North/South Korea – Tangpyeong-chae

by Evelyn brutz

Tangpyeong-chae is also known as Mung beans salad or Jelly mung beans. This is a very tasty salad served as BANCHAN, in Korean cuisine. This dish is also a part of the Korean Royal Court Cuisine. Nok Dumuk is the jelly prepared by Korean from mung beans. This is textured like jelly made up of mung beans and look alike noodles. This dish is also utilized by adding healthy vegetables like carrots, scallions, blanched spinach, onions, bell peppers, etc. This is very healthy with the twist of jelly mung beans in it. This is healthy and served as the banchan. This salad is seasoned with sauces and spices. Korean is famous for their spicy food, so chili paste, sauteed sesame seeds, soya sauce, Ganjang, sesame oil, and more. This is very famous in the seasons of fresh vegetables like spring and summer. In these seasons, we have a huge variety of vegetables to be added to the plate of mung beans jelly salad.

It is also referred to the dishes category, NAMUL. Namul is a variety of edible herbs and grass. There are different kinds of namul available on the list because of the season. In the seasons, different namul are cultivated and then added to the dish. Namul is the category of edible grass so this dish is the type of namul dish. In this dish, different edibles grass, and herbs are added to make it healthier and delicious. The seasoning is totally up to your choice.

If you want to make it spicy, add traditional Korean sauces and spices like Ganjang, kochujang, daenjang, kochukaru, etc. It is very colorful and can be made fancier by adding beef strips, roasted chicken pieces, fish, and much more.

HISTORY OF THE DISH

The history of this dish is written in the book, Dongguksesigi. This book is explaining the traditions of Korea during Joseon Dynasty. It is written by scholar Hong Suk Mo. An explain each tradition and custom of the Korean Culture. This book was written in 1849, and explaining the Tangpyeong policy that means policy for “harmony” and “meditation“

For the feast of the KING, Tangpyeong-chae is served with the addition of only four ingredients. gim, beef, dropwort, Nokdu-muk. Before any political meeting and get together the speech was given by the King of the time :

As you see, there are four different ingredients (gim, beef, Nokdu-muk and dropwort) that have four distinguishable colors and flavors. But they are harmonized so well that they taste beautiful together.

KOREAN ROYAL COURT CUISINE

Korean royal court cuisine is also known as Joseon Wangjo Gungjung yori was the cookery style and kitchen items. There are different kinds of traditions introduced at the time of the Joseon dynasty. The ruling time was from 1392 to 1910.

STAPLE FOOD OF ROYAL COURT CUISINE

• Sura
• Juk
• Mieum
• Eungi
• Guksu
• Mandu
• Jochi
• Jjim
• Hoe
• Namul
• Gui
• Banchan, etc.

Different pots and culinary styles of serving dishes :

• SURA, for rice and grains dishes.
• JUK is the thick consistecny porridge dishes.
• MANDU is steamed and boiled dumplings, momos, etc.
• TANG is beef stew of thin consistency.
• MIEUM is the chestnuts and sweet gewy rice, desserts, etc.
• GUI is roasted items like roasted azuki beans, chicken, beef, etc.
• HOE is fish and raw beef dishes.
• JJIM is steamed and boiled beef pieces can be consumed in salads and banchans.
• SEN are steamed vegetables, tofu and sometimes fish.
• SINSEOLLO is chinese style hotpot also very popular in Korean cuisine.
• SIKHYE is the fruit punch, dessert, sweet dishes.
• GUKSU is the dish specified for noodles and pasta.

Most of the Korean dishes are originated from the Korean Royal court cuisine, it has popularity throughout the world, mostly in the :

• Korea
• Veitnam
• Japan
• Taiwan
• Thailand
• China
• Phillippines

HEALTHY BENEFITS OF HAVING TANGPYEONG-CHAE

• It helps in preventing illness like cold, flu and fever.
• It reduces the risk of disease like sugar, blood pressure.
• It is very good diet for malnutritional people because of having low diet.
• It helps in strengthens the immune system of the body.
• It is rich in collagen helps in handling good skin and muscles of the body.
• It is a good source of anti oxidants because of addition of different grains and beans.
• It maintian the blood sugar level by handling carbohydrates and sugars.
• Beans sprouts, mung beans are labelled as functional food for the healthy body.
• Tanhpyeong-chae is the source nutrients like Niacin, Carnitine, protein, fats, etc.
• This is very healthy and refreshing salad to deal with the complete body requirement.
• It makes body very healthy, fresh with amazing taste.

NUTRITION

• 60 calories
• 9 g of Carbohydrates
• 5 g of fat
• 19 g of protein
• 11 g sugars
• 6 g Dietary fiber
• 0.68 mg sodium
• 23 mg potassium
• 12 mg Zinc

ELEMENTS OF TANGPYEONG-CHAE

NOKDU-MUK

Nokdu-muk is the Mung beans jelly also known as Jelly of mung beans. It is cooked by adding starch of mung beans and formed in the shape of noodles. This is the Muk of Korean cuisine. Muk is known as jelly in Korean cuisine cooked by using grains. Nokdu-muk is also served as the solid brick and eaten by adding different sauces, some vegetables, and nuts like peanuts, etc. It is eaten with rice, sweet potato, corns, peas, etc and served with seasonings like soy sauce, vinegar, sesame oil, chili paste, and chili oil.

There are some dishes of Nokdu-muk served in Korea :

• Cheongpo-muk
• Hwangpo-muk 
• Cheongpo-muk-muchim
• mung bean jelly salad
• Mung bean jelly from Tibet
• Norang-muk

BEANS SPROUTS

Beans sprouts are formed by sprouting of the mung beans at the given time for almost 4 to 6 days. It is grown by hypocotyls Growth. Beans are usually mung beans that are sprouted by adding water or saline in the jar by the procedure of Hypocotyls. It is like the formation of growth when water and proper hydration are given for sprouting. This is the most common form of Mung beans found in Asia. We can do it at home and also sprouted beans are found in supermarkets.

For sprouting at home we need to fulfill all the requirements essential for Proper sprouting like :

• Sufficient Light
• Sufficient water hydration
• Avoid water logging
• Air tight jar

WATERCRESS

Watercress is also known as yellow cress. It is a flowering plant from the cabbage vegetable family and is widely used in making different dishes in Asia. It is a native plant of Europe and Asia. It is a flowering plant and its flowers with eaves and stems are used in different Asian dishes. The stems of the watercress float in water and its leaves are widely used in salads, etc.

Watercress is 95% water and has a low amount of carbohydrates, protein, and fats. 100 grams of these weeds can have 11 calories.

• Energy : 11 kJ
• Carbohydrates : 1.2 grams
• Fats : 0.1 grams
• Protien : 2 grams

MUNG BEANS

These are the grains from the legume family. It has many names and is found throughout the world. The mung beans are mainly cultivated in Asia but consumed in the world. It is mainly used in both kinds of dishes like savory and sweet.

It has different names :

• Green gram
• Maash
• Mung massh
• Monggo
• Munggo
• Moong

VEGETABLES

There are the following commonly used Korean vegetables that can be added to different salads :

• Chinese Mugwort
• Water celery
• Water dropwort
• Napa cabbage
• Red pepper
• Bell peppers
• Zucchini
• Carrots
• Cucumber

MEAT

In these salads, different meat can be added as cooked or raw, and especially seafood is added.

• Beef
• Pork
• Fish
• Sea cucumber
• Abalone
• Calms, etc.

INGREDEINTS

• kongnamul : 1 cup (boiled)
• Mung beans jelly : 200 grams
• Spring onions : 2 roots
• Gim : 4 sheets (broiled)
• Mushrooms : 1 cup
• Scallions : 1/2 cup
• Mung beans : 1/2 cup (boiled)
• Bamboo shoots : 1/2 cup
• Watercress : 1/2 cup

SPICES

• Gochugaru : 2 tbsp
• Vinegar : 4 tbsp
• Laver : 1 sheet
• sesame seeds : 2 tbsp
• soy sauce : 1/2 cup
• Kochujang : 1 tbsp
• Kkochukaru : 1 tbsp
• ganjang : 2 tbsp
• Sesame oil : 4 tbsp
• Jeotgal : 1 tsp
• Red chili flakes : 2 tbsp
• chamgeereum : 1/2 tsp

COOKING INSTRUCTIONS

• Cut the mung bean jelly into long strips of 5 to 7 centimeter. It may similar to noodles in appearance.
• Remove the tails of the bean sprouts and cut them in strips similar to the jelly mung beans lenghts.
• The cutting of vegetables is similar to each another in length.
• Mushrooms, spring onions, watercress are cut equally and let it set for mixing.
• Now take all the dressing and seasoning together in a bowl and mix them properly.
• Now take all the cut vegetables together and spread the mixed seasnong over the vegetables.
• Mix all the ingredients together and serve!