Rice Table: Korean Recipes and Stories to Feed the Soul

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I have a real soft spot for my poached pork belly wrap (bossam). It was something that my mother cooked quite often and I still remember the intoxicatingly fragrant smell of cinnamon bark and coffee in my mother’s poaching liquid so vividly. Whilst I wanted to recreate the dish like hers from my memories, I also wanted to embellish it with a little bit of me and my own kitchen in London for my daughter, and I think the dish maintains the good balance. In Rice Table, Scott outlines a series of recipes known commonly as bapsang, representing what she describes as a "very ordinary spread of daily home-cooked meals that sustain us". Scott added, "I wanted to celebrate how food can connect the small pieces together to make us feel whole." Fun fact… Many Koreans believe the touch of the fingertips can influence the overall harmony of flavour in a dish. Photography: Toby Scott Heat the vegetable oil in a heavy-based, lidded saucepan over a low heat. Add the onions, a good pinch of salt and sauté gently, stirring frequently, for about 10-15 minutes. The onions should be floppy and beautifully caramelised, with the edges catching a little colour. If you feel it is cooking too fast, add a tiny splash of water.

Pat the fish dry with kitchen paper and lay them on a tray in a single layer, skin-side down. Sprinkle evenly with half the salt and sugar, then turn over and sprinkle with the rest of the salt and sugar. Recipe I can’t wait to make: Kankankan cauliflower fritters with yogurt and mayo sauce (photograph: Yuki Sugiura). I wanted to champion the daily home cooking of Korean culture. I wanted to champion all the mothers and their labours – that’s not necessarily always celebrated.” A big part of this – and what makes up the first chapter in the book – is banchan culture. A book of belonging. Food as a love letter to family. Writing as delicious as the recipes."– Allan Jenkins, Observer Food MonthlyBanchan dishes in the book include tofu with buttered kimchi, stir-fried fishcakes with green peppers, soy sauce-glazed aubergines, and spring onion pancakes. Scott encourages readers to make her recipes their own by adjusting to taste, especially when it comes to saltiness and level of chilli heat. Reduce the heat. Combine the water and potato flour to make a slurry, then gradually add to the sauce (about two thirds of it to start with) until it is shiny and the consistency of clear honey. You may not need all the slurry. Once the pork has browned, crank up the heat and add the onions. Stir-fry the onions over a high heat for a couple of minutes to soften and caramelise. The onions should still have a little bite to them and not be completely mushy.

Heat the vegetable oil in a heavy-based lidded saucepan over a low heat. Add the onion and a good pinch of salt, then cook gently for 10-15 minutes, stirring frequently, until browned. Add a tiny splash of water if you feel they are cooking too fast. Our initial forays into cooking from the book have focused predominantly on plant-based recipes, helping us to reduce the volume of meat we eat. The delight of enjoying an array of banchan in a meal triggers memories of the wonderful rice table feasts we enjoyed in South Korea just a few months ago. I didn’t know that… Scraps left from cutting pasta are known as maltagliati, meaning ‘poorly cut’. Photography by Dave Brown

I didn’t know that… Olfactory memory (the personal recollection of aromas) is key; tomme de savoie tastes like strawberry laces to Emma. Scott calls it a “hard” and “lonely” experience, but says it was “very rewarding, because you come out the other side knowing exactly who you are”. Scotland-based Sumayya Usmani’s exploration of the food of Pakistan is full of enticing recipes, but this is a memoir, too, about growing up as a woman in Pakistan in the 1980s and 90s, and how cooking helped Sumayya find her place in the world.