Korea – My Authentic Korean Home Cooked Food in Korea

I was in Seoul, Korea for the 1st week of April and I was lucky enough to stay with a wonderful Korean family. This meant that I was able to experience traditional and authentic home made Korean food. It’s nice to have something to compare to since restaurant food is usually different than the food people eat at home.

Here are some examples of home cooked traditional Korean dishes I had during my visit in Seoul, Korea. I also put examples (for some) of the same dishes I ordered at restaurants for comparison’s sake.

On the table:

Home Cooked Traditional Korean Breakfasts

Korean Pumpkin Congee

• Home cooked Korean breakfast
• I honestly didn’t know that there was such a thing as “Korean congee”. I always thought it was a Chinese thing.
• This was home made so I’m not sure what it’s like at restaurants.
• I’m not sure if pumpkin congee is a popular flavour there because it was the first time I’ve ever heard of it. It was delicious though!
• It was made with half sticky rice so the texture is thicker, creamier, and sticker than the tradition Chinese congee people are probably more familiar with.

Korean breakfast

• Home cooked Korean breakfast: sticky rice, home made kimchi, and fried tofu slices dipped in egg.
• Talk about authentic huh? This almost felt like lunch! This is a traditional Korean breakfast, but it’s also not what they eat every day for breakfast.

Home Cooked Traditional Korean Dinners

Not only was I able to try home cooked Korean breakfast, but I am very appreciative to have tried a traditional Korean dinner as well. This was nothing fancy but something “mom would make at home”…comfort food! Korean comfort food…which means everything is spicy, which I like!

Home Cooked VS Restaurant

Traditional Korean Acorn Jelly Salad (Home made)

• Acorn jelly, mixed greens and cucumbers with a spicy sesame soy vinaigrette.
• This is a simple salad that they serve at home. Anything you search on google you probably won’t find this. This is authentic!
• The acorn jelly is almost like jello but firmer. It’s not sweet or savoury, but it doesn’t have much flavour itself. It almost has no flavour.
• The dressing is a sweet, tangy and spicy vinaigrette which I loved.
• I like it more than the other Korean salad I had served with ice cream on top. Korean salad with ice cream.

Traditional Korean Acorn Jelly Salad (Restaurant)

• From When the Day Comes Restaurant in Seoul, Korea
• It was saucier/saltier/spicier than the home made version. It also had more vegetables like carrots and onion.

Variations of Home Made Kimchi

Traditional Kimchi (Home made)

• This is the standard home made kimchi.
• There’s actually a separate fridge in the house just for kimchi. It helps keep the smell in one area since it’s so strong. Garlic + chili + pickled veggies…it creates quite a strong and pungent smell.

Radish Kimchi (Home made)

• This is a shredded radish (daikon) and dried mushroom (wood ear mushroom) kimchi. Nice and crunchy good with soup and noodle dishes.

Cucumber Kimchi (Home made)

• This is a cucumber kimchi with cilantro welsh onion. I could eat it as a salad.

Soy Bean Perilla Leaf Kimchi (Home made)

• This is probably my least favourite of the bunch. The soy bean leaves are really big and they have a bitter after taste. The bitterness is not as strong in the kimchi since it’s being preserved but I could still taste it.
• I loves the salty soy beans though! It’s salty and fermented so the taste is strong and acquired…meaning not for everyone.

• This is a picture of the soy bean leaf raw. In Korea it’s also served as a side dish during Korean BBQ for the purpose of making lettuce wraps.

Korean Pancake – Pajeon (Home Cooked)

• Lots of green onions, chewy and gummy in texture. Love these!

Korean Pancake – Pajeon (Restaurant)

• From When the Day Comes Restaurant in Seoul, Korea
• These were huge! There’s a lot of different type of Pajeon and the ones at home are usually more simple. Definitely comfort food!
• The ones at the restaurant were served with a spicy chili sauce too.

Bulgolgi (Home cooked)

• Marinated barbeque beef.
• It’s definitely a lighter version they make at home. It’s not as greasy, saucy or salty which is expected if it’s home cooked.
• I don’t think they barbecued it either just because the process is more time-consuming and this was a casual dinner.

Kimchi Hot Pot (Home Cooked)

• So this is a traditional Korean dish that they make at home and order at restaurants...not bibimbap. =p
• Slices of Spam (how Asian!), slices of beef, Korea rice cakes (noodles), onions, cabbage, lettuce, green onions, turnips, leeks, and other vegetables.
• Pretty much anything goes but the kitchen sink when you make it at home.

• They put ramen in at the end and it’s eaten last. It reminded me of Chinese hot pot except everything is already thrown into one big pot.
• The white tubes are the Korean rice cakes which are also a type of noodle. They’re chewy and pretty filling. I love them!
• It was fun to have 2 different kinds of noodles going on at once.