Hi everybody! I’m pleased to introduce you to another traditional Korean recipe today. It’s called goguma-bap. In Korean Goguma is sweet potato, and bap is cooked rice.
When I was in elementary school in Korea, I often watched my grandmother making this dish. She lived on an island, and when I visited her, I loved her goguma-bap. The main room where she slept was heated using the traditional Korean system called ondol, which heats the floor. The room was divided into 2 sections: the warm area and the cool area.
During the cold winter, my grandmother slept in the warm area, and the goguma were kept in the cool area. They were sleeping in the same room with my grandmother and they were always ready to be served any minute. : )
Goguma freezes easily so they should always should be kept in cool place. If they’re frozen, the texture is totally changed, just like a radish, and they aren’t tasty at all.
When I laid down to sleep next to my grandmother, I couldn’t help but stare at the pile of goguma, and when I woke up the next morning, the first thing I saw every day was goguma.
She used to prepare them in many different ways. Some of my favorites were:
- Sweet potato rice, served as a main dish.
- Sweet potato sticks for a snack: the sweet potatoes are simply peeled and split into several sticks. There was not much candy available on that island at the time, so goguma sticks was delicious enough for us.
- Dried sweet potato soup for lunch: my grandmother sliced and dried sweet potatoes for days until each piece got hard like a rock. She put them away in a sack for future use, and boil them in water for lunch. Sometimes she added red beans and sugar or some other kind of sweetener.
- Steamed and dried sweet potatoes for a snack: sweet potatoes are cooked, sliced, and dried until they are rock hard. It was a delicious snack for us, and we treated it like candy. I’m not sure I would enjoy it these days though. I should make it and see if I still like it. : )
In this video I use the sweet potatoes with orange flesh because these are easier to find than Korean sweet potatoes, which have white flesh. Both are equally delicious.
Enjoy the recipe!
Ingredients (for 2-3 servings)
- 1 cup of short grain rice
- 1 pound (453 grams) of sweet potato
- Water
For seasoning sauce:
Directions
- Put 1 cup of short grain rice in a heavy bottomed pot or stone pot. Rinse in cold water and drain. Scrub the wet rice with your hand, and rinse and drain until the drained water runs clear. Drain the last of the water by tilting the pot as much as you can. The rice should still be wet. Add 1 cup of water and soak in the pot for 30 minutes with the lid closed.
- Peel the sweet potatoes and rinse in cold water. Cut them into ½ inch cubes.
- Add the sweet potato cubes over the rice in the pot.
- Bring it to a boil over medium heat and let it cook for about 15 minutes in a stone pot (or 10 minutes in the regular pot).
- Open the lid and turn over the rice and the sweet potato with a wooden spoon.
- Close the lid and let it simmer for another 15-20 minutes in a stone pot (or 10-15 minutes in a regular pot) until the sweet potato and rice are cooked fully.
- Open the lid and use a wooden spoon to turn over the rice and sweet potato so they mix well.
- Transfer some to serving bowls and serve with seasoning sauce.
For the seasoning sauce:
- Combine the soy sauce, chopped chives, garlic, honey, hot pepper flakes, vinegar, and toasted sesame seeds in a small bowl.
Posted Wednesday, October 3rd, 2012 at 5:42 pm.
Tagged: beta carotine, 고구마, 고구마밥, goguma, gogumabap, healthy food, korean food, Korean kitchen, Korean recipes, Maangchi recipes, one pot meal, simple recipe, sweet potato recipe, sweet potato rice, sweet potato snack, sweet potatoes, vegetarian food, vitamine A
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Wow! Wow! Wow! Guess what we are having for supper? I will have to use my Vitaclay or enameled cast iron pot until I can get my hands on a Korean stone pot. After becoming vegan we are experimenting with many cultural foods. May have to stick with Korean for a long while. This recipe appears to ring all the bells of color and flavor and fun to cook. I am so happy to find maangchi site….hubby is, too!
This was an absolute success! Worked great in my Vitaclay rice cooker….which sorta disappointed me as it makes it harder to argue the case that I now need an authentic Korean stone pot! My husband gave it his highest compliment “remember this one, I’d like it again.”
“remember this one, I’d like it again.” : ) Congratulations!
Actually you don’t need a Korean stone pot or an earthenware pot to make this rice. I sometimes use my stainless pot and it works well.
This has become a weekly favorite. I thought you and others would like to know that we eat this as a lettuce wrap now. This has become comfort food for us in the bitter cold Minnesota winter. Thanks again!
Gogumabap in lettuce wrap sounds very delicious and healthy!
Hi there Maangchi! Making your dish again tonight. Wanted to add that in addition to making these with butter lettuce leaves as a wrap or lettuce scoop we add toasted cashews for a nice little crunch!
I love this!! I make it all the time – I double the batch and take it to work for lunch! This with an Apple will keep me full all day!!! ❤️❤️❤️
This is absolutely delicious! I made it last night to go with my Bulgogi. My wife and I have decide it shall be a regular part of my recipes.By the way, how do you like your stove? I have the same one, and I love it
Bulgogi and gogumabap sounds like a perfect meal! How do I like my stove? Yes, I love it, too. : )
Hi, I just found you and I’m so happy. I tried this receipe out tonight and it was such a delicious one dish meal. Even if its without the seasoning sauce its delicious on its own. But the sauce makes all the difference. We love it!!! Thank you for sharing such a easy and nutritious meal.
Maangchi! You are so cute and funny in this video, I love it! Your hat is very pretty. The sweet potato rice looks delicious, I can’t wait to try it. ;)
Annyeonghaseyo, Maangchi! I would like to start off with saying I love this recipe! I’ve eaten it over four times and my family loves it! I have a blog (sagedandconfused(dot)wordpress(dot)com) where i reviewed this recipe and switched out a few of the ingredients so that it was healthier. For example, I used brown rice instead of white rice and explained how i did it. I would love it if you stopped by and read the post and/or told others about it. I plan to do more reviews on some of your other recipes as well and I will make sure to tell you about them. I hope you visit and if you do please don’t hesitate to tell me by commenting or responding to this comment! Gamsahapnida and Annyeongkaseyo! — Sage
Hi Sage, your gogumabap looks wonderful! http://sagedandconfused.wordpress.com/ You have a nice blog!
Thank you very much, Maangchi! That means a lot to me!
I made the rice and sweet potato mix in my rice cooker, using 2 cups short grain white rice, 1 – 1lb. size sweet potato, cut up into 1/2 inch sized cubes and filled the rice cooker up to the 3 cup mark and set it on the “MIXED RICE” SETTING. It took about 30 minutes to cook. I have a Zojirushi rice cooker, a 5.5 cup model. This time I did not make the sauce, maybe next time.
Dear Maangchi, even if I a do not post here very often, I am big fan of you and have tried at least 2/3 of your recipes… Gogumabap is one of my favorites, and today I really was hungry for a dish of warm gogumabap… Unfortunately, I had no sweet potatoes at home and could not get any at the supermarket nor at the asian store… Since I had butternut squash at home I decide to give it a try… So, instead of sweet potato, butternut squash… Great variation of this dish :-) try it!
Yes, butternut squash will work perfectly for this recipe! Great! : )
Oh My Gosh! Maangchi, this dish is so good for Autumn weather! I plan to take it to the family reunion on Thanksgiviing Holiday. I know it will be a hit. This is true comfort food! Thanks so much and I must let you know I appreciate all of your recipes. My little family and I love them :)
Rachel
( a grandmother raising three grandchildren 6, 7 and 9 yrs old full time.)
Your idea sounds terrific! I can imagine you make steamy gogumabap for your cute grandchildren. It reminds me of my own grandmother. I was always looking forward to her dishes at every meal. : ) Let me know how it turns out. You or someone else will probably roast a bird? lol
Does the cooking time change if I use brown rice?
Brown rice takes much longer to cook than white rice. Maybe start with brown rice that’s partially cooked?
i agreed with Mindygirl that brown rice takes longer to cook so start by soaking the brown rice for at least 30 min before cooking it with the sweet potatoes. That’s how i do it
yes, I usually soak brown rice for a couple of hours before cooking.
I had barely enough energy to make this tonight after coming home from work at 11pm, and I must say I am in heaven! This is so delicious Maangchi, I ate until I was completely stuffed! I didn’t have any perilla leaf kimchi so I ate it with regular napa cabbage kimchi instead. Even my sister who absolutely hates asian chives liked it. :)
Thank you so much for this recipe!
“I had barely enough energy to make this tonight after coming home from work at 11pm, …” oh my! I’m glad to hear that you made this even though you would be so tired. Great!
I just made this for my family, because I happened to have two sweet potatoes in the fridge and I loved it. It was so easy and very delicious. I will certainly revisit this recipe (for the sauce) and cook it often in this season.
Looks delicious!! What side dishes do we serve this with?
looks yummy! can i make this in the rice cooker?
yes, you can. Good luck! : )
Look so simple and delicious. Will definitely make this one.
Let me know how it turns out if you make this.
In Poland radish sprouts are called rzeżucha and it’s tradiocionally eaten on easter. My grandma uses to make bread slices with buter and rzeżucha when easter is coming. It is soo delicious!
oh~ how do you pronouce ” rzeżucha”?
For not Polish people it is very hard to say… “rz” and “ż” are prenounced like French /g/ and “ch” is prenounced like /h/. It sounds like /jejuha/.
So simple, SO delicious. Wish I had some perilla leaf kimchi to go with it, but it was still fantastic on its own. Thanks for another great recipe!
Thank you very much! Let me know how yours turns out when you make it!
I already did! That’s how I knew it was delicious! :D