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I often encounter difficulty when I attempt to explain Korea's food
culture to Westerners. For example, a common difficulty involves when I try to
describe the differences between jusik, staple foods, and busik, supplemental
dishes. In the past, staple foods were common in both the East and the West.
Although wheat bread was a common staple food, or main dish, in most European
countries, potatoes were the staple in some. Rice was also extensively
consumed, because of its good taste and stable supply. Rice thus became the
staple food of people in monsoonal regions with a temperate climate and heavy
rainfall.
Today, rice continues to be the staple food of several countries, including Korea, Japan, and Vietnam. In Korea, cooked
rice is referred to as bap or ssalbap. Rice cooked with beans (kong) is called
kongbap, while rice cooked with a mixture of barley (bori) is called boribap.
Although Koreans will have ssalbap with virually every meal, tradition calls
for ogokbap to be served on Dae-boreum, the first full moon of the New Year,
which falls on the 15th day of the first lunar month. Around this time of the
year, the roots of plants slowly begin to stir back to life underground, though
the plants may still appear to be deep in winter slumber above the surface. In
the past, people would often suffer from malnutrition or a lack of sustenance
during the course of a lengthy winter when food was not always readily
available. In response to this situation, on the first full moon of the year,
Koreans would eat five-grain rice prepared with various vegetables that had
been dried in the sun prior to the onset of winter. In the evening, people ate
walnuts, chestnuts, pine nuts and other nuts, which helped to provide much
needed nutrients. On Daeboreum, regular rice, so essential for everyday meals,
would be set aside.
Ogokbap Ingredients
The people of Korea, China, Japan, and India referred to
the five most commonly consumed grains as ogok, literally "five
grains." In India, the five
basic grains included barley, wheat, rice, beans, and sesame; for China, it was
sesame, barley, barnyard millet, sorghum, and beans, or sorghum, barnyard
millet, beans, barley, and rice. The five representative grains in Korea included
rice, barley, foxtail millet, beans, and millet.
Ogokbap refers to steamed rice cooked together with barley, foxtail millet,
beans, and millet. However, changes over time and regional adaptations brought
about variations of the original concept of five grains. Nowadays, ogokbap
refers to rice cooked with any other four grains, without regard to the five
traditional grains of the past.
Korean winters can be harsh and long lasting. In making it through a long
winter, people are prone to suffer from some extent of malnutrition. This
brought about the practice of serving ogokbap on the first full moon of the
year, as the dreary winter draws to a close, to replenish people's need for
diverse nutrients.
Today, there has been a noticeable increase in the number of people for whom
ogokbap is now their everyday fare, due to rising incidents of such geriatric
diseases as high blood pressure, diabetes, and angina pectoris. Apart from the
health benefits it offers to sufferers of hypertension and diabetes, ever more
people enjoy ogokbap as a diet food, thanks to its high nutritional value and
low calories.
Preparing Ogokbap
Ogokbap can be rather time-consuming to prepare, due to the fibrous husk of the
grains that can make for difficult chewing if not thoroughly cooked. These
days, however, with the new pressure cookers, it is easy to cook ogokbap and
the taste is enhanced as well.
If you use a pressure cooker to cook ogokbap, simply follow the directions for
cooking unpolished rice (or brown rice in which the inner husk has not been
removed). Typically, the grains would be soaked in water for a considerable
period of time before being mixed with the rice and cooked. This was especially
the case with barley that would be too chewy if not properly soaked. Here
again, with advanced models of pressure cookers, it is not necessary to soak
the grains in advance, such that ogokbap can be cooked in the same way as
regular rice.
In Korea, various
combinations of diverse grains are available at agricultural cooperative
outlets and health food sections of supermarkets. After combining an equal
amount of white rice with the assorted grains, you can cook the mixture in the
same way that you would cook regular rice. The only point to consider is that
for a better tasting ogokbap, the grains should be soaked in water for about
four hours before cooking.
In case of regular rice, any leftover portions will not taste as good as when
freshly cooked. Cold rice needs to be heated to taste better, but can never
equal that of freshly cooked rice. On the other hand, leftover ogokbap loses
little of its original flavorful taste. Accordingly, those who favor the
five-grain rice need not be concerned about less tasty leftover rice while also
taking advantage of its nutritional and dietary benefits.
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