Seon (food)

Seon (food)

Seon refers to Korean traditional dishes made by steaming vegetables such as zucchinis, cucumbers, eggplants, or Napa cabbages that are stuffed with fillings. Although the term is a counterpart of jjim, dishes made by steaming meat or seafood, the concept is not clearly settled. To make a hobakseon (호박선) or oiseon (오이선), a zucchini or cucumber is cut to pieces of 4 or 5 cm in length and slit in a quarter. The pieces are briefly salted and the juice is squeezed a little. Beef or chicken and onions are chopped and mixed together with seasonings to make fillings. The prepared pieces of the zucchini or cucumber are stuffed with the fillings and placed on a pot. Seasoned stock or vegetable broth is poured over the ingredients till soaked and boiled or steamed for 5 or 10 minutes. After finished the cooking, slices of seogi (석이, Umbilicaria esculenta), chili peppers, and jidan (지단, fried eggs separated into white and yellow layers) are placed on the dish as gomyeong (고명, garnishes). Besides the dish, gajiseon (가지선, steamed eggplant), gochuseon (고추선, steamed chili pepper), donggwaseon (동과선, steamed winter melon), museon (무선, steamed daikon), baechuseon (steamed napa cabbage) and dubuseon (steamed tofu) are representative of seon dishes.