By Soo Lin, from JOY
I was told this event, “Cooking with Ajumma “ was not just about cooking. It is an attempt by the JOY ministry and Impact Youth to create an opportunity for our seniors and our youths to mingle more with one another. I was roped in by Lai Sheong to be one of the ajummas (a Korean equivalent of the Malaysian “aunty”). My role was to assist the youths in cooking the pajeon (Korean pancake).
There were 7 groups of participants, each consisting of 2 seniors and 4 youths. I had Alyssa, Kayden, Yi Lyn, Denzel and senior S.K. Loh in my group. We were given the recipe of a pajeon with 3 missing parts. To get the complete recipe, we have to go through 3 challenges, namely:1) doing a Korean dance 2) singing a Korean song, and 3) naming 3 favourite Korean food. Obviously, we left the dancing and singing challenges to the youths.
Once we got hold of the complete recipe, we got down to the preparation of the cooking. The youngest in my group was 13-year-old Denzell. I partnered with him to collect the dry ingredients. I was quite impressed by how he handled the measuring cups and spoons, scooping one by one the items of flour, baking powder, salt and so on. He did them very well.
The task of cutting the vegetables was done simultaneously. The knives that were provided for us were not very sharp. Cutting the harder vegetables needed a little dexterity. Our senior, S.K. Koh, offered to cut the zucchini. The rest of the vegetables were handled by Kayden and Yi Lyn. Meanwhile, Denzell mixed the dry ingredients while I added water to the mixture. The batter was ready and we threw in all the vegetables.
Now comes the frying part. Our youths showed great excitement frying the pancake. They patted the pancake with the spatula, peeping now and again at the underside to see whether it is browned enough. Denzell even scraped the top of the pancake to see whether it produced the crispy sound. I was thoroughly amused.
We had our pancake done quite quickly. We even had time to decorate it with a few pieces of cucumber on top. So, did we win any prizes for our pancake? No. But I must say we had fun. And I got to know a couple of new faces among the young people. At the end of the event, we were treated to japchae (Korean fried glass noodle) cooked by Koreans.
Get Involved
🧓 A senior looking for a community beyond the family? Consider JOY. Reach out to Reverend Dicky Wong to find out more.
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