The frog was part of the backdrop, not the buffet.
Korean temple cuisine — traditionally, the food prepared by Buddhist monks from ingredients they cultivate or forage themselves — is strictly vegetarian. Many Buddhists also eschew onions, garlic, chives, green onions, and leeks, the "five pungent vegetables" that are said to heighten irritability and impair concentration. Yet even within these strictures, a culinary heritage with 1,700-year-long roots has nurtured the development of innumerable elaborate and enticing dishes.
These photos do them scant justice. At bottom is my sampler, assembled from a buffet of more than 40 hot and cold dishes; the jellied objects closest to the camera were an old acquaintance from Flushing. Immediately behind them was my favorite dish, also the consensus favorite at our table. It's a jorim, a name that in Korean cuisine describes many different long-simmered dishes; this evening it offered the sole stimulation to the fat receptors in our taste buds, courtesy of mixed nuts.
A Night of a Thousand Lotus Lanterns
Skylight Soho, 275 Hudson St. (at Dominick St.)
September 20, 2010
www.KoreanTempleCuisine.net
