Korean Lentil Soup

If there was a country that I wanted to visit during our stay in China, it would have been Korea.I am not really sure why I wanted to visit but somehow I was asking hubby if we could visit Korea and he said Japan would be a better choice!We debated on this now and then.But the story ends in a way that we did not visit either of these two countries and I hope I can make to these places sometime in the future.

Yes, in connection to my dream of visiting it int he future, I have chosen Korean cuisine today in the Culinary journey across the globe.

Some facts on Korea….

• It is officially known as the Republic of Korea.
• Korea is the modern spelling for Corea that was named in English as early as 1614
•  Koreans love sweet potato and it is apparent from the fact that they have a sweet potato dish in each course of the meal.
• Taxis are color coded according to the level of service provided.
• They love to shop and this country houses some of the largest malls in the world.
• Number 4 is considered unlucky!
• Writing a persons name in red ink indicates that he is going to die soon or is already dead!
•  I read that Korean men are so taken into by cosmetics and they spend almost $900 million a year on makeup!
• Valentine’s day is all about pleasing the boys!The girls shower all the goodness on the men and on March 14, the men will have to gift the girls thrice the value of what they got on Valentines day!

Korean cuisine…

• Rice is the staple here and it is served along with other dishes.
• Meat, seafood and vegetable dishes along with the different grains are equally popular in this cuisine.
• Traditional liquor is made by fermenting various grains.
• A tray of tea / juice and cookies is called dagwasang and it is presented at the end of a meal.Tea is presented in autumn, winter and juice is offered in summer along with the cookies.
• The meals are classified as ‘chop’ depending on how many courses are served -like 5 chop,7 chop etc.

Some of the popular dishes are

Ddukbokkie – Rice cakes
Juk – Porridge
Hoeddeok– Sweet pancakes
Japchae – Stir fried noodles
Bibimbap – Mixed rice usually served with eggs
Soondubu Jiggae – Soft Tofu Soup
Seolleong tang – Ox bone soup
Kimchi – Fermented / pickled cabbage

 I made a simple and soup for this country. I have already posted this salad here, and this is another variation of the same.

Red lentils were used in the original recipe and on an over sight I assumed it to be moong dal and realized my mistake only after I finished the dish! But the soup was really good with the chili oil that I put on top and it worked wonders on the flavor. I will post the flavored chili oil recipe shortly.

I used:
Adapted from here
Serves– 2

Moong dal -1/4 cup
Onion-1, sliced
Garlic-2 pods, chopped
Chili paste- 1 teaspoon
Vegetable stock-3 cups
Mixed vegetables, cut into somewhat thick strips – as needed.I used turnips, daikon, carrot, cabbage, few cauliflower florets
Salt to taste
Oil- 1 teaspoon
Chili oil as needed
Spring onion greens for garnishing

Heat oil in a pressure cooker and saute the onion and garlic till soft. Add the chili paste and vegetable stock and bring to boil. Add salt, moong dal and the vegetables except cabbage and mix.

Cover and cook for 3 hisses or till the dal is soft. When the pressure releases, bring to boil once again and simmer. Add the cabbage and cook for a few minutes.

Remove from heat and serve hot drizzled with chili oil, garnished with spring onion greens.

I served this soup with a spicy cucumber salad...

Bon Appetit…