My Lunch Today: Kimchi and Tuna Stir-Fry
Today, my lunch was a simple homemade meal: kimchi and tuna stir-fry with mixed-grain rice.
Many office workers in Korea usually eat at restaurants during lunch. In Daegu, a typical lunch costs around 10,000 KRW these days, depending on the menu and location.
I used to buy lunch boxes from HanSot, a popular Korean lunch box chain near my shop. Recently, however, I have started bringing my own lunch more often.
The economy does not feel as strong as it used to, and I find myself thinking more about saving money than before.
I don’t know if this is happening in other countries as well, but many small business owners around me are going through difficult times. Even when I visit downtown Daegu, I see quite a few empty storefronts that were occupied not long ago.
My lunch today was very simple.
The rice was cooked in an electric rice cooker. I recently bought a new rice cooker made by Cuchen, one of Korea’s most popular rice cooker brands. I think it cost a little over 200,000 KRW.
In Korea, Cuchen and Cuckoo are probably the two most well-known rice cooker brands. Korea uses 220-volt electricity today, although I remember that 110-volt electricity was more common when I was very young.
The rice is mostly white rice mixed with a small amount of grains. It had cooled down by lunchtime, but it was still good enough.
The side dish was kimchi and tuna stir-fry.
It is a very simple dish. You just put some oil in a pan, add kimchi and canned tuna, and stir-fry everything together. There is no special recipe, but it almost always tastes good.
Some Korean families still make kimchi at home. My family sometimes buys it instead.
One thing you should know is that my family strongly prefers Korean-made kimchi. Years ago there were food safety controversies involving imported kimchi, so if I see “Made in China” on a restaurant’s kimchi origin label, I usually don’t eat it.
I know that sounds picky, but that’s just how I feel. 😄
If you ever visit Daegu, I hope you get a chance to try properly made Korean kimchi.
It is one of the foods that many Koreans never get tired of eating.