Dae Jang Geum

Exhibitions and taste testing of more than 20 types of royal court dishes have been gaining increasing popularity among participants for the APEC conference in this southern port city. The food comprises those that appeared in “Jewel in the Palace (Taejanggum),’’ a smash-hit Korean royal cuisine drama, which is riding the Korean cultural Wave.

On Nov. 13, a special exhibition of Korean royal food was held at the APEC International Media Center at BEXCO here, providing foreign officials and journalists with chances to have a glimpse of the little-known Korean food culture.

The exhibition, which started on Friday offering not only a chance to taste but also to participate in making royal court food, will continue Friday until Nov. 20.

“Ttok (rice cake) itself is very delicious, but it is also so much fun to make it,’’ said Huwai Chia, a Taiwanese reporter, smiling as he held up a ttok that he made of red beans mixed with non-glutinous rice.

And when Kungjungttokbokgi (royal ttokbokki), a mixture of ttok (rice cake) and vegetables, Pulgogi (beef prepared in a soy sauce-based marinade and cooked on a grill), mushrooms and vegetables, tens of journalists lined up in long queue. Kungjungttokbokki is a varied type of ttokbokki, a popular traditional Korean snack that is spicy and sweet with red pepper sauce as its main ingredient.

“As the drama `Jewel in the Palace,’ is so popular in Taiwan, I had become very interested in Korean royal cuisine,’’ said the Taiwanese reporter. “A harmony of tastes between ttok and beef in the food is impressive.’’

“It will be a good opportunity to introduce Korea’s food culture to foreigners, making the most of the APEC period,’’ said Yoon Suk-ja, an organizer of the event from the Institute of Traditional Korean Food, a state-run agency.

Other than showcasing the cuisine of the royal family, the exhibition also includes a reenactment of the royal court of Korea’s Choson Kingdom, showcasing its elaborate etiquette and customs regarding the king’s meal.

Royal court food possessed the essence of Korean cuisine, consisting of specialties drawn from the most remote corners of the kingdom and made by the most talented cooks. The diverse dishes were meant to reflect living conditions of people in all the regions of the kingdom.

“From the various kinds of the dishes, the king could identify what the people ate and whether their harvests were good that year,” said Yoon.

The king had five meals a day, with two of them served at 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. as main meals, called sura. Sura is served with 12 different dishes along with a bowl of rice, a side dish of kimchi and several kinds of porridges.

There is a balance of yin and yang among the variety of the side dishes, Yoon said.

In addition, royal dishes were always served in silver bowels and with spoons and chopsticks, the color of which would change if the contents were to contain any poisons.

Source: The Korea Times 13th November 2005

Contrary to a cool reception at home in the wake of a recent ruckus of its tarnished image, kimchi is gaining popularity with Americans and other places abroad following a spate of news reports to the effect that the traditional Korean dish has an inherent preventative effect on bird flu, the fear of which is now gripping the world.

It was last March that kimchi’s curative effect on avian influenza began to be known well outside of the country, when the British public broadcaster BBC aired the results of a research team led by Seoul National University professor Kang Sa-wook.

Quoting the team’s test results, BBC said of the 13 chickens stricken with the influenza, 11 had shown telling curative effects after being administered kimchi extracts.

Back in 2003, when the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) broke out in Asia, there was a ‘kimchi rage’ in China and Southeast Asia on the strength of reports that the Korea-originated pickle was working in heading off the epidemic.

In recent weeks, the American media were into handling kimchi’s efficacy in treating avian flu.

The ABC network, South Carolina’s largest state newspaper, the Murtle Beach Sun News, Centre Daily Times of Pennsylvania, and some 100 media outlets across the United States reported kimchi’s curative effects on the epidemic.

The ABC reported on Tuesday that with the interest in kimchi growing in America, sauerkraut, the U.S. version of kimchi, is also enjoying a boom. Sauerkraut, a pickle of German origin made from shredded cabbage fermented in brine, is normally inserted into hot dogs or sandwiches.

Journal Times, a publication from Racine, Wisconsin, reported scientists speculated that the bacteria which were detected in kimchi, help cure avian influenza, adding that the same strains were also discovered in sauerkraut.

Kim Jae-soo, the agricultural attaché to the Korean embassy in Washington, D.C., said that contrary to the perception of misgivings Koreans have at home, the American press has given an intense coverage of kimchi’s curative effects on the poultry epidemic.

He noted that although the U.S. media had not paid significant attention to kimchi when it gained popularity as a curative to SARS in Southeast Asia, it is watching carefully this time around.

Meanwhile, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and the Korea Agro-Trade Corp. on Thursday (Nov. 10), despite the recent unsavory episode involving tainted kimchi, Korea’s exports of the item amounted to 26,275 tons in the first 10 months of the year, up 81 tons from a year earlier.

In particular, shipments to Taiwan, Hong Kong and Malaysia have surged partly due to Hallyu, or the Korean cultural wave, prompted by Daejanggeum, a Korean TV drama aired in those countries. In the January-October period, exports to Taiwan totaled 561 tons, up 72 percent from a year before. Hong Kong and Malaysia saw their imports increase by 15 and 150 percent respectively.

Besides, prospects for suspended kimchi shipments to Japan to resume were bright as the Japanese authorities were about to end their investigation into the Korean products soon. About 93 percent of Korea’s total exports of 34,827 tons last year went to Japan.

Source: Korea.net 10th November 2005

韩菜登上龙门 轻松炮制大长今韩国料理

韩国电视剧《大长今》风靡了亚洲男女老少，成为家喻户晓的一部长剧，而《大长今》药膳及料理也一跃龙门，为韩国菜肴提高了知名度；特别是影迷们从中认识韩国菜，其更受注目为健康食品。

韩国观光公社日前举办了“大长金韩国特别料理示范”，现场的韩国厨师一面讲述一面示范，制作了3道料理，即泡菜、参鸡汤及泡菜炒饭后，让出席者品尝真滋味。

韩人以米为主食

韩国饮食良多，由于过去处于农耕社会，因此从古代开始就以米为主食。现代的韩国饮食与各种蔬菜、肉类，鱼类共同组成，而泡菜(发酵的辣白菜)，海鲜酱(盐渍海产品)，豆酱(发酵的黄豆)等各种发酵保存食品，以营养价值和特别的味道而闻名。

泡菜配米饭食用

泡菜（Kimchi）指的是在用盐腌过的白菜上添加辣椒粉、蒜、姜、葱、萝卜等调味品，使之在低温中通过乳酸产生而发酵的一种韩国传统食品。发酵过程将决定泡菜的味道和菜香，一般上腌渍的泡菜温度越高，发酵速度越快，如果腌渍时间过长或盐的浓度过大，会失去白菜或萝卜的甜味。除佐料外，微生物的作用在发酵过程中也很重要，产生的乳酸菌使泡菜发酵，并与酶的有机成分结合起来产生美味。另外，还具有抑制腐烂的作用。

泡菜的特点是辣，韩国人通常和米饭一起食用。当然，根据季节和地区的不同，泡菜分为很多种类，但均含有维生素C、钙等多种营养。用泡菜还可以做出泡菜汤、泡菜饼以及泡菜炒饭等多种料理。近来更推出新创意的泡菜披萨、泡菜汉堡包也受到人们的喜爱。

泡菜炒饭

4人份材料：白菜泡菜半棵、冷白饭4碗、牛肉100g、洋葱1个、蒜头半粒、大辣椒1个、少量捣碎的蒜、芝麻油、食盐、食用油，适量的芝麻粉。

1. 白菜泡菜去除馅之后，切成便于食用的大小。

2. 蒜和洋葱切成5mm大小。

3. 大辣椒切开后将籽剔除。

4. 牛肉也切成适当的大小。

5. 在平底锅中倒入食用油，先放入泡菜和蒜、牛肉煸炒，然后再放入洋葱、胡萝卜、大辣椒煸炒。

6. 炒好的调料用盐调味后与米饭同炒，然后盛在盘子里。

常吃泡菜身体好

常吃泡菜，好处可多了。它含丰富的有机酸、无机矿物质、维他命等营养元素。泡菜具抗菌作用，含多量纤维素能预防便秘及肠炎。泡菜中乳酸菌可促进胃肠运动，帮助净化肠胃。它也有助于预防疾病如肥胖、高血压、糖尿病等，在抗癌方面亦有效果。

制作泡菜可根据腌渍泡菜时使用的主材料，对泡菜进行分类。大体上分为泡菜类、泡菜块儿类、泡萝卜类、腌菜类、咸菜类、食醯类，若要细分，可超过一百多种。同样是辣白菜，在每个地区都各有其特色，主要根据气候的不同，和一些差别作法，制造了咸辣、淡浓不一的味道。

泡菜主要材料与腌料包括白菜、粗盐、水、萝卜、葱白、芥菜、水芹、大葱、蒜、生姜、辣椒面、温水、虾酱、凤尾鱼酱、生牡蛎、生虾等。

简单易做 参鸡汤补气养神

参鸡汤

4人份材料 : 一只嫩鸡、半杯糯米、4根韩国鲜人参、20颗大蒜、8颗红枣、些许栗子和青葱、适量的盐及胡椒粉。

1. 准备掏空内脏的鸡只，除掉底部的油块。

2. 将鸡只放入凉水中，洗净血水后擦干。

3. 在鸡只的两侧底部各切2厘米左右的刀口。

4. 用刀刮掉鲜人参的外皮，剜去发芽部位，洗净备用。

5. 将浸泡3小时以上的糯米掏出，挤干水分后放入鸡只腹内，并放入一棵水参。

6. 将鸡腿交叉插入两侧切口内并固定。

7. 加水使鸡完全浸泡，随后放入已备好的鲜人参、栗子、红枣、大蒜，在中火以下炖熟。

8. 盛上炖熟的鸡与汤，可依喜好再撒放葱花和切丝煎蛋，最后撒些盐与胡椒粉。

泡菜汉堡包

材料：4人份

四分一个包菜泡菜（I粒小葱头，适量油爆香葱头）、14安士绞猪肉（半茶匙盐，半茶匙胡椒粉，适量油煎猪肉）、3安士半罐头吞拿鱼（2汤匙蛋黄酱）、

4片芝士、4片莴苣叶、4个汉堡饱、牛油、调味酱。

做法：

1. 将泡菜切成半寸见方的小块状；切碎小葱头；热油锅，将材料下锅拌炒。

2. 将炒好的泡菜与小葱头拌进绞猪肉碎里；加入盐与胡椒粉，搅拌均匀成肉团。

取部分肉团压成半寸厚肉饼，然后下锅慢火煎至金黄色（步骤1）。

3. 将汉堡包横切成半，略烤一烤。将吞拿鱼放入滤筛内，滤去多余汁液，与蛋白酱拌匀（步骤2）。

4. 清洗莴苣叶，抹干。

5. 将汉堡包两面涂上牛油。

6. 其中一面铺上莴苣，泡菜肉饼与调味酱。（步骤3）

7. 另一面汉堡包铺上芝士与吞拿鱼料。（步骤4）即完成。

Kim So I (aka Court Lady Min in Jewel in the Palace) introduced Korea royal cuisine in Beijing.