Korean food is becoming more and more well-known and more popular thanks to the popularity of Korean dramas/K-dramas. When watching K-dramas, you get to watch the beautiful actresses and actors eating various traditional Korean dishes. Out of the variety of dishes available, eight have become the most well-known and the most recognized in the United States. Here are those eight dishes.

Bulgogi

Bulgogi is slices of marinated beef 🐮 or pork 🐷 that is sometimes brought to your table still cooking on a black pan, or which has been fully cooked for you in the kitchen and brought to your table. When you order Korean barbecue, slices of marinated beef are brought out for you to cook yourself on a round stovetop that is in the center of the table. One great thing about bulgogi is that it is well-done when they cook it for you. This dish is slightly sweet and seasoned with garlic, onion, sugar, soy sauce, and black pepper.

Beef Bulgogi

“File:Korean barbecue-Jeju Island-Bulgogi-01.jpg” By 아침꿀물, Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Korean_barbecue-Jeju_Island-Bulgogi-01.jpg

Pork Bulgogi

“Spicy Pork Bulgogi” By Chloe Lim: https://www.flickr.com/photos/kfoodaddict/10374957283

Bibimbap

Bibimbap is a large dish in a bowl that is similar to the Chipotle burrito bowl. Bibimbap contains rice at the bottom of the bowl, and spinach, an egg, bean sprouts, cucumbers, mushrooms 🍄, zucchini, red hot pepper paste, and carrots on top of the bowl. Bibimbap is seasoned with garlic, red pepper, oil, sesame seeds, and vinegar, as well as other ingredients, like sugar and wakame/seaweed. Bibimbap is eaten by mixing all of the different ingredients together to get various flavors in your mouth. This dish is great for vegetarians and it can be eaten by vegans if the dish is ordered without egg. Bibimbap is well-liked by many people, but those who are not into rice, may not like this dish as much because it sometimes comes with more rice 🍚 than vegetables.

Tteokbokki

Tteokbokki is a spicy rice cake dish that is made with thick, sticky, chewy Korean rice cakes. Rice cakes feel like a very thick, large noodle in texture that is a bit tougher to chew. Tteokbokki is made with onions, soup stock (a seafood-based soup stock), cheese (some restaurants put cheese on it, but some do not. You can always request no cheese on yours), and fishcakes. Korean fishcakes consist of ground or minced fish fillets that are mixed with spices, vegetables, flour, and eggs. The fishcake is then fried and looks light brown in color and is shaped like a rectangle or triangle.

I love tteokbokki; It is also very popular as a street food in Korea. Often when I go to a Korean restaurant that has this dish, I tend to order it.

Kalbi

“File:Kalbi don set by jetalone in Guam.jpg” By Jetalone from Guam, Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Kalbi_don_set_by_jetalone_in_Guam.jpg

Kalbi is another slightly sweet Korean meat dish. Kalbi is a dish made with beef short ribs, black pepper, sesame oil, garlic, soy sauce, onion, and brown sugar. Kalbi, like bulgogi, tends to be cooked well-done.

Korean Pancake/Pajeon

“File:Korean.pancake-Pajeon-02.jpg” By 南宮博士, Wikimedia Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Korean.pancake-Pajeon-02.jpg

I absolutely love Korean pancakes/pajeon. Korean pajeon is made with green onions/scallions, sesame seeds, sesame oil, garlic, chili flakes, vinegar, egg, flour, and soy sauce. There are two main types of pajeon to choose from: vegetable green onion pajeon and seafood pajeon. Vegetable pajeon is another great dish for vegetarians, but I always get seafood pajeon because I find it to be more flavorful for me and more like the Asian foods I am used to. Seafood pajeon is made with oysters, clams, squid, and shrimp.

Korean pancakes look simple, but they are quite complicated to make. All of the seafood must be cooked and seasoned without burning the outer pancake breading or the seafood, so making Korean pajeon is quite challenging, but rewarding.

Korean Stews and Soups
Tang/Guk

Korean soups and stews are very popular. These tend to be spicy and they are made with numerous ingredients like kimchi, beef short rib, dried pollock, beef bone, bone broth, chicken, rice cakes, potatoes, spring onions, red pepper, bean sprouts, seafood, and radishes. The variety of Korean soups is great. There are vegetarian and vegan options available as well. When I buy Korean soups, I generally choose beef stews with potatoes, spring onions, and bean sprouts.

Kimbap

Kimbap is the Korean version of a sushi roll. Kimbap looks like sushi, but the ingredients inside it contain rice, and they are all kept together by the seaweed that is wrapped around them. Kimbap is made with seaweed, eggs, pickled radish, spinach, sesame oil, beef, imitation crab, and carrots. Kimbap is great as a snack, so it is packed for picnics and in Korean lunch boxes. Kimbap has a unique taste in my opinion, so some may like it, while others may not. Kimbap is a great dish for vegetarians to try, and I absolutely love the taste of it!

Kimchi

Kimchi is huge in Korea. There is even a kimchi museum in Seoul, South Korea to honor this dish. Kimchi is a very healthy dish made from fermented vegetables: cucumbers, cabbage, and radishes. Kimchi is made with a variety of ingredients and flavors, including red pepper, garlic, fish sauce, onions, fish sauce, ginger, vinegar, chili flakes, black pepper, paprika powder, fermented small shrimps, anchovies, parsley, mustard greens, spring onions, carrots, and sweet rice flour.

There are many different types of kimchi, and when you go to Korean restaurants, you can get anywhere from one to eight different types of kimchi with your meal. Kimchi is such an important and flavorful dish, that it is often added to soups, stews, and noodle dishes in Korean restaurants.

Since kimchi is fermented, it is a bit tart and sour in taste. Kimchi is served cold as a side dish with your meal, but when cooked into a Korean stew, it will be hot and spicier. Kimchi is very healthy for you because it contains good bacteria that cleans out your stomach and detoxes you. Kimchi also contains enzymes that help you digest and break down your food. The fermentation process and vinegar in kimchi will also help you feel full on less food and help break up fat in your body, so kimchi is a great diet and weight loss food. Kimchi is also great for vegetarians, and some are suitable for vegans.

There are so many different Korean dishes available to try, but many of them are too bizarre or foreign for the American palate. The dishes mentioned here are very comfortable and safe for Americans, but Korean food does tend to be quite spicy, so this is something to keep in mind. People who like spicy, garlicky foods will enjoy Korean cuisine, so the next time that you go out to eat, give a Korean restaurant a try ❤!

What is your favorite Korean Dish?

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