[Narrator] For the gourmet traveller,
Souls frenetic Gwangjang Market
offers a tasty foray into the specialties of the Korean kitchen.
Here, shoppers browse an astounding assortment of fresh and dried ingredients.
Jia Choi leads us to some of her favorite vendors.
[Jia Choi speaking] This is a Seoul's famous Gwangjang Market.
It's been here over 100 years, so....
It's one of the very oldest traditional markets in Korea.
Banchan is sort of Korean tapas.
So, whatever that goes well with rice or noodles, we call Banchan.
So, as you can see, most of the things are seasonal and we have a large variety of content.
For example, this is fish egg. This is blue crab marinated in soy sauce,
which is originally from North Korea, but it's very popular and fresh and nice in this season.
And then we have small crabs, you know?
These are marinated and this is tossed with Gochujang, which is a red pepper paste.
This is a cucumber kimchi which is available in summer.
And this is cabbage kimchi.
And what else we have? This is the daikon — the radish kimchi.
And not all sorts of kimchi needs to be fermented.
For example, the cabbage kimchi needs to be fermented....
But the cucumber kimchi or [....] is more like a salad....
You need to eat — consume, you know — within three days.
[Narrator] And if all this shopping stirs your appetite,
the Gwangjang Market offers a wide selection of dining options.
From restaurants devoted to Yukhoe — the Korean version of beef tartare —
....the shops specializing in dumplings known as Mandu.
[Steven Hyung speaking] This shop is very famous for dumplins.
Especially for kimchi dumplings.
So she is Mrs. Cho. She's a very famous person at this market for dumplings.
So, gonna try a little bit of dumpling, here.
So, as you can see here, we have in Korea, we have about two types of dumplings.
So, one is a kimchi dumpling. And the other is a pork dumpling.
[Chef Steve Jilleba] Oh, and they're also known for soup, so! [Steven Hyung speaking] Yeah, for soup!
[Steven Hyung speaking] So, this is rice cake with dumpling soup.
[Chef Steve Jilleba] So, here — some more kimchi dumpling.
And this one — this wrapper is different, now.
[Steven Hyung speaking] Yeah, okay, this is made of acorn.
So, acorn is a very healthy, helps with high blood pressure.
[Chef Steve Jilleba] And then the rice cake. [Steven Hyung speaking] Rice cake. [Chef Steve Jilleba] Seaweed. [Steven Hyung speaking] Seaweed.
[Chef Steve Jilleba] And always always a vegetable. [Steven Hyung speaking] Vegetables as well.
[Chef Steve Jilleba] And the broth is out of what?
[Steven Hyung speaking] Dried fish. And um.... [Chef Steve Jilleba] Dried fish.
[Steven Hyung speaking] And seaweed. [Chef Steve Jilleba] Seaweed. Okay.
[Steven Hyung speaking] We don't put salt in. Because the seaweed has salt.
[Chef Steve Jilleba] Yeah, of course.
[Chef Steve Jilleba] That looks fantastic.
[Steven Hyung speaking] This is a sauce. This sauce is a soy sauce....
[Steven Hyung speaking] ....with chili powder. [Chef Steve Jilleba] Chili powder, yeah.
[Steven Hyung speaking] And some seed.
This is a sesame seed.
So we.....
[Steven Hyung speaking] This is pork. [Chef Steve Jilleba] Pork.
[Steven Hyung speaking] So, we grab some, little bit of kimchi, and put on the top.
[ambient restaurant noise]
And using a little bit of soy sauce....
And eat it as a combination.
[ambient restaurant noise]
[Chef Steve Jilleba] Very good, very good.
So, there's other things mixed in with that pork....?
[Steven Hyung speaking] Yeah, there's a noodle inside. And also some vegetables. [Chef Steve Jilleba] Uh-huh. Vegetables.
[Steven Hyung speaking] With this soup, cut it up.
[Chef Steve Jilleba] With some of the broth, yeah?
[Steven Hyung speaking] Look for some kimchi.
For the top.
[Chef Steve Jilleba] So, I gotta mix?
[ambient restaurant noise]
[Steven Hyung speaking] How is it?
[Chef Steve Jilleba] Excellent. We've got a very light flavor.
You know, I was thinking. You say "kimchi," and I'm thinking spicy right away.
It's a little bit, but not much. It's really nice.
And the broth is really nice, too.
Well, this is fantastic.
I mean, it was really, really great food, and....
Mrs. Cho, thank you so much for sharing this with us.
[speaking Korean]
[Music Playing]