Tag Archive for 'Korean restaurant'

Korean Food Nutritional Information

Published
by
Korean Food Lover
on August 26, 2008
in Korean Food Nutritional Information
. 0 Comments

When you eat in a restaurant and cook cultural foods on your own, you want to know that what you’re putting in your mouth is good for you.  Sure, when you go to McDonald’s, you know what you’re eating is bad for you… but you also have the nutrition information right there to tell you so. Unfortunately, when you eat at a Korean restaurant, Korean food nutritional information isn’t generally posted right on the menu.  Which is a shame, as knowing how good Korean cuisine is for your health makes eating it even more fun!

As a culture, Koreans are very proud of their rich and varied cuisine. And they’re healthier for it, as well.  They very rarely use the deep-fry methods found in China, and as part of their national cuisine, they eat plenty of vegetables, grains (such as rice), soups, meats, seafood, tofu, and other soy products. But the sheer variety of foods isn’t the only exciting Korean food nutritional information you’ll find. Because despite Korean food’s variety, vegetables and soy products are served with practically every meal in Korean cuisine… and this makes Korean food incredible healthy in the long term.

Korean Health Foods

There’s more to evaluating Korean food nutritional information than simply saying “lean protein and lots of vegetables? Sounds great!”  Because there are a lot of hidden benefits to some of Korea’s most popular foods.

Doenjang: Doenjang is more than just a popular Korean ingredient or flavoring.  This fermented soybean paste has started receiving attention in the Western world as a health food.  For one, soybeans are made of superior proteins which help the body to digest.  Even better, however, is what the fermentation process does to this product. During fermentation, substances are developed in doenjang that reduce the risk of developing cancer and blood-vessel-related illnesses, as well as encourage healthy intestines.

Kimchi: Kimchi is another hugely popular Korean dish which is beginning to gain a lot of popularity as a health food.  The Korean food nutritional information behind this tasty dish is enough to make you want to eat it every day. For one, kimchi has antibiotic properties, as the bacteria that are made during fermentation restrain harmful bacteria from growing in the intestines. This helps to eliminate or reduce the severity of intestinal disorders, as well as treat diabetes and gastrointestinal cancers. Substances found in kimchi also help prevent heart-burn and other conditions caused by too much acid in the system.

As far as general health goes, you can’t get much healthier than the ingredients found in kimchi. Kimchi is rich in plenty of important vitamins and minerals, such as vitamin A, vitamin C, calcium, and iron. Plus, most of the ingredients in kimchi are quite low in calories and have very little sugar… but are filled with plenty of fiber. The fibers found in the cabbage used in kimchi, for instance, help to aid in digestion and elimination.

All of this is great news if you’re worried about Korean food nutritional information when you head over to your favorite Korean restaurant. So stuff yourself with all of the kimchi and doenjang jjigae stew you want… and know that you’re not just having something great for your taste buds. You’re also doing something great for your health.  Eat up!

Korean Dolsot Bibimbap: Tastier than the Sum of its Parts

Published
by
Korean Food Lover
on June 20, 2008
in Dolsot Bibimbap and Korean Dishes
. 0 Comments

bibimbap ingredientsIf 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.