KoreaToday KT Recommendations for Provincial Dishes

Korea has many distinctive dishes in its provincial areas, but they have long been overshadowed in the country's mainstream dining scene. Some institutes are making efforts in highlighting richness and uniqueness of the local culinary culture.

The Korea Times introduces five of those dishes under courtesy of the National Academy of Agricultural Science, publisher of a recipe book of those dishes.

Insamjeonggwa (Honey-candied ginseng, South Chungcheong Province)

Ingredients

4 ginsengs (fresh ones), 6 tablespoons of sugar, 2 tablespoons of starch syrup, 1 teaspoon of honey, water

How to Cook

1. Clean ginseng and boil thoroughly.

2. Take out the boiled ginseng in a pot. Add sugar and slowly heat again. Be careful not to stir while the sugar water is boiling.

3. When the sugar water boils down to half in volume, add starch syrup and keep boiling without stirring.

4. Pour honey and stir when it is almost boiled down.

Bingtteok (Jeju-style buckwheat pancake, Jeju Island)

5 cups of buckwheat flour, 8 cups of water, 800 grams of radish, 100 grams of spring onion, 1 teaspoon of salt, 1 teaspoon of sesame salt, 2 teaspoons of sesame oil, cooking oil

1. Knead buckwheat flour in tepid water.

2. Shred radish into 5-centimeter long and 0.3-centimeter wide, boil to get them completely cooked and take out from water. Cut spring onion into 0.3-centimer long pieces.

3. Add sesame oil, salt and sesame salt into the radish strips and mix well to make the filling.

4. Line a pan with oil and pan-fry the buckwheat dough into 20-centimeter diagram thin pancakes.

5. Put the pancake in plates. Place one spoonful of the filling and roll up before serving.

Eoriguljeot (Spicy-salted oysters, South Chungcheong Province)

1 kilogram of oyster, 4 tablespoons of red pepper powder, 4 tablespoons of salt, 2 tablespoons of soju (traditional Korean liquor), 2 tablespoons of buckwheat flour, 2 cups of water

1. Rinse oyster in salt water, drain it and salt down.

2. Remove water completely when the oyster turns to light red in color. Mix the oyster well with soju and red pepper powder.

3. Melt buckwheat flour into water and heat it stirring. Mix with the oyster and add more salt according to the period of preservation.

Eonyang Bulgogi (Eonyang-style barbecued beef, South Gyeongsang Province)

600 grams of beef, 90 grams of pear, a pinch of sesame seeds

(seasoning sauce) 1.5 tablespoons of soy sauce, 1.5 tablespoon of sugar, 2 tablespoons of chopped green onion, 1 tablespoon of crushed garlic, 1 tablespoon of honey, 1 teaspoon of starch syrup, 1 tablespoon of sesame oil, a pinch of ground pepper

1. Slice beef into thick pieces of 3-centimeter long and 5-centimeter wide.

2. Peel the pear and grate. Mix the beef slices with the grated pear, and keep it for 30 minutes.

3. Add the beef with seasoning sauce and mix well.

4. Place damp Korean paper over the heated grill. Put the seasoned beef on it and cook. Sprinkle the paper with water

5. Put another watered paper upon the beef. Turn it upside down and grill again. Sprinkle some sesame seeds on top of the cooked meat.

Heotjesabap (Table of fake ceremonial food, North Gyeongsang Province)

2 cups of rice, 300 grams of radish, 250 grams of been curd, 200 grams of shark meat, 200 grams of beef, 200 grams of salted mackerel, 100 grams of egg, 80 grams of frozen Pollack fillet, 80 grams of spinach, 80 grams of bean sprouts, 80 grams of Korean cabbage, 50 grams of bracken, 50 grams of bellflower roots, 30 grams of sea tangle, water, 2 tablespoons of soy sauce, 1 teaspoon of crushed ginger, 0.5 tablespoon of sesame oil, 0.5 tablespoon of sesame salt, 2 tablespoons of salt, 0.5 tablespoon of oil, a pinch of sugar

1. Make the rice.

2. Clean beef, mackerel and shark meat and cut into 7-centimeter long and 3-centimeter wide slices, season with salt and panfry. Skewer them together and panfry in oil.

3. Clean spinach, bellflower roots, bean sprouts and bracken, and slice half of the radish. Boil them lightly to get them cooked, add soy sauce, sugar and sesame oil and panfry.

4. Coat softened sea tangle and Korean cabbage in knead of flour, water and egg, add salt and panfry.

5. Dice the rest of radish and bean curd, add the water used to soften the sea tangle and boil. Season with soy sauce.

6. Place rice, skewers, cooked vegetable, sea tangle and cabbage pancakes soup together on a plate.