
“All of Joanne Lee Molinaro’s work reminds us that the best part of any recipe is the story behind it. In her debut cookbook, she shares not only so many wonderful vegan Korean dishes (I want to cook so many things!), she also shares herself and her family with us. We are better for it.”
But most importantly, I’m glad I have this cookbook for the yummy, surprisingly relatable recipes.
The Korean Vegan Recipes
Molinaro was born in the United States, but her parents are from the area that is now North Korea. This background explains why her recipes have Korean roots with a hat-tip to American food.
Our first forays into the cookbook were a huge success. Black Soybean Noodles (Korean Spaghetti, Jjajangmyun) was a somewhat complicated recipe but worth the effort. And Roasted Doenjang-Glazed Onions were easy and so sweet and well-flavored I could make a meal out of them.
Molinaro includes recipes that would expect in a Korean cookbook, such as several varieties of kimchi. But she also includes western-style cuisine made better with Korean techniques and flavorings, such as Potato and Leek Soup (Gamja Guk.)
Did your mother have a casserole that she cooked on nights she needed a quick and satisfying meal? In my house, it was a version of hot dish, with ground beef, tomato, pasta, and saltine crackers. (On our birthdays, my mother would cook our favorite meals. My sister asked for turkey with all the trimming. I asked for hot dish.)
Molinaro’s mother made her quick and easy casserole from canned soup, frozen vegetables, and ground meat. Molinaro’s version is called Omma’s Casserole and includes a mushroom-based white sauce, vegan sausage, and veggies. I can’t wait to try it.
Surprising Recipes
One of the first Korean vegan recipes we tried was Red Bean Paste Bread (paht bbang.) I confess to skepticism about whether this would be good since it was white bread filled with sweet red bean paste from a can and rolled like cinnamon bread. But it was a family hit. Sort of like a dessert but not too sweet.
Molinaro includes many recipes with Korean flavors in recognizable forms, such as seaweed sesame bagels. She subs in Korean spices to pasta arrabbiata for Angry Penne Pasta.
Finally, Molinaro includes a variety of desserts. One, Chocolate Sweet Potato Cake, is a tribute to her mother and has a heartbreaking backstory.
The Korean Pantry
Molinaro includes a chapter on Korean pantry ingredients, which she recommends instead of subbing in more readily available staples.
Her recommendations include:
- doeniang (fermented back bean paste)
- gochuiang (chili sauce)
- jjajang (sweetened and thickened fermented black soybean paste)
- gochugaro (pepper powder)
- dashima (kelp)
- dried shiitake mushrooms, garraetteok (rice cakes that are not the dried kind I’m used to but more like gnocchi)
- paht (sweet red bean paste)
I didn’t know about the several Asian grocery stores in Knoxville until a savvy friend told me. If you live elsewhere try searching online for specialty grocery stores in your area. You may be surprised, too.
Vegan Activism
Molinaro became vegan to reduce her carbon footprint and mitigate animal suffering. She describes meeting Jeong Kwan, a Buddhist monk and renowned chef. When Molinaro explained her ideas about sharing Korean vegan food on social media, Kwan reminded her that plant-based Korean food predates recipes with meat. Kwan emphasizes the practice of doing no harm to animals, people, the planet, and ourselves. We can do that through vegan cooking.
How lovely.
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