About Bahn Chahn, the side dishes
If you had to have only one side dish, it would be kimchee, but there are meals where up to forty side dishes are served! Their role is to encourage your appetite and to balance main dishes, or just show off! It is of course possible to eat only rice and bahn chahn, and very well too, as side dishes are made of anything and everything, and by increasing the volume, some side dishes do very well as a main dish. Bahn Chahn can most easily be categorised by the way they are prepared.
Moochim refers to vegetables, fresh or dried, either blanched or boiled and drained, then tossed in a variey of dressing, from simple sesame oil and salt to more complex flavourings; Jorim can be vegetables, fish or meat braised in soy sauce, sugar and sesame oil; Juhn can also be of vetable, seafood or meat , coated in flour,then egg, and pan-fried; Bokeum usaully involve combination of vegetable and seafood or meat, cut into small pieces and stir fried, with a usual seasoning of soy sauce, sesame oil, and sugar; JutGahl are salted seafood including fish and shell fish, eaten flavoured or used to flavour vegetables.
Recipes for bahn chahn are limited only by one's imagination; the only criteria being that they should compliment rest of the meal, whether these be som emain dishes, or whether accompanying only rice and soup.
More about Korean Cuisine:
Introduction to Korean Cuisine
"Bahb Mug Ut Ni?" (or more politely, "Jin Ji Jahb Seu Sheut Suh Yo?)
Bool Go Gi, barbecue Korean style
Kimchee; NOT just another pickle !
About Bahn Chahn, the side dishes
Myu Reu Chi: Anchovies, anyone?
Seasonings and flavorings in Korean Cuisine
Naeng Myun, it's only cold noodles, right?
Treasures from the Korean seas
SOOL. .Lovely alcoholic beverages from Land of the Rising Sun