#ksoc

In this, I won’t be talking about how to cook meat because I’ve already done the recipes for bulgogi and galbi, I will be giving the recipes for common KBBQ side dishes (반찬 - banchan)

There isn’t really a word for K-BBQ in Korean, they usually say “Let’s go eat *whatever the main meat is* (e.g. bulgogi)”

The other commonly eaten KBBQ meat is samgyupsal (삼겹살) also known as pork belly. This is usually eaten with just salt and pepper seasoning and grilled. Afterward, you could choose to dip it in ssamjang (recipe below or you can buy it in stores). This is a Korean barbeque dipping sauce. 

In most places, KBBQ is served with lettuce leaves to make lettuce wraps (상추쌈 - sangchussam). In Korea, a lot of free food is given to you when ordering BBQ, for instance kimchi and rice (밥 - bap) and maybe some of the banchan mentioned here. Onions, mushrooms, eggs and garlic in sesame oil could also be included and is a good addition to your BBQ. Sadly, in England, we don’t get this privilege of free food.

Equipment

Gloves (optional) 

Grater (optional) 

Saucepan 

Ingredients and instructions 

Radish salad (무생채 - musaengchae)

½ Daikon radish 

1 tbsp salt 

1 tsp gochugaru (optional)

4 tbsp granulated sugar 

4 tbsp white vinegar

Cut the radish into 1-2 inch pieces and thinly slice the radish lengthways (or grate the radish) 

Add the rest of the ingredients and toss using your hands 

Let sit for 30 minutes to marinate 

Green onion salad (파무침 / 파절이 - pamuchim / pajeori)

10 stalks of green onion

4 tbsp light soy sauce 

1 tbsp gochugaru

1 tbsp sesame seeds

1 tbsp sesame seed oil 

1 tbsp honey 

½ tbsp minced garlic 

½ tbsp sugar 

Chop the green onions into 2-inch pieces and slice thinly vertically 

Add the rest of the ingredients and toss using your hands 

Soybeans sprout salad (숙주나물무침 - sugjunamulmuchim) 

1 cup green onion 

1 cup soybean sprout 

1 cup lettuce 

3 tsp light soy sauce

4 tsp white vinegar 

1.5 tsp granulated sugar 

1 tsp honey 

2 tsp water 

½ tsp sesame oil 

Chop the green onions into 2-inch pieces and slice thinly vertically. Put it in a bowl with cold water and leave for 10 minutes

In a saucepan, add soybean sprouts to water and bring to a boil. As soon as the water is boiled, take it off the heat and drain the water. 

Roughly chop the lettuce 

Add them all in a bowl with the rest of the ingredients and toss with your hands

Ssamjang (쌈장)

1 clove garlic 

1 stalk of green onion 

½ bulb of onion 

¼ cup doenjang (Korean soybean paste) 

1-2 tbsp gochujang 

2 tsp toasted sesame oil 

½ tbsp honey 

2 tsp toasted sesame seeds

Mince garlic, onion and green onions 

Add to bowl with the rest of the ingredients and mix 

Bibliography:

Icon in heading: https://absolutely.london/best-korean-bbq-in-london/ 

https://www.tasteatlas.com/ssam 

https://ph.phonebooky.com/blog/samgyupsal-restaurants-makati/ 

https://futuredish.com/korean-bbq-salad-3-types/ 

Although the term hanbok literally means “korean clothing”, now it is typically used to refer specifically to the clothing worn as daily attire during the Joseon dynasty period. Nowadays it is only usually worn for special occasions such as weddings, lunar new year, ancestral rites and children’s first birthday celebrations. 

Fundamental Design

Elements of a hanbok are :

Baji (바지) - trousers

Jeogori (저고리) - upper garment

Chima (치마) - skirt made up of multiple layers

Po (포) - overcoat, a specific variety of the overcoat s the durumagi (두루마기)

The design is focused on balance and ease of movement as well as the Confucian style dress code.

For example the chima hides the movement of the lower body to give women the appearance of moving with grace and baji are loose to allow for ease when standing and sitting.

Hanbok that we know take their fundamental structure from Goguryeo (고구려) period where both men and women would wear a baji and a waist-length jeogori.

Later, with influences from other cultures, led to the noticeable changes of women having a shorter jeogori and longer chima that cinched at the waist, and men wearing looser baji with a jeogori that is bound at the waist.

Social class, colour and pattern

Upper classes would wear patterned silk or ramie cloth whereas those of lower classes were restricted to cotton hanbok.

Patterns typically represented the desires of the wearer - lotus flowers meant a hope for nobility, bats and pomegranates a desire for children.

Dragons, phoenixes, cranes and tigers could only be worn by royalty or high ranking officials.

Hanboks are known for their vibrant colours though the bright colours are mostly worn by children and young women, with men and middle aged women typically wearing more muted hues.

Commoners often wore white though pale colours and charcoal could be worn on special occasions. 

Traditionally unmarried women would wear yellow jeogori and red chima while married women would wear green and red. Women with sons would often wear navy.

In the Baekje kingdom and Goryeo dynasty, violet was used to denote royalty.

Unmarried women would also wear their hair in a single braid with a daenggi (댕기) whereas married women would have two braids that was then secured to the crown of their head.

Please note that this is a very small summary of hanbok - in reality there are many more colours and meanings that can be worn, and in many cases the accessories also denote someone's status and social class.

Researched and written by Leo ^.^

Bibliography

https://theculturetrip.com/asia/south-korea/articles/hanbok-an-introduction-to-south-koreas-national-dress/ 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanbok 

https://www.koreatravelpost.com/introduction-to-south-koreas-traditional-dress-hanbok/ 

(Serves 5)

(literally translates to seaweed rice)

Equipment 

Measuring cup or scales

Rice cooker (or saucepan)

Saucepan 

Frying pan 

(optional) gloves 

Sushi mat (or cling film, baking paper or silicone mat)

Brush (or just use your fingers)

Ingredients 

Amounts haven’t been added because you only need enough to fill the kimbap 

2 cup (450g) short-grain rice 

Spinach 

Carrot 

Cucumber 

Danmuji (yellow pickled radish)

2 eggs

1 tbsp sesame oil 

Salt (to taste) 

5 sheets of seaweed 

Add fillings of your choice (burdock root, spam, crabstick, beef, bacon, etc) but not too much as the kimbap may not contain it all

Instructions 

Cook rice with a little less water than the instructions requires. 

Cook the spinach by putting it in salted boiling water for 30 secs - 1 minute then immediately placing it in cold water. 

Cut the carrot by cutting it into 1-2 inches and then thinly slicing it lengthways

Cook the carrot by stir-frying over medium-high heat with a pinch of salt until they’re soften 

Cut the cucumber into thin slices by cutting into 1-2 inches and then thinly slicing it lengthways 

Cut danmuji into 1 cm thick strips lengthways  

Whisk the eggs together with salt and fry it over medium heat until cooked. 

Cut the egg into 1 cm thick strips lengthways 

Cut any fillings into 1 cm thick strips (Season and cook if needed)

Add sesame oil and salt to the rice. Mix and allow to cool

Assembly 

Place the seaweed sheet shiny side down on the sushi mat (the bamboo should be horizontal). The longer side of the seaweed should be the closest to you 

Spread the rice evenly over the seaweed in a thin layer about 1 cm thick (no thicker than 1 cm). The rice should not go over the edges, leave ½ inch gap from all sides. On the side furthest from you, leave a 1.5-inch gap so that the rice doesn’t overflow when rolling. 

Lay all the fillings horizontally from you about ½ inch away from the edge of the rice that is the closest to you.

Start rolling the kimbap using the mat and both hands. Remember to apply a bit of pressure while rolling. 

Brush with sesame oil and cut into 2 cm thick pieces 

It is best eaten on the day it’s made but can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge. 

Bibliography:

Icon in heading: https://www.thespruceeats.com/kimbap-korean-sushi-rolls-2118795

https://erasmusu.com/en/erasmus-hanoi/erasmus-experiences/kimbap-korean-seaweed-curry-rice-543694

https://www.koreanbapsang.com/gimbapkimbap-korean-dried-seaweed-rolls/ 

https://mykoreankitchen.com/easy-kimbap/ 

For us here in the UK and in many other countries across the world, Christmas is pretty huge - we meet our families, have a special lunch, exchange gifts and cards and decorate our houses for the whole month of December. In Korea...it’s a bit different - even the name is just Christmas written in hangul!

Do they get time off? Christmas is a national holiday celebrated on the 25th of December but it is not as big as Chuseok or Seollal so people don’t always go back to their hometowns and work/school resumes on the 26th (for us, that’s Boxing Day) so there’s no 1-4 week break like we have here.

What do they do to celebrate? Christmas is actually more like a couples holiday like Valentine’s day rather than the family holiday that we know it as here. Many shops, restaurants and other public places stay open so there’s a lot of places to go out but if you prefer staying at home, there's usually Christmas movies and Christmas specials on TV. 

Christmas carols aren’t really a thing in Korea so they listen to Christmas songs made by K-pop artists instead and, while there are Christmas trees decorated with lights and ornaments, decorating homes isn’t usually done either.

Gift-giving also isn’t as popular in Korea. Money is often given to children if people do get gifts then they will usually only get one. Although Christmas cards are popular to send.

They don’t have a traditional Christmas dinner however they do eat Christmas cake (케이크) which is either a sponge cake covered in cream or ice-cream cake - not the fruit and nut version with marzipan and icing that we know as Christmas cake.

What about Santa?  They do have Santa Claus (산타클로스 / 산타할아버지 - Santa Halabeoji which directly translated to Santa Grandpa) in Korea. He is sometimes depicted wearing blue instead of red.

Christmas greetings:  메리크리스마스 = Merry Christmas  성탄축하해요 (sungtan chukhahaeyo) is a greeting used by Christians to celebrate the birth of Jesus.

Researched by Vicki, posted by Leo :)

Bibliography

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C86kHqbd9JM&ab_channel=OneWorld2Hearts

https://www.whychristmas.com/cultures/south_korea.shtml

https://www.90daykorean.com/christmas-in-korea-what-is-it-like/ 

https://www.learnreligions.com/christmas-in-korea-2118609 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajdD89g1aRU&ab_channel=LearnKoreanwithKoreanClass101.com 

Pictures : http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/biz/2015/05/291_93068.html

In Korea flowers are an important part of culture. So much so that each day of the year has been assigned a flower (or plant) that reveals something about your personality. 

What do the committee have as their birth flowers?

Janet - Flower fern / please come

Vicki - German Iris / wonderful marriage

Leo - Carex / self-respect

Tarner - Zonal Geranium (red) / comfort

Natalya - Strawberry / love and respect

Use the chart below to find out your birth flower and what it means, we’d love to hear what everyone has!

Researched and posted by Leo!

Bibliography

The pictures are credited to an @sitaera on twitter who’s account no longer exists or now has a different name.

Age in Korea

While in KCS or enjoying media from Korea, you may have heard of “korean age” and “international age”. But what exactly is this?

International age is how we calculate age - you are zero when you are born, and each year on your birthday your age increases by one year.

International age is also referred to as legal age since this is used in courts, hospitals and public offices.

Korean age starts at one on the day you are born, then on the 1st of January every year your age increases by one year. 

While Koreans still celebrate their birthday on the day they were born their age does not change until new year. 

This means a baby can be born on the 31st of December and turn two the next day despite only being two days old in reality.

In 2019 a change was considered to drop the Korean age system in order to match the rest of the world.

So why does Korea have a different age system to the rest of the world?

The method of Korean age has its origins in China and was at one point used across Asia. However, today South Korea is the only country to use this system.

One theory is that the time a baby spends within their mother's womb is taken into consideration into their overall age and nine months rounds to one year.

Another theory is that some ancient Asian numerical systems did not have a concept of zero and therefore had to start at one.

The concept of everyone aging up at new year is thought to originate from ancient Koreans using the Chinese 60-year calendar cycle but because regular calendars did not exist the exact day of their birth was ignored and one year was added on the first day of the lunar calendar.

This then shifted to January 1st as Korea began to observe the western calendar.

How to ask about age

It’s funny that you have to guess someone’s age in order to have to ask them their age.

Age in Korea is spoken about using native Korean numbers (하나, 둘, 셋 /  hana, dul, set…).

Asking how old someone is:

Formal : 연세가 어떻게 되십니까? (yeonsega eotteoke doeshimnikka). 

Standard (from most formal to least) : 연세가 어떻게 되세요? (yeonsega eotteoke doeseyo), 나이가 어떻게 되세요? (naiga eotteoke doeseyo), 몇 살이에요? (myeot sarieyo).

Informal : 몇 살이야? (myeot sariya).

Replying with your age - in this example I have put the person as being 20 (스무 / seumu) : 

Formal : 저는 스무 살입니다 (choneun seumu sarimnida)

Standard : 저는 스무 살이에요. (choneun seumu sarieyo)

Informal : 나는 스무 살이야 (naneun seumu sariya) 

Korean Birthday Celebrations 

General birthdays

Nowadays birthdays are heavily influenced by the western tradition of cake and a party.

However eating seaweed soup (miyeokguk - 미역국) is a tradition that has remained.

Mothers ate seaweed soup after giving birth as it is rich in nutrients believed to heal and boost milk production and so to eat it on your birthday is a reminder and an appreciation of your mother’s pain and care for you.

돌잔치 - Doljanchi

A celebration of a baby's first birthday.

Historically important since many babies would die before they reached their birthday and therefore to do so was a cause for celebration

For the celebration babies will wear a hanbok with a traditional hat - jobawi (조바위) or gulle (굴레) for girls and fujin (복건) or hogeon (호건) for boys.

Family members pray and give thanks to the gods Sanshin (mountains) and Samshin (birth) for the child having been born and for the child to have a prosperous life.

Rice, seaweed soup (miyeokguk - 미역국), fruit and rice cakes are placed on a table, stacked high to symbolise a life of prosperity for the baby.

The main part of the celebration is the doljabi (돌자비) ceremony where a variety of objects are placed before the baby and the one they choose foretells their future. There are no set rules for what items are presented, though many parents choose to keep them traditional.

Examples of these items include:

Pencil or book - education

Money - wealth

Food - won’t go hungry

Thread - long life

Needle - talent with the hands

This is followed with singing and playing, and often gift giving.

환갑 - Hwangap

The celebration of someone’s 60th birthday.

A tradition from when life expectancy was much lower makes this a celebration of longevity and it also marks someone entering their second cycle of the Chinese 60-year calendar cycle.

Children of the person celebrating, starting from the eldest, bow and offer wine to their parent.

Gifts and poems may also be presented to them.

It used to be common for the sons/daughters of the person celebrating to dress in children's clothing in order to help them feel younger, though this is rare now.

The celebration itself is also becoming less popular due to medical advances and the widespread use of the western calendar

How to say Happy Birthday!

The basic word for birthday is 생일 (saengil) but if you are referring to the birthday of someone older than yourself you should use 생신 (saengsin).

The word for celebrate or congratulate is 축하하다 (chukahada).

So happy birthday as a whole phrase is:

Formal : 생신을 축하드립니다 (saengsineul chukadeurimnida).

Standard : 생일 축하합니다 (saengil chukahamnida) or 생일 축하해 (saengil chukahaeyo). The first one is slightly more formal although they are very similar. This is also the phrase that best fits the happy birthday song.

Informal : 생일 축하해 (saengil chukahae).

Researched and posted by Leo :)

Please note some of the formal and informal sayings may be inaccurate, the committee only know basic Korean and this is the best we could figure out. If you do know the correct versions please message us and they will be corrected!

Bibliography

https://www.90daykorean.com/korean-age-all-about-age-in-korea/#:~:text=It%20is%20always%20one%20or,age%20on%20New%20Year's%20Day.&text=Your%20Korean%20age%20will%20change,Day%2C%20not%20on%20your%20birthday.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/jun/02/south-korea-mulls-ending-arcane-age-system-to-match-rest-of-world

https://qz.com/745825/korean-age-explained-why-a-baby-born-on-dec-31-turns-two-years-old-the-next-day/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_birthday_celebrations

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doljanchi

https://thesoulofseoul.net/2016/01/04/a-babys-first-birthday-korean-style-vs-american-style/

https://koreancultureblog.com/2017/07/02/korean-birthday-celebrations/

https://www.hostelsclub.com/en/magazine/korean-birthday-celebrations#commento-login-box-container 

https://www.90daykorean.com/happy-birthday-in-korean/ 

https://www.90daykorean.com/how-old-are-you-in-korean/ 

(serves 2) 

This pumpkin porridge is a popular late autumn and winter food though it is sometimes given as a get well gift as pumpkin is thought to reduce swelling after surgery.

Many recipes call for the soup to be blended, however in the interest of students not having kitchen appliances we’ve used a recipe that simply mashes the pumpkin! If you do want to blend it, simply put the pumpkin and water into a blender before boiling.

Equipment 

Scales

Bowls

Masher

Spoon

Cooking pot

Ingredients 

1 pound pumpkin (typically uses a pumpkin variety that may be called Kent,  japanese or kabocha pictured here but you can use any)

½ cup fresh beans (not specified in this recipe but others say red mung beans, or dont include them)

1 ¼ cup glutinous rice flour

2 tablespoons pine nuts

Sugar

Salt

½ cup hot water

(Optional) garnish

Pumpkin seeds - shelled

Instructions 

Prepare Pumpkin

Put whole pumpkin into a pot and cover with water

Cook for 15 minutes over a medium high heat

Add beans and cover

Cook another 15 minutes, or longer, until the pumpkin is scoopable and the beans are cooked (may need to add more water) 

Drain and allow to cool

Prepare Dough

Get two bowls

In one mix 1 cup glutinous rice flour and ¼ teaspoon of salt - this is for dough

In the other add ¼ cup glutinous rice flour and a pinch of salt - this is for dusting and thickening soup

Into the first bowl (most flour) add hot water and mix with a wooden spoon to make a dough

When it has cooled enough to handle, knead it in the bowl until smooth

Cover in plastic wrap and set aside

Make rice cake balls

Use dusting mix to lightly coat a cutting board

 Divide dough into 2 portions (while you work with one half, keep the other covered)

Tear off a ½ inch piece of dough, press two pine nuts into the centre and roll into a ball

Continue until dough is used up

Use the other half of dough to make plain rice cake balls that are the same size

Cover in plastic wrap to prevent drying

Make porridge

Scoop flesh from the cooked pumpkin and place into pot

Mash until smooth

Add 3 cups of water, cover and boil for 7-8 minutes

Add the rice cake balls and beans and stir a few times

Add ¼ cup of water to the leftover dusting mixture and mix until smooth

Add that to the pot and continue to cook

Once all the rice cake balls are floating add sugar and salt to taste then only cook for another 5 minutes

Ladle into bowls and serve

This can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for 2-3 days. Can be eaten cold or reheated and served hot.

Written and researched by Leo, Posted by Vicki <3 

Bibliography: 

Main recipe : https://www.maangchi.com/recipe/hobakjuk