Namul

Namul (Korean: Template:Category handler) refers to either a variety of edible greens or leaves or seasoned herbal dishes made of them. Wild greens are called san-namul (; lit. mountain namulTemplate:Category handler), and spring vegetables are called bom-namul (; lit. spring namulTemplate:Category handler). On the day of Daeboreum, the first full moon of the year, Koreans eat boreum-namul (; lit. full moon namulTemplate:Category handler) with five-grain rice. It is believed that boreum namuls eaten in winter help one to withstand the heat of the summer to come.

Preparation and serving

File:Bapsang.jpg

A single-person bapsang (meal table) with bap (cooked rice), guk (soup), kimchi, pyeonyuk (meat slices), and three namul banchans (spinach namul, brackenfern namul, and balloon flower root namul)

For namul as a dish, virtually any type of vegetable, herb, or green can be used, and the ingredient includes roots, leaves, stems, seeds, sprouts, petals, and fruits. Some seaweeds and mushrooms, and even animal products such as beef tendons are also made into namuls. Although in most cases the vegetables (and non-vegetable namul ingredients) are blanched before being seasoned, the method of preparation can also vary; they may be served fresh (raw), boiled, fried, sautéed, fermented, dried, or steamed. Namul can be seasoned with salt, vinegar, sesame oil and perilla oil, regular soy sauce and soup soy sauce, doenjang (soybean paste), gochujang, and many other spices and condiments.

Namul are typically served as banchan (Template:Category handler; a side dish accompanying staples such as rice). It is possible to have more than one type of namul served as a banchan at a single meal. Each namul dish may be named depending on the main ingredients and the methods of preparation. For example, a seasoned chamnamul dish is most likely called chamnamul-muchim (; lit. seasoned chamnamulTemplate:Category handler), since the name of the vegetable already contains the word "namul" in it. A namul dish made of raw radish is called musaengchae (; lit. seasoned raw radishTemplate:Category handler) since it is usually the namul dish made with cooked radish that is called munamul (radish namul).

Gallery

• bangpung-namul
  bangpung-namul
• Chamnamul
  Chamnamul
• Chwinamul
  Chwinamul
• Goguma-sun-namul
  Goguma-sun-namul
• Gondeure-namul
  Gondeure-namul
• Gosari-namul
  Gosari-namul
• Kongnamul
  Kongnamul
• Miyeok-namul
  Miyeok-namul
• Parae-namul
  Parae-namul
• Pyogo-namul
  Pyogo-namul
• Sigeumchi-namul
  Sigeumchi-namul
• Sukjunamul
  Sukjunamul
• Sebalnamul
  Sebalnamul
• Tot-namul
  Tot-namul
• Ssukgat-namul
  Ssukgat-namul
• Various namuls for bibimbap
  Various namuls for bibimbap
• Sanchae table d'hôte
  Sanchae table d'hôte

See also

• Sansai
• Saag
• Template:Ill

External links

• Life in Korea: Korean seasoned vegetables