Reply To: How to pair banchan with main dishes

There are no special rules, but basically the simplest Korean meal is rice and kimchi. The “main dish” for any Korean meal is rice, everything is a side dish to rice.

Most Korean meals are soup and stew and a few more side dishes, with rice. Side dishes should have balanced colors, nutrients, textures temperatures and tastes.

There is a long explanation in my cookbook about this, also look at this recipe and video: https://www.maangchi.com/recipe/patbap for more.