Rice and multigrain rice

Koreans mainly eat short, round-grained japonica rice, which turns glossy and slightly sticky when cooked. That stickiness makes it easy to pick up with chopsticks. Its texture is quite different from long, fluffy indica rice. Rice served at Korean restaurants is almost always this type, cooked plain without salt or oil.

Japgokbap is white rice cooked together with other grains such as barley, brown rice, black rice, beans, foxtail millet or sorghum. The mix changes the color and gives the rice more chew. Many homes eat it regularly, and some restaurants let you choose it instead of plain white rice.

Ogokbap is rice cooked with five grains, most often glutinous rice with millet, sorghum, red beans and black or yellow soybeans. It is best known as a dish eaten with dried greens on Jeongwol Daeboreum, the first full moon of the lunar year. The glutinous rice makes it chewier than regular rice.

Boribap is rice cooked with barley, or barley alone, and it has a pleasantly springy chew. A classic way to eat it is mixed with assorted namul, young radish kimchi, gochujang and sesame oil. Barley contains gluten proteins, so people with celiac disease should avoid it.

The color comes from anthocyanin, a natural pigment in the outer layer of black rice. Even a small amount mixed with white rice turns the whole pot purple. If a Korean restaurant serves purple rice, it is almost always white rice cooked with some black rice.

Brown rice has only the outer husk removed, while white rice is brown rice polished further to remove the bran and germ. Because the bran layer remains, brown rice has more dietary fiber, but it is firmer and needs a longer soak. White rice is softer and easier to cook.

Chapssal, glutinous rice, has starch made almost entirely of amylopectin, so it turns very sticky when cooked. Maepssal, ordinary rice, also contains amylose and is less sticky. Everyday rice is made with maepssal, while glutinous rice is used for rice cakes, yakbap and ogokbap. Despite its English name, glutinous rice contains no gluten.

Nurungji is the golden, crispy layer of rice that sticks to the bottom of the pot, and sungnyung is the nutty drink made by boiling water in that pot with the scorched rice. Drinking sungnyung after a meal used to be common. Today people also snack on nurungji like a cracker or simmer it into a soft porridge-like dish.

Dolsotbap is rice cooked and served in an individual stone pot. Usually you scoop the rice into a separate bowl first, then pour hot water or tea over the crust left in the pot and eat it like a soft scorched-rice soup at the end. The pot stays extremely hot, so do not touch it.

Peel the film back to the marked line and microwave the tray for the stated time. Times differ by product and microwave power, so follow the instructions on the package. Steam right after heating is very hot, so open it carefully.

Haepssal means rice from the current year's harvest. Korea's rice harvest takes place mainly in autumn, so new-crop rice reaches stores from then on. It is prized for its aroma and moisture, and many cooks use slightly less water when cooking it.

Saying someone will eat kongbap is an idiom meaning they are going to prison. It is known to come from the days when prison meals included rice mixed with beans. Real kongbap is simply an ordinary, wholesome dish of rice cooked with black beans or kidney beans.

Yakbap is steamed glutinous rice mixed with jujubes, chestnuts and pine nuts, seasoned with soy sauce, honey or sugar and sesame oil, then steamed again. Sweet and chewy, it is eaten more like a snack or rice cake than a meal. It contains nuts such as pine nuts and chestnuts, so check if you have allergies.

Rice is still at the heart of Korean meals, but per capita rice consumption has been on a long downward trend. This is generally explained by more varied diets with bread, noodles and meat. Even so, rice remains meaningful enough that asking whether someone has eaten is a common greeting.

"Have you eaten?" is often used as a way of asking how someone is doing rather than a literal question about food. It is commonly explained as dating from times when food was scarce and checking on someone's meals showed care. A simple yes is fine, or you can suggest eating together.

Hard grains such as brown rice, beans and barley need a good soak beforehand so they cook evenly with white rice. The more grains you add, the more water you generally need. Start with a small proportion of grains, then increase it once you get used to the texture.

Icheon in Gyeonggi Province has long been known for high-quality rice, and stories say it was sent to the royal court. Rice from Icheon, Yeoju and other Gyeonggi areas is still widely sold under the region's name today. Taste also depends on the variety, storage and how the rice is cooked.

Rice itself contains no gluten, so plain white rice is safe for people avoiding gluten. Multigrain rice may include barley or wheat, though, and some soy sauce used in side dishes and seasonings contains wheat. When eating out, always check the ingredients, and read the ingredient list on packaged products.

When you order stew or grilled meat, a bowl of rice is often a separate item. Look for gonggitbap on the menu and order as many bowls as you need. Whether rice is included varies by restaurant, so ask when you order.

Most Korean homes use an electric rice cooker or an electric pressure rice cooker. You rinse the rice, add water and pick a setting, and the cooker adjusts for white, brown or multigrain rice. Some families still cook rice in a pot or stone pot on the stove.