South Korean Cuisine

 South Korean Cuisine

South Korea is very well known for its rich and unique Hallyu culture (popular culture) which includes music/ dance, also known as the Idol culture, where the Korean youth can enroll themselves with famous entertainment labels, where they go through vigorous training to become idol stars. Many gain inspiration from presently successful idols and groups like BTS, Blackpink, EXO, IU, Red Velvet, Twice, Seventeen, etc. 

Aside from the idol cultures, Korea is also known for its Korean Drama series such as ‘Boys Over Flowers’, ‘Descendants of the Sun’, ‘The Heirs’, ‘Goblin’, ‘Crash Landing on you’ and many more dramas, which always manage to captivate the attention of the viewers from across the globe and have a well based worldwide support from many different people throughout the world.

With the help of the popular Hallyu culture wave, Korea's rich and uniquely aesthetic cuisine also catches the attention of many people. The best way to describe Korea’s cuisine is that it is a perfect combination of deliciousness and nutrients. A typical Korean meal is filled with varieties of dishes and flavors and despite the seemingly small quantity, it is very abundant in volume. It is based around rice, soups or brothy dishes and Korea’s national dish, Kimchi (김치) , is a type of pickled or fermented vegetables, and there is also a variety of Banchans (반찬), which are side dishes to accompany your main meal and to also help cleanse your palate. The most staple ingredients for most Korean food is soy sauce, sesame oil, vinegar, Gochugaru (고춧가루 - chili powder), and Gochujang (고추장), which is a sweet and sour sauce made from gochugaru, glutinous rice and fermented soy bean powder. Something that foreigners can rely on is this basic rule: Red= Spicy! 

☆Kimchi 

Although Kimchi is a banchan, it is a very important element in every Korean meal. Kimchi’s history can be traced back to 1145 C.E., in Samguk-Sagi by Kim Busik, who mentions ‘the pickle jar to ferment vegetables’, which indicates that people at that time could successfully ferment vegetables and consume them.

There are many types of kimchi, the most commonly found is known as Baechu Kimchi (배추김치), which is made of napa cabbage and relatively spicier than most of the other commonly found kimchis, which are Baek Kimchi (백김치: white kimchi; spiceless kimchi), Pa Kimchi (파김치: green onion kimchi), Kkakdugi kimchi (깍두기김치: cubed radish kimchi) and many more!

The aging process can vary for different types of kimchi and can be aged for weeks, months and sometimes even years. Not only can kimchi give an addictive kick to your taste buds, but also give nutritious contents to the consumers! It is said to have antibiotic properties and health benefits like neutralizing stomach acid, prevention of high blood pressure, obesity and cancer of digestive tracts. Recently, it was revealed that actress Margot Robbie, for her role in the movie 'Barbie', consumed kimchi as a part of her skincare routine and that it helped her to relieve stress.

                                     

Traditional baechu kimchi

            

☆Rice

Apart from kimchi, another important and essential element of Korean meals is rice. It is the ‘star of the show’, the ‘apple (rice) of the eye’ of every Korean meal. It can be accompanied with banchans and jigaes, which we’ll learn about soon. Rice can also be incorporated to make more rice-centered recipes like bibimbap, fried rice, kimchi fried rice, bulgogi, and more. The most commonly used method to cook rice is by using the steamed method, which results in well cooked rice with a sticky texture, making it easier to pick with chopsticks (젓가락 : cheot-garak).

 

The kimchi bokkeumbap (fried rice) that I made for 

my lunch

☆Banchan 

Banchan (반찬) are side dishes served in small proportions along with the rice and other dishes. They are usually placed in the center so that it can be accessed by everyone on the table. The most commonly found banchans are:

○ Kimchi,

○ namul (나물; blanched/parboiled/steamed/marinated vegetables),

○ bokkeum (볶음; stir fried vegetables and seafood),

○ jorim (조림; vegetables simmered in a seasoned broth),

○ jeon (전; pan fried, pancake like dish),

○ danmuji (단무지; pickled, yellow-dyed radish. Also my favorite; must try!),

○ gyeran-mari (계란말이; rolled omelet served in slices),

○ potato salad (감자 샐러드) and more.

Commonly found banchan

★Important dishes of Korea

☆Barbeque and Grilled dishes

Korea is world-famous for its uniquely delicious barbeque culture or otherwise also known as “K-BBQ”.  The barbeque restaurants are built with a grill on the center of the table, where the customers can grill their own choice of meat, like beef, pork and sometimes even chicken, vegetables and seafood. After it is cooked to your liking, you can roll the meat up in a leaf with rice, sauces, and banchans of your liking and eat it. Make sure the wrap is small enough to comfortably fit in your mouth. If you’re an adult, you can enjoy this food with some alcohol.

 

  The layout of a table at a Korean BBQ restaurant

☆Bibimbap

Bibimbap is a mixture of two words; Bibim means to mix and Bap means rice. 

 

Bibimbap with poached egg

  

Hence, this dish is made by mixing rice with a scoop of gochujang, a healthy mixture of vegetables like carrots, spinach, seaweed, bean sprouts and sometimes even meat and egg. Before digging in, you have to mix it up; bibim the bap!

  

Dahyun of k-pop group TWICE

showing her love for bibimbap!

☆Gimbap

Gimbap or Kimbap is also a mixture of two words; gim meaning seaweed, bap = rice. But unlike bibimbap, the rice here is rolled into the seaweed, with veggies and sometimes egg and meat. To a foreigner, it may seem like sushi from Japan, the difference is that it does not consist of any raw fish and the rice is flavored with sesame oil.

 

 The gimbap I brought in India

  ☆Chicken

The chicken dishes in Korea include cooking the whole chicken, sometimes cutting it up and sometimes not. The chicken is cooked in flavorful broth. Samgyetang is an example of a whole chicken cooked in a broth with red dates, ginseng (a type of ginger) and garlic, commonly consumed in summer. Dakgalbi is a mildly spicy dish which includes boneless chicken, Tteok (Korean rice-cakes) and vegetables grilled at your table. Jjimdak is chicken cooked with transparent noodles, potatoes and other vegetables and is incredibly delicious!

  

Home-made Jjimdak!

 ☆Hoetjip (a restaurant specialising in seafood)

Seafood (해물음식: haemul eumsik) is mostly served stewed, grilled or broiled. When fish is served raw over rice, it is called chobap. When fish or seafood is served without rice, it is called sashimi. The seafood in Korea is always unexceptionally fresh and are very hygienically maintained. The type of seafood in Korea is also very unique, like sea pineapple or sea squirt also known as meongge (멍게), sea cucumbers, abalones, echiura and more.

Sea pineapple (meongge:멍게) and sea cucumber (haesam: 해삼)

☆Jjigae

Jjigae are a type of stews that are a lot thicker than our usual soups found in the west and are served in piping-hot stone pots with a lot of spice. Popular types of jjigae found are Kimchi jjigae (stew made mainly of kimchi) and dubu jjigae (tofu stew).

 

A dubu jjigae. Don’t for the rule of red=spicy!

☆Mandu

These are dumplings native to Korea and are generally stuffed with meat, vegetables and herbs. They can be steamed, boiled or fried and can sometimes be consumed as banchans or a light meal. A manduguk is a mandu in a soup.

☆Noodles

There are many types of noodles that originate from Korea and are enjoyed all around the world. There is Naengmyeon [Naeng: cold; myeon: noodles] which is buckwheat noodles in literally icy beef broth, garnished with vegetables, red pepper paste and half an egg, to beat the summer heat. Japchae is made with clear noodles, stir-fried in sesame oil with egg, meat, mushrooms, carrots and other vegetables. Kalguksu is Korean knife cut noodles. Most of the noodle dishes are consumed in the summer.

And of course, the instant ramen of Korea that is cooked in 10-15 minutes and is deliciously fulfilling!

  

A mouthwatering, delicious meal made within minutes

☆BONUS: make GIMBAP with me!

I saw online through many videos about various people making gimbap and so I thought to myself ‘I guess I can try too.’ and here we are. 

It wasn't too tough to prepare the ingredients. I first blanched the spinach and seasoned it with salt and sesame oil. Then I sauteed carrots with minced garlic and made thin omelet slices. And also, of course, seasoned rice, danmuji and seaweed. 

The prepared ingredients

  

Here comes the tough part. It was only after I finished did I realize that not all seaweeds can be used to make gimbap. Also, if you don’t have a bamboo mat, which is the most preferred tool to roll gimbap, as long as you have a serene wrap, you’re good. 

  “minutes before disaster” or something like that 

Somehow, the rolling process was fine but I was really scared to cut the gimbap. And I was right. As I was about to take my first bite, it rolled right open😭. But either way, it is not the visual that matters, it is the taste; which really was phenomenal! I was happy to be able to recreate at least the taste of the gimbap.

 

Ta-da! We did it!!

"It's a pretty thrilling taste, I get goosebumps ~"

NCT 127's Tasty

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References and Sources:

1. Primary information about all the main dishes: Korea, a book by Martin Robinson, Andrew Bender and Robert Whyte. Published by Lonely Planet, 2004. 

2. Kimchi: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimchi#History

3. Margot Robbie with kimchi: https://www.instagram.com/p/Cvxfx37pciX/?igshid=NjIwNzIyMDk2Mg==

4. Banchan: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banchan 

5. Twice Dahyun bibimbap: https://tenor.com/view/bibimbap-dahyun-bibimbap-dahyun-angry-gif-15926182 

6. Gimbap recipe: https://www.instagram.com/reel/Ctlg_MNhCjX/?igshid=NjIwNzIyMDk2Mg==