Korean home cooking is built on a compact pantry. Most meals are rice, a protein, some vegetables and a sauce made from the same handful of jars. Stock those jars and dinner stops being a project.
The ten
1. Gochujang
Fermented chilli paste: sweet, savoury, mildly hot, thick as tomato paste. It is the backbone of most red Korean sauces. Brands vary in heat, so start with less than a recipe says. Keeps for months in the fridge once opened.
2. Gochugaru
Korean chilli flakes, coarse and bright red, fruity rather than searing. Not interchangeable with generic crushed chilli, which is hotter and duller. Essential for kimchi and for anything that wants colour and warmth without heavy heat. Store it in the freezer to keep the colour.
3. Doenjang
Fermented soybean paste, deeper and funkier than Japanese miso. It makes a stew taste like it simmered all afternoon. A spoonful in a soup base does more than an extra hour on the hob.
4. Soy sauce
Regular brewed soy for seasoning and marinades. Korean soup soy sauce is saltier and lighter in colour and is used specifically for soups. Worth having eventually; one bottle is enough to start.
5. Toasted sesame oil
A finishing oil, not a cooking oil. It burns quickly and loses its aroma with heat. Add it at the end, off the heat, in smaller amounts than feel right.
6. Rice vinegar
Mild acidity for dressings, quick pickles and cutting through rich dishes. Any mild vinegar works, but rice vinegar keeps the flavour in the right register.
7. Garlic
More than you expect. Korean cooking uses garlic in quantity, minced into sauces and marinades. A jar of peeled cloves in the fridge removes the main obstacle to cooking on a Tuesday.
8. Short-grain rice
Slightly sticky, holds together, eaten with a spoon alongside everything else. Rinse until the water runs clear or the rice turns gluey.
9. Kimchi
A side dish, an ingredient and a project all at once. Buy it to begin with. Older, sourer kimchi is better for cooking: fried rice, pancakes, stews. Fresh kimchi is better raw.
10. Dried anchovies and kelp
Simmered for ten minutes and strained, they make the broth under most Korean soups and stews. Keep both in the freezer. If you skip one item on this list, skip this one first and use vegetable stock, though the broth is what makes a soup taste Korean rather than generic.
The sauce that does most of the work
Two tablespoons gochujang, one tablespoon soy, one tablespoon rice vinegar, one tablespoon sugar or honey, a teaspoon of sesame oil, two cloves of garlic minced. Whisk it, keep it in a jar in the fridge for a week.
That sauce glazes chicken thighs, dresses cold noodles, coats roasted vegetables, and turns rice and a fried egg into a meal.
Four dinners
Bibimbap, the honest version. Rice in a bowl, whatever cooked vegetables you have arranged on top, a fried egg, a spoon of the sauce, sesame oil. It is a leftovers dish and it is meant to be.
Kimchi fried rice. Cold day-old rice, chopped sour kimchi fried hard in oil until the edges catch, a spoon of gochujang, rice in, toss until crisp. Egg on top.
Doenjang jjigae. Anchovy and kelp broth, a heaped spoon of doenjang, courgette, potato, onion, tofu. Twenty minutes. Eat with rice.
Glazed chicken thighs. Marinate in the sauce for as long as you have, twenty minutes or overnight. Oven at 200°C for twenty-five minutes, spooning glaze over halfway. Rice, and cucumber dressed in vinegar.
Two habits worth copying
The first is banchan: a few small side dishes on the table, made in advance and eaten over several days. Quick-pickled cucumber, seasoned spinach, a bowl of kimchi. They turn plain rice into a proper meal with no extra cooking on the night.
The second is balance. A rich, spicy main gets something cool and sharp beside it. That contrast is why Korean meals rarely feel heavy despite the chilli and the sesame oil.