From The Straits Times    |

Mention a vacation in South Korea and what comes to mind is the spellbinding beauty of its natural landscapes, the fun of shopping and visiting the country of K-pop and K-dramas. Don’t miss the opportunity to taste dishes you may have seen on Korean dramas.

1. DAK GALBI (SPICY STIR-FRIED CHICKEN WITH VEGETABLES)

Dak Galbi is presented in a large skillet filled with onions, carrots, sweet potatoes, cabbages and marinated chicken. The skillet arrives with most of the ingredients raw and the server will cook the dish over a stove at the dining table. What makes this dish so delectable is the chicken’s marinade comprising spicy red pepper paste (gochujang), spicy red pepper flakes (gochugaru), cooking wine, soya sauce and other condiments. After grilling and eating the ingredients in the skillet, pour some cooked short-grained white rice into the leftover sauce and mix them well for a spicy and flavourful round up to the dish.

2. PATJUK (RED BEAN SOUP)

If you are in South Korea on Dec 21 this year, be sure to have a bowl of patjuk. Red bean soup called patjuk in Korean is eaten during the Winter Solstice Festival in the 11th month of the Lunar calendar. Winter solstice is known to have the shortest daylight hours and longest night of the year. In South Korean culture, people eat patjuk on this day as red symbolises a colour bringing about luck and good fortune. Perk yourself up with this sweet thick soup boiled using azuki beans, sugar and chewy rice cakes made from glutinous rice flour.

3. HOTTEOK (PASTRY WITH SUGARY FILLING)

This popular street snack is an affordable sweet treat you can munch on-the-go. Hotteok’s dough is left to rise for a few hours before being cooked in a sizzling oiled griddle. The golden-brown exterior is crispy and the sugary filling consists of melted sugar, cinnamon powder, peanuts and honey.

4. MUL NAENGMYEON (COLD NOODLES)

This unusual dish was believed to have originated from North Korea before the recipe spread to South Korea. The bowl of chewy noodles is served with cold broth, pickled radish, sweet pear slices, cucumbers strips, beef and half a hardboiled egg. The greyish-brown noodles are made from sweet potato flour, buckwheat flour, arrowroot starch and other ingredients. The chilled clear broth is usually concocted with beef stock and liquid from dongchimi. Dongchimi is kimchi consisting of radish, scallions, ginger, pear and napa cabbages. The kimchi is fermented in water containing salt and sugar for at least a week in the fridge.

5. SOONDAE (STEAMED SAUSAGES)

This sausage is a street food served warm in slices. Sticky rice or dangmyeon noodles, pig’s blood, scallions and other ingredients are stuffed into pig’s or cow’s intestines. The stuffed sausage is then steamed. Dangmyeon noodles are made from sweet potato starch and become increasingly transparent as they are cooked. Variations of soondae include the Ojingeo sundae that is a filling of rice, meat and vegetables stuffed in squid or the Myeongtae sundae that contains pollock fish.

This story was originally published in The Straits Times Classified.