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Korean Food: Rice and Rice Dishes |
 Instead of asking "Have you had a meal?" Koreans usually ask "Have you eaten rice today?" Rice is the staple food for most Koreans and it appears at almost every meal. It can be cooked alone (the most common case), with other grains (such as millet or barley), or with chestnuts and beans. Vegetables may also be mixed with the rice before serving. Rice gruel (often made for sick people or the elderly who have health problems) is also classed as a main dish. In the past, farmers calculated their net worth by the amount of rice they had, making rice synonymous with wealth. |
Bibimbap (Mixed Vegetables on Rice)
A simple but popular dish, bibimbap is a bowl of hot rice served in a bowl topped with a variety of vegetables (cooked and raw) arranged on top. Vegetables can be seasonal, with toraji, bell flower roots, gosari, bracken, bean sprouts, and spinach often served. Other ingredients can include chestnuts, jujubes, ginseng, and a small amount of seafood or meat. An egg may be also served on the top. Most restaurants prepare the dish with a big scoop of gochujang and red pepper paste placed with the vegetables. (Ask for it to be placed on the side if you do not like the taste much.) This dish comes in two ways: a large bowl with rice on the bottom and the other ingredients placed on top, or just the ingredients in the bowl and a separate bowl of rice. Mix all the ingredients together then use your spoon to eat. A bowl of light soup is also served.
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Bokgeumbap (Fried Rice) 
Every household has leftovers. Korean housewives find that a useful way to use them up is to mix with older rice and stir-fry the mixture over a hot flame. It makes a quick meal and stretches meats and vegetables that would not quite make a full side dish by themselves. Often a fried egg is added on top. Eat with a spoon. A light soup usually accompanies a serving. Popular types of Bokkeumbap include Kimchi Bokkeumbap, Haemul Bokkeumbap (seafood), and Nakji Bokkeumbap (octopus).
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Dolsot Bibimbap (Sizzling Vegetables on Rice)
Similar to Bibimbap, Dolsot Bibimbap's ingerdients include rice and various vegetables (sometimes with meat). While regular Bibimbap is usually served in a cool bowl, Dolsot Bibimbap comes in a hot crock. Also, it usually includes more ingredients. To eat, mix the ingredients together then eat with a spoon. After eating, poor some hot water into the crock to soften the rice that sticks to the side. Scrape off this rice (called nudungji) and eat it as well.
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Gimbap (Rice Wrapped in Seaweed)
Gimbap (usually spelled Kimbap) is Korea's most popular and nutritious convenience meal. You can find it sold everywhere: picnics, schoolchildren's lunch boxes, street venders, and convenience stores. A layer of cooked rice is spread over a square piece of gim (dried laver). Various ingredients (including ham, sausage, spinach, cucumber, crab meat, carrots, and radishes) are thinly sliced and placed on top. The laver is rolled into a tube, sliced into sliced pieces, and seasoned with sesame seeds. The idea was borrowed from the Japanese during the colonial period, but Korean Gimbap is slightly different. How to eat: Each roll is sliced into bite-sized pieces. Eat one at a time with chopsticks. If you eat at a street vender, sometimes you have to use a tooth pick instead of chopsticks.
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Jjajangbap (Rice with Brown Bean Sauce) 
In an oiled pan, pork is fried then onions, potatoes, and brown bean sauce are added. The mixture is poured over rice.
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Kimchi Bokkeumbap (Kimchi Fried Rice) 
Korean housewives found that a useful way to use soured kimchi was to fry it, adding meat (mostly ground beef or shrimp), other vegetables, and some steamed rice. It is often served with a fried egg on top. Since it is cheap and easy to cook, it is popular among young Koreans or students who can not afford expensive meals. This is also reflected in Korea's pop culture. One popular Korean song written by a young musician a few years ago told that the singer's favorite girl was the one who could cook Kimchi Bokkeumbap well.
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Kongnamulbap (Rice with bean sprouts) 
Cook the rice with bean sprouts on the top. After it's cooked, mix with seasoned soy sauce, minced garlic, sesame oil, and powdered sesame salt.
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Mapadubu deopbap (Rice with tofu and Chinese hot pepper) 
Rice with tofu and Chinese hot pepper paste After frying tofu and minced pork add dubanjang (Chinese hot pepper paste) and boil. Add this sauce over rice.
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Nakji Bokkeumbap (Stir-fried Octopus) 
An octopus is cut into bite-sized pieces, along with carrots, onions, green onions, and watercress. This dish is cooked in a round-bottomed Chinese wok over a strong fire and mixed with pre-cooked rice. Red pepper powder and black powder are added as the main seasonings.
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Ogokbap (Five-Grain Rice)
Although rice is the staple food for Koreans, they also use other grains. They often combine four other grains with glutinous and regular rice (most commonly glutinous sorghum, glutinous millet, dried black beans, and dried sweet beans). Each are cleaned and soaked separately then cooked until the grains have expanded and are well done. The various grains used differ between areas. Koreans tended to use those grains that they planned to plant in the coming year. In the past, Ogokpap was also a substitute of Yakshik for commoners who could not afford to have the ingredients like jujubes, chestnuts, and pine nuts for Yakshik on the first full moon day. Koreans also believe that Ogokpap must be shared by at least 3 different families to bring good luck in the coming year. Taeborum (the first full moon) The first full moon falls on the 15th day of the first lunar month, signaling the beginning of the agricultural cycle. Koreans rise early, eat nuts (in the belief that hard foods strengthen the teeth), and drink a cup of cold wine called kwibalki sul ('ear-sharpening wine' is thought to clear the ears for good news). A special 'five-grain rice' is eaten on this day. Various combinations of millet, glutinous rice, beans and sorghum are eaten with greens prepared from dried vegetables collected the previous autumn. Farmers believe that this meal will ward off heat during the coming summer months.
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Ojingeo deopbap (Rice with cuttlefish on top) 
Roast cuttlefish with hot pepper paste and add starch water to make it thick and add this on the top of rice.
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Tteokbokki (Stir Fried Rice Cake)
Long tteok (rice cakes) are stir-fried with carrots, bamboo shoots, mushrooms, and cucumbers and stewed in a gochujang-based sauce. Although it may sound unappetizing, the taste is very good. It is very popular at street vendors.
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Yakbap (Flavored glutinous rice mixed with )
Flavored glutinous rice mixed with honey, dates, chestnuts Mix with various ingredients such as chestnuts and jujube with hard-boiled glutinous rice then steamed in an earthenware steamer. This is Korean traditional food.
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Yeongyangsotbap (Rice with healthy ingredients cooked in a sto) 
Rice with healthy ingredients cooked in a stone pot Rice cooked in a stone pot with healthy ingredients such as fresh ginseng, jujube, shiitake mushrooms, chicken meat, and gingko nuts. After the rice is cooked, remove it from the pot and add water to enjoy Koreans' favorite scorched rice tea, sungnyung.
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