The Korean Chile Pepper—There Really Is Nothing Like It

Korean foods are finding their way into the spotlight more and more.  Recently Iron chef Mario Batali won a challenge with the Korean dish dolsot bibimbap or dolsotbibimbap and Rachael Ray of The Food Network lists Korean recipes. As more recipes for Korean dishes crop up to meet consumer demand, one of the most frequent ingredients called for is ground red pepper. Often, authors claim that any red pepper will do. This is not the case, as I found out the first time I left home.

When I moved to Vermont I was well-prepared with kimchee-making skills. What I didn’t count on was the unavailability of necessary ingredients. As anyone who has ever been homesick knows, nothing can comfort you more than that taste of home.

My first batch of kimchee was so off. I wasn’t new to the practice of making this Korean dish and soon realized that the red pepper was the culprit. I scoured the state, touring natural foods and gourmet stores. I shopped at Thai, Chinese, Vietnamese and Japanese groceries. Alas, no Korean market existed. Batch after batch, and I could not duplicate kimchee from home. There was nothing to be done for it until my mother sent me a care package of Korean red pepper.

I picked up an Asian cookbook one day and read about the distinctive flavor of the Korean red chile. This author explained how the unique geography of Korea, its sea air, mountainous regions, soil and water contributed to the one and only kochu, a pepper that tastes like no other.

Kochu is a member of the capsicum pepper family. When ground it is called kochu garu, gochukaru or gokchu garu. Gokchu garu is used to make gochujang a hot pepper paste that is a common ingredient in dolsot bibimbap or dolsotbimbap, the dish most representative of Korea.

The chile was introduced to Korea in the 17th century by the Japanese, who were loathe to give up their monopoly on “japanese mustard” as Portuguese missionaries called it. They claimed that the plant could only grow in its native environments, Central and South America. Korea finally did gain the seeds to grow the chile and is now exports over 1 million kg. per year.

Before the chile, Korean dishes did not include red pepper, a now unimaginable phenomenon. Korean recipes for kimchee consisted of greens, salt and alcohol. Today, there is a claim that Koreans have the highest per capital chile consumption in the world.

Korean food absolutely requires Korean red pepper to taste authentic. Whether you’re making dolsot bibimbap/dolsotbibimbap or other Korean dishes, to really follow a Korean recipe that calls for red pepper, you must get your gokchu garu.

How to Cook Dolsot Bibimbap Recipe Video

This is a great winter dish thats easy to make using a dolsot (stone bowl). The dolsot will make the rice crispy and chewy.

The Koreans Favorite Part: Nooroongji

It is without a doubt that the dolsot bibimbap is a popular Korean food both on the domestic and international level. Surprisingly though, it seems that what the Koreans enjoy about the dolsot bibimbap slightly differs from what everyone else enjoys about it.

As if the saying “the best for the last” is really true. The part that the Koreans enjoy the most is at the very bottom of the sizzling hot dish. It is pronounced as “nooroongji” in Korean.

A nooroongji is basically rice that has become hard due a long exposure to the extremely hot surfaces of the dolsot. Therefore, only the rice that is in direct contact with hot dish can “turn in” to what is known by Koreans as nooroongji. Some people might think, “Okay, what’s so good about a hardened rice?” There are a few reasons why the Koreans like it so much.

The first is, as it should be with dishes, the taste. The nooroongji has quite a different taste than the rest of the rice in the dolsot bibimbap. Because it has been hardened, the rice is quite crunchy, making the chewing more enjoyable along with the taste. Also, as nooroongjis are first steamed between the rest of the rice above it and the hot dish beneath it, a lot of the “juice” of dolsot bibimbap soaks inside the rice. Consequently, when the rice becomes dry and hard again (now called a nooroongji), it now has the taste of dolsot bibimbap inside the rice. So, when you chew on the nooroongji you can taste the scent of the whole bibimbap in a unique way.

Part of scraping the nooroongjis is fun too. As nooroongjis are first steamed and then hardened, they tend to stick onto the dolsot. Therefore, it is quite hard to scrap the nooroongjis. Koreans use spoons to scrap the nooroongjis, which often the children enjoy doing (although they’re not that good at it!).

The dolsot bibimbap is certainly a delicious dish. While many people are aware of its overall taste and look, it has a lot of unique parts to it which unfortunately many outsiders are not aware of. Nooroongji is one of them: popular among Koreans, but unfortunately not that widely known. Next time you get yourself a dolsot bibimbap, don’t forget to try the nooroongji’s before the waitress takes the dish away! You certainly will enjoy it!

Korean Dolsot Bibimbap: Tastier than the Sum of its Parts

If you’ve never tried dolsot bibimbap, you’ve been missing out on one of the tastiest dishes in Korean cuisine.  Heck… in any cuisine.  While it sounds pretty simple on paper (as you’ll see as you read on), in reality the combination of ingredients used to make this dish makes for something surprising, wonderful… and remarkably healthy.

So, what sets dolsot bibimbap apart from plain old Korean bibimbap?  Simply put, it’s the temperature. Regular bibimbap consists of warm or cold rice served up in a bowl and covered with assorted seasoned veggies (called namul), meat, a fried egg, and a wonderful chili sauce (called gochujang).  Dolsot bibimbap is just… well… hotter. Doesn’t sound like it would make a big difference, right?

But it does. Simply serving a bibimbap in a hot bowl (this is called a dolsot –hence the name) takes an already-wonderful Korean dish to a mind-boggling level of deliciousness.  The dolsot is heated approximately to the level of the molten lava, and the inside is covered with sesame or olive oil before the warmed rice is added.  The rice touching the bowl gets crisp and fried and, well… indescribably delicious.  This almost-burnt rice is called nurungi, and is so wonderful that they actually sell it on its own as a snack in Korean grocery stores.

Eating a Korean Dolsot Bibimbap

When you make a dolsot bibimbap (or order one at your favorite Korean restaurant), it comes out sizzling, smelling wonderful, and very pretty.  But it won’t stay pretty for long– because you’ve got to add plenty of gochujang chili sauce and mix it all up into a tasty homogenized mess before eating.  A raw egg is generally floating up on top of the rest of the ingredients, bright and gooey and a little strange-looking.  But don’t worry– the bazillion degree heat of the dolsot will cook the egg as you mix, making it creamy and delicious.

What’s in Your Dolsot Bibimbap?

While all dolsot bibimbaps are similar in concept, the ingredients can vary widely.  Like regular Korean bibimbap, this dish was originally considered a good way to use up leftover rice and vegetables.  So while you’re probably not using leftovers at home (or eating them in a Korean restaurant), almost any ingredient can be tossed into your dolsot bibimbap.  And it’ll all taste good– that much I can promise you.

Though you can toss just about anything into your bibimbap, some of the most popular Korean ingredients you’ll find in them are:

* Rice or a multi-grain rice mixture.
* Sesame or olive oil.
* Assorted raw, blanched, or cooked and seasoned veggies.  These include carrots, squash, soybean sprouts, red cabbage, mushrooms (generally shitaki), burdock root, fern stems (called gosari), and others.
* Fried ginkgo nuts.
* Meat (generally beef), or Korean bulgogi, a meat mix made with wine, garlic, onion, and pineapple, among other things — so delicious!
* Egg (generally raw, though it can be fried first).
* Toasted sesame seeds.
* Gochujang sauce (sometimes spelled Kochujang).  This sauce is both sweet and spicy, but generally not too spicy.  Use it generously.

You’ll find a wide combination of these and more ingredients in a dolsot bibimbap.  And even if the idea of eating that many vegetables doesn’t excite your inner glutton… don’t listen to him.  All veggies or no, dolsot bibimbap is a Korean delicacy you won’t want to miss out on.

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