Korean Cuisine – Wonderful Tastes of Great Food

December 6, 2014

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Korean Cuisine – Wonderful Tastes of Great Food

Looking back on it now, I think it was very funny that my wife, she was my girlfriend at the time, really enjoyed going to the few Korean restaurants in Jerusalem. The people were lovely, and the food was certainly unique to the region! There are many Koreans living in Israel so it wasn’t so much a surprise to find Korean Cuisine there, but it was inspiring how good it tasted!

The Korean cuisine have a distinct sense of flavors and spices. Due to the geographic traits of the Korean Peninsula, the people have enjoyed the products of mountains, seas, and fields for centuries. They consider food to be of higher importance than merely something that fills our belly, it is a source of nutrition and medicine for them.

The biggest trait of the Korean cuisine is probably the use of spices.

They season their food with peppers, bean paste, soy sauce etc. Being a traveler and a foodie, one of my favorite activities is trying the local cuisines of the places I go to.

Here are a few dishes you must try when in Korea:

Soft-Tofu Stew (Soondubu Jiggae)

This is one of the staple foods of Korean Cuisine! This soup is absolutely amazing! Its consistency is thicker than that of a soup, but it’s still much thinner than something like porridge.

It is a mixture of beef and fish stock as the base to strengthen the flavor, topped with silken tofu, shellfish, eggs (optional) and hot pepper. They add only a small amount of beef to keep it light instead of making it filling – keeping it light is the cornerstone of all Korean food.

Rice Cake Street Food (Ddukbokkie)

One of the most famous of Korean Cuisine are street foods of the country is ddukbokkie.

Its smell crawls through the busy streets of all big Korean cities. Almost all the vendors cook a slightly different version so a lot of varieties are available for all sorts of taste buds. It is made usually with rice cakes and vegetables soaked in a sweet and spicy sauce. The rice cakes become absolutely divine once they are dipped in the soup!

Seasoned Fried Chicken (Yangnyeom Tongdak)

Everybody enjoys a deep fried chicken leg once in a while, but I doubt you have tried the Korean version. It is marinated in a sweet, spicy, and sticky red sauce and fried till the crust is hard and crunchy making it a uniquely Korean Cuisine dish.

yangnam chicken, korean version of buffalo wings

I have simply never had tastier chicken in my entire life, and that’s coming from a man who has eaten entire poultry farms (not in one sitting though). There are no words that could explain the taste; you will have to try this one for yourself if you want to believe me.

Stir-Fried noodles (Japchae)

Korean food is not just limited to Korea. One of the dishes that the world has accepted as a great restaurant meal is Japchae. The original Japchae was a royal dish, invented by the King’s chefs.

It was made without noodles. Later on, the recipe evolved, sweet potato starch noodles were added which gave the dish a unique chewy texture. Lightly cooked vegetables make this dish wholesome, hearty, and a delight to consume.

Fermented Cabbage (Kimchi)

The national dish of Korean Cuisine, Kimchi, is an important dish that is widely used. It is basically fermented cabbage marinated leaf-by-leaf with spices. It is then used as a base for numerous Korean dishes. Leaving it in the refrigerator for two-three days enhances its flavor and gives it a tangy and sour taste. Be sure to read about the museum dedicated to Kimchi here.

Korean food is the new hype around the world, as more and more people become exposed to it and the demand of Korean Cuisine outlets rise. If you are a fan of exotic cuisine and would love to try new things, Korea is the right place for you.

Enjoy!

A Visit to Kimchi Museum – The Staple Food of South Korea

November 10, 2014

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A Visit to Kimchi Museum – The Staple Food of South Korea

When I went to the Kimchi Museum, what I knew was that it is a place showcasing a Korean cuisine item. What I found out upon my visit was that Kimchi Museum is all about Kimchi, literally. Wondering what Kimchi is? Well, I was at a lost at first, too.

Kimchi is Korea’s national dish, and is one of the most traditional pieces of Korean cuisine.

It is a super spicy and sour, usually fermented Korean side dish. This much loved and honored side dish is composed of vegetables and a range of seasonings and the fun part is its resemblance with the nature of wine, the older it gets, the better it tastes, as it preserves the nutrients that are present in fresh vegetables.

The exhibitions at Kimchi Museum, all emphasized about Kimchi’s history, its importance in the Korean cuisine and its delicious varieties. The Museum had different activities for visitors like me; I witnessed a live Kimchi making process, and tasted spicy and sour Kimchi as well.

The Kimchi Museum is a fascinating place to visit, to see how the Koreans absolutely adore and revere their national fruit. The museum was divided into three sections; each one depicted different Kimchi related information.

The first section elaborated on Kimchi’s historical importance, and on display were several books and literature related to kimchi. Have you ever heard of a food trend? Well, the museum in “In the models of Kimchi in each period” illustrates the trends of kimchi that have evolved with Korean history. Trust me, Kimchi Museum was a good one to visit, its section even delved into stories about how hot peppers began to be added to kimchi. A timeline was there even, which detailed kimchi’s history.

Kimchi Museum’s second section displayed the process of Kimchi making, and anyone who has even a little bit of interest in culinary art would love to see it.

Shorts films were being played at regular intervals, thus I didn’t get bored for a second. Also there was this area which just amazed me, it displayed up to eighty varieties of kimchi. Yes, eighty! The walls were covered with graphic illustrations; some had recipes along with description and a picture too.

The third section was like a data room, which had dated records of kimchi, old and latest books on kimchi, and also on the other traditional foods of Korea. In short, this was like a kimchi library. There were kimchi related movies and articles. As I am not much into cook-books, I didn’t spend much time in this section.

Furthermore, there was a section, where I saw the environments that were created on the day of making kimchi. This also got interesting, as there were historic pottery molds on display, that were used a long time ago, for fermentation and storage of kimchi.

The visit to this one of this kind museum would have been incomplete without pictures. I took quite a few pictures. The best part was the tasting room where I got to taste two different varieties of Kimchi. Let me know what you think of Kimchi Museum, and if you have heard of any other food museums.

If you’re interesting about going to this really cool place, here’s the official website.

Enjoy!