My grandmother started to teach me how to make banchan (반찬), side dishes.

It must be the Korean way of *hinting* the need to marry you off soon. Well regardless of hidden meanings or codes, I’m just happy to be spending an afternoon with my grandmother learning how to make banchan(반찬), side dishes that accompany the main meal.

Today she taught me how to make black bean in soy sauce banchan (콩자반)

Ingredients (it seems that Koreans cook in ratios, so that’s how I’m listing it here)
- Dry black beans (the ratio is 2:2 beans to water)
- Water
- Salt (literally a pinch with your fingers)
- Soy sauce (2:2.5 beans to soy sauce)
- Dark brown sugar (2:0.75 beans to sugar)
- Option: Sprinkle sesame seeds to garnish

[1] 2 cups of dried black beans

[2] Wash them clean

[3] Add 2 cups of water to the beans

[4] Add 2-1/2 cups soy sauce to the water + bean mix

[5] Shut the pressure cooker and on high heat let it cook for 10 minutes

[6] Open the pressure cooker, take it off the heat and add 3/4cup of dark brown sugar to the mix

[7] Bring back to a boil with the lid off for 1 minute

and voila! kong ja ban (콩자반)

my first banchan COMPLETE! I’ve asked her to teach me how to make one of my favorites, beef soy sauce reduction (jang jo rhim 장조림), hope to post soon.

About the Author

Daniel

Daniel Gray is a Korean adoptee that returned to Korean in 2005 because he wanted to try and find his birth mother and to learn about Korean culture. He started a restaurant review blog in 2007, www.seouleats.com, that became a local and international hit. He and his blog has been featured in the New York Times, Monocle Magazine, The Kimchi Chronicles, Bizarre Foods, Rudy Maxa, Olive Magazine, Euronews and much more. He now is a partner at O’ngo Food Communications (www.ongofood.com), which is a culinary tourism and consulting company that offers Korean cooking classes and restaurant tours to travelers. Their food tours and cooking classes are ranked as one of the top attractions in Seoul according to tripadvisor.

Cooking