''Kongbap'' () is a

Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, people from the Korean peninsula or of Korean descent * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Korean **Korean dialects **See also: North–South differences in t ...

dish of

white White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

brown Brown is a color. It can be considered a composite color, but it is mainly a darker shade of orange. In the CMYK color model used in printing and painting, brown is usually made by combining the colors Orange (colour), orange and black. In the ...

rice Rice is a cereal grain and in its Domestication, domesticated form is the staple food of over half of the world's population, particularly in Asia and Africa. Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice)—or, much l ...

cooked together with one or more varieties of

soybean The soybean, soy bean, or soya bean (''Glycine max'') is a species of legume native to East Asia, widely grown for its edible bean. Soy is a staple crop, the world's most grown legume, and an important animal feed. Soy is a key source o ...

s. ''Kongbap'' may be made from scratch by combining and cooking together dried rice and soybeans—usually black soybeans. Outside

Korea Korea is a peninsular region in East Asia consisting of the Korean Peninsula, Jeju Island, and smaller islands. Since the end of World War II in 1945, it has been politically Division of Korea, divided at or near the 38th parallel north, 3 ...

, the word "kongbap" is commercially used in premixed multi-grain packages in dried form. In Korea, multigrain rice consisting of grains other than soybeans is called ''japgok-bap'' (mixed cereal rice).

Etymology

The Korean word ''kong'' (bean) alone usually refers to soybeans and is contrasted with other words like ''pat'' meaning

adzuki bean ''Vigna angularis'', also known as the , azuki bean, aduki bean, red bean, or red mung bean, is an Annual plant, annual vine widely cultivated throughout East Asia for its small (approximately long) bean. The cultivars most familiar in East A ...

s. As such, ''kongbap'' (bean rice) would not also be applied to ''

patbap Red bean rice, called ''patbap'' () in Korean language, Korean, ''sekihan'' () in Japanese language, Japanese, and ''hóngdòu fàn'' () in Chinese language, Chinese, is an East Asian rice dish consisting of cooked rice, rice cooked with adzuki ...

'' (red bean rice). Rice cooked with beans other than soybeans, such as

French bean Green beans are young, unripe fruits of various cultivars of the common bean (''Phaseolus vulgaris''), although immature or young pods of the runner bean (''Phaseolus coccineus''), yardlong bean ( ''Vigna unguiculata'' subsp. ''sesquipedalis' ...

s (''gangnangkong'' in Korean) or

pea Pea (''pisum'' in Latin) is a pulse or fodder crop, but the word often refers to the seed or sometimes the pod of this flowering plant species. Peas are eaten as a vegetable. Carl Linnaeus gave the species the scientific name ''Pisum sativum' ...

s (''wandu'' in Korean), are usually named using the specific bean name, as in ''gangnang-kong-bap'' (French bean rice) or ''wandu-kong-bap'' (pea rice).

''Kongbap'' in culture

Although it is generally acknowledged as a nutritious food, ''kongbap'' was not universally enjoyed as it was associated with

imprisonment Imprisonment or incarceration is the restraint of a person's liberty for any cause whatsoever, whether by authority of the government, or by a person acting without such authority. In the latter case it is considered " false imprisonment". Impri ...

. ''Kongbap'' had long been a staple of Korean

prison food Prison food is the term for meals served to prisoners while incarcerated in correctional institutions. While some prisons prepare their own food, many use staff from on-site catering companies. Prisoners will typically receive a series of stand ...

. The

phrase ''kongbap meokda'' (콩밥 먹다; literally "to eat ''kongbap''") translates

colloquially Colloquialism (also called ''colloquial language'', ''colloquial speech'', ''everyday language'', or ''general parlance'') is the linguistic style used for casual and informal communication. It is the most common form of speech in conversation am ...

as "to be imprisoned." This is similar to a phrase in England with the same meaning: "to do

porridge Porridge is a food made by heating, soaking or boiling ground, crushed or chopped starchy plants, typically grain, in milk or water. It is often cooked or served with added flavourings such as sugar, honey, fruit, or syrup to make a sweet cereal ...

." With a recent health food trend in South Korea, the popularity of beans has risen and ''kongbap'' is more commonly eaten in Korean households than before.Black beans
, Joongang Ilbo, 2010-06-04. Retrieved 2010-06-27.

Similar dishes

* ''Japgok-bap'' (mixed-grain rice) is a

bap BAP or bap may refer to: Food * Bap (bread), a bread roll * Bap (rice dish), of Korea People * Bap Kennedy (1962–2016), Northern Irish singer-songwriter * Bronze Age Pervert, Romanian-American right-wing writer and podcaster Music * BAP (Germa ...

including short-grain white and brown rice, green

s, black

yulmu Job's tears (''Coix lacryma-jobi''), also known as adlay or adlay millet, is a tall grain-bearing perennial tropical plant of the family Poaceae (grass family). It is native to Southeast Asia and introduced to Northern China and India in remote ...

(''Coix lacryma-jobi'' var. ''ma-yuen''), black

glutinous rice Domestication syndrome refers to two sets of phenotypic traits that are common to either domesticated plants or domesticated animals. Domesticated animals tend to be smaller and less aggressive than their wild counterparts; they may also hav ...

barley Barley (), a member of the grass family, is a major cereal grain grown in temperate climates globally. It was one of the first cultivated grains; it was domesticated in the Fertile Crescent around 9000 BC, giving it nonshattering spikele ...

and

sorghum ''Sorghum bicolor'', commonly called sorghum () and also known as great millet, broomcorn, guinea corn, durra, imphee, jowar, or milo, is a species in the Poaceae, grass genus ''Sorghum (genus), Sorghum'' cultivated for its grain. The grain i ...

. The dried mixture is generally soaked in water for several hours or overnight before cooking, in order to ease the softening process of the beans while cooking. * ''

Patbap Red bean rice, called ''patbap'' () in Korean language, Korean, ''sekihan'' () in Japanese language, Japanese, and ''hóngdòu fàn'' () in Chinese language, Chinese, is an East Asian rice dish consisting of cooked rice, rice cooked with adzuki ...

'' (red bean rice) is made from red

Gallery

File:Namul and kongbap.png, ''

Namul ''Namul'' () refers to either a variety of edible greens or leaves or seasoned herbal dishes made of them. Wild greens are called ''san-namul'' (), and spring vegetables are called ''bom-namul'' (). On the day of Daeboreum, the first full moo ...

'' (vegetable side dishes) and ''kongbap'' (lower right)

References

{{Legume dishes Bap Korean rice dishes Legume dishes Prison food