Hawaii's Share Your Table

I recently traveled to the vibrant and cosmopolitan city of Seoul, Korea and was impressed by its cuisine. Having grown up in a Korean household in Hawaii, I was most anxious to sample the cuisine of my forefathers. Not only was it delicious but so different and varied in its offerings.
     
One day for lunch we had bi bim bap, a dish of rice topped with an assortment of seasoned vegetables and meat. But this bi bim bap was different from the dish served in Hawaii's many Korean restaurants. A sizzling bowl of rice came to the table and its contents scooped into a bowl. The rice had been cooked with sweet potatoes, eggplant, mushrooms, gingko, chestnuts, black and red beans; it was a meal in itself.

A couple of dozen little dishes were on the table filled with seasoned beansprouts, daikon, greens, raw crab, squid, octopus, fish, green beans, sesame leaves and of course, kim chee. A grilled fish was served as well as a bubbling hot bowl of chigae, the Korean version of miso soup.
     
The idea here was to help yourself to the assortment of panchan or side dishes and top your bowl of rice; add some spicy sauce if you like. Eat a little fish, sip some soup. What a great idea, I thought, for a meal at home.
     
Well no sooner did I get home than I tried it, inviting several friends for dinner. I picked up some prepared items from a Korean vendor at my farmers' market; I fried some zucchini and fish juhn and prepared pin dae duk, a fried  pancake of mung beans and kim chee. I made some seasoned ground beef patties and chigae. I had perhaps fifteen items on the table that everyone could help themselves to. In my rice cooker, I combined barley and rice, eggplant, sweet potato and mushrooms and pressed the "on" button.
     
The meal was delicious, or at least my friends said it was. It was easy to assemble, simple in its design and tasty in its flavors. No doubt it was a pretty healthy and nutritious meal, too. This bi bim bap from Seoul was different and expanded my repertoire of Korean cooking!