Japchae is one of the most comprehensive dishes in terms of variety of ingredients and a very popular dish on birthdays. This is one of the best loved Korean noodle dishes by Koreans as well as by foreign visitors to Korea. The main ingredients are sweet potato noodles which are combined with a lot of…
Category: Korean culture
Baek(white)Kimchi
Baek (white) Kimchi with no chillies. This Kimchi is stuffed with a variety of vegetables, fruit, pine nuts, oysters and rock ear mushrooms. The original Kimchis were Baek Kimchi from over a 1,000 years ago but did not use the Chinese leaf cabbage. In those times, Kimchi was radish dipped in fermented soya bean…
Naengmyeon
Naengmyeon Naengmyeon means literary in Korean, cold noodles. There are two kinds, one is Bibim-Naengmyeon which is mixed with spicy sauce with a little bit of beef or vegetable broth. Another one is Mul-Naengmyeon, served in a chilled broth made from beef or radish water kimchi. Naengmyeon used to eat by only nobles, especially among…
Kohlrabi Kimchi
Looking for an excellent alternative for Korean radish Kimchi (Ggakdugi)? Then why not using Kohlrabi? Ggakdugi is a type of Kimchi made from Korean radish. Koreans use this radish to make three different types of Kimchi. One is radish winter Kimchi in a broth called Dongchimi, the second is a mixed Kimchi called Seogbagji and…
Temple Kimbap
Many years ago, I had a chance to learn about temple food for 2 months from a famous monk-chef in Korea. One of his teachings was what we eat and when we eat is very important. In the morning, eat light food like porridge, for lunch have solid food, a full meal but asmall amount….
Kimchi guk(soup or stew)
In Korea if there is No Kimchi, then there is No meal! For breakfast, lunch and dinner all year round it is on your dining table. This means that a Kimchi refrigerator is a key appliance in Korean homes. I haven’t yet seen someone who hasn’t got one in their house. Kimchi is the…
Kong-namul (soybean sprouts)
Kong means bean in Korean, Namul means edible plants. Banchan (side dishes) are a big part of the Korean home kitchen. Kong-namul is one of the most popular side dishes and also one of the classic vegetable ingredients of Bibim-bab. It seems that Koreans started to eat this around 500 years ago. Beansprouts are different…
Mak Kimchi
(Chinese or Naba Cabbage) Kimchi is THE most popular Korean dish. It is made of fermented vegetables with a variety of different spices. As Kimchi gets older, fermentation creates the different levels of flavours; at the beginning for the first 2-3 days, it is salty and spicy but as time goes on, it produces a…
Eating and Drinking Manners with Elderly Koreans
Korean Confucianism puts a premium on respect for the elderly and for extended family ties. These days in Korea, societal pressures have torn apart the traditional concept of the extended family. However I was lucky to be able to learn table manners from my large family especially from my grandmother. Age is still important and…
KoreanAnju 