Learning to cook Korean food

Cover of the book “Traditional Holiday and Seasonal Korean Cuisine” by Sohn Hong-sook / Courtesy of Kwangmoonkak

By Yun Suh-young

In order to understand a culture, people say learn about its food first. Food carries the culture and history of a country or ethnic group, embedded with tradition and the philosophy of the people.

In understanding Korean culture, it may be easier to approach Korean cuisine first.

The recently released "Traditional Holiday and Seasonal Korean Cuisine" by Professor Sohn Hong-sook of Soongeui Women's College makes an effort to explain the history and tradition behind Korean cuisine through several of the dishes it introduces.

Categorized into traditional holidays and seasons, the book introduces recipes for foods such as "ttoekguk" (rice cake soup) for New Year's Day, "paganghoi" (vegetables rolled in green onion) for April's seasonal food, and "toranguk" (taro soup) for Thanksgiving.

The book is in English and is published by Kwangmoonkak. The price is 28,000 won.

Here is one recipe from Sohn's book:

"Tteokguk" (rice cake soup):

A photo of "tteokguk" (rice cake soup)

Ingredients:

2 cups of thinly sliced white rice cake, 225g of beef (flank steak), 1 cup of sliced onions, 3 cloves of garlic, 1 Ts of green onion, 1 egg

Recipe:

1. Boil 2 cups of water and add beef. Remove boiling water and skim off any froth on the beef.

2. Add beef, garlic and onion to the kettle and pour 3 cups of water.

3. Bring it to a simmer over medium heat for about 30 minutes.

4. Take out the beef and cut it crosswise in thin parts.

5. Take out the garlic and onion. Add salt and pepper to taste, and bring it to a boil again.

6. Put sliced rice cakes into the broth. Stir and boil until the rice cakes are cooked.

7. Pour the soup into a deep bowl and add egg garnish, green onion and sliced beef as garnish. Egg garnish can be substituted with a stirred egg.