My Top 10 Favorite Banchans

A great Korean meal wouldn’t be complete without a spread of delicious banchan (반찬) or side dishes to accompany your rice and soup.  With that said, I’m going to talk about my favorite banchans.  I grew up eating a lot of this stuff and these are just my personal faves in no particular order.  Feel free to chime in with your own on the comments section.

1. Jang Jorim (장조림) – I was a finicky eater when I was a kid, but this would always pique my palette.  It’s beef simmered in soy sauce.  I used to always eat this with egg bibimbap (계란비빔밥), which is a runny egg mixed in with a hot bowl of rice.

2. Kkaetnip Jangajji (깻잎 장아찌) – Jangajji is when you pickle vegetables in a jang (장) or sauce/paste.  The 3 representative jangs of Korea is of course ganjang (soy sauce), gochujang (red pepper paste), and doenjang (soy bean paste).  This is made from sesame leaves.  The real delicious way to eat kkaetnip jangajji is to get a leaf and wrap it around a mouthful of rice.

3. Ojingeojeot (오징어젓) – I absolutely love jeotgal.  Jeotgal is fermented/pickled fish.  I’m sure many people are aware of saeujeot (새우젓), which is the shrimp dip found at most pork restaurants.  My favorite kind is ojingeojeot, which is made from squid.  Just put a piece on a spoonful of rice for a delicious bite.  As an added bonus, you can wrap the rice and ojingeojeot combo in number 4 for an even more tastier treat.

4. Gim (김) – Dried and roasted laver brushed with sesame oil and salt.  It tastes great on its own and even better when you wrap some rice with it.  The kind I like has a different texture than the one used in gimbap.  The kind I like is more crispy and crumbly.

5. Sigeumchi Namul (시금치 나물) – All those stringy veggies you find in bibimbap are basically different types of namuls.  My personal favorite is spinach.  I’ve always liked this since I was a kid and I could never understand why other kids thought spinach was a gross vegetable.

6. Ojingeochae Bokkeum (오징어채볶음) – Squid jerky!  I actually wrote a whole blog post dedicated to this delicious treat.  As with all good jerky, it’s fun to chew.  I love the sweet and savoriness of this dish.  It makes you keep coming back for more.

7. Mechurial Jorim (메추리알조림) – This is another jorim type banchan, which are banchans that are simmered in some kind of sauce for a while, so it soaks up all the flavor of that suace.  These are hard boiled quail eggs simmered in soy sauce.  This banchan is often prepared with jang jorim. They’re like bite-sized hard boiled eggs.

8. Oi Sobagi (오이소박이) – This is a type of kimchi made from cucumbers.  It’s stuffed with chives and green onions.  It’s also not fermented for very long (like a day?), so you can still taste the freshness and crunchiness of the cucumber.  I really love eating this banchan during the summer months.

9. Gamja Jorim (감자조림) – Yet another jorim type banchan that I enjoy.  These are made from potatoes.  I love having potatoes with any kind of meal (Western, Korea, etc) any time of day.  There’s a more sweeter recipe that’s brown in color and a spicier/savory recipe that’s red in color.  I love both kinds.

10. Gyeran Mari (계란말이) – This is basically a Korean version of an omelet in that the fillings can vary depending on who makes it.  Fillings can range from, sesame leaves, laver, fake crab meat, kimchi, and nowadays, even cheese.  This banchan is also popular as an anju (안주), or dish consumed with alcohol.  I’ve seen ones nearly the size of a pillow or even ones stretching 3 ft long.

This post also went up on koreataste.org.  If you enjoyed it, gimme some props and throw me a vote by going here and clicking on the Thumbs Up icon.  As always, thanks for reading.

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