Bahn-chan bar at the Korean market

by Sarah J. Gim, Posted Mar 14th 2006 @ 11:01PM

bahn chan bar at Han Kook Market

I don't get to the Korean market often, even though LA's Koreatown is about a 15 minutes freeway drive from me. Many of the Korean things I make at home don't require wildly exotic ingredients. Things like soy sauce, sesame oil, and even the specific cross-cut of short ribs for galbee, can all be found at my local non-Asian grocery store.

However, the one thing for which I do have to go the Korean market is bahn chan - these are all the small side dishes that you might be familiar with when you go to a Korean restaurant. Kimchee is one of them, but there are so many more that, to be quite honest, unless you are cooking for a bazillion Korean meals in your home every week, are much easier to buy than to make.

I recently made a side trip to HK Market in Rowland Heights (which isn't Koreatown, but close enough) and wanted to buy out the whole bar. Not only were there many different kinds of kimchee, but lots of other spicy pickled vegetables like chives, cucumbers, lotus roots, and even raw marinated crab (gae-jahng). I'm pretty sure I could have spent $100 at the bahn chan bar alone.

Filed Under: Vegetarian, Vegan, Raves & Reviews, Stores & Shopping, Ingredients
Tags: america, asia, condiments, dinner, grains, lunch, nuts, seeds, shellfish, spices, stores-and-shopping, sugar, vegetables, west coast