Coffee Breakfast

Food

This article was written by me as a guest article on KoreaTaste.org – the intention of the article is for me to win a trip to Korea where I can learn more about Korean food. Please visit the article and give it the thumbs up to help me achieve this dream! I have also written another article there which you may like called Making The Switch to Korean Food. Note: registration is not required. I decided to publish the article here as well because it is in the format we all love and it doesn’t hurt to have a second list on one day from time to time!

All images are of my attempts to follow the recipes linked below. The recipes are easy to follow and each one is incredibly delicious. If you can make these dishes you should because home cooking is always best, but if it is not possible, be sure to try them all out at your local Korean restaurant. You should also note that the recipes all contain videos of the cooking process.

The Korean culture is quite unique in its approach to food. Food seems to permeate every aspect of life. If you have watched a Korean drama or movie you will undoubtedly have noticed that in at least one scene someone is eating. There are even entire films and dramas based around Korean cuisine. For Koreans food is much more than something to fill the belly – it provides taste, medicine, and a connection to the country. Below I have listed ten dishes that, in my opinion, are truly the most delicious; these are foods that every Westerner will love as much as Koreans.

Soondubu jiggae is a Korean stew (jiggae) – thicker than a soup but thinner than a porridge. When cooked in the traditional way (in an earthenware pot – pictured above) all of the cooking is done in just the one dish. This makes it very easy to clean up afterwards – a job we all hate. It starts with a delicious fish stock and a little beef to deepen the flavor then finished off with fresh shell fish, hot pepper flakes, silken tofu, and eggs which are optional. The best thing about this stew is that you – the cook – can control how hot you want it but limiting the quantity of hot pepper flakes. You can have it blisteringly hot or very mild which is particularly handy if you are cooking for children who can’t stomach their food too spicy. The small amount of beef is typical of Korean food and illustrates how healthy it is – the meat is used for flavor rather than stomach filling. This is a dish everyone should try – it is really one of the nicest ways to introduce someone to tofu which picks up all of the flavors of the stew while adding a soft comforting texture. Eat it with rice and side dishes for a complete meal.