By Korea.net Honorary Reporter Anita Emefa Hato
During a tour of Chungcheongnam-do Province on July 15, 2017, for international bloggers, we stopped at a Korean restaurant, Hyang Woo Jung, after visiting the Gongju Hanok Village.
The restaurant was filled with lots of tourists, both domestic and international. So, with great expectations that the food here must be good, in order to have that many customers, I joined my friends at our table.
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| We're served rice and beans wrapped and steamed in a lotus leaf. It's delicious and nutritious. |
One thing that caught my eye as I walked to our table was the rice and beans wrapped and steamed in a lotus leaf. At first glance, I thought, "Wow! Could this be waakye?" a common rice-and-beans Ghanaian dish eaten for breakfast, lunch or dinner.
I wasn’t surprised to learn that the restaurant was actually famous for its rice-and-beans-in-a-lotus-leaf dish, since everyone at the restaurant was eating it.
Korean lotus-wrapped rice
As I sat and started to unwrap my Korean version of Ghana's waakye, I knew very well the probability of finding true waakye in a Korean restaurant -- or even anywhere in Korea -- to be quite low.
The ingredients and contents of this lotus leaf wrap are rice and beans, but the proportions are quite different from my homemade waakye.
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| Ghana's waakye looks similar to the rice and beans wrapped in a lotus leaf that's found in Korea, but the taste is a little different. |
Ghana’s waakye
Waakye is a traditional Ghanaian food that originated in the northern part of the country. It consists of blackeyed beans with rice that's cooked together with herbs that gives it its brownish color.
How waakye is served
It's usually served with a tomato stew and a traditional shito black sauce. It’s served with side dishes, such as fish, beef, spaghetti, gari, wele cow hide, eggs, salads or fried plantains, all of which are nicely garnished and served hot in a special leaf. It's eaten for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
You can see a video of Korean rice and beans wrapped and steamed in a lotus leaf here.
wisdom117@korea.kr
