Umma – A Korean Mom’s Kitchen Wisdom
April 14, 2025 by JennyEnter our US/CA giveaway to win one of two copies of Umma – A Korean Mom’s Kitchen Wisdom and 100 Family Recipes by Sarah and Nam Soon Ahn. Please note the author’s events which we have shared on our Calendar.
Learn Korean cooking alongside social media star Sarah Ahn as her umma passes down 100+ family recipes and decades’ worth of kitchen wisdom. Sarah Ahn’s viral food videos of her and her mom have captivated millions of viewers with their behind-the-scenes look at Korean cooking and multigenerational home life. This collaboration is now a must-have cookbook blending the emotional intimacy of Crying in H Mart with practical culinary advice from Nam Soon’s lifetime of kitchen experience. The recipes are framed by mother-daughter conversations that are funny, profound, and universally relatable – plus all the food is backed by the recipe-testing power of America’s Test Kitchen.
This beautiful book is brilliantly organized and filled with stunning imagery of dishes (including some step-by-step shots) as well as family photographs. Chapters include banchan (small side dishes served with meals in Korean cuisine); kimchi and pickles; meat, poultry and seafood; soups and stews; rice and noodles; and ends with yasik and desserts. I just received this book a few days ago and am loving every page and find joy in reading the delightful conversations as mentioned above (see an example in our recipe below).
The Ahns understand that when generations come together in the kitchen, so much is shared: not only food, but also knowledge, advice, family history, and love. Check out my flip-through of the book on our Instagram.
We have two recipes for you to try now:
Kimchi grilled cheese 김치그릴치즈
Add this recipe to your Bookshelf (click the blue +Bookshelf button)
Serves 1 – Total Time 30 minutes
Sarah 세라
Thanksgiving has always meant a trip to Costco with Umma to purchase their premade holiday foods. Of these, one staple we never skip is their macaroni and cheese. It’s creamy, cheesy, and comforting—a perfect complement to our annual Thanksgiving meal. Despite our love for this dish, my family never quite manages to finish it all on Thanksgiving Day. Of course, as with many other leftovers, Umma has found a way to bring the macaroni and cheese back to life after the holiday by pairing it with kimchi. The spicy kick of the kimchi elevates the creamy richness of the mac and cheese to a whole new level. It’s now a ritual in our household to enjoy them together after every Thanksgiving—a fusion of comfort food and Korean flavors that we cannot get enough of. Inspired by this family tradition and its delicious blend of traditional American and Korean foods, Umma and I endeavored to create a kimchi grilled cheese sandwich that celebrates this pairing. Our recipe brings together the rich and gooey goodness of melted Muenster cheese with the spicy, tangy flavors of kimchi, sandwiching them between buttery griddled sourdough bread slices. For even more depth, we include a layer of chopped green onion, along with a blend of seasonings.
Umma’s Kitchen Wisdom
A sturdy bread, such as sourdough, is ideal here to prevent the sandwich from becoming soggy. I use well-fermented Mat Kimchi (Cut Napa Cabbage Kimchi) to make this dish. If you wish to use store-bought kimchi instead, look for a well-fermented kimchi in the refrigerated section of the grocery store. Labels will not always specify “fresh” or “wellfermented,” so here are some clues to help figure it out: The jar should contain wiltedlooking vegetables with muted, darkened color, surrounded by a thin juice. The texture will appear softer than fresh kimchi, and when you taste it, there will be a pronounced tangy sourness that comes from the longer fermentation. When measuring out the kimchi, simply pick it up with tongs with the juices intact.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons salted butter, divided
- ½ cup (100 grams) well-fermented cabbage kimchi, chopped fine
- 2 teaspoons sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
- ½ teaspoon fish sauce
- ½ teaspoon gochugaru
- ¼ teaspoon Dasida beef stock powder
- 2 (½ ‑inch-thick) slices sourdough bread
- 3 slices (61 grams) Muenster cheese, halved
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 2 green onions, chopped fine
Directions
1. Melt ½ tablespoon butter in a 12‑inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the kimchi and cook, stirring occasionally, until heated through and it begins to sizzle. Stir in the sugar, fish sauce, gochugaru, and Dasida powder and cook until the liquid has just evaporated, about 1 minute. (Don’t let the kimchi dry out.) Transfer the seasoned kimchi to a small plate and set aside. Wipe the skillet clean with paper towels.
2. Melt half of the remaining butter in the skillet over medium-high heat. Add the bread slices and swirl them around the skillet to coat them in butter on the first side; transfer the bread to a separate plate. Repeat melting the remaining butter and coating the second sides of the bread slices. Continue to toast the bread on the second sides until just golden brown and crisp, about 1 minute.
3. Reduce the heat to low and flip the bread slices. Arrange the cheese evenly on top of the bread slices, then sprinkle with the garlic powder, onion powder, and pepper. Sprinkle 1 slice of the bread with the onions, then neatly arrange the seasoned kimchi on top. Place the second slice of bread over the kimchi, cheese side down. Using a spatula, gently press down on the sandwich to help seal it. Cover and cook until the cheese is fully melted, about 2 minutes, flipping the sandwich halfway through cooking. Transfer the sandwich to a wire rack and sprinkle with sugar on both sides to taste. Garnish the sandwich with any green onions that fell out into the skillet. Slice and serve.
Seasoned cilantro radish shreds (Gosu musaengchae) 고수무생채
Add this recipe to your Bookshelf (click the blue +Bookshelf button)
Serves 8 (makes 8 cups) – Total Time: 30 minutes
Sarah 세라
This recipe holds a meaningful significance, as it originates from North Korea. Given that North Korea’s culinary history is not widely known, this recipe offers a rare glimpse into the food culture of this secluded country. For Umma, this recipe is a cherished part of our family’s heritage, passed down by Halmeoni, who was born and raised there. Halmeoni grew up with this dish and continued to make it whenever possible, instilling in us a deep appreciation for our culinary roots. Although the correct name is technically gosu musaengchae, Halmeoni always referred to this dish as gosu kimchi. Eat it like a salad—there’s no fermentation involved, and it’s best enjoyed during the fall and winter months, when Korean radish is in season. This dish is refreshing, punchy, and bursting with cilantro flavor that beautifully complements the Korean radish.
Kitchen Conversation
Umma: Smell this. Do you smell the cilantro?
Sarah: Yes, it’s very strong and lively.
Umma: That smell brings me back to the days when Halmeoni and neighborhood women made gimjang kimchi [the traditional seasonal gathering of people to make large batches of kimchi]. She would serve this banchan to the other women.
Sarah: Is cilantro a part of Korean cuisine?
Umma: North Koreans are familiar with using cilantro in their food. It’s a part of the cuisine. This is a North Korean dish that I learned from Halmeoni. When she visited us here in the United States years back, I remember her gasping when she saw cilantro at the grocery store. She said in amazement, “Unbelievable, America has cilantro too?”
Sarah: Why was she so shocked?
Umma: Cilantro wasn’t readily available in South Korea during Halmeoni’s time, although it was abundant in North Korea while she was growing up. When she discovered how easily accessible cilantro was in America, it came as both a shock and a delight to her.
Ingredients
- 1½ pounds (680 grams) Korean radish, trimmed and cut into 3-inch matchsticks
- 2½ tablespoons sugar
- 2½ tablespoons gochugaru
- 2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
- 1½ tablespoons maesil cheong (plum extract syrup)
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce
- 1 tablespoon minced garlic
- 2 teaspoons fine salt
- 2 tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted
- 6 ounces (170 grams) cilantro sprigs, ends trimmed, cut into 3‑inch lengths
Directions
Toss the radish gently in a large bowl with the sugar, gochugaru, vinegar, maesil cheong, fish sauce, garlic, salt, and sesame seeds until evenly coated. Add half of the cilantro and toss to combine, separating strands of cilantro that stick together; repeat with the remaining cilantro. Serve. (Refrigerate for up to 2 days.)
Special thanks to the publisher for providing two copies of this title in our promotion open to US and Canadian Members. Entry options include answering the following question in the comments section of this blog post.
Which recipe in the index would you like to try first?
Please note that you must be logged into the Rafflecopter contest before posting or your entry won’t be counted. For more information on this process, please see our step-by-step help post. Once you log in and enter your member name you will be directed to the next entry option – the blog comment. After that, there are additional options that you can complete for more entries. Be sure to check your spam filters to receive our email notifications. Prizes can take up to 6 weeks to arrive from the publishers. If you are not already a Member, you can join at no cost. The contest ends at midnight on June 14th, 2025.
a Rafflecopter giveawayCategories
- All Posts (7144)
- Antipasto (2236)
- Author Articles (253)
- Book News (948)
- Cookbook Giveaways (1003)
- Cookbook Lovers (265)
- Cooking Tips (118)
- Culinary News (301)
- Food Biz People (561)
- Food Online (805)
- Holidays & Celebrations (280)
- New Cookbooks (156)
- Recipes (1531)
- Shelf Life With Susie (231)
- What's New on EYB (138)
Archives
Latest Comments
- Meredythhaas on Persiana Easy – Cookbook Giveaway
- demomcook on TL;DR
- dmass on TL;DR
- Indio32 on TL;DR
- MollyDT on A love letter to Sift by Nicola Lamb with a giveaway
- colleenmv on Pull Up a Chair – Cookbook Giveaway
- colleenmv on So Easy So Good Cookbook Giveaway
- colleenmv on The Salad Lab Cookbook Giveaway
- colleenmv on A love letter to Sift by Nicola Lamb with a giveaway
- colleenmv on Potluck Desserts Giveaway, Quick Bites and Recipes