Patjuk on the longest night: Korea's red bean porridge for the winter solstice

On the longest night of the year, Korean kitchens turn red. Dongji (동지), the winter solstice, falls on 21 or 22 December. The dish that marks it is patjuk (팥죽), a thick porridge of red adzuki beans with small balls of glutinous rice in it.

A bowl that counts your years

The rice balls are called saealsim (새알심), "bird-egg hearts", because they are about the size of a small egg. By old custom you eat one for every year of your age, and a common saying holds that you are not truly a year older until you have finished your solstice bowl. People once believed the red of the beans kept bad spirits away, so older households flicked a spoonful at the gate before anyone ate.

Sugar or salt

At a juk (porridge) shop, patjuk usually comes unseasoned, with small dishes of sugar and salt on the side, and each diner decides how to season it. In the Jeolla region the same red bean base is often served with wheat noodles instead, as pat kalguksu (팥칼국수).

The child's solstice

Some years the solstice falls in the first ten days of the eleventh lunar month. These years are called aedongji (애동지), the child's solstice, and custom replaces the porridge with red bean rice cake, patteok (팥떡), out of care for small children. Few households still keep track of this, but rice-cake shops do.

Finding a bowl

Porridge chains and market stalls sell patjuk all year, but in solstice week it becomes the main dish on offer. Signs reading 동지 팥죽 go up in shop windows, and many Buddhist temples serve bowls to visitors. Go before lunch, because small shops cook a single pot and close when it is empty.

동지에는 팥죽을 쑤어 이웃과 나누어 먹었다.