Lee Aae-ran is a North Korean defector who worked as a food inspection officer in the North. She obtained a doctorate here with a dissertation on dietary challenges of North Koreans. / Korea Times |
By Kim Sue-young
Staff Reporter
North Korea has unique food made with rare ingredients. The Choson Sinbo newspaper, the communist regime's de facto mouthpiece, published in Tokyo, introduced a range of cuisine including ostrich soup and simmered chicken heart at a festival presenting holiday food last week.
One of the dishes that received critical acclaim was ostrich soup in ostrich eggshell.
``Ostrich meat, various vegetables and ostrich egg boiled at 100 degrees Celsius offers a new way of cooking with the traditional food characteristics remaining,'' the newspaper said.
Residual parts of a chicken were used to seduce the taste buds of North Koreans and heighten up the celebratory atmosphere.
According to the report, a local restaurant presented 10 dishes using chicken parts and giblets ― fried feet, crests seasoned with mustard sauce and stomach and hearts simmered in special sauce.
``Chairman of the National Defense Commission Kim Jong-il praised the foods, saying abandoned parts were turned into unique dishes,'' it said.
Sweet desserts were not to be missed.
A young chef, Cheon Eun-hui, who offered soft ice cream flavored with cocoa, coffee, strawberry and banana, was acknowledged as a master of ice cream, the report said.
``Kim assessed that the dessert was as great as world-famous Italian ice-cream,'' it added.
Characteristics
Despite all the beautification, an expert in North Korean food points out that it's rare.
``Actually, its ingredients are not easily acquired,'' Lee Aae-ran, a researcher at the Institute of Unification Studies at Ewha Womans University in Seoul, said in an interview with The Korea Times. Having graduated from Sinuiju University in North Korea, 46-year-old Lee defected to South Korea with her family members in 1997.
``North Koreans used to cook ostrich meat, which isn't juicy, which is why I think they rarely eat ostrich steak and ostrich in casserole,'' she said.
She used to work as a food inspection officer in the North and successfully obtained a doctorate here in January with a dissertation on dietary challenges of North Koreans.
In terms of the food made with chicken stomach, Lee noted that the part is particularly believed to have medicinal properties in Oriental medicine and is thus used for presentation.
But as she mentioned earlier, they're uncommon ingredients in daily life.
``My understanding is that restaurants seemed to present such food as exhibits to attract foreign visitors,'' she said.
Unlike the foods seen in the festival, more common dishes like ``manduguk,'' or dumpling soup, and ``guksu,'' or noodles in broth, are on tables during the holidays, Lee said.
The main features of North Korean food are that it's much spicier and seasoning isn't used, letting people sense the unique taste of its ingredients, the researcher said.
Foods eaten in the Hamgyeong Provinces are spicier than those in the Pyeongan region, but both are bland and mild, she added.
What's more, much of modern North Korean food is royal court cuisine handed down from generation to generation, as North Korean authorities have developed the food as part of national programs, Lee said.
``South Korean food is popularized a lot but most of it is for commoners,'' she said. ``Recipes of royal court food in the North are well-preserved.''
Globalization
For South Korea, which has vigorously promoted a campaign to globalize ``hansik,'' or Korean food, the food expert suggested that North Korean cuisine and its well-kept recipes serve as a stepping stone for the movement.
South Korean food has a great deal of pepper, hindering ingredients from attracting palates with their original tastes.
They present fusion food as well but sometimes make their foods lose its originality,'' she pointed out.
As an example, she compared ``bibimbap,'' or mixed rice with vegetables and red pepper paste, from Jeonju, which even pop legend Michael Jackson tasted, to the Pyongyang variety.
``The two dishes are quite similar but the former more red pepper paste while the latter requires less, preserving the original taste of its ingredients,'' she said.
For those who are unfamiliar with North Korean cuisines and foreigners who haven't tried it, she recommended Pyongyang bibimbap, steamed rice in a warm broth pot (onban) and steamed chicken, rabbit and pork.
``Besides the tastes, steaming and parboiling, Korea's traditional methods of cooking are known to be healthier, which will make the world focus more on hansik,'' she stressed.
ksy@koreatimes.co.kr
'Onban' Warms hearts
Onban, steamed rice in a warm broth pot, is a well-known North Korean food ― a chicken broth thick and hot enough to warm the body and mind.
It's not difficult to prepare at home, so how about trying North Korean taste and aroma?
Ingredients (for five people)
500 grams of chicken breast, 10 cups of water, spring onion, ginger, 1 table spoon of clear strained rice wine, 3 cloves of garlic, 3 pyogo mushrooms, black pepper, salt, soy sauce, sugar, mustard
How to Make
• Boil chicken breast in one cup of water. Add pepper, garlic, spring onion, ginger and wine.
• Take out the chicken breast and other ingredients after cooking well.
• Tear meat into pieces and stir-fry mushrooms.
• Season broth with salt, soy sauce, sugar and mustard in accordance with individual taste and pour on hot rice.
• Garnish with chicken breast, mushroom, and fried eggs and serve hot.
|
|
무디스, 스페인·伊·포르투갈 신용등급 강등
