Food Storyist.

Luner new year..

A big holiday, that just happens twice a year, seems to end soon. Every Korean say goodbye to their parents and siblings. They go back to their normal lives again. It was a short time, but it just help refreshing their body and mind from their routine circles.

Koreans often say that
“Traditional Holidays are all eating.”

It means we welcome relatives with food at home. We also visit relatives’ house to say hello and wish their fortunes this year surrounded by uncountable kinds of food on the large table. All we do during holiday is Eating, Talking, Eating, Talking, Eating, and Talking, haha sometimes. Drinking.

I took some pictures of food that I ate on new year day.

Let's Look Closer.

Tteokguk
Sliced Rice Cake Pasta Soup

Tteokguk is a soup with diagonally sliced rice cakes simmered in beef broth, garnished with pressed meat, sliced fried egg white and yolk People enjoy tteokguk.
It includes white rice cake, beef, fragrant seasoning, green oninon.

Japchae
Potato starch noodles stir-fried with vegetables

Japchae is a dish mixed of potato starch noodles with numerous stir-fried vegetables. Japchae is almost always served on holidays and traditional ceremonial days.

It includes potato starch noodles, egg, mung bean sprouts, skinned bellflower roots, cucumber, beef, brown oak mushrooms, jew’s ear mushrooms.

Dakjjim
Simmered Chicken.

Dakjjim is a dish of chicken simmered with seasonings with various vegetables such as carrots, onions, and potatoes. I includes chicken, carrot, brown oak mushrooms, onion, gingko, egg, edible oil.

Namul
Blanched and Seasoned Wild green
Namul is blanched wild green with seasoning.


 

Hapari naengchae
Assorted cold plate with mustard sauce and jelly fish

Hapari naengchae is a fresh salad dish made of various vegetables and jelly fish in a mustard dressing. It stimulates the appetite with its hot, sweet and sour taste.
It includes cucumber, carrot, egg, fish flesh, jelly fish and mustard.

Bulgogi
Korean barbecue

Bulgogi is a dish, barbecued beef that is pre-marinated with various seasonings.
It includes beer, onion, spring onion, pepper, and seasoning sauce based on soy sauce.

Do They Look Delicious? 

Korean Holiday : I Eat Rice Cake Pasta Soup on New Year Day.

Today is Lunar New Year Day.
A big holiday in confucian countries.

As tradition, I had rice cake pasta soup, tteokguk, this morning.
I also ate special foods eaten only on occasion.
After eating breakfast, I bowed to our grandma and parents.
I used to get some money from them.
But I am old enough not to have it, a bit sad.

I am glad to have nice food here.
Now I am preparing to meet my maternal relatives later.

[KOREAN FOOD] - Korean Food : New Year Culture, Rice Cake Soup at Home
[SCRIBBLE ]- A Rice Mill : To Buy Rice Cake for Lunar New Year in Busan, Korea
[MY DIARY] - Korean Holiday : Lunar New Year Korean Traditional Food

A Rice Mill : To Buy Rice Cake for Lunar New Year in Busan, Korea

On the way home, swirling steam blurred my sight.
I stopped to figure where it was from. It was from the ventilator of the rice mill.

I thought the rice mill was almost shut up, completely close, since its light inside was often off. It hadn’t displayed any stuff quite long time.

But today, Surprisingly, small carts was laid in line in front of the rice mill to wait for its turn. I looked around standing there, and I spotted some women who seemed to be owners of those carts chattering with each other.

They must wait for their white long bar rice cake to make rice cake soup on the new year day. And thinking that we already prepared the rice cake ingredients, my mom by herself did it for us waiting in line.

Thanks, Mom. I feel the biggest holiday coming soon.


2011/12/28 - [KOREAN FOOD] - Korean Food : New Year Culture, Rice Cake Soup at Home

Korean Food : New Year, We Talk Dumplings! Seollal tradition




Around new year, all my family gathered together to celebrate the new year. In spite of the long journey to another province to visit relatives, I waited for the day for two reasons. 

The first reason is that I could get some pocket money from the eldery. They gave me more or less 10,000won each, and it’s come to around 100,000won or 300,000won at most, if I could meet all relatives.

As a student who receive the allowance of 40,000won for a month, it was a fortune. I bought what I wanted to buy before, saved money in the bank or sometimes be taken over by my brainy parents. However I used my money, I was just glad that I could touch or have that amount of money at that age.

The second reason is that I could make Mandu with my family altogether. We sit around making a circle on the floor with the ingredients in the center of us. We usually talk about what happened during last year, feelings, the plans for the future or trivial issues occurring around the world. I liked that moment with laughter, and I also loved the Mandu making procedure.

Now, you might’ve become intriguing about mandu.
What the hell is it?

This is Mandu. It is that Mandu that the protagonist Oh Dae-Su is fed a steady diet in the film Old boy, If you watch it, you can recall what it is and how it looks exactly. Briefly saying, Mandu is a dumpling in Korean cuisine. We make it every new year day, especially on chinese(lunar) new year day.

When I made my dumpling with my mom, I tried to make it as pretty as possible. It was not that easy. The size and shape of my dumplings are not steady owing to my lack of skill. Some of them even exploded horribly showing its fillings outside. It’s mainly because I added too much amount of filling inside and it couldn't bear that, and bombed out. I tried, tried and tried to make it neat and nice.

In Korea, it is said that
you will have a pretty baby
if you make the dumpling pretty.

Every girl or woman wants to make a dumpling look good for that reason. It doesn't have any scientifical facts at all but it makes fun whiling making them. The eldery sometimes praise the young for their elaborating handwork, or laugh at the funny shapes and make a joke at it. This traditional joke(or rumor) vitalizes the dumpling making process.


Do you want to have a pretty baby? Then, try to make your dumpling beautiful. 
I just put some filling on a small  dumpling dough and fold it to make a half moon shape. 
Very simple and easy.
Haha, moreover, a rumor has always its covered reason, 

so, what if it’s true?