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Annie introduces you delicious Korean food.
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Bap 밥 - (Korean Food)
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Last Modified : 2017/02/18

Travel regions : South Korea
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1. Ingredients for Bap


-Primary ingredients: Rice
-Secondary ingredients: Water




2. Taste evaluation


-Spicy:☆☆☆☆☆
-Salty:☆☆☆☆☆
-Sweet:★☆☆☆☆
-Sour:☆☆☆☆☆
-Toasted flavor: ★☆☆☆☆




3. Introduction to Bap (steamed rice)

The typical Korean meal consists of Bap (grains like rice and barley) and Banchan(side dishes).

The reason why Korean foods are spicy and salty is because this rice.

Rice is only steamed in water with no seasoning so it goes well with side dishes with strong flavor.

As it is one of essential ingredients of Korean diet, I’ll introduce you briefly.

Its history dates back to the New Stone Age when people started to eat rice in earthenware.

Assuming from the steamer that was used in the Bronze Age, they made grain porridge and then started to steam it.

Since the Iron Age, people used similar recipe to today’s rice recipe as they started to make caldron made of cast iron.

And then people started to eat Bap(steamed rice) as Sot(Korean traditional caldron made of cast iron) was distributed to people in Goguryeo.




Canon EOS 550D | f/4.0 | iso 320 | 2012:04:27 19:12:39 | Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode | 17mm




The recipe for Bap is not so simple.

You need to clean the grains and soak it in water. When you boil it with water in Sot, it is boiled in water at first and then steamed as the Sot is filled with vapor.

And you should lower the fire until the water is absorbed more and the bottom gets yellowish, which needs time to make rice tasty.

So you need to go through three steps to make riceㅡboiling, steaming and burning(steaming thoroughly).

In order to successfully complete this process, the amount of water plays the central role because the bottom of rice burns if the water is too little and the water is not properly vaporized if there’s too much of it.

Plus the cook needs to control the fire while he/she makes rice all the way.

Bap typically refers to steamed white rice and Japgok-bap is white rice mixed with different grains like barley, bean or adzuki.

Koreans usually eat white rice and Japgok-bap is popular for a healthy diet.

The shape of Korean rice is round and transparent that is chewy when it’s cooked and it looks similar to Japanese or Chinese rice although it is quite different in taste and texture from Southeast Asian countries’ rice that is long and non-sticky.

Well-cooked rice looks yummy. It’s moisturized and chewy and the taste gets better the more you chew it.

And if you add barley, bean, millet sorghum or other grains (it’s called Japgok-bap), the taste of each ingredient will be added.

These days, restaurants serve Japgok-bap instead of white rice because it’s known to be very healthy.

Korean dishes are relatively salty and spicy compared to Western food so it goes well with this Bap and that’s why you should try Korean food with Bap.

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Canon EOS 550D | f/4.0 | iso 800 | 2015:03:17 13:22:54 | Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode | 47mm




4. Kinds of Bap

Koreans typically eat white rice but they add other grains or vegetables.


- Ssalbap: Steamed white rice

- Japgokbap: Steamed white rice mixed with barley, beans and adzuki. It’s called Bori-bap(barley), Kong-bap(bean) and Pat-bap(adzuki).

- Chaeso-bap: Steamed white rice mixed with carrot, radish and other greens. It’s called Danggeun-bap(carrot), Mu-bap(radish), Beoseot-bap(mushroom) and Namul-bap(greens).







5. How to enjoy Bap even more

If you ever tried Korean traditional menu, you’d notice that there’s rice and side dishes on the table.

And it always starts with rice. Rice should be eaten with side dishes and soup. First try rice, then side dishes, then rice again, and then side dishes…goes like this.

You should not finish rice and one side dish after another like you’re eating Western food.

You need to eat rice and other dishes alternately when you eat Korean food. So that rice is harmonized with other food with strong flavors in your mouth.

There’s a step for steaming it thoroughly while you make Bap. If you overcook it, the rice at the bottom would be sticking on the bottom of the pot which is called Nurungji(crust of overcooked rice).

It used to be popular as snacks when there was no proper dessert, not to mention cake. People used to enjoy Nurungji as snacks with sugar on it.

But there are plenty of nice snacks today so I want you to try Nurungji just for fun.

Pour warm water in Nurungji pot and wait for 10 minutes to make it Nurungji-tang.

It will be a good experience for you if you try this because it has a toasted flavor and feels so soft.







ご飯, 밥, 쌀, 보리, 곡식, 쌀밥, 잡곡밥, 채소밥, 반찬, 누룽지, bop, rice, barley, grain, boiled-rice, Japgok-bap, vegetable-rice, side-dishes, nurungji
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