Visiting Seoul and a Recipe for Basic Kimchi

Visiting Seoul and a Recipe for Basic Kimchi

(c) Dorine Houston 2008, all rights reserved 

Seoul, the capital city of the Republic of Korea, also called South Korea, is a sprawling modern metropolis of 10 million inhabitants and another 23 million in the larger metropolitan area, putting it in second place among the world's largest metropolitan areas.  It is bisected by the Han River; the name Han also refers to the last royal dynasty of Korea, and to the people and their language.  Some examples include the words "hangul", or Korean language and "hanbok", Korean traditional dress. 

Seoul first appears in 18 BC when the Paekche kingdom established its capital in an area that is now a neighborhood in the southeastern area of the city.  Modern Seoul descends from the Koryeo dynasty capital, Namgyeong, a name that to this day occurs in the neighborhood that occupies the same land.  It became the capital of all Korea during the Chosun dynasty. 

This downtown area boasts wonderful museums, including a thoroughly fascinating museum of history and archaeology, ancient temples and the royal palace, traditional markets and completely modern department stores, hotels large and small, arts venues and restaurants of all kinds, as well as vendors of street food ranging from mandu (wontons) to roasted silkworms.  Korea House starts a wonderful evening with an enormous buffet of Korean court cuisine and follows with a presentation of traditional dance and theater.  It is a must for the traveler! 

For shopping, enjoy the Itaewon, Namdaemun and Dongdaemun markets, which offer all kinds of general goods in their different areas.  Itaewon is my personal favorite.  Clothing is an especially good value.  Wallets, handbags and even shoes made from eelskin are a beautiful Korean specialty.  Insadong, not far from Itaewon, is a market for arts, calligraphy and other Korea cultural goods.  A beautiful scroll painting with birds on my wall came from Insadong.  If you are looking for a totally modern department store with an amazing prepared food division, look to Lotte, with branches in major cities all over Korea. 

Do not hesitate to eat street food in Korea.  You will find hundreds of kinds, from the familiar to the exotic.  Although some foreigners express concern about the safety of the food, a friend (and Cordon Bleu Paris grad) and I wanted very much to taste the local goodies.  We went down streets sampling and trying to figure out food several times.  Several weeks later, another American protested the unfairness of the fact that everybody had suffered digestive distress *except* Marcia and me! 

As for drinking the tap water, it is perfectly safe in Seoul.  I drank it because my Korean roommates drank it, and found it just fine.  In other parts of Korea, follow the lead of the locals.  In Ulsan, I arrived with a Korean friend at her parents' house late at night, tired and thirsty, and drank water from the bathroom tap.  A few minutes later, my hostess introduced me to the large kettle in the kitchen where the family gets its boiled water to drink.  About 36 hours later, I became violently ill at both ends; it lasted another 36 hours and departed, leaving me as fine as ever but wiser about asking or observing before drinking the water! 

When shopping, always give payment and accept change using both hands, not just one.  Never set money directly on the counter. 

If you start learning Korean and start using it, take care to use the most formal level of the language.  If you know Spanish, French or German, you know the difference between tu and usted, tu and vous, or du and ihnen.  These European languages have only two degrees of formality.  Korean has five.  Koreans take their culture's politeness rules very seriously.  At first, use only the highest level.  Better to be too polite than not polite enough!  You are highly unlikely to have any relationships that permit you to use the two most casual levels.  Even if you know an adult's first name, do not use it.  Ever.  When a young Korean comes of age, he or she becomes Mr. or Miss (not Ms.) and last name.  Upon marriage, a woman does not take her husband's last name, but she does change the Miss to Mrs.  Even her husband will call her Mrs. Ahn (or whatever), or the nickname "yawbo"; not even spouses use each other's first names.  Never mind you!  Don't *ever* use an adult's first name or drop the honorific before the surname.  Ever.  Period.  Never mind your American casual values.  This is a totally different culture.  Don't be an ugly American. 

Something that surprises the foreigner expecting a nation steeped in Buddhist and Confucian tradition is a skyline filled with red neon crosses, each atop a different Protestant church, most of them Presbyterian. 

I was there that winter teaching English and Spanish in a Presbyterian college missionary training program.  My students were adults mostly in their 20s and 30s, all planning to become Christian missionaries in another country.  Some became true friends.  One of them spent a day with me teaching me how to make white cabbage kimchi. 

When foreigners speak of kimchi, they think of one of its most common forms, the kind made with Chinese cabbage and fermented with red peppers.  In Korea, any ordinary family meal is accompanied by three different kinds of kimchi.  The number climbs to five different kinds for special days and at least seven for very special days such as the New Year.  There are many different kinds of kimchi! 

This is the recipe I learned that windy January Saturday afternoon in Seoul.  While in Seoul, I bought a flower-shaped cutter to make the carrot flowers my friend insisted upon, but if you cannot find one in a Korean market here, you can always use a pastry cutter or other very small cutter.  I hope you enjoy this kimchi. 

Miss Baek's White Cabbage Kimchi

2 heads Chinese cabbage, well washed, dried and cut into 3" lengths 
20 scallions, cut into 4" lengths, both white and green parts 
1 really huge, fat carrot, thinly sliced, each slice cut with a flower cutter** 

1 large fresh oyster, minced 
4 cloves garlic, minced 

Handful sesame salt* 
2 handfuls Korean or kosher salt 
Handful Korean red pepper threads* 
2 handfuls Korean red pepper flakes* 

*Available in Korean markets 
**The carrot chosen on our shopping trip was a good 1 1/4" in diameter and a Korean flower cutter is almost as big 

Use a large pottery or glass container that you can cover tightly.  Koreans have brown pottery kimchi jars that somewhat resemble a very large Boston bean pot.  I use a 4-litre glass jar closed with a rubber ring and glass lid with attached metal clamp. 

Thoroughly combine oyster and garlic to form a paste. 

Mix the salts and peppers well. 

Put a layer of cabbage and a little of the scallions and carrot in the jar and sprinkle with some of the salt and peppers mixture.  Top with a bit of the oyster mixture.  Repeat until everything is used.  (The oyster mixture should be under the top layer of cabbage, but the dry mixture can be on top.)  Cover the jar and put in a cool, dark place for a few days, such as the back of a closet.  If using pottery rather than glass, do what the Koreans do; put it out on your balcony or porch (in autumn or spring, not summer).  Leave it completely alone for 5 days to a week.  You may see fermentation bubbles rising up the side of the jar.  This is good.  Do not remove the lid until fermentation is complete, until no more bubbles rise.  Once fermented, refrigerate and eat.  Korean families make this kimchi after the autumn harvest and keep it a full year until the next harvest.  It keeps well in the refrigerator for many months.  The flavor just gets more and more pungent. 

Koreans eat this kimchi daily, for breakfast, lunch and dinner.  (It's the other kimchis that vary.)  They also use it as an ingredient in many dishes, including the kimchi soup they love to eat for breakfast, a mixed seafood stew and many other dishes. 

Kimchi chigae is the classic kimchi soup made by putting kimchi, diced firm tofu, diced salt pork or bacon, kochujang (Korean red pepper paste or "jam"), sliced green onion, sliced hot green pepper and julienned carrots into plenty of water seasoned with soy sauce and boiled.  It is as classic a breakfast in Korea as corn flakes are in the US.  And in my opinion, much tastier and more appetizing in the morning! 

Kimchi is low in fat and calories, rich in antioxidants and fermentation benefits, but unfortunately high in sodium.