Round the World with Smith Eating the world, one bite at a time!

Passport & Plate - Nakji-yachae-juk (Octopus and Vegetable Porridge)

South Korea | Sunday, February 8, 2015 | 1 photos

Ingredients
some cooking oil
1 cup white rice
2 cups boiling water
chopped carrot
chopped chive
chopped onion
few drops sesame oil
garnish/topping: kimchi, tuna, pickled radish, fermented fish and chili paste, black and white sesame seeds

 

How to prepare this recipe
Start to fry your chopped vegetables in a big pan with some cooking oil - just like you make paella!
After you've rinsed off your rice to clear excess starch, add that to the frying pan
When all the ingredients have been fried off, add hot water
Add the octopus if it is raw and uncooked - pref cut off the legs into smaller, chewable pieces
Bring to the boil and let all the ingredients simmer
Add a few drops of sesame oil
Allow to cook for around half an hour until you get a porridge consistency
Serve hot and add your toppings directly onto the porridge before eating

 

The story behind this recipe
This dish is special to me because it marks the period of time when I could eat again. Between 2007-2009, I was so severely ill with myalgic encephalitis (ME) that I spent every single day vomiting or dashing to the loo each time I put any food in my mouth, or even caught sight of any food. For breakfast, for example, the best that I ever managed during that time was half a banana. My theory on what happened was that my body was just too exhausted to want to digest any food properly. They were really dark days, and I could only see a skeleton in the mirror. From 2009, I finally found myself starting to have an appetite again, and boy, did I enjoy eating again. Not only that, I truly appreciate having access to good food. When I made it back to Korea in 2010, I was really excited to be reunited with a heavily Buddhist influence cuisine that featured many whole, plant-based foods, with recipes designed to offer healing for different types of conditions. Juk, or porridge, is widely recognized for its restorative powers, and is still regularly offered to the infirm and women who have given birth. It can be made with a variety of ingredients, from ginseng to beef to octopus, and it's hard to fail to find anyone of the juks so yummy that it's a dish that has eternal value.