Regina Otokpa 
In renewed efforts to promote its culture and deepen the existing relationship between the Republic of Korea and Nigeria, the Korea Cultural Centre Nigeria (KCCN) has trained Lebanese and Nigerian Chefs on several Korean dishes.
The Manger, KCCN, Suyeong Kim who spoke to New Telegraph at the end of a training session at the Red Dish Chronicles Culinary school in Abuja, expressed hope of not only seeing Nigerian Chefs promote and integrate Korean foods into their menu, but own Korean specific restaurants in Nigeria, especially in Abuja.
While noting that 16 chefs have so far been trained in two separate sessions in the bi-monthly cooking project, Kim added that Korean dishes have a lot of similarities with Nigerian dishes especially in terms of spice and pepper.
She said: “Today’s cooking class is based on Korean traditional sauce, which is chili paste sauce. We hope that the chefs who are Nigerians can see that Koreans also enjoy spicy foods and like spicy sauces but it’s quite different from Nigeria’s pepper sauce. We hope that our small class can give them creativity, a drive to try and fusion foods.
“Chinese,Japanese food and other Thai foods are very huge here but Korean food is not that huge yet.
“There’s no specific Korean food restaurant here but when I go to Asian food restaurant in Abuja and find some Korean cuisines on their menu I feel really happy.”
Kim who noted that plans were underway to host a Korean cooking competition said, ” We really want to gather chefs who wants to experience Korean foods.”
A professional male chef with Red Dish Chronicles, Kelechi Nwaiwu who described the Korean rice dish, Bibimbap Gochujang Jjigae as plus to his cooking profession, hopes for more opportunities to further broaden his capacity to cook variety of dishes.
“Today’s class was very entertaining. I haven’t seen rice cooked like this before out of the normal way we cook but getting to see different flavor combinations and different flavor profiles in cooking rice, at least I’ve learnt a new Korean way of cooking.
Another Nigerian chef, Mercy Ricketts who noted that like Nigerian dishes, Bibimbap Gochujang Jjigae was balanced and healthy, added that, “This is definitely something new.
“I know I’ve seen this in movies but seeing it play out right here and being taught by a Korean person to have a firsthand experience has been really insightful and mind blowing.
I totally totally love it, this is definitely something I’m going to try.
“Even though in Nigeria we don’t have time for this kind of plenty drama, they were careful enough to balance the meal with vegetables, proteins and carbohydrates.
“The whole combination just brought out a balanced meal with the different food classes in the right proportions. I must say, each country has their own uniqueness.
A Lebanese chef, Zainab Mohsen who also benefitted from the coking class noted that, “I had a new experience, I was taught new skills.
“It was nice. I learnt something new about the Korean food. I’m not a fan of Korean dishes but I may try something new because I like the dish that we tried.”
