Welcome to my HMart haul and Korean cooking intro. My husband and I went to HMart today, and will be eating all the tasty things we bought for dinner tonight. So instead of a recipe today, I am posting some of the things we bought at hmart and also giving a little intro into Korean ingredients and products for those who aren’t familiar with them. I’ve had a few friends ask me what we buy at hmart, and that was my inspiration for this post.
If you browse my recipes, it is obvious I love Asian food of all kinds. There is SO much flavor and diversity in Asian cooking and I love it all. This is not by any means an exhaustive list, or a full deep dive into Korean cooking. I love the recipes and videos by maangchi if you want to learn more after this intro.
Let’s start first with a basic list of essential ingredients, and then I will go over what I bought today.
Essential Korean Cooking Ingredients
- Gochujang (고추장) – Fermented Red Chili Paste
- A thick, sweet, and spicy paste made from red chili powder, glutinous rice, and fermented soybeans.
- Used in dishes like bibimbap, tteokbokki, and marinades for meats.
- Doenjang (된장) – Fermented Soybean Paste
- Similar to miso but stronger and earthier.
- Essential for doenjang jjigae (soybean paste stew) and soups.
- Gochugaru (고춧가루) – Korean Red Pepper Flakes
- Comes in coarse and fine varieties; adds heat and smoky-sweet depth.
- Key for kimchi, spicy stews, and marinades.
- Soy Sauce (간장, Ganjang)
- Jin Ganjang: Everyday soy sauce for soups, stir-fries, and marinades.
- Guk Ganjang: Lighter, saltier soy sauce for soups and stews.
- Sesame Oil (참기름, Chamgireum)
- A nutty, aromatic oil used for finishing dishes, marinades, and dipping sauces.
- Adds depth to bibimbap, namul (seasoned veggies), and grilled meats.
- Rice Vinegar (식초, Sikcho)
- Adds a mild tanginess to pickles, dipping sauces, and dressings.
- Fish Sauce (액젓, Aekjeot)
- A deeply savory and salty liquid made from fermented fish.
- Used in kimchi, soups, and stews.
- Tteok (떡) – Korean Rice Cakes
- Used in tteokbokki (spicy rice cakes) and soups like tteokguk.
Now on to some of the things I bought today. First off we always get a bunch of banchan which are like side dishes you eat with rice. I love dinner on the nights we go to HMart because it is always a bunch of banchan and rice with some soup or tteokbokki.
- Produce – I bought some napa cabbage and daikon to make my own kimchi this weekend. I am planning to post that process, as it is so fun to make. I also bought some ginger, scallions, and salted shrimp for this. More to come on that. We also got some Thai basil (they sell a big pack and I wash a freeze the leaves to use in recipes), as well as some sesame leaves and mint. They aren’t in the picture but they also had these cute mini apples which I got.
- Noodles – I was running low on both glass noodles (sweet potato noodles) which are used in jap chae and can be used in many soups or noodle dishes too. I also got Vietnamese rice noodles which they sell tons of.
- Golden Curry mix – This is the mix I use when I make katsu curry. It is yummy. You can buy it at any Asian market, or on amazon.
- Candy and snacks. Asian markets usually have the best candy. This time I got some muscat gummies, pineapple gummies, hi-chew gummies I haven’t seen before, and these strips. I don’t know what those are, but it is fun to try stuff and be surprised. We also got shrimp chips, which are chips that have shrimp flavoring, and some hot pot flavored chips.
- Sauces and Kimchi – we only bought a small thing of kimchi because I am making some this weekend. Kimchi is fermented cabbage, or radish or other item that is slowly fermented with chili, garlic, ginger and other ingredients. We also got some more chili crisp, bamboo shoots in oil for ramen, and stocked up on rice vinegar and sesame oil.
- Hmart has a big selection of frozen kimbap. Kimbap are rice rolls stuffed with filling and rolled in seaweed. Sort of like a sushi roll, but with cooked meat or crab sticks, not raw fish. These frozen ones a pretty good. You just microwave them briefly, then eat.
- Asian Rice – Korean or Japanese rice is usually short or medium grain rice that cooks up slightly sticky, not loose grains like basmati or wild rice. It is great for making kimbap, or fried rice, or with any Asian dish.
- This little pack at number 8 is a combo of pickled radish and burdock root that is typically served in kimbap. They nicely sell them cut like this so you can place directly on your seaweed when making the rolls. Also marked 8 in the pic are little packs of pickled mustard stem which is super tasty in stir fry or ramen. You can also buy them on amazon, and there is a link to them in my chicken stir fry with zha cai recipe.
- Rice cakes (tteok) – As mentioned above, these are a staple and I love their chewy texture. They are featured in a bunch of my recipes like Korean Army Stew, Rice Cake Stir Fry with Chicken and Veggies and Spicy Pork with Korean Rice Cakes and Bok Choy.
- Pressed Seasoned Tofu – This is a variation on tofu that is seasoned and pressed so it gets this dense chewy texture I love. I will use this in a stir fry later next week.
If you’d like to try cooking some Korean food, please check out all my Korean recipes and feel free to message me on instagram or comment on this post with questions.