This was early in our relationship. While I had eaten a lot of Korean food I didn’t realise those flat yellow strips side dishes were called ‘fish cakes’. I was so happy that my husband (then boyfriend) was going to cook something for me that I didn’t stop to ask what he meant by ‘fish cakes’. Stupidly, I envisioned lovely golden fish cakes full of fresh fish and mashed potato like my grandmother used to make. Or at least something like thai fish cakes. I was very wrong. I was so preoccupied with making a salad that I didn’t realise what he actually meant by fish cakes until he had finished.

This is what he meant:

Not these:

Oops… I thought he was making the main dish, not just a little side dish with a few strips of the flat fish stuff. It was okay in the end, because I quite like that side dish. But I know for the future to quiz him when he offers to cook something (which isn’t often).

Can someone explain to readers how those sheets of Korean fish cake sheets are made? And what is the correct name for this side dish? There seems to be a few different types so I’m unsure of the correct name.