Chairman
"Through their history spanning 5 000 years our people have created cultural wealth of which we can boast to the rest of the world."
Eating boiled rice as a staple food is one of the traditional dietary customs of the Korean nation.
Our ancestors already cultivated barnyard grass, foxtail millet, millet, sorghum, soybean, red beans, rice and other crops to cook and eat as early as in the primitive times and ancient times.
This kind of staple food has been further diversified in the later years and the method of cooking has also developed.
Our people have made it possible to eat different kinds of staple food, not just the same one, but different kinds, by mixing various kinds of grain with meat, vegetables, fruits and other ingredients.
The staple food (boiled rice) can be divided into boiled grain, boiled grain mixed with other ingredients, and Yakbap (medicinal rice) with a unique flavour.
Among them is Yakbap, a main dish which has been recooked to make special one.
Yakbap is a dish made from the boiled glutinous rice mixed evenly with other ingredients such as honey, sesame oil, chestnuts, date, pine nuts etc., and is also called "Yaksik" (the name "medicinal dish").
According to the "Aongakbi" published in 1912, honey is often called medicine in our country and this dish mixed with honey, a good medicine, is called Yakbap.
It contains all kinds of healthy foodstuffs, so it has been believed to be medicine.
It has a very long history in our country.
This is proved by the fact that they cooked glutinous rice on the 15th of the first month by the lunar chart as early as in the period of the three kingdoms and the cuisine was further developed.
As it shows, the dish has been handed down since the period before Koryo, but it was first appeared in the historical document "Mokun Collection" compiled at the end of Koryo.
The document describes in detail about the ingredients and the cuisine of Yakbap.
"A lump of glutinous rice coated with wild honey emits golden color, and what's more it is mixed with the date and chestnut, pine nut, thus enhance the sweet taste between teeth and tongue." ("Mokun Collection" Vol. 13)
"Mix oil and honey with glutinous rice, and again mix it with pine nut, chestnut, and date. Send it to the various neighboring houses. When the dawn comes black raven rises." ("Mokun Collection" Vol. 13)
This poem shows that the then Yakbap was made of honey, sesame, date, chestnuts, pine nuts, it was the same one as that of later ages, and it is the custom of long history since the period of Koryo to let the neighbors taste and evaluate the dish.
The "Sinjungdonggukyojisungram"(edited in 1530), "Jipongryusol" (edited in 1614), "Ojuyonmunjangjunsango" (edited in the mid-19th century), and "Ryolyangsesigi" (edited and published in 1819) edited in the period of the Feudal Joson dynasty said that the medicinal meal originated from the legend of the "Sakumgap" (Shoot the case of lute) of King Soji, the predecessor Silla.
It is not clear whether the glutinous rice mentioned in those books was Yakbap, but this kind of data is meant to indicate that Yakbap has a long history in our country.
Yakbap became even more famous during the period of Feudal Joson dynasty, regarded as rare dish among the neighboring countries.
In the late 15th century, the Chinese people called it Hyangban and Michan, saying that it is made of rice, dried persimmon, chestnuts, date, mushrooms, pine nuts, walnuts, honey, soy, etc. ("Yong Jae Chong Hwa" vol.2), and in "Jipongtyusol" that the Chinese people called it Japgwaban and regard it as a very precious thing.
Hyangban means fragrant rice, Michan beautiful rice, Japgwaban the rice mixed with various fruits. These all indicated Yakbap.
The Chinese people liked the rice, and it was well evidenced by the fact that the Chinese wrote in "Tomundaejak", "Chinese people like Yakbap and learn how to make it and call it Koryoban."
Yakbap was cooked like this. First, the glutinous rice was steamed and dried persimmon, ripe chestnuts, dried date, mushrooms, etc. were chopped. After that they were mixed with honey and soy sauce and then put into a steamer. Finally, pine nuts and walnuts were sparsely placed.
Today our people enjoy the traditional Yakbap with the lunar 15th January and other folk holidays as an occasion.
The way of cooking Yakbap today is as follows. The glutinous rice cereals are cleanly washed and soaked in water for 3-4 hours and steamed. Chestnuts are peeled cutting the big ones into two pieces and leaving the small ones as they are. For date, seeds are removed and split into two or three pieces and ginkgo nuts and pine nuts are roasted to remove the inner shell. Sugar is boiled down till the colour turns brown. After steaming, the soaked glutinous rice is put onto a dish with chestnut, date, ginkgo nuts, honey, soy, brown sugar, sugar, sesame oil before it's cooled down. Then the food is put into a pot. Tightly sealed, the pot is put into an oven and hot water is poured to a depth of about one seventh height of the pot. Then it is boiled in a strong fire at first, gradually under a mild fire for 4 to 5 hours with additional water. When the rice grains are cold, polished and browned, put in a bowl and sprinkle with pine nuts and cinnamon powder.
Under the tender care of the respected Comrade
