Uncle Ben’s got nothing on Korean 밥
Tuesday, August 26th, 2008Rice.
Come on, you know Korea has some good rice. Tell me you know this and we can get along.
Quick review! So we have “밥” as a rice but primarily as a meal (which could entail any type of food). There’s also the rice itself, “쌀”.
Moving on, let’s get a country bumpkin’s perspective on rice, shall we?
Growing up in central Texas meant that rice took on a bit of a different form that what is the norm in Korea. We’re talking Tex-Mex rice - Spanish rice - the yellow-redish with tomato goodness that isn’t quite Mexican but certainly not Texan. I also enjoyed (and still do) Dirty rice - a Cajun staple from our border-neighbor Louisiana (or as some Texans say “that one state to the right”). Now there was also two other kinds of rice in our cupboard - and it is here that I am most embarrassed.
For the longest time, I called white rice “white people rice” because boil-in-the-bag rice that is white in color isn’t the same as Asian-style rice; also, I noticed my “white” family eating it. How awful! I couldn’t help but propagate a misnomer, but I know I put it together when I noticed that my family ate different white rice from my friends who ate Korean rice. For example, our boil-in-bag rice was prepackaged, not sticky, and usually had a dollop of butter on the top of it with a sprinkle of black pepper. Sorry guys, I couldn’t make this up even if I wanted to. Also, the other boil-in-the-bag rice, brown rice, was usually the bed for a diced chicken dish, but essentially they served the same purpose in the kitchen. So, basically I called Korean rice “sticky rice” pretty much just because it was sticky.
Now that I have moved on from kitchen-based ethnocentrism, I can say with confidence that I don’t discriminate. However, I do eat Korean-style rice almost exclusively now (too many bad memories with that racist rice from before, you know). However, I am not content with the vanilla-variety rice that stares at me with its plainness. Oh no. I’m all about the 전라도 rice. It comes in many different varieties, styles, and names but I have been calling it 오곡밥 (five grain rice) for good measure. I’ve seen it called 오곡미, 칠곡미, and something else that slips my mind but they’re all forms of a mixed grain with rice. Essentially, if you’re ever in 전주 and you notice the rice has a purple/red color to it with a bunch of crazy beans invading the bowl - you’ve found solid goodness. I love this rice. It’s the only rice that when served, I usually ask for seconds.
The mixture was likely introduced way back when when rice was more expensive than other grains. However, to make due with the food that was available, grains were introduced to the mix and were eaten together as a kind of “poor-man’s rice”. That would make 오곡밥 or any other mixed grain rice a sort of food for those who couldn’t afford normal white rice from a long time ago, wouldn’t it? Nuts to that! The mixed rice has a fuller flavor, more nutrients, more purpleness (you need purple in your diet, right?). I’ve also seen it with more of a red tint to it - either way, I get pretty passionate about that rice. We’re BFF.
The only real difference in cooking is that you have to soak the portion that is to be cooked overnight in a bowl of water (to soften the grains prior to cooking) but other than that, it cooks the same in a rice pot. I also try not to over-rinse the rice mix as much. Normally, a good four-five rinse is all that I need with normal rice but usually, I only do three or four good rinses - so as not to lose the rocket-sauceness of it.
Without getting into a “my rice is better than yours” contest, I would like to extend this apology to other sources of good rice - you’ll never get the gold but that doesn’t mean that you can’t be silver 
Man, those are fightin words…Anyways, what types of rice do you all like? Am i alone in eating the red-headed stepchild of Korean rice? Any ex-pats taken to 오곡밥?
Thoughts?
Posted by Matthew in How Koreans Do It |
August 26th, 2008 at 11:08 pm
i grew up in a very small town in minnesota (like, less than 10,000 people), so i know exactly what you mean by “white people rice.” haha! i didn’t have any real asian food of any kind until i moved to nashville because there just wasn’t any. my family’s (and everyone else’s, honestly) idea of “chinese food” was the chow-mein you get in a can. pretty sad, huh? i’m glad i’ve moved on from that!
i love love korean rice. i haven’t tried 오곡밥 but i’ve heard of it - i should look for it next time. i ususally just get the.. oh, i don’t know what it’s called.. 한미쌀? something like that. it’s nice and sticky and awesome.
August 26th, 2008 at 11:36 pm
Ah, yes, rice…
I can almost be Izzardian (i.e. wax philosophically in that non-sequitur way) when I talk about it - but not now
When I was in Korea for three weeks, my host mother made 오곡밥 daily, and now I wonder if she’s originally from 전라도.
Something that used to irk me growing up Filipino-American was that one time my ex-in-laws from Indiana came over and visited my mom. We had fried chicken with rice that night. And then they asked for butter and *sugar*. Sugar? Certainly not on the chicken. But even worse - on the rice! They had topped their rice off with butter and sugar! I thought I was going to faint - I never before had seen anything that shocking…
August 26th, 2008 at 11:49 pm
We used to have a neighbor who would come over our house almost daily when we were kids. And of course we would give her Korean food when she stayed for dinner. And not sugar, but she would put salt on her rice… ALWAYS. My mom found that hilarious!
But now that I think about it… rice with salt doesn’t sound too bad… but rice and sugar sounds… gross!
And i like the term… “White people rice” hahaha. Thanks for the laugh Matt
August 27th, 2008 at 5:10 am
Personally, I hate anything in my rice. Except salt. I have to salt my rice. I don’t know why, but I do. Oh, and when my mom put barley in it. But red beans or green lima type beans and rice change the taste too much and I don’t enjoy it.
August 27th, 2008 at 4:21 pm
Rice is something I eat maybe twice a month. Mum used to make it with stocking (yuck!), or with salt and butter. When I make it for myself, I usually just put lentils or some Japanese stuff I got in it. But I actually prefer it white. It’s just too much work making it…
August 28th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
I love jasmine rice with sesame ginger marinade or a little butter. I don’t really care for salt on my rice, but my family puts salt on everything- salad, radish, watermelon, tomatoes, you name it. About rice and sugar, my grandma used to cook plain white rice with raisins in it, so they’d get really soft, add half & half creamer, nutmeg, cinnamon and sugar to it when it was done. This may be my sweet tooth talking, but it tastes pretty amazing to me! ^_^ On a side note, after eating rice, I feel like I need a nap, so I have to be careful about when I eat it!
August 28th, 2008 at 10:28 pm
My sister and I when we were young used to make rice on Saturday morning. We would put it in a cereal bowl and melt butter on top, then sprinkle sugar all over it and add milk, I know if your not used to it, it may sound odd, but it is really good.
August 29th, 2008 at 8:12 am
(-_-) You guys are killing me.
August 29th, 2008 at 9:42 am
“(-_-) You guys are killing me. ”
Matthew,
Then by all means, please have some cake!
OK, make that 떡 then.
August 29th, 2008 at 9:45 am
“(-_-) You guys are killing me. ”
Matthew,
Then by all means, please have some cake!
OK, make that 떡 then.
(It’s another Izzardian thing, you see - oh, never mind.)
August 30th, 2008 at 1:42 am
Being a Chinese who eats rice almost everyday, all this talk about salt/sugar/butter/milk on rice sounds really, erm, gross to me…
August 30th, 2008 at 3:45 am
So THAT’s what you call that delicious purple-coloured hearty rice. I love that rice too… I usually ate the “Korean cafeteria food” at the 학원 I worked at, and I was happy on the days that we had the purple rice…
Nobody’s talked about another Korean specialty rice… 대나무밥, I believe it’s called. It’s rice cooked with various grains and beans in a large bamboo cup. Divinely delicious rice!
September 4th, 2008 at 10:52 am
Being a Chinese who eats rice almost everyday, all this talk about salt/sugar/butter/milk on rice sounds really, erm, gross to me…
I’m not Chinese (New Zealander actually) but I also eat rice every day and it grosses me out as well
But I love the 대나무밥, Korean 오곡밥 (5 grain rice) and Indonesian black rice with coconut milk …. mmmmmmm