Korean dishes are touted as ‘hot’
STAYING with the subject of food predictions for 2018 just a little longer, one of the national cuisines being touted as “hot” is Korean food — for the seventh year running, it has to be said. Certainly Korean food has become much more available in the past few years. It may not have taken Girne by storm yet but there are now some Asian restaurants in South Cyprus that have a couple of Korean dishes on the menu. With the Winter Olympics taking place in South Korea this year, it is likely the national cuisine will come under the spotlight to a greater extent.
The Games are starting in PyeongChang next Friday, February 9, so let’s have a look at a couple of dishes, to get you in the mood.
The two Koreas, North and South, are located on the Korean peninsula, lying between northeast China and Japan. Korean cuisine is broadly based on rice, vegetables, seafood and meats, and tends to be spicy rather than bland. Traditional Korean meals feature steamed rice (usually short grain) accompanied by a large number of side dishes. Kimchi is served at nearly every meal, but more of that later.
Many people in the West still associate Korea with the consumption of dog meat but it is far less popular nowadays than it used to be, especially among the younger generations, who tend to view dogs as pets or working animals (eg sniffer dogs, rescue dogs etc).
Among their predictions for 2018, Pinterest is backing popularity for Korean condiments, especially gochujang, a hot, red chilli paste with a rich piquant flavour, used to flavour meats and stews or as a base for other sauces. Most Koreans buy commercially produced gochujang rather than make their own. That isn’t an option here, so if you want to try a recipe that includes gochujang, use sriracha sauce or Thai chilli sauce instead. Alternatively, moisten two tablespoons of Turkish chilli paste (acı biber salça) with soy sauce and add a little sugar. Taste, and add a little more sugar if the flavour balance isn’t right for you.
Fermented foods are hitting the headlines a lot these days as we are all told we must look after our gut health. Eating kimchi every day has put Koreans ahead of the game in that regard. Dating back around 2,000 years, kimchi is a hot, tart, garlicky pickle that takes pride of place at Korean meals. It can be made from various vegetables but the most popular variety is made with cabbage, which is smothered in a mixture of ginger, garlic, spring onions, salt, sugar and hot red pepper, before being packed into pots or jars and left to ferment until the preferred level of sourness is reached. Kimchi can be served with any meal — even breakfast — and the liquid left over after all the pickled vegetable has been eaten is used to flavour soups and stews. There are over 100 different types of kimchi in Korean cuisine, many of them requiring ingredients that we just can’t get here. This recipe is a simple one that is TRNCcompatible. It will make about a litre.
KIMCHI
1 Chinese cabbage (most supermarkets have these) 1 tablespoon coarse salt 4 garlic cloves, crushed A thumb-sized piece of ginger, peeled and grated 2 tablespoons fish sauce (nam pla)
2 tablespoons chilli paste (acı biber salça) or sauce 1 tablespoon sugar 3 tablespoons rice vinegar 6 radishes, coarsely grated 2 carrots, coarsely grated 3 or 4 spring onions, finely shredded
Cut the cabbage in half lengthways, then slice into 3cm strips. Transfer to a bowl, mix in the coarse salt and set aside for an hour. Blend the garlic, ginger, fish sauce, chilli paste, sugar and vinegar together in a small bowl.
Rinse the cabbage under cold running water and drain thoroughly in a colander. Tip it into a large bowl and stir in the radishes, carrots and spring onions. Add the spicing mixture and use your hands to work it thoroughly through the vegetables — do wear latex or rubber gloves for this.
Pack the mixture tightly into a large jar, pressing down so that it is submerged in its own liquid. Cover loosely with the lid and set aside to ferment at room temperature for up to five days. Stand the jar on a plate in case it bubbles over while fermenting. Remove the lid each day to release the gases and press the mixture down to keep it submerged. Taste a sample each day and when the flavour is to your liking, tighten the lid and put the jar in the fridge. Use as required; it will keep for about two weeks.
Last year, we were told that Buddha bowls were “in”. This year, the Chicago Tribune favours the Korean version, bulgogi bibimbap, as the “on trend” dish. Bulgogi refers to marinated meat and bibimbap means “mixed rice”. Highly traditional recipes feature raw beef topped with raw egg but nowadays the preference is for cooked ingredients, with myriad combinations of vegetables and meats possible.
BULGOGI BIBIMBAP
100g beef 1 tablespoon soy sauce 1 tablespoon sesame oil 2 garlic cloves, minced 1 heaped tablespoon gochujang or other chilli sauce 1 tablespoon sesame oil 1 tablespoon soft brown sugar 1 tablespoon water 1 teaspoon cider vinegar 2 garlic cloves, minced 1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds Sunflower oil
1 small courgette, cut into julienne strips
1 medium carrot, peeled and cut into julienne strips 200g spinach, rinsed and shredded 250g bean sprouts
2 portions of rice, steamed and kept warm
2 eggs
Slice the beef into thin strips, then cut into 3cm pieces and transfer them to a shallow glass dish. Mix together the spoonful of soy sauce, sesame oil and minced garlic. Pour the mixture over the meat and set aside to marinate for at least 30 minutes.
Put the gochujang, sesame oil, brown sugar, water, cider vinegar and minced garlic into a bowl and blend together to make a sauce. Stir in the sesame seeds and set aside.
Heat a little sunflower oil in a wok and stir-fry the beef strips for about five minutes, until cooked through. Transfer to a bowl and keep warm while you cook the vegetables.
Wipe round the pan, heat a little more oil and stir-fry the courgette and carrot for about two minutes. Push to one side, add the spinach and bean sprouts (keeping them separate) and continue cooking for a further three minutes or so until the spinach has wilted.
Finally, fry the eggs. Divide the rice between two bowls, add the meat and the vegetables, pour over the gochujang sauce. Top each bowl with a fried egg and serve immediately.
You can substitute chicken for beef if you prefer, with mushrooms rather than courgette. For authenticity, kimchi is essential. Either serve it on the side or as one of the vegetables in the bowl.
Trivia-lovers may be interested to learn that “Kim”, a popular surname in Korea, is also their word for the dark green, sheets of dried seaweed that the Japanese call “nori”.