JEONJU TOUR FOR WSK

Stop 2: Jeonju Hanuk

Daan and Me

A house which looks like a typical middle-class Philippine house.

Saw this cat under the car..she looks so shy.

Saw this magnificent structure on the way to the Hanuk.

Some monuments with inscriptions.

I found this tree so attractive...the leaves were already gone as it approach winter.

After lunch, we headed for Jeonju. It was a forty minute drive from Asan. The place now blends with modern architecture as new houses were built side by side with old and reconstructed hanuk.  It was a bit cold that afternoon. The girls have separate dormitory. Daan from the Netherlands was my roommate. We just placed our bags at the room before we headed for the jeonju cultural center located at near the girl’s dormitory. Jeonju Hanok Village is located in the city of Jeonju and overlaps Pungnam-dong and Gyo-dong. There are over 800 traditional Korean 'hanok' houses. While the rest of city has been industrialized, Hanok Maeul retains its historical charms and traditions. 

Onggi jars outside the Hanuk

Jeonju Hanok village is especially beautiful for its roof curves. The roof edges being slightly raised to the sky is unique. Hanok houses are generally divided into two sections, Anchae and Sarangchae. Anchae is also known as Gyusu room, and is furnished accordingly. Sarangchae is where the men dwell, and is referred to as the Seonbi room. Because men and women have to remain separate, Anchae is situated deep inside the house so that it is secretive and quiet.  Another trait of Hanok is that all the houses are heated with the ondol system, a unique sub-flooring heating system. Since Koreans enjoy sitting, eating, and sleping on the floor, it needs to remain heated. A part of Hanok has been set aside so that tourists can experience traditional Korean life, called Hanok Life Experience Hall. You can enter the Seonbi room and the Gyusu room to experience the warm floor first-hand. An advantage of this system is that it is warm in the winter and cool in the summer. The food provided is very traditional, which adds to the traditional ambience. At Jeonju Hanok Village visitors can enjoy traditional Korean life and traditional foods like bibimbap, the most well known dish from the Jeonju region.

Stop 3: Jeonju Cultural Center

At the Center, we were taught how to make kimchi.  Here are the ingredients and the procedure of preparing kimchi.

For Napa cabbage

·         2 heads Napa cabbage

·         2 cups sea salt

·         8 cups water

For kimchi marinade

·         1 cup sweet rice powder

·         5 cups water

·         1 cup coarse Taeyangcho red chili pepper powder

·         5 ounces garlic

·         10 ounces Asian pear, peeled and quartered

·         9 ounces onions, peeled and quartered

·         1 ounce ginger, peeled

·         4 ounces Fresno chilies

·         2 pounds radish, julienned

·         4 ounces minari

·         4 ounces red mustard greens

·         4 ounces Korean chives

·         4 ounces green onions

·         1/4 cup Korean anchovy fish sauce

·         3/4 cup Korean salted shrimp sauce

·         4 ounces fresh shrimp, chopped

·         4 ounces Korean salted shrimp

Prepare Napa cabbage—Trim the cabbage by removing any brown leaves on the outer layers. Slice the center of the cabbage’s stem 2 inches deep. Using your thumbs and hands, pull the cabbage into two sections through the slit. Repeat for the remaining cabbage.

Prepare kimchi marinade—Combine the water with the sweet rice powder and whisk until smooth. Heat the water and rice powder mixture on the stove on medium-high heat, stirring occasionally to prevent it from sticking to the bottom of the pan. When bubbles start to form, reduce the heat and continue to stir. Once the mixture thickens and becomes translucent (approximately 10 minutes), take it off the heat. Cool the mixture completely.

Once the rice powder mixture has cooled completely, transfer it to a large bowl. Add the red chili pepper powder to the rice powder mixture and combine well.

Place the onions, pear, garlic, ginger, and Fresno chilies in a food processor and pulse until finely minced. Set aside.

Add the pureed chili mixture, along with the radish, minari, red mustard greens, chives, and green onions to the rice powder mixture. Combine the mixture thoroughly, making sure that the greens are incorporated completely.

Lastly, add in the anchovy fish sauce, salted shrimp sauce, and fresh and salted shrimp. Once again, combine the mixture very well. If mixing with your hands, be sure to wear rubber gloves to avoid chili burn.

Prepare the kimchi—Take the cabbage and stuff the marinade mixture between the leaves, working from outside in, starting with the largest leaf to the smallest. Do not overstuff, but make sure the marinade mixture adequately fills the leaves.

When entire cabbage is stuffed, take one of the larger leaves and wrap it tightly around the rest of the cabbage. Divide the cabbage among jars, pressing down firmly to remove any air bubbles. Only fill the jar 80 percent, full because the kimchi will expand as it ferments. Keep the jar tightly sealed and refrigerated for at least 20 days. 

I really love Kimchi, at first the taste is not so good for me because of my Southeast Asian palate but as time goes by, I got used to eat (they call it acquired taste) and I started to eat it almost every day and indeed it has a lot of health benefits. I especially like putting kimchi on the sam gyup sal pan..yum..yum…bon apetite!

After that interesting class, we were treated by a bountiful dinner: