SPRING KOREAN SALAD

Spring time is here ! Eating fresh and healthy food is in the air. Back in France since two months now, eating Korean food is calling me. In this period of quarantine, restaurants are closed (for my greatest misfortune) and I don’t have access to Asian Mart due to living at my sister’s place in the countryside of Brittany. I have to let my creativity coming back. I’m cooking Korean food with French products that are easy to find at the market or directly from wild picking.

Recently, I tried a Banchan – 반찬 chard, a delight ! I’m usually not a big fan of this fairly pronounced earthy taste plant, but with this recipe I’m asking for more. It was during a walk around my place that I had the idea of using wild plants (hogweed, sorrel and sea chard) as a basis for the making of a spring Banchan – 반찬.

Wild plants Banchan : hogweed, sorrel and chard.

The Banchan

A Korean meal without Banchan – 반찬 is not a Korean meal ! The base for every meal in Korea is at least a bowl of rice, a soup and minimum one Banchan – 반찬.

I advise you to leave if your host does not provide you with at least one Banchan for your meal. Either he is stingy or gastronomy is not his passion (very rare in Korea). The only dishes that are not necessarily coming with a Banchan – 반찬 are street food and foreign dishes revisited by Korean (Jjamppong – 짬뽕, Jajangmyeon – 자장면, …).

Then what is a Banchan ? Patience ! I’m coming to it …

The main types of banchan

There are 6 categories of Banchan defined by the way they are prepared.

Kimchi – 김치, based on fermented plants with water and salt (usually Chinese cabbage – 배추) most often seasoned with chili, garlic, onion, Korean pear and spring onion. This is THE basic Banchan – 반찬.
Namul – 나물 refers to steamed, marinated or sauteed vegetables, usually seasoned with sesame oil, salt, sugar, chilli, soy sauce, garlic, onion and spring onion.
Bokkeum – 볶음 is a set of dishes sauteed in sauce.
Jorim – 조림 is a set of dishes simmered in a seasoned broth.
Jjim – 찜 is a set of boiled or steamed dishes.
The Jeon – 전 is a set of dishes made from pancakes.

My Banchan of Chard

With the difficulty of finding typical Korean Spring vegetables in France such as Buchu – 부추 (Chinese spring onion), Pa – 파 (Cébette), Ssuk – 쑥 (Japanese Armoise), …, lets try with a very French spring vegetables: the Chard (La Blette).

If you are not a lover of this plant or you don’t know how to cook it, stay with me, I will give you a delicious side dish recipe super easy to make !

In this recipe I prepared a Namul – 나물 Banchan.

As long as you respect the quantity of this recipe, you can decline it endlessly by trying with all the green vegetables that can be blanched ! Spinach, sea beet, in a salad with lettuce, cucumber and onion! It’s super delicious and Korean flavors will always be there !