Yes, the basics of Korean food are rice, side dishes, and soup. A typical Korean meal includes rice with a variety of side dishes (such as kimchi, seaweed, rolled eggs, or seasoned vegetables) served with soup.

After living in Germany, I’ve realized that German meals are also often accompanied by salads and side dishes, so in a way, they’re quite similar. The key difference is that in Korean cuisine, rice (made from grains of rice) is the staple food, whereas bread (made from flour) is common in German meals.

For Koreans, cooking rice is made incredibly easy with electric rice cookers, which are found in almost every home. While the size, features, and price may vary slightly, most Korean households own at least one. The most popular brands are Cuckoo and Cuchen, and it’s hard to choose between the two because they’re both excellent.

Another method Koreans love is cooking rice using a pressure cooker, and one of the most popular brands in Korea is Fissler, a well-known German pot manufacturer. Rice cooked this way is incredibly tasty, though I personally find pressure cookers intimidating and only enjoy rice cooked this way when someone else makes it.

The simplest method, however, is to cook rice in a pot. Since most households in Germany likely don’t own a Korean rice cooker, I’ll explain how to cook rice using a pot today. This method is great for making rice to accompany dishes like kimbap or soup.