Meeryung Hall, the wife of US consul-general Craig L. Hall, opened her kitchen to t2 and some officers of the consulate for a masterclass in making some Korean dishes, and of course tasting them. The dishes on the menu? Bibimbap and Miso soup. “Bibim means mixed and bap means rice. This is a dish you'll find at every Korean restaurant. And you can make it at home when you have leftovers. I made a simple dish, and something that is considered very healthy. I don’t have an exact recipe for it because I do it all from practice,” said Meeryung, before she put her chef hat on. Here’s what we learnt over the next hour and a half.

 

MISO SOUP

 

 

Dried anchovy
Dry seaweed
Fish sauce
Doenjang (Korean fermented soya bean paste)
Garlic

 

 

You first make the soup stock with the dry anchovy and seaweed; you can make it for 10 or 20 minutes. Take out the anchovy and seaweed from the stock and put in diced pumpkin, white gourd and mushroom. You can put in any vegetable into Miso soup, whatever you have. Cook for around 10 minutes. Mix the Doenjang (three to four spoons, depending on taste) with a little water to make it a little gravy-like and add it to the soup. Add garlic to the soup, and a little sugar and cook for about 10 minutes or till the vegetables are done.

 

 

 

Raw papaya
Ginger paste to taste
Garlic paste to taste
Onions
Fish sauce to taste
Salt
Sugar, very little 
Red chilli powder
Toasted sesame seeds
Rice powder paste

 

 

This is easy to make because all you have to do is mix it all together.

 

 

 

 

Soya sauce
Sesame seeds
Plum Sauce or any sweet white wine
Rice vinegar 
Garlic 
Green onion 
Red chilli powder 
Sesame oil

 

 

Mix it all together for the sauce

 

 

 

Red sauce
Red chilli paste
Garlic
Sesame oil

 

 

Mix it all together for the sauce

 

 

Lotus root
Fresh cucumber
Rice (basmati and black)
Pork/chicken 
Eggs
Bean sprout
Onions
Mushrooms
Carrots
Zucchini
Papaya Kimchi (prepared earlier) 

Lettuce

 

 

Chop the lotus root into thin round slices and soak it for around 30 minutes and boil it for 20 minutes, before spicing it up. Once done, add soya sauce, ginger, sugar, any vegetable oil and black pepper and mix well.

Chop the cucumber into round slices and add salt and mix.
With the rice what is most important is how much water you add. For Korean food, rice is so important, because we use sticky rice. Basmati is the closest to that you get here. I measure it by putting in my hand and seeing if the water comes up to just below my wrist. It is something I learned from my mother. Cook it till the water is all gone.
Clean the bean sprouts well, add two tablespoons of water and a little salt, and make sure it is not overcooked (till the steam comes out) because it is nicer crunchy. Once cooked, add fish sauce and sesame oil.
Cook the pork/chicken slices till it is very crispy and cut it into small inch-long pieces.
Saute the vegetables (carrots, zucchini, mushrooms, onions) separately. And fry eggs sunny side up.
Put the rice in the middle of the bowl and add the cooked vegetables, bean sprouts and lotus root and Kimchi around the rice, add red sauce and brown sauce, and the crispy pork; complete the bowl with a fried egg on top.