UNSRC Korean Cultural Society

Korea Times
10-01-2009 14:38

The five colors of “osaek” songpyeon represents the harmony of nature, as shown in this photo taken at the Institute of Traditional Korean Food, Waryong-dong, Jongno, Seoul, Tuesday. / Korea Times Photo by Shim Hyun-chul

By Cathy Rose A. Garcia
Staff Reporter

Dining tables throughout the country will be laden with many delicious dishes for the “Chuseok” thanksgiving holiday, which starts Friday and lasts through Sunday.

Chuseok is also known as “Hangawi,” which falls on the 15th day of the 8th month in the Lunar Calendar. It also marks the day when Koreans would thank their ancestors for the bountiful harvest and share the blessings with family members.

Koreans usually celebrate the holiday with a big feast at home. But if there’s one particular dish that is a must for any Chuseok celebration, it is “songpyeon.”

Songpyeon are half-moon shaped rice cakes specially made by Korean families during Chuseok. The rice cakes were traditionally made using freshly harvested rice, and then offered by family members to their ancestors during “charye” or ancestral memorial ritual on the morning of Chuseok.

In his book “Seasonal Customs of Korea,” David E. Shaffer said families always prepare rice from the freshly harvested grains, as well as fruits like persimmons, apples, dates, pears and chestnuts, for the holiday.

“As always, no Chuseok would be complete without the half-moon-shaped songpyeon rice cakes, which could be filled with soybeans, cowpeas, chestnuts, jujubes, bean powder, sesame or honey. Originally, songpyeon was steamed over pine needles, which gave the rice cake its distinctive taste and name, which means `pine cakes’,” he said.

Chuseok is also a time when people make wishes, usually for wealth, health, love and success, as they gaze at the full moon.

Dr. Yoon Sook-ja, director of the Institute of Traditional Korean Food, said songpyeon represents the wishes of people. “Songpyeon represents the moon. Many people also say their wishes while making and eating songpyeon during Chuseok. We wish for good health and success,” Yoon told The Korea Times, at the institute’s office, Waryong-dong, Jongno, Seoul, Tuesday.

How to Make Songpyeon

Many families make their own songpyeon on the eve of Chuseok. It is a labor of love, as people strive to make the songpyeon as delicious and beautiful as possible.

“Koreans believe that if you make beautiful songpyeon, you will have very attractive daughters,” Yoon said, adding that many young women practice to perfect the half-moon shape.

The recipe for songpyeon is fairly simple: rice flour, salt and boiling water to make the dough. The filling can consist of sesame seeds, jujubes, dates, red beans, chestnuts, and honey, depending on one’s tastes.

The dough is cut out in circles, and a teaspoon of filling is placed inside the hollow center, and closed. Yoon demonstrated how to shape the dough into a perfect crescent shape, pressing the dough lightly.

The rice cakes are steamed over a bed of pine needles. The practice of steaming the rice cakes dates back hundreds of years, but there are recent findings that pine needles have health benefits. The pine trees produce large amounts of phytoncide, which kills various germs and viruses in the air.

After steaming for about 20-30 minutes, the rice cakes are rinsed with cold water. The pieces are blotted dry, and finally brushed with sesame oil to keep them fresh and moist.

The final result is songpyeon with a delicious flavor, chewy texture and the fragrant scent of pine needles.

Songpyeon from Different Regions

While the half-moon shaped songpyeon is perhaps the most popular one, it also comes in a variety of colors and shapes depending on the region. There are rice cakes in shellfish, dumpling and flower shapes in different areas. Even the thickness of the rice dough varies, as the ones in Gyeongsang and Gangwon areas appear to be thicker.

Yoon said the songpyeon ingredients usually differ among the provinces, and people usually incorporate the most abundant crops into the recipe.

Chungcheon Provinces are known for pumpkin songpyeon, since pumpkin is widely grown in the region. The pumpkin is sliced, dried and turned into powder, and then mixed with the rice flour to make the dough. The result is not just a deliciously sweet rice cake, but also a very appealing one because of the bright yellow-orange hue.

Gangwon Province is plentiful in potato, corn and bean crops, as well as oak trees. It is famous for potato songpyeon and acorn songpyeon. Acorns may have a bitter taste, but once they are mixed with the rice cake, it turns out to be quite tasty.

“Mosi” or ramie songpyeon is distinct to the Gyeongsang Provinces. There are many ramie plants in the area, and the leaves are added to make the rice cakes healthier.

“Chik” or arrowroot songpyeon is usually made in the Jeolla Provinces. Arrowroot starch is extracted from the herbal plant, and then mixed in with the rice dough.

In Seoul, the “osaek” or five color songpyeon is commonly made. The five colors represent the harmony of nature. The rice cakes are made in five different flavors, and people use natural ingredients to create the brilliant colors. White is simply the plain songpyeon, while cinnamon powder gives a brownish hue to the rice cake. To create the pink color, syrups made of either strawberries or “omija” schizandra berries are used. Mugwort creates a deep green color, and gardenia seeds create a nice yellow shade for the songpyeon.

North Korea also has its own distinctive songpyeon. In Pyeongan Province, the rice cake is shaped into “jogae” or shellfish and clams.

With the wide variety of flavors, colors and shapes, Yoon assures that there’s songpyeon to satisfy everyone’s tastes.

“Koreans love songpyeon. These are all very, very delicious. And they are all very pleasing to the eye,” Yoon said, as she offered a pretty pink songpyeon decorated with a tiny flower.

So just before you pop a songpyeon in your month, take a moment to make a wish, and to appreciate the hundreds of years’ tradition and the hard work that goes into each piece.

cathy@koreatimes.co.kr

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Korea Herald

This is the 46th in a series of articles highlighting tourism spots in Seoul. The guide for planning weekend trips in the capital city will help readers rediscover Seoul. - Ed.

By Annabelle Lee

Traditional Wedding in Korea

Nowadays, many couples opt to marry in fancy wedding halls that surely leave some of the elderly guests wondering whatever happened to the traditional Korean wedding. There are those who still opt for the version steeped in history but even then, there are of course differences.

A typical traditional Korean wedding ceremony begins with the entrance of the groom to music following a flower boy with a hand lantern. Soon after, the bride in a palanquin adorned with flowers arrives. The traditional Korean wedding ceremony is rich in symbolism and showcases time-honored cultural values in Korea.

According to a Korean fairy tale, there was an old man with long hair and beard named Wolha, who mated a man and a woman by tying a blue thread to him and a red thread to her, thus making them a couple. The story explains why blue and red threads are important in the traditional Korean wedding ceremony.

In traditional Korea, marriage consisted of matchmaking, a wedding proposal from the groom’s parents to the bride’s parents that was signaled by blue and red silk threads being sent to the bride’s house. First, however, a matchmaker would go to the potential candidates’ parents and asks about marrying their children. If the two families agreed, the groom-to-be’s parents would send their son’s “saju” (literally meaning four pillars), that is, his horoscopic data including the year, month, day, and hour of birth. Then the bride-to-be’s parents would notify the groom-to-be’s parents about the wedding date after consulting a fortune teller, who would pick an auspicious date based on the “saju” of both the groom and the bride. Once the wedding day was finalized, the groom’s parents would send nuptial gifts to the bride right before the wedding.

A Pair of Wooden Geese

In the past, Korean wedding ceremonies were held at the bride’s house. On the wedding day, the groom traveled to the bride’s house by horse and was greeted by his soon to be in-laws. He then presented them with a pair of wooden geese, which signified his marriage vow.

Geese carried three important meanings related to marriage. First, geese symbolized the promise of love as the average lifespan of a goose is between 15 to 20 years and geese mate for life. Second, they signified hierarchical relations between husband and wife as geese establish a pecking order. Third, they implied traces of life, which connoted the groom’s bright future.

After the delivery of the geese, the groom and the bride would dress in formal court clothing and face each other with a table between them. The groom wearing a black hat called a “samogwandae” would stand to the east and the bride adorned with a headpiece and red rouge spots on her cheeks to the west with helpers beside them.

Jujubes and Chestnuts for Fecundity and a pair of Chickens

The table between the groom and the bride was riddled with symbolism. It was traditionally covered with blue and red table clothes and blue and red candlesticks were placed next to bamboo and pine twigs on the table. The bamboo and pine twigs symbolized marital integrity and faithfulness. Also found on the table were various plates full of jujubes, chestnuts, dried persimmons, red beans, beans, and phoenix-shaped white rice cake. Jujubes and chestnuts implied a healthy life together with many children and the blue and red clothes, the union of yin and yang. A rooster and a hen wrapped in blue and red wrapping clothes, respectively, and a pot of wine was placed on a small table beside the main one. The rooster and the hen also implied some important meanings. The rooster’s crow symbolized a fresh, brand new start of a day and was said to drive evil spirits out on the wedding day. The hen represented fecundity as hens lay eggs everyday.

Marriage as the Union of Two into One

The groom and the bride would wash their hands, which symbolized the purification of their bodies for the wedding. The groom and the bride then would bow to each other twice and share a cup of wine by holding the cup tied with blue and red threads high and low in order to swear by the gods of heaven and earth. The wine would then be shared three times. The first cup of wine for themselves as two individuals. The second and the third rounds of wine were served in a halved calabash symbolizing marital harmony. The gourd halved into two signified two reunited into one, implying that the groom and the bride were separated into two at birth and then reunited into one through the wedding ceremony. After the groom and the bride finished the second and the third rounds of wine, the gourd halved into two was put together and placed on the table. The blue and red threads were braided together and hung across the pine twigs and bamboo which meant that marriage is the union of two families as well as two individuals.

Following the wedding ceremony was the “pyebaek” ceremony, a ritual offered to the parents of both the groom and the bride. When the pyebaek ceremony ended, the groom and the bride would retreat to the bride’s room and spend their first night together.

Certain aspects of traditional Korean weddings have stayed the same over the years. Much of the symbolism, such as the wooden geese, is still present at today’s traditional weddings. Perhaps one of the big differences is that instead of on a horse, the groom probably shows up in a Hyundai.

Sites for the Recreation of the Traditional Korean Wedding Ceremony

Korea House: A mock traditional Korean wedding ceremony is held every Thursday and Friday at 4:30 p.m. by the Korea Cultural Heritage Foundation. Admission is free. Also, real traditional Korean weddings are held at noon, 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. on weekdays and weekends. For more information, call 02-2266-9101 or visit www.koreahouse.or.kr.

Lotte World Folk Museum: The Lotte World Folk Museum in Lotte World features miniatures of famous buildings in Korea, folk events, and traditional Korean ceremonies including wedding ceremonies. Also, real traditional Korean wedding ceremonies are held on reservation at the courtyard. Three or four real traditional wedding ceremonies are held here during the weekends in spring and fall. For more information, call 02-411-3701~4 or visit www.lotteworld.com.

Insa-dong: Traditional wedding ceremonies used to be held at Naminsan Madang in Insa-dong on a regular basis, but it is now temporarily closed for construction.

Recommended Menu- Daejanggeum Course Meal at Korea House

Located on the site of the house of Park Paeng-Nyeon, a renowned scholar in the Joseon period (1392-1910), Korea House is a cultural complex that features various aspects of traditional Korean culture, such as traditional Korean houses, living quarters, court cuisine, handicraft works, folk music, traditional dance, and traditional wedding ceremonies. It opens all year round and is famous especially for refined traditional Korean menus including various course meals such as Nokeum, Cheongu, Haerin, and Daejanggeum, which are prepared with various well-matched ingredients according to traditional Korean cosmogony and the principle of yin and yang. For more information, call 02-2266-9101 or visit www.koreahouse.or.kr.

Nearby Attraction-Namsangol Hanok Village

Make a visit to Namsangol Hanok Village after a wedding ceremony at Korea House. Various Korean-style houses ranging from houses of wealthy literati in the Joseon period to humble commoners’ houses are recreated here along with furniture used in the past. It features traditional handicraft demonstrations are held and works by masters designated as intangible cultural assets and souvenirs are on display in the craft exhibition hall. The natural garden, the pavilion, and the pond blend well with the topography of Namsan (Mountain). Admission is free. For more information, call 02-2266-6923 or visit http://www.visitseoul.net/visit2006/culture/namsan/introduce.jsp?flashNo=3.

2009.10.02

News Clippings

Korea Times
09-23-2009 17:05

Ingredients

400 grams of beef ribs, 1.5 kilograms of water, 10 grams of brown oak mushrooms, 100 grams of radish, 70 grams of carrot, 60 grams of chestnut, 16 grams of jujube, 16 grams of gingko, 3.5 grams (1 teaspoon) of pine nuts, 60 grams of egg (1 egg), 13 grams (1 tablespoon) of cooking oil, 13 grams (1 tablespoon) of sesame oil (pic 1)

* Seasoning sauce: 36 grams (2 tablespoons) of soy sauce, 12 grams (1 tablespoon) of sugar, 6 grams (1 teaspoon) of honey, 50 grams of pear juice or 100 grams of pear, 14 grams (1 tablespoon) of minced green onion, 8 grams (0.5 tablespoon) of minced garlic, 3 grams (0.5 tablespoon) of sesame salt, 3 grams (1/8 teaspoon) of ground black pepper

Preparation

1. Cut the beef ribs into 5-centimeter long strips, remove excessive fat and tendon. Soak in a cup of water for 3 hours changing the water every hour to draw out the blood. Put slits in the meat at intervals of 1.5-centimeters (pic 2)

2. Soak the brown oak mushrooms in water for 1 hour, remove stems, wipe water off with cotton cloth, and cut into 2 to 4 pieces. Cut the radish and carrot into 3-centimeter square and 2.5-centimeter thick pieces, and
trim the edges. Skin the chestnuts. Wipe the jujube with damp cotton cloth, cut the flesh into strips and roll up. (pic 3)

3. Preheat the frying pan and oil, stir-fry the gingko for 2 minutes on medium heat, maintaining green color, and skin.

4. Remove tops of the pine nuts, wipe the nuts with dry cotton cloth.

5. Panfry the egg for garnish, cut into 2-centimeter triangular-shaped pieces.

6. Blend seasoning sauce.

Recipe

1. Pour water into the pot, heat for 3 minutes on high heat. When it boils, boil the beef ribs for 2 minutes to cleanse them, then rinse in fresh water

2. Put the beef ribs and water into pot heat it up for 4 minutes. When it boils, lower the heat to medium, simmer it for 20 minutes. Take out the beef ribs from the broth and filter the broth after cooling down.

3. Put the beef ribs and half of the seasoning sauce into the pot, marinate it for 10 minutes. Add 500 grams of broth, heat it up for 3 minutes. When it boils, lower the heat to medium and boil for 20 more minutes.

4. When the ribs are well done and the broth is reduced into half, add the mushrooms, radish, chestnuts and the remained half of the seasoning sauce. Boil it for 12 minutes, add carrot and boil for another 7 minutes. Then add jujube, gingko and pine nuts, boil for 3 minutes with sprinkling broth onto the ribs to set a gloss on (pic 4)

5. When the broth is dragged, take out the radish. Mix the ribs with sesame oil together and serve with egg garnish.

* All images of the recipe are courtesy of “The Beauty of Korean Food: With 300 Best-Loved Recipes,” published by the Institute of Traditional Korean Food.

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