After School Special: Bunsik

Growing up spending summers in Korea meant weeks of all-day walking, shopping, and best of all, eating. Bunsik (korean for "snacks") refers to cheap and quick Korean foods like spicy rice cakes ("ddukbokki") and fish cakes ("odeng"). Literally every block has a bunsik stand or two, and you'll see gaggles of school children during the day and hordes of drinkers at night. My family and I would order a bunch of dishes to share while we rested our feet – the perfect thing to hold you off before lunch and dinner.

Bunsik from my last visit to Seoul. Odeng on the left and ddukbokki on the left. All day y'all!

Bunsik is the ultimate comfort food, which you can mix and match to balance spicy ddukbokki with filling kimbap, and cool down with potato salad and cheesy corn.

MENU?!

DDUK-KOCHI

Ddukbokki is a popular Korean snack food made from soft rice cake and sweet red chili sauce, found at any Korean street vendor (pojangmacha). When they're on skewers, they're called "kochi"!

Spicy Gochujang with Bacon, Mozzarella, House Aioli

This is the more classic take on spicy ddukbokki that you'll find at all bunsik houses today. I added bacon for meat factor and mozzarella to cut the spice. Still knocked some newbies out though.

Royal Court Soy Sauce with Brisket, Scallions

My mom used to make the soy sauce version of ddukbokki for special occasions at our house, and it was hands down my favorite thing she made ever. This was the original style of ddukbokki, before the spicy version was popularized post-Korean war.

KIMBAP

Kimbap is the quintessential Korean packed lunch. Rice and a variety of goodies are rolled up in roasted seaweed and cut into bite-size pieces:

My Sister's Fave: Seasoned Tuna, Kkaenip (Sesame leaf), Danmuji (yellow pickled radish), Carrot, Spinach

My sister swears by this combo. Canned tuna has a history parallel to that of Spam after the war, and paired with the sesame / perilla leaves native to Korean cuisine, it's a killer.

My Army Base Fave: Spam, Egg, Cheese, Grilled Kimchi, Danmuji

As kids, we'd eat Spam as a banchan (side dish) where it's fried in a flour and egg batter. I could eat just that with rice for any meal. Combined with American cheese and kimchi, it tastes like a version of budae-jjigae (Korean army base stew), and don't get me started on how much I love that stuff.

BANCHAN

Korean Potato Salad

A common banchan you'll find at Korean joints. The potatoes are mashed with mayo and hard boiled egg, and mixed with crunchy vegetables and/or fruit. I've seen my roommate take down two rounds of these single-handedly.

Cheesy Corn

A newer banchan most commonly found at Korean BBQ. The cheese and corn melt and come together at your table while you're cooking your meat. It's weird, but it works.