So, it’s been like a year since I came to Korea, Korea is famously known for Kimchi, a traditional Korean dish made of seasoned vegetables and salt. Koreans eat it at nearly every meal.
When I left home family and friends were like “will you survive without healthy, wholesome, nutritious traditional African food?”
Well! Good people, I have made it through and the Korean dishes are amazing though I miss my favourite Nyama Choma(roast meat) and Ugali -a stiff porridge made out of maize meal (white cornmeal) common food in Kenya. So far this are my favourite Korean dishes.
Donkkaseu(돈까스)
Been in a foreign land where food is totally different with where one comes from is the biggest challenge, for a period of almost two months been Donkkaseu was the first meal I was introduced to and I could order and eat with ease.
Originally a Japanese dish but over time Donkkaseu has become a famous dish in Korean, it’s a breaded deep-fried pork, one to two centimetre think slices, usually served with rice and vegetables such as, shredded cabbage, radish, broccoli or miso soup.
Naengmyeon(내면)
It is said that “if you want to learn more of a place and quickly roll with the native” so summer season is here, Kim a friends come through and he is like, why don’t we try something together, we walk down to a city restaurant an order is
made, a few minutes later a bowl full of cold noodles (Naengmyeon) is served.
Naengmyeon is a Korean dish made with wheat or buckwheat(noodles) and is very famous during summer season, there two types of Naengmyeon:
Mul-Naengmyeon(물냉면) which is cold noodles served with a chilled beef broth, second type is Bibim-Naengmyeon(비빔냉면) which is cold noodles mixed with spicy sauce or raw skate, that’s how cool summer is turned with food in Korea.
Bibimbap(비빔밥)
Bibimpap is a dish made by mixing minced meat with various cooked vegetables such as bean sprouts, bellflowers roots, and mushrooms, gochujang/chilli sauce and sesame oil are added and mixed together to give it a more tasty flavour.
Samgyetang (삼계탕)
Samgyetang a ginseng chicken soup is usually stuffed with ginseng, garlic, jujube(Korean dates) and rice.
This iconic dish is famous during summer, as ironic as it sounds this hot soup is preferred by many Korean during the hottest summer days, samgyetang boost the body energy and helps to beat the hot summer weather, Korean says “beating heat with heat,” samgyetang can be enjoyed all year long, currently it’s my new favourite.
Ramyeon (라면)
Now, this is the real deal, ever heard of student’s lifesaver? This is it, instant noodles. That moment you are having a short time to transit from one lecture to another, late at night when you get hungry and school cafeteria is closed, after a long party weekend and still in hangover or that time of the month, when you and your ATM are not in good terms, Ramyeon is that true friend who stands by you through it all. affordable, instant and easy to prepare.
Korean Ramen/instant noodles come in varieties, hot/spicy, mild and different flavors, to most foreigner shin ramen which is spicy is a favorite to many foreigners, myself not a fun of spicy food, Jin Ramen mild (진라면) which is my favorite since it has a strong tasty flavor and mild spicy.
So far South Korea has been good, the food culture around here is an experience that leaves you asking for more, with a huge variety of food here I know soon I will have a new favorite.
Peter Kariuki 