Banchan - Korean side dishes~

All Korean food lovers would definitely have tasted Korean side dishes before. In Korea, it is called banchan - 반찬. More often than not, Koreans eat rice with side dishes. Did you know that normally, when you ask Koreans "What do you eat?", sometimes, they would say that they eat rice. This kind of answer is different from Malaysians who would normally give more detailed answers like, i am eating rice with fried chicken, steamed egg and so on. When Koreans say that they ate rice for the meal, it normally means that they eat rice with a few "banchan".

There are so many kinds of banchan invented by Koreans. However, they can certainly be categorised into a few categories which are:

1. Kimchi - which are fermented cabbages (napa cabbage) with chili sauce (which are normally gochujang) and salt

As we all know, kimchi can be sweet, sour, salty, spicy and so on. It is really tasty and gets along with rice and any other food like pajeon, ramyeuns & etc.

Fun facts:

The love of Koreans towards kimchis is so strong, to the extent that when Koreans were going to go to space in the year of 2008, they carried kimchis with them. As a result, the korean goverments spent millions to reduce the smell and bacteria production level of kimchi's by 50% by discovering more scientific facts about kimchi. As a result, kimchis are able to be exported to overseas countries, and can now be enjoyed by people from all around the world.

2. Namul - steamed, marinated, or stir-fried vegetables usually seasoned with sesame oil, salt, vinegar, minced garlic, chopped green onions, dried chili

peppers, and soy sauce.

Generally, it means seasoned vegetables.

The types f namul can be seen as follows:

Kongnamul콩나물 - Cold boiled soybean sprouts with sesame oil, spring onions, garlic and sesame seeds

Sukjunamul숙주나물 - Cold boiled mungbean sprouts with sesame oil, spring onions, garlic and sesame seeds

Sigeumchi namul'[5]시금치나물 - Lightly blanched spinach dressed with spring onions, garlic and sesame seeds

Miyeok muchim[6]미역무침 - Miyeok (wakame, a seaweed) with sweet vinegar and salt

Musaengchae/Muchae[7]무생채/무채 - Julienned white radish in a sweet vinegar sauce, sometimes with ground dried chili pepper

Gosari namul고사리나물 - Stir-fried bracken fern shoots that have been softened and seasoned

Chwinamul취나물 - Stir-fried and seasoned Aster Scaber

Bireum namul[8]비름나물 - Blanched and seasoned amaranthus, usually with gochujang

Naengi namul[9]냉이나물 - Blanched and seasoned shepherd's purse

Dolnamul돌나물 - Raw sedum with pepper sauce dressing

Gogumasun namul[10]고구마순나물 - Boiled/seasoned sweet potato shoots

Gaji namul가지나물 - Steamed eggplant

Doraji namul도라지나물 - Boiled balloon flower roots

Sukgatmuchim쑥갓무침 - blanched garland chrysanthemum greens

Note: Extracted from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Namul

From here, we can see that normally, the vegetables that can be to make namuls are soybean sprouts, mungbean sprouts, spinach, seaweed, radish, fren shoots, sedum, balloon flower roots and so on while the seasonings can be used to make namuls include sesame oil, spring onions, garlic, sesame seeds, vinegar sauce, gochujang and so on. So viewers, you can either choose to follow the recipes that can be found in internet, or you can trying making your own namul based on your own preference.

3. Bokkeum - a dish stir-fried with sauce

There are two types of bokkeum, which are dry and wet bokkeum. Bokkeums can be made from so many kinds of meat for example, scallops, pork livers, small octopus, squids, sausages, salated mackerel, shrimps, clams and so on.

The examples of bokkeums are as follows,

Watery

• Gari bokkeum (가리볶음), made with scallops

• Gan bokkeum (간볶음), made with beef or pork liver

• Nakji bokkeum (낙지볶음), made with small octopus[3]

• Ojingeo bokkeum (오징어볶음), made with squid

• Songi bokkeum (송이볶음), made with matsutake[4]

• Soseji yachae bokkEum (소세지 야채볶음), made with sausage and vegetables in a sweet, spicy sauce. [5]

• Ueong bokkeum (우엉볶음), made with greater burdock

• Jeyuk bokkeum (제육볶음), a hot and spicy pork dish[6]

Dry

• Kimchi bokkeum (김치볶음), the base of Kimchi bokkeumbap[3]

• Myeongtae bokkeum (명태볶음), made with Alaskan pollock

• Jaban bokkeum (자반볶음), made with salted mackerel

• Gochujang bokkeum (고추장볶음), made with meat and gochujang

• Myeolchi bokkeum (멸치볶음), made with dried small anchovies

• Saeu bokkeum (새우볶음), made with shrimps

• Jogaesal bokkeum (조갯살볶음), made with clams' fresh

• Ojingeochae bokkeum (오징어채볶음), made with dried shredded squid[7]

• Jwichichae bokkeum (쥐치채), made with dried shredded Stephanolepis cirrhife

Extracted from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bokkeum

If you are interested in making your own bokkeum, you can refer to the videos in youtube.com. One of the easy ones is this one: - Jeyuk Bokkeum (Spicy Stir Fried Pork -

4. Jorim - a dish simmered in a seasoned broth

Dubu Jorim (Soy Braised Tofu)

Types of jorims are as follows:

• Jangjorim (장조림), made mostly with beef, or eggs

• Godeungeo jorim (고등어조림), made with mackerel, radish and seasonings

• Yeongeun jorim (연근조림), made with lotus root

• Dubu jorim (두부조림), made with tofu

• Ggatnip jorim (깻잎조림), made with perilla leaves

Extracted from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jorim

5. Jjim - steamed dish.

Gyeran Jjim (Steamed Egg)

Types of jjim dish are as follows:

• Galbijjim (갈비찜), made by steaming marinated galbi (beef short ribs) with diced potato and carrots in ganjang sauce.

• Andong jjimdak (찜닭), made by steaming chicken with vegetables and cellophane noodles in ganjang sauce.

• Gyeranjjim (계란찜), made with eggs

• Saengseon jjim (생선찜), made with fish

• Agujjim (아구찜), made by steaming marinated blackmouth angler, stalked Sea Squirt, kongnamul (soybean sprouts), and minari (미나리, water dropwort). It is a local specialty of Masan, South Gyeongsang Province.

• Domijjim (도미찜), made with sea bream

• Eundaegujjim (은대구찜), made with cod

• Jeonbokjjim (전복찜), made with abalone marinated in a mixed sauce of ganjang (Korean soy sauce) and cheongju (rice wine)

• Dubujjim (두부찜), made with tofu

• Tteokbokki (떡볶이), made with tteok

Extracted from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jjim

6. Jeon - a variety of pan-fried, pancake-like dishes

Pajeon

As for jeons, Koreans has developed many kinds so jeons! They are mainly made from meat, seafood, vegetables and mushrooms.

You can find the examples of jeons from the list below:

Meat

• Yukjeon (육전 肉煎), made with shredded beef[2]

• Wanjajeon (완자전) or wanja (완자); also named donggeurang ttaeng (동그랑땡), small ball-shaped jeon comprising minced beef, tofu, and vegetables, coated with wheat flour and egg batter[3][4]

• Ganjeon (간전), made with beef liver[5]

• Cheonyeopjeon (처녑전), made with omasum[6]

• Meat jun, a popular Korean dish in Hawaii.

Seafood

Saengseonjeon (생선전 生鮮煎) is a generic term referring to any jeon made with fish. Generally, white fish is preferred for making jeon. Whereas haemul jeon (해물전 海物煎) includes jeon made with not only fish but also paeryu (패류 shellfish), shrimp and octopus.

• Mineojeon (민어전 民魚煎), made with croaker[7]

• Daegujeon (대구전 大口煎), made with Pacific cod[8]

• Guljeon (굴전), made with oysters[9]

• Daehajeon (대하전 大蝦煎), made with fleshy prawn[10]

• Saewoojeon (새우전), made with shrimp[11]

Vegetables and mushrooms

• Kimchijeon (김치전), made with kimchi[12]

• Pajeon (파전), made with green onions[12]

• Gamjajeon (감자전), made with grated potato[13]

• Hobakjeon (호박전), made with squash[14]

• Yeongeunjeon (연근전), made with lotus root[15]

• Gochujeon (고추전), made with chili peppers[16]

• Gajijeon (가지전), made with eggplant[17]

• Deodeokjeon (더덕전), made with deodeok (Codonopsis lanceolata)[18]

• Gosarijeon (고사리전), made with bracken[19]

• Pyogojeon (표고전), made with shiitake mushrooms and beef[20]

Others

• Bindaetteok (빈대떡), made with mung beans, various vegetables, and meat or seafood

• Memiljeon (메밀전), made with buckwheat

• Dubujeon (두부전), made with tofu[21]

• Hwajeon (화전), made with edible flowers, such as azalea or rose

Extracted from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeon_(food)

If we would like to count all the side dishes that are available in Korea now, it may take a really long time to complete counting. As time goes by, surely more kinds of side dishes will be developed, so there may be no way of finish counting the types of side dishes in Korea. However, it doesn't matter does it? Now that we have internet, and the recipes are all over the websites contributed by kind cooks. We can easily get the recipes and modify them according to our liking. Just remember that, there are a few categories of side dishes, and if you'd like to, you can start preparing the complete set and start eating like a korean! <3

View the link below to know more vaireties of banchan:

We hope this information is beneficial to you! :D