my love affair with Korean shigumchi....

little did i know that i would travel to Busan this year...was my first international travel alone....and believe it or not i went crazy over reading and learning about the Korean culture...went into the history of North and South Korea and the 38th parallel...its like India...where two portions got divided politically but culturally and in terms of food they are so similar!...i always believed that food divides people...but today let me be the optimist and say, food unites....there is so much to say on Korean food and for months i read about it and tried remembering the names....i saw alot of similarity with Indian food traditions...like elders having it first...so food became a mechanism to keep the hierarchy based on seniority intact...and the Asian society is full of it!...booked my first table at the Gung...thanks to Vanshi's advice and found my partner to tickle our tastebuds....so over that elaborate lunch of flavours and textures quite new too me...and moreover, the steel chopsticks!...
thanks to my everyday Korean breakfast...i had the Korean spinach everyday and loved it like crazy....then i went up to the server and asked him...'what is this called'...he said, 'its something Korean you may not know'...i said, 'at least tell me the name' and there is was...'shigumchi' ...i went beyond the bipimbap, both in Delhi and in Busan...but i never found anything like shugumchi...came back home, read the recipe and made it! mine was quite bitter, maybe the season for spinach had started...i need to learn how to get rid of the bitterness of the spinach..i even ended up buying mega expensive sesame oil for this dish...(need ideas how to consume the rest!)
Indian spinach is cooked for long with many spices (reminds me of what Husna used to tell me about Indian food...how its cooked through and through...unlike other food)....but Korean spinach is quick and mild....you feel the texture of the spinach and the stems....but Indian food likes to discard all the stems and extras of every vege....ooh...interesting topic to think about....

one thing is did feel, that the kimchi in india tastes better than the kimchi i had there...i guess there it was more fermented and sour....
i better get up now...made pasta and its waiting all hot!