[Narrator] From the Baru Buddhist Temple,
where Monk/Chef Dae-Ahn Sunim shows us traditional Korean temple cuisine
and a lotus themed lunch.
[Jia Choi speaking] I'm here with Dae-Ahn Sunim. She's a monk and she's a chef of Buddhist food.
[speaking Korean]
It is very important to get the balance, in terms of cooking method, ingredients....
....and having seasonal ingredients, which is good for you.
Also, to keep, you know, the proper amount of food, not eat too much.
It's very important, which she recommends.
[speaking Korean]
She doesn't own this restaurant. So, this restaurant is owned by a [...] from the temple.
So, yes she develops all the menu, and she works as a chef here.
So, here — this is a bamboo shoot salad.
We have a little bit of micro herb on the top, and of course, lettuce.
And in June, bamboo shoot is fresh and nice....
So, it is brought from Chungcheong province, the southern part of Korea.
So, they have lots of bamboo trees there.
And it is all mixed like Bibimbap.
Koreans don't use only one ingredient. It's all mixed with zucchini and yes....
....fresh seasonal ingredients, yes.
This is a pine nut dressing with a little bit of mustard in here.
So, here we do have two different types of pancake.
The darker one the chocolate color the pancake is seasoned with Gochujang — Korean red pepper paste.....
....and Korean soy bean paste. That's why it looks darker.
And it has seasonal fresh leaves in here.
[speaking Korean]
So, it has a chopped zucchini, chopped pepper and [....].
And the green one is — it's a long leaf, it is blanched and then mixed with batter.....
....with a little bit of dark soy sauce and it's just flour based batter.
This is, yeah — she's saying that it's a Mandu Dumpling.
This is it doesn't have a skin, but this is sort of dumpling called....
[speaking Korean]
Potato, potato round dumpling....
....with all the vegetables and it has been steamed.
This is Korean green key tofu.
So, it is all made from the scratch. That's why it looks green.
This is a Korean pickle, made with [...], which is root vegetable.
And this one is another — the yellow one is colored with our [...] fruit.
And also has a pickling — pickle.
[speaking Korean]
A pickle made with — made from mountain vegetables.
Korean pickles is called is called in Korean, "jangajji"....
And it needs to be seasoned or fermented in the sauce at least for six months.
So, that the dipping sauce.....
[Speaking Korean]
So, the sauce....
....is soy sauce and she grated a little bit of Asian pear to it.
And then minced a little bit of red pepper green pepper and....
Mm-hmm. So, she made a week ago, so that all the flavors from the vegetables, the fruits,
goes in and tastes well.... the sauce.
This sauce is for mandu, for the potato dumpling,
and this one you don't need to dip in the sauce, because it's already seasoned on the top.
So, all different types of tofu.... There are a large variety and, uh....
For the monks is very important because they are not supposed to eat any....
The easiest way to get protein from the food is tofu.
They use soybean in many different ways, so they never lack protein.
So, this is wild burdock. One of the root vegetables that Koreans love.
So, wild [....] fruit with the pine nut sauce.
So, that's why the sauce looks a little bit, like, creamy.
And it is cooked — roasted — in the oven.
[speaking Korean]
It's not oil, but since it's pine nut, it has a — you know — good oil, quite oily, it's quite creamy and nice.
And she believes that burdock goes very well with pine nuts.
[speaking Korean]
And the black one is.... black sesame.
And also for texture, she has a little bit of pine nut, minced pine nut.
So, this is four year old mountain ginseng from Chile mountain.
And it's served with a little bit of yuzu sauce.
And this is a little bit of honey.
[speaking Korean]
So, yeah. it is not raised artificially, so it is naturally grown for four years.
So, you want to fold this, use your hands like this, and then....
[speaking Korean]
A little bit bitter. The root part is quite bitter, but the leaves are soft and nice.
The flavors — it's great.
This is a lotus root pickle with strips of chestnut served with miso sauce, okay.
Yes, so, you can pour little by little to each lotus root.
[speaking Korean]
So, this is the [....]. Korean mushroom pickled in a soy sauce.
So, you season the rice and the Lotus using the pickle on the top.
And as you can see, the Lotus is filled with sticky rice.
It's naturally colored with green tea, [...] fruit....
And cactus fruit, yes.....
And the black one is the bigger stone ear mushroom.
And thinly sliced, julienned chestnut and all different colors such as....
Black as the Estonia mushrooms, cucumber just the skin of the cucumber for green....
And of course, carrot.
So, this is a steamed Korean mushroom with fermented mountain herbs.
With a little bit of vegetable broth made with shiitake, daikon.....
Shiitake, daikon.... Kelp.
Seasoned with dark soy sauce made here.
And you have the soup and then you drink this one. It helps digestion.
So, the warm soup first.
And then the tea made from the root of [...] namu, which is a [...] tree.
[speaking Korean]
So, hot and cold. Bitter and mild.
The balance — she emphasizes the balance, in terms of temperature, texture, taste.
So, the the concept is a pork cooked brown rice, and add the bacillus mushroom to it.
And then wait for 30 days. It's going to naturally grow like this.
And you just cut the mushroom.
And you can eat fresh.
it's a bit strong.
But it has a very decent flavor, very nice.
And I love the texture. Is a very interesting texture that I cannot express in a word.
This one in front of me — it's Bean Bulgogi. "Bulgogi" in Korean means "Korean barbecue."
This is Bean Bulgogi with pickled Myeong-yi.
Koreans called Myeong-yi Namul, which is it could be used as Ssam.
And you put....
So, you put the barbecue, I mean — the bean barbecue — to the Myeong-yi leaf,
and make a Ssam.
[speaking Korean]
This is a deep-fried slice of chestnut. And this is sunflower seed.
And then you wanna roll it and make a Ssam.
[speaking Korean]
Okay, so some make Ssam like this.
So, this is a Korean mushroom called Songyi.
Similar to.... [speaking Korean]
Mm-hmm. So, this is tossed stone ear mushroom with finely julienned chestnut on the top.
So, this is sesame oil with bamboo salt in it.
So, this mushroom goes very well with them bamboo salt. Mm-hmm.
[speaking Korean]
So, the reason why you need to eat separate is, of course, each flavor is very different....
....and if you eat at the same time together, it doesn't go well.
But, if you eat separate, one by one, in your mouth is going to taste much better.
So, that's her recommendation.
So, this is fried shiitake mushrooms,
lotus root with sweet and sour apple sauce on the top.
So, the shiitake mushroom, um....
[speaking Korean]
This is fresh shiitake. Because normally in Korea, we like to dry and then rehydrate most of the times.
But this one is fresh shiitake, deep fried.
And then sweet and sour. She didn't add.... There's no sugar in it....
For sweetness, she grated a little bit of apple to the sauce.
So, now we have the last part of the meal, so....
....these are all Banchan. So, various side dishes — Banchan — including temple kimchi....
....and then the seasonal tossed salad which is called "namul."
This is also Namul — the Lotus braised in a soy sauce.
[speaking Korean]
So, no garlic of course. No fish sauce.
Just made with a vegetable.
And, yes. So, normally Koreans add fish sauce a little bit too, for flavor,
but she's saying that she added dark soy sauce instead to flavor the kimchi.
[speaking Korean]
So, this is a tofu pickle.
So, it doesn't look like tofu but, yes, it is tofu pickled in a special soy sauce,
aged soy sauce — it needs to be a pickled, fermented over three months for taste.
And then for starch, we have lotus leaf rice.
Yeah, it is wrapped in a.... The sticky rice is cooked in a wrap of lotus leaf.
And the rice is mixed with jujubes, gingko nuts, pine nuts....
[speaking Korean]
It is very important to use the leaves properly, otherwise, it doesn't — you know — the flavor is not good.
And also it has a lotus seeds in it, which is interesting....
And the soup, of course, the Miyeok Guk — which is a Korean miso soup.
....with Korean soy bean.
With a little bit of tofu.
Mm-hmm. And this is the way how normally Koreans eat at home....
Not, you know, big dishes or beautiful dishes but Banchan with rice and soup.
This is the Korean staple.
[speaking Korean]
She's saying that in the temple, the monks normally eat only this
with five different Banchan — seasonal Banchan — with rice and soup.
So, we have dessert here. And this is a summer tea, it's a cold tea...
.... made with cinnamon and ginger.
So, the chef is saying that you sweat a lot in summer, so....
....this ginger cinnamon tea is very good for you.
And this is all seasonal.....? [speaking Korean] ....dried fruits.
Such as sweet potato. You can see sweet potato.... Lotus.....
[speaking Korean]
Orange. This is orange. And this is dried nori or black seaweed.
So, this is for crunchy texture, is all sweet.
And the last one — this one is again made with red bean — traditional Korean dessert.
So, red bean goes well with tea and seasonal fruit.
So, we have fresh, dried, and then finely made, and also tea.
So, again it's all balanced and a combination of texture, color, and taste.
[speaking Korean]