Aussie Traveler

Photos: Passport & Plate - Dakgalbi - Spicy Korean Chicken

smcwilliam — Wed, 12 Mar 2014 19:05:00 GMT

Ingredients 500g chicken (thighs or breast)<br/> ½ a cabbage 1 sweet potato ½ an onion Rice cakes (ddeok) Sesame leaves (perilla) Soy sauce Sesame oil 1 small green pepper Sauce ¼ cup hot pepper paste (Gochujang) ¼ hot pepper flakes (optional if you like it extra spicy! 1 tbs soy sauce 2 garlic cloves Water-sugar solution (½ cup water and 1 teaspoon sugar) To serve 2 garlic cloves sliced Cos lettuce leaves for wrapping How to prepare this recipe 1. Cut the chicken into bite-size pieces. In a bowl, add two tbs of soy sauce and a few shakes of black pepper. 2. Make the sauce by combining ¼ cup of hot pepper paste, optional pepper flakes, 2 garlic cloves crushed, 2 tbs of soy sauce, the sugar-water solution and mixing well. 3. Cut up the cabbage and sweet potato into bite-size pieces. Cut up ½ onion and half of the green pepper. Heat the frying pan up with a bit of sesame oil. When hot, add these ingredients and the rice cakes into the frying pan. 4. Layer the sesame leaves on top of the vegetables. The sesame leaves cook down a lot, so you can put a fair few on. Next, put the chicken on top of the leaves and the sauce on top of the chicken. Cover the pan and leave for a few minutes. 5. Keep mixing the ingredients, making sure the sauce covers everything. This dish is usually cooked in the middle of the table. Use a fork (or chopsticks!) to test if things are cooked. You want the sweet potato and rice cakes to be nice and soft. If you can’t wait for the harder ingredients to cook, start eating the cabbage while you wait! 6. Dakgalbi is eaten out of the frying pan, everyone helping themselves. It can be eaten as it is or wrapped inside a lettuce leaf with a slice of garlic or two. Place the leaf in your left hand and spoon some dakgalbi onto it. Wrap up and eat. The leaves are a refreshing contrast to the spiciness of this dish! The story behind this recipe I cried the first time I tasted this dish. Not the kind of tears you get when you’ve just discovered a melt-in-your-mouth amazing dish. These were the ‘my mouth is on fire’ type of tears. Hoping I didn’t offend the cooks hovering around the table, I smiled and had another bite. Tears rolling slowly down my cheeks, I kept eating. As I did, I was able to get past the tingling lips and I realized I loved this dish. The chicken was tender, the ddeok - slightly fried on the outside, soft inside - added a great texture Yes, it was spicy, but it was so good! Dakgalbi (spicy fried chicken) is a specialty dish from Chuncheon, South Korea. This city loves the dish so much they have named and dedicated a whole street to restaurants serving the dish. Leave it too late on a Friday or Saturday night and you will find yourself queuing just to get into the restaurant. I had been in Korea for about one week when I discovered the dish. A group of friends and I, hungry and feeling adventurous, decided to explore the city and find a good meal. We came across Dakgalbi Street and decided that the sheer number of restaurants was a good enough recommendation! We probably knew around 10 Korean words, but by pointing to a picture we managed to order the specialty. To be honest, they probably guessed what we wanted. Why else would we be there?! As Dakgalbi is cooked in the middle of the table we were able to see and experience the making of the dish: The main ingredients went in and started to fry. A few sesame leaves on top and the sauce finished the process. As it began to cook, spice filled the air. We pointed to the dish and asked the cook, “Spicy?” She laughed and nodded! I shrugged off my apprehension and took the first bite. Back to the tears. I cried my way through it, but by the end I realized it’s a necessary pain. To eat this delicious dish, I was going to have to cry a bit. As time went on and Dakgalbi became a regular meal, I stopped crying and looked forward to every bite!

My Scholarship entry - My Kind of Adventure

smcwilliam — Mon, 15 Oct 2012 12:08:20 GMT

I love to travel! I’ve been traveling overseas since I was 16, and absolutely love it! Although most of my travels have been solo, sometimes I can rope some friends in to come along with me. What times we have! Bouncing off each other’s energy & enthusiasm, being braver & trying more things because you have an audience. I tried to convey this in my scholarship entrance: exploring a new country with friends. Hopefully I can inspire a few people along the way to get out & travel.
When I travel, I like to have a camera with me. Video can give a unique perspective. Especially when people forget the camera is rolling…

My friends and I have played around with cameras for a few years, making short films, and I have filmed and edited some weddings and conferences in the local area.

In the ideal world, I would always be able to combine filming and travel, because they are two things that I absolutely love to do. Winning this scholarship would mean so much to me! Not only would it give me the opportunity to travel somewhere I have never been, but it would also be a great way to kick-start my skills into another level. Sometimes you just need an opportunity, and this could be it for me!

Documentary Scholarship 2011 entry

smcwilliam — Wed, 15 Jun 2011 10:15:24 GMT

I love stories. There is something about words that have so much power. Words take you places, share emotions, bring change. They say a picture is worth a thousand words. I think video is worth 10,000 words. I also love to travel. Each place, each person I meet adds a new perspective to my world. There is so much to see, experience and learn!

Filming helps combine the best of both of my interests. Travel and stories. I have no formal training, just a passion for being creative and capturing moments on film. I have some work experience filming weddings, concerts and conferences. I am a big believer that getting among the people and going 'local' is the best way to experience a culture. I found that many people thought the same. The stories that came from the interviews were amazing! I wish I had hours to tell them all.

Winning the scholarship would be fantastic! It would give me the opportunity to see more of my country. and also have the chance to improve my skills under the mentorship of Trent O'Donnell- an opportunity that doesn't come every day.

This is my story…but maybe it is yours too.