Best Korean Dishes for Beginners

If you’ve experienced Chinese food in Namibia and you’re trying to explore further into Asian cuisine but don’t know where to start, this is a guide for you. Korean cuisine is being plastered everywhere in the world with the boom in K-Dramas and K-Pop to the rest of the world. So here is a short guide to which dishes to try to ease you into it (PSSSST! You can try all these at the Seoul Foods Restaurant in Windhoek and Swakopmund):

 

Kimchi

Kimchi is a salad made with fermented cabbage and is also called “baechu”. This tangy-spicy delight is prepared using cabbage which is fermented with seasonings like Korean chilli powder, green onion, garlic, salt and some other spices.

 

 

Bibimbap

This colourful bowl is also called mixed rice bowl in Korea. The dish is usually served in a stone bowl and consists of white rice topped with a number of vegetables, meat, an egg and Gochujang (a spicy Korean sauce).

 

 

Bulgogi

Beef chunks are first marinated in a mixture of soy sauce, brown sugar, sesame oil, garlic, ginger and some other spices. These marinated pieces are then grilled to perfection.

 

 

 

Japchae

Japchae is prepared with sweet-potato based noodles, vegetables and beef. All these ingredients are first stir-fried with a number of spices and then garnished with sesame seeds as a final touch.

 

 

Mandu

Mandus are Korean dumplings. The stuffing usually consists of veggies along with beef, pork or chicken. The dish is served with a special sauce prepared using chilli, soy sauce and vinegar. Mandu can be served either steamed, fried or in soups.

 

 

Gimbap

Gimbap is a Korean seaweed rice roll filled with a variety of delicious fillings. The classic ingredients are yellow pickled radish (danmuji), eomuk (fish cake), carrots, spinach, eggs, and beef. You can use any tender cut of beef. Thin bulgogi meat or ground beef works great.