Vegetarian recipes from South Korea

Korean cooking rests on a simple base: white rice, the fermented soybean pastes doenjang and gochujang, soy sauce, sesame oil, garlic, scallion and gochugaru chilli flakes. Soy does the work meat does elsewhere, as paste, tofu or sprouts, and fermentation supplies most of the depth. Seasonal vegetables are blanched then dressed one at a time, each with its own measure of salt, garlic and sesame, which is what produces a dish like vegan bibimbap, where eight separate preparations meet in one bowl of still hot rice.

A Korean meal is not served in courses: rice, a soup and a run of banchan arrive together and each person builds their own plate. Without meat the soup stays central, drawn from a stock of kombu seaweed and dried shiitake, as in doenjang jjigae or a vegan kimchi jjigae made with kimchi free of shrimp brine. Around it the textures shift with every mouthful: the stir fried sweet potato noodles of japchae, the thick scallion pancake called pajeon, and the tight little rolls of mayak gimbap dipped in mustard sauce.